Looking For A Digital Marketing For Beginners Guide?

We have generated millions of website visitors to our website – that’s a lot of people.

But it wasn’t always like this.

LYFE Marketing started with 3 people and a dream – a story that we’re sure most small business owners can relate to.

So how did we get from point A to point B? We used the same digital marketing strategies we provide for our clients, for ourselves.

And for a lot of the clients we service today, a good portion of them are totally new to digital marketing!

The world of digital marketing is so big that it can feel overwhelming if you don’t know where to start.

We understand because that’s where we were in 2011!

So that’s why we’re creating this post on digital marketing for beginners…

…to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to get started and start seeing real growth, just like we did.

Today, we’re sharing our top 8 strategies to implement if you are completely new to digital marketing.

We’re going to break it all down into actionable steps in this digital marketing for business guide.

Digital Marketing For Beginners: 8 Strategies For Your Business

1. Create A Buyer Persona

We know this might not be the most exciting step when talking about digital marketing for beginners, but it’s important that it’s your first step.

Whether you’re a brand new business, or you’ve been around for some time and are just now starting to market online…

…you need to perform some research on your customers.

Here are the kind of questions you need to answer about your customers:

This includes their age, gender, location, etc.

Is it on Instagram? LinkedIn? Google? Narrow it down.

This motivation can look like a goal that they’re trying to achieve, or a pain point they’re trying to solve.

If you’ve been reading our blog for any length of time, you have seen us talk about goals and pain points. That’s because it matters!

For example, let’s say you sell yoga pants.

Are people buying your yoga pants because they like the prints? Or is it because they’re 5’10” and your yoga pants come in tall sizes?

Knowing what motivates your audience to buy your product will help you know what kind of:

…to take with how you speak to them in your marketing.

Let’s look at a service-based business as another example. Let’s say you own a mechanic shop and you work on cars for people.

Some of the pain points you’re solving for people probably include…

Now with both of those examples in mind…

…are you starting to think phrases like “We got 6 awards in 2021!” are the right way to address any of those pain points or goals? No, it shouldn’t!

Yet we see this so often where businesses run ads to a cold audience talking about how great they are…

…when they should be addressing their audience by their wants and needs.

So how do you do that? Invest the time and effort to make a solid buyer persona.

Yes, people purchase products and services, but what they’re really buying is a problem-solver.

The better you understand your audience, the more effective the rest of the strategies on this list will be.

2. Social Media Marketing

This is what we’re most known for as an agency, as we’ve generated hundreds of thousands in revenue for our clients using social media marketing.

So, we’re going to start with this one here in this digital marketing for beginners guide.

Some of the best social media platforms include:

Now, we have a ton of posts going over different social media platforms.

This includes some of the newer platforms that have popped up like the Clubhouse app.

But what we do want to talk about in this digital marketing for beginners guide is how you should use social media in general to leverage growth.

This is especially important when you’re first starting out, so we’re going to answer some of the FAQs we get around social media.

So to start, which social media platform should you be on? The answer is whichever social media platform your audience is on.

See how strategy #1 is already coming in handy?

If you did your customer research, you should already know which social media platform they’re on.

But for example, if you are a B2B company, you may have a little more luck on LinkedIn than Pinterest given the demographics of both platforms.

Now you might be thinking, “But what if my customer base spends time on 2 or 3 platforms pretty much equally?”

If that’s the case then we would advise against trying to tackle multiple platforms at one time, unless you have the time and manpower to do it.

Otherwise, we would suggest picking the platform with the biggest audience size of your customers.

And then, focus your efforts on mastering that platform before moving on to another.

And when we say to focus on that platform, here are 4 CTAs you can take away for yourself:

a. Make a personal account for yourself on that platform if you don’t have one already.

This is not for your business, this is solely for you to understand the app.

Get a feel of what people post and talk about on that platform, and understand from personal experience what the social media app is for.

It will help you when it comes time to post for your business because you’ll understand the general vibe of the app.

And as well as what types of posts are typically best received.

