The marketing channels available online are practically endless. However, some channels make sense for one business and not for others. It is important to learn about each channel and how you can best use it, before starting your digital marketing.

1. DIGITAL
MARKETING
CHANNELS

2. As the shift to internet and mobile different pizza places; ONLY Domino’s says "…
technologies continues, businesses are fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30
finding it more and more difficult to minutes or less -- or it's free." There are also
market to their customers. For that many hair salons, but if you are the only hair
reason, it is imperative that every salon that offers a free neck massage with every
business owner examine their strategy cut you have carved out a unique selling
and incorporate digital marketing into it. proposition.
In this report we will look at some of the Your USP is simply the thing about your business
most popular digital marketing tactics that makes it unique. It could be any one of a
and how they can benefit your business. wide variety of factors or qualities. For example,
Even if your product or service is not perhaps you offer unique products that your
purchased online, the internet competitors don’t have, or your service
increasingly influences the sale. guarantee is the best in the industry. The idea is
Consumers will research extensively to find one quality unique to your business and
online before making a final decision. It then use that in all your marketing.
is important to be a part of the entire With your USP locked down you can then begin
buying cycle. to get your message out through various digital
marketing methods.
Unique Selling Position
Before you incorporate digital marketing Email Marketing
techniques into your current marketing A great way to start-off a digital marketing
mix, it is beneficial to examine your USP campaign is to begin an e-mail list in order to stay
—Unique Selling Position (also known in touch with your customers. You can send them
as your value proposition). Picture your news of sales and other events. The best way to
customers with a tattoo on their build your email list is to put a sign-up form on
forehead that says, “What's in it for your website and gather e-mail addresses at your
me?" Your USP answers that question physical location.
by telling your customer what is special To encourage sign-ups, you can offer a a
about your business. coupon, advice, or something else that your
For example, there are 4,000,000 customers will value. While having a digital

3. agency is the best way to send emails, when they type in relevant “keywords.” For
there are a few email marketing example, if you are a dog trainer you can
websites that you can use as well, for optimize your site for the phrase “dog trainer” or
example: constant contact. These “dog training.”
sights allow you to set up “auto The most common goal is to appear on the first
responders” which send out pre-loaded page of the SERPs (search engine result pages).
e-mails at designated times. Or you can The reason you want to be on the first page is
simply send your list random emails that very few web searchers go beyond that
when you want. Studies show the more page. The main search engines are Google, Bing,
you email the better—some email and Yahoo with Google garnering the lion’s share
experts recommend daily email blasts, of searches.
but it depends on the industry, There are specific techniques to get your website
sometimes daily email blasts will turnoff to rank higher in the search engine rankings.
recipients. Over time, you will be able to These include “on-page” factors that tweak your
figure what’s right for you. web pages to make it easier for the search
engines to find your content.
One technique is to optimize your site's “title tag”
which is the first thing the search engines index.
Another important task is to design your site to
make it easy for your web visitors to find what
they're looking for. If they get confused or find it
difficult to locate what they want they will quickly
click to another site.
Optimization also includes "off-page" techniques
Search Engine like back-linking which is the process of building
Optimization links from relevant websites to yours. Google
Search engine optimization, often called largely determines the popularity of your site by
SEO for short, is the process of the number and importance of different sites
tweaking and refining your website so linking to your site. By building links from high
that web searchers can easily find you profile sites in your niche you will gain favor in

4. Google's eyes and make it easier for Since only 3% of businesses have claimed their
you to rank higher in the SERP’s. Google Places page your business will often
appear above your competitors.
Search Engine Marketing
Social Media Sites
Search engine marketing is the process
Twitter and Facebook are the most well-known
of utilizing Google and other search
social media sites on the Internet. Having a
engines “pay per click” services to
Facebook page is becoming increasingly
advertise your own company. These are
important as Facebook grows rapidly every
the small ads that you see to the side of
month--as of this writing Facebook has more
the page when you do a search. A pay
than 845 million active users.
per click campaign can be very
A Facebook page is a good example of how to
effective. It provides a high Return on
best utilize social media. It allows you to post
Investment but you must be very
photos about your business and enter news and
careful. Without knowing what you're
information updates. By inviting Facebook users
doing, you can lose a lot of money
to become “fans” of your page, each of your
quickly.
updates will appear in their Facebook feed. It is
an excellent way to stay in touch with your
Google Places
biggest customers.
Google Places is Google’s free web A Facebook business page now also allows you
page for your business. You can “claim”
to track your reach, likes and people talking
your page by signing into Google Places about your company.
and filling in all of your company’s data.
Twitter is another prominent social media site.
Google Places also allows consumers Your customers and friends can “follow” your
to add reviews to your page from their
“tweets” which allow you to keep in touch with
computer or mobile phone. In this way, them much like a Facebook page.
it works much like review sites like Yelp
or Citysearch. One of the benefits of
Review Sites
Google Places is your listing appears at
Review sites like Yelp and Citysearch allow
the top of many search result pages.
consumers to post reviews of your business. Part

