Some 313 million people or 95% of the population in the US spend time buying, researching and browsing online, and now that we are in a global pandemic that hinders many in person purchases, that number is likely even greater. Therefore, this is a huge demographic to reach if you are a business operating in today’s digital society. Thankfully, digital marketing allows you to get in front of these technologically minded customers who use the internet as a tool, reaching them at different stages of the buying cycle. Therefore, it’s vitally important to include digital marketing in your 2021 marketing budget. Read on to learn more:

Buying Habits Have Changed

Let’s face it, buying a product looks different these days than it used to in years past. In the past, buyers would roam the aisles of a store, visiting several, perhaps to compare products. They would spend hours if not days visiting various locations, speaking to sales people and asking friends and family for suggestions. Now, according to stats, most buyers, some 87%, begin the shopping process online. The digital sphere is where they spend their time researching products, looking at reviews, comparing prices and more. 

Don’t Get Behind Your Competitors

Most companies are spending nearly half their marketing budgets on digital strategies. This online marketing budget increase is expected to accelerate from where it was in 2019 at 42% to around 45% in 2020.  You don’t want to get left behind with regard to your competitors and how they are allocating various elements in their marketing budgets. In other words, if you are spending nothing on digital marketing and they are spending half their budget on it, which company do you think will have a healthier digital presence? Exactly, so don’t get left behind by neglecting digital marketing. In addition, digital marketing can give you more bang for your buck, allowing you more exposure to your customers or audience at a lower overall cost than traditional media.

Most People Check Out Physical Stores, Online Before Visiting

Even if your business is a brick-and-mortar small business, digital marketing can still be beneficial. This is because research indicates that between 70% and 80% of all shoppers will research a company online before visiting them in person or making a purchase with them online. If you don’t have a digital presence for your small business, you can lose revenue from those 80% of individuals who prefer online researching before purchasing a product. 

How Digital and Radio Work Together

Radio and digital complement one another in the way they reach audiences, deliver your message, and generate results. When you consider that the path to purchase is now highly fragmented, you’ll realize that it takes more than one method to reach your audience at key moments in their research and consideration phases, and to be there at their moment of decision.

It's also helpful to not only hear a message, but to see it as well. 

It Helps You Generate Quality Leads

Generating leads is a common issue among businesses today. In fact, some 63% of all businesses claim lead generating is their biggest marketing challenge. Thankfully, digital marketing is a great lead generator. What’s more, it allows you to track those leads you generate, meaning you can track who sees ads, an individuals’ clicks and conversions and whether they requested a quote, filled out a contact us form, signed up for emails, etc. This is vitally important for today’s businesses. It’s not only important to create a lead but to be able to track said lead.

Your Next Step

The world is changing, especially now that in person shopping is severely limited if not entirely prohibited. As a business in today’s society, you must utilize digital marketing. This category should take up at least a good portion of your marketing budget going into 2021. You don’t want to get left behind in terms of your competition; you understand that most people do use the internet to research purchases or to look over a store before visiting and you get that these facts aren’t going to change anytime soon. Therefore, it’s time for you to create a new marketing budget for 2021 with a healthy amount of digital focus. Contact us at Zimmer Communications to learn more about how we can help you optimize your digital strategies for next year’s marketing budget.