Learn all of the features that the platform offers.

These apps are updating and offering new features all of the time in competition with each other.

For instance, the rise of TikTok caused Instagram to release Instagram Reels, which also led YouTube to release YouTube Shorts.

Using the latest features is usually a good workaround for the algorithm.

This is so that you can get maximum reach and engagement on your posts, so stay on top of them.

One great way to keep up with social media updates is by subscribing to our newsletter. Just saying.

b. Create a business account on the platform if you don’t already have one, and make sure it’s optimized.

Yes, this means filling out all of the basic information like your website URL, profile picture of your logo, etc.

But it also includes things like adding keywords to your bio or about me section that are related to your business.

c. Choose keywords that people might search for!

Now, social media platforms are not search engines outright like Google, where people get on to ask a question or look for specific information necessarily.

But, they have started taking on search-engine-like qualities where you can search plain keywords now, not just hashtags.

So it won’t hurt to optimize your account all the same.

d. Just about all social media platforms have basic, built-in analytics for business accounts. Use them!

Gauge to see which type of posts are performing best and which aren’t.

Use your insights to make an informed decision on where to pivot and where to continue with your social media strategy.

The best part about social media for beginners is that everything we just described is free. All of that costs you nothing but time.

That’s why it’s a great way to establish your brand and get some organic brand awareness going before we even get into advertising.

3. Advertising

Now here at LYFE, we break our advertising efforts down into two different services:

So let’s discuss the difference between the two really quickly.

Social media advertising allows you to target people on social media by interest, behavior, and demographic…

…or by a pre-existing customer list that you can upload and use to retarget and find new customers.

On the other hand, Google advertising allows you to target people by what they are searching on Google.

And you can also retarget your existing website traffic across thousands of websites across the web.

So in order to decide which advertising strategy may be for you to start out with, ask yourself this question:

“Is the product or service I offer something people would search for on Google?”

If so, jot down a list of the search terms that you think people would be searching for as it relates to your business.

In the marketing world, these are also known as keywords.

If not, still jot down a shortlist of things people could possibly search.

Now what we want you to do is use a free tool like Google Keyword Planner to see how many times those keywords are actually being searched on Google.

You can also use paid tools like SEMrush or Keyword Tool to see how many times things are being searched on YouTube.

You can also get question ideas around them and more.

The point of those tools is to confirm whether or not you were right about your keyword list.

Are people actually searching the keywords you thought of? And if so, what’s the search volume?

If not, social media advertising may be more suited for your business!

The nature of certain businesses lends itself more to Google, and vice versa.

For example, if you own an AC repair shop, we know that people are more likely to go to Google and type in “AC repair near me” when they need that service.

This is rather than hopping on Facebook and waiting around until they see an ad from an AC company.

But in addition to the nature of your business, which advertising avenue you choose should also depend on your business goals.

If you want more Facebook page likes, there is a Facebook ad campaign objective for that.

We wouldn’t suggest Google ads if your goal is to get more Instagram post engagement.

Now before we move on to the next strategy, our last CTA for you here for advertising has to do with the advertisements themselves.

What should they look like? What should they say?

Familiarizing yourself with the advertising platform you choose will partially help answer this question.

This is because there are different dimension sizes, video length limits, etc. for every different advertising placement.

But the main thing we want to reiterate is that your ads should always focus more on being helpful than salesy.

Remember that people are more likely to click on ads that directly answer a problem or goal they have…

…than they are one that talks about your company accolades.

And also, depending on which advertising channel you choose, you have to think about where people are at in their buyer’s journey.

Google is known for more high-intent leads because people are actively searching for the product or service you provide.

Whereas social media is usually viewed as a more top-of-funnel approach.

So just be sure your ad meets them where they’re at.

We’ve drawn the comparison of the marketing funnel to relationships before in this post, but to quickly summarize part of it…

…you wouldn’t want to ask someone to marry you on your first date, right?

Same thing with your ads.

