Digital Marketing – What Really Works?

It’s time we talked about online marketing.
Today, many seem to believe that you can simply take a print ad, digitize it, and end up with something that qualifies as digital marketing. But this approach is incredibly costly — and not particularly effective. That’s why I strongly advise anyone aiming to get the most out of their marketing efforts to consider a different model altogether.

In online marketing, email, pay-per-click (PPC), and SEO have long been considered the “holy trinity.” This trio has consistently been the driving force behind consumer conversions. Other marketing methods simply haven’t delivered results at the same level. That said, in this article, I also want to highlight two additional channels: social media advertising and affiliate marketing.

Even though the study I’m referencing is a few years old — and the landscape has evolved somewhat — I believe the findings still hold value. They show that SEO, PPC, and email remain the most effective strategies in terms of driving revenue. These three channels outperform others by a wide margin when it comes to return on investment.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should ignore your other marketing efforts. But what it does suggest is that — for the sake of profitability — you should ensure that your email marketing, PPC, and SEO are in good shape before moving on to other tactics.

What I really want to emphasize is this: it’s worth investing in a solid foundation before scaling your marketing strategy.

SEO – The Organic Results

According to the study mentioned earlier, it’s clear that organic results consistently generate the most purchases — even though paid placements like Ads are gaining ground. Today, SEO is comparable to putting on clean underwear: it’s not an extra investment, it’s a basic necessity. I’d even go as far as to say that if your SEO isn’t working, your online marketing isn’t working either.

What is SEO?

So, what exactly is SEO? The acronym stands for Search Engine Optimization, which refers to the process of improving a website’s visibility in the “organic” or unpaid search results — the listings that appear below the ads (typically the top three are marked as sponsored). In other words, you can’t pay a search engine to rank higher in these results; you have to earn your position.

Being visible in the organic results includes ranking for your products and product categories. If someone searches for “Fjällräven shell jacket” or simply “jacket,” and you sell those products, of course you want your store to appear in the search results. Organic visibility also includes ranking for your own brand names, as well as protecting your ongoing campaigns.

For example, if you’re running a TV commercial with a quirky slogan like “Come and Get a Quirky Slogan,” then you absolutely need to be visible in organic search results for that phrase as well. If you’re not, there’s a serious risk your competitors will scoop up the customers you just paid to reach with your campaign. In short: you’ve wasted your marketing budget while helping strengthen your competition. Not ideal, right?

SEM – The Paid Results

SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, almost always refers to Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords. Google Ads includes several components — you can advertise not only on Google’s search results but also on YouTube and on websites outside of Google via the Google Display Network. However, here we are focusing solely on the ads that appear in Google’s search results.

What is SEM?

By the definition we use at Brath, SEM means paying a search engine for clicks on your ads. Google Ads is the largest marketplace for this type of advertising, where keywords are constantly auctioned. Your bid consists of both the amount of money you’re willing to pay and the relevance of your ad. These two factors are multiplied, and if your combined score beats your competitors’, your ad will appear at the top of the search results.

SEM is an art that requires finesse, from crafting ad copy to setting bids strategically. Since you pay per click, you must continually optimize these elements to prevent your competitors from eroding your profit margins.

Later in this article, you’ll also find more information about other types of pay-per-click advertising.

Email – The First Form of Digital Marketing?

Email marketing is an incredibly powerful and cost-effective method for activating and reactivating customers. However, it is important to emphasize the clear distinction between sending emails to people who have not requested them versus those who have. Although these may seem similar, it’s the latter that we are referring to here.

What is Email Marketing?

The most common form of email marketing is the newsletter. In a newsletter, you share news, discounts, or similar content. The method is based on building a follower base that actually wants to receive your messages. For marketers, this is partly about retention — keeping customers engaged — but also about generating additional revenue.

Another email marketing approach involves automation. Much of what we call marketing automation today is based on email, though there are other forms as well. One example is abandoned cart emails, which, as the name suggests, are sent to people who have added items to their shopping cart but didn’t complete the purchase. Another strategy is to attract people — for example, into a newsletter — by offering reports, courses, discount codes, or similar incentives via email. Our SEO School is an example of a fully automated email sequence.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing quickly became a major digital marketing method and was, alongside email, one of the earliest forms of online marketing. Today, affiliate marketing is extremely effective in some segments but doesn’t work well at all in others — at least not without a huge effort.

If you want to invest in affiliate marketing, it should be in areas where there are already skilled affiliates to make it worthwhile. However, this method also comes with challenges. One difficulty is that by creating an affiliate market in your segment, you are also creating competition within both SEO and SEM. These strategies are often the main acquisition channels for affiliates. Skilled affiliates know they can demand a commission, which can shrink your profit margins — in some cases, margins may even turn negative.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing means paying webmasters to drive visitors and sales to your site. Payment is usually per click, per customer, or similar. You can either use your own system or join one of the major affiliate networks that connect advertisers with publishers.

Advertising on Social Media

If you remember the social media marketing boom a few years ago, you might also recall the skepticism about its effectiveness. Nowadays, parts of social media marketing do deliver results and can be profitable — not just as exceptions. Focusing on paid ads, these platforms have improved drastically, making them far more effective. Facebook is a prime example: they’ve shifted towards conversion-focused metrics, rather than the previously popular reach metric. This shift has made social media ads a fast-growing method for online marketing.

What is Social Media Advertising?

Social media advertising took off in earnest when Facebook enabled a good return on investment (ROI) for ads while simultaneously limiting organic reach for business pages. A clear example is that if you share a post from your business page, only a fraction of the previous audience will now see it in their feed.

One effective form of social media advertising is targeted ads. By crafting the right offer for your audience and working agilely with images and messaging, you can create highly efficient and profitable campaigns.

Read more about social media advertising.

För att summera denna artikel så är mina rekommendationer att få ordning på den heliga treenigheten först: SEO, SEM och email. När du fixat detta kan du gå på mindre lönsamma, eller åtminstone mindre kritiska, modeller. I min erfarenhet så finns det en stor risk att du tappar många av kunderna på vägen om du inte följer denna ordning. Sedan är det nog ingen slump att autocorrect vill rätta “printannons” till “springnota” varje gång jag skrivit det under artikelns gång. Kanske är det WordPress sätt att säga att du blir av med lunchen samtidigt som du sedan står utan betalning för maten.