5. of the growth of these sites can be Without a mobile version, consumers see your full
attributed to the use of smart phones. webpage on their small screen, which is difficult
Customers regularly post reviews right to read.
from your store or place of business. A mobile website is a simplified version of your
Usually a business can respond to these website with basic information. It fits neatly onto a
reviews and explain their side if a review smart phone screen and allows them to find out
is negative. more about you easily. Most of the time they are
looking for simple items like your phone number
or address so you don't need a fancy mobile
website to meet their needs.
Text Message Marketing
Text message marketing, also known as SMS
marketing (Short Message Service), is the
Most of the big review sites also let you
practice of sending out discounts and coupons
issue special coupons, discounts, and via text. Text messaging is not just for young
more. This is a great way to bring in
consumers anymore, these days mature
new business and encourage repeat consumers are becoming an audience for mobile
customers. The coupons are redeemed
marketing as well.
via mobile phones, which eliminates the The major advantage of text messaging is that
hassle of paper redemption.
most cell phone users have their phone with
them at all times--you can reach them wherever
Mobile Marketing they are. Another advantage is that most people
Perhaps the fastest growing area of read incoming texts right away. This compares
digital marketing is mobile technology. favorably to, for example, an e-mail which may
Because smart phones are so common, get buried and never read.
consumers have information at their
fingertips. One of the easiest ways to Press Releases
take advantage of smart phones is to Press releases are an inexpensive and easy way
create a mobile version of your website.
to get the word out about notable things you're

6. doing at your business. Press releases valuable back link.
can be posted on your site as well as at These are some of the main areas of digital
major press release services. One of the marketing. There are even more possibilities
benefits of press releases is that most including image marketing, banner advertising
press release services will keep them and more. You can begin with simple methods
posted for years on end. That means like starting an e-mail list and then incorporate
that your business name will be in the some of the other tactics as your marketing plan
search engines for a long time, evolves. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting
increasing your visibility. overwhelmed and not employing any strategy.
Video Marketing Tracking Results
YouTube is one of the largest search It’s important to track results, evaluate your
engines on the Internet. Many people campaign, and adjust as you go. If you don’t
search YouTube right after they do a seem to get any results from a tactic after giving it
Google search. By posting videos about a good effort, try something else. The goal of a
your business at YouTube and other good digital marketing mix is to increase your
prominent video sites you will keep your companies "digital footprint.” You want to be
name in front of this huge audience. where your customers are and become part of
their online community.
If your customers routinely use Facebook and
Article Marketing
Twitter, it makes sense to be on those services. If
Article marketing is the practice of
they like email over text messaging, that’s the
posting informative articles about your
direction to go--choosing the best tactic comes
business on article directories. It also
from knowing your customers and how they
includes guest posting on relevant blogs
interact with digital media.
and websites. For example, if you have
The bottom line? Consumers are increasingly
a site related to chess you can write
incorporating the internet and mobile technology
guest posts at chess blogs and chess
into their everyday lives. Unless you are "part of
websites. Usually the website owners
the conversation" you'll be left behind online.
will allow you to link back to your site.
This helps build traffic and creates a

7. Strategy
As you can see, there are many different
digital marketing platforms available, it is
important to create a strategy for
marketing, or you are unlikely to get any
results.
A strategy should outline what you want
to accomplish, what platforms you will
use and how you will use each platform
to accomplish your objectives.
A digital marketing campaign without a
strategy is like tossing a message in a
bottle out to sea . . . no one will ever find
it, and if they do they will have no clue
what to do with it.
About 3Sixty Interactive
3Sixty Interactive is a professional
agency with over ten years of
experience in the digital world. They
offer a variety of digital marketing
solutions that include search engine
optimization, digital advertising, email
marketing, social media, customized
strategy reports, analytics and
maintenance of your marketing plan.
Learn more about 3Sixty Interactive at
www.3sixtyinteractive.com or by calling
us at 1-877-43Sixty.