Using closing verbiage and sales language on an ad that’s being delivered to people who have never heard of your company or product before is a no-no.

What we suggest is for you to adapt your ads based on who you are delivering them to.

“In 2020, 96% of consumers increased their online video consumption, and 9 out of 10 viewers said that they wanted to see more videos from brands and businesses.

And as of 2021, an average person is predicted to spend 100 minutes per day watching online videos.”

They go on to say that, “By 2022, 82% of the global internet traffic will come from streaming videos and downloads.”

Now that we’ve pointed all that out, simply put, your customers give their attention to video!

We’ve seen it firsthand! Our YouTube channel has gained about 12K subscribers in just the last 10 months and is still growing exponentially.

So if you want to meet your audience where they spend their time, you need to produce content in the form of video.

And don’t get discouraged when we say that, because it doesn’t take a Hollywood budget to make a good video.

People are doing it every day from their living rooms, on their smartphones, and so can you!

We have written a whole post on how you can make Instagram Reels for example, and it could be something as simple as that.

So we know people are consuming videos and they’re not expensive to make, but what happens after people watch your video? What are the benefits of it?

InVideo said:

“64% of consumers purchase a product after watching social videos created by brands and that video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year.”

That’s huge!

And there are more statistics where those came from, but the bottom line is that people are watching videos, and videos directly impact purchases.

So if you’re not already using video in your content, in your ads, or on YouTube, here’s our post on video marketing in 2021 which you can read next.

5. SEO or Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the process that helps you rank higher on Google.

When someone types in a search term (or keyword) into Google that is relevant to your business…

…SEO is what makes your website show up at the top of search results.

Now you may be thinking, “Wait a minute! Isn’t that what you said about Google Ads?!”

Yes, it is! So let us explain the difference.

With PPC, you directly pay Google to place your ad in those top spots.

But with SEO, you’re implementing organic, unpaid processes to try and earn your top spot there, without paying Google directly for it.

So when you’re looking at the search results on Google, all of the top results that have the Ad symbol next to them are the result of PPC.

On the other hand, the results below that, those that do not have an Ad symbol, are the result of SEO.

There are pros and cons to both strategies, so you’ll just need to pick the one that makes the most sense for your business.

Let me list out a few of the pros and cons to give you a better idea.

PPC drives almost instant clicks and results since you’re paying Google directly for them.

Whereas SEO is a long-term strategy that can sometimes take 12 months or more to really work, but all SEO costs are time and effort.

Another point is PPC will only work for as long as you’re paying Google, which can get pricey pretty fast and be hard to sustain for months on end.

SEO, however, can continue to drive waves of high-quality traffic for you for years with minimal adjusting and optimization over time.

For example, at the beginning of this post when we shared that we’ve generated millions of website visitors…

…you can see that the majority of it came from organic Google searches!

So, we find that a lot of our clients use PPC as a short-term strategy to start getting some immediate traffic in.

While they get their long-term SEO game plan started.

So, that begs the question, how do you get your SEO game plan started?

To fully answer that question, we would suggest looking at some of the SEO posts here in our blog.

And it’s because. as we mentioned earlier, Google looks at hundreds of ranking factors to determine which websites to rank higher.

And as a result, there are tons of things you can do to try and optimize for those ranking factors, like on-page SEO, off-page SEO, acquiring backlinks, etc.

And our SEO playlist goes more in-depth on each of those strategies.

But one component of SEO that we want to spend some time talking about in particular as its own strategy…

…is the next one on this list of digital marketing for beginners.

6. Content marketing

The Content Marketing Institute says:

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

So, a great example of this is a blog.

If you have a blog, you can provide valuable information to your audience in the form of long-form content without directly selling to them.

So why is this important? Well, you have to think about the nature of our world and today’s buyers.

There is an abundance of information available for consumers to compare you with your competitors and do extensive research on any product or service.

People have the luxury of researching on their own before buying.

So you want to be the one that provides them with the best information and the most value without jumping straight into your sales content.

People don’t want to be “sold to” anymore, and with the amount of info at their fingertips, they don’t have to be.

It goes back to what we talked about earlier.

You need to provide value in the form of tackling their pain points and achieving their goals because this is what people are searching for online.

So the first part of content marketing is to help your audience and draw them into your brand with free, valuable content.

The second part of content marketing is to write with both your audience and Google in mind.

Remember a few minutes ago when we said this strategy would be a component of SEO?

Here’s how.

One of the ranking factors Google looks at for SEO is keyword volume.

This means if someone searches for a “social media management company” and we do not have those words on our website anywhere at all…

…Google is probably not going to rank us for that keyword.

So when you blog, pick a topic that doubles as a highly searched keyword.

You don’t want to just pick topics that sound good to you.

If there is any piece of advice you take away from this post today, it’s to back all of your decision-making up with data and research.

Go back to the keyword research tools we shared earlier to understand what your audience is actually looking for and has questions about.

And then, answer those questions in the form of a blog packed with relevant keywords and information.

If you perform content marketing this way, you’ll kill two birds with one stone, because you’ll be helping your SEO efforts.

While also encouraging your audience further down your marketing funnel with valuable information they want.

7. Email marketing

Digital marketing for beginners wouldn’t be complete without this strategy.

MailChimp defines email marketing as a form of digital marketing…

“that uses email to promote your business’s products or services.

It can help make your customers aware of your latest items or offers by integrating it into your marketing automation efforts.

It can also play a pivotal role in your marketing strategy with lead generation, brand awareness, building relationships or keeping customers engaged between purchases through different types of marketing emails.”

Now we put that full quote in here because it really does sum email marketing up really well.

You can use email marketing to send emails like these:

Now we have a post that goes over what is email marketing in 2021 that you can read next.

But for the sake of this post, we want to stress this out.

Email marketing should be treated as a means to bridge the gap between where your customers are and where you want them to go next in your sales funnel.

It is meant for nurturing your leads and existing customers.

And if you’re doing it right, you should start seeing a good return from it, because for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return is $42!

For instance, we generated over $12K in revenue for one of our clients via email marketing.

Now if you’re reading this thinking, “I don’t have any email subscribers.”

Then you need to back it up with the advertising strategy, and start running some campaigns to gather leads.

Email marketing does not help you acquire email addresses.

Email marketing is for when you already have a list of email addresses that you can then send emails to.

8. Podcasts

In this list of digital marketing for beginners, this one is quite newer than the rest of the tactics here.

SEMrush says, “2021 holds the record for hours spent listening to podcasts with 15 billion hours compared to 12 billion just two years ago.”

So if you’re trying to find the platform where your audience spends most of their time, this might be it!

And before you get discouraged thinking about how much time, effort, and money creating a podcast would be, it doesn’t have to cost so much!

We just started repurposing our YouTube videos in the form of podcasts this year, and just recently hit our 100th episode!

You can use software like BuzzSprout for just a few dollars a month.

You can use this software to mass publish on platforms like:

If you don’t have content that you can repurpose for Podcasts yet…

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…you could also start by reaching out to others who have an existing podcast platform.

And then see if they would be interested in having you on to be interviewed.

Just because you don’t have a huge base of podcast listeners yet doesn’t mean you don’t have value and knowledge to bring to the table.

So that’s another way you could get your start – get featured on other people’s podcasts that are relevant within your field.

How To Know Which Of These Digital Marketing For Beginners Strategies Are Good For My Business?

So those are all good strategies, but which one do you start with first if you don’t have the manpower and time to execute all of them simultaneously?

To answer that, you must first ask yourself these questions:

After you narrow it down, focus your efforts on perfecting a strategy for that one platform and then move on to the next strategy.

Grow Your Business Using This Digital Marketing For Beginners Guide

Digital marketing for beginners is exciting because you’re just barely scratching the surface of the explosive growth your business could see!

Now if you want to see results faster, working with an experienced digital marketing agency could be the answer.

Get in touch with us today at 404-596-7925.