This Brick Marketing article will discuss the following:
Digital marketing expands your audience beyond existing referral networks.
Digital marketing creates consistent opportunities for ongoing new leads.
Targeted marketing efforts give you control over business growth.
If your business is one where you are able to get referrals to bring in new business, that’s such a great situation to be in! However, and we have seen this many times, the referrals do eventually dry up or at least slow down. What happens to your business then? Clearly, if your referrals need what you’re offering, so will others. The “others” just need to learn about who you are and what you do. This is where digital marketing comes in. It reduces your dependence on these referrals by bringing in new business through your actual marketing. Here’s a look at why this is the case.
Expand Who Learns About Your Business
With referrals, you rely on word of mouth. Digital marketing takes you away from that, thus expanding the amount of people who are exposed to your business. The reason for this is that instead of reaching only those who are in your existing network, you can cast a much wider net and reach a broader audience. As long as this audience is targeted, it stands to reason that you will bring in some new leads through a different pool of people.
This is where having a strong digital marketing strategy can make a big difference. Through channels like SEO, social media, and paid advertising, you can get your business in front of people who might not have found you otherwise.
Improve the Consistency of Your Leads
Referrals, eve when they do come in, aren’t always consistent. Digital marketing, however, can be a bit more consistent, especially if you develop your strategy to be aligned with your sales cycle. This allows you to reach potential customers at different stages of the buying process, whether they are just starting to research their options or are getting ready to make a decision. The idea is to create opportunities for new leads on an ongoing basis, rather than waiting for referrals to come your way.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that your digital marketing will generate the same number of leads every month. There will always be fluctuations based on demand, seasonality, and other factors. However, having an established digital marketing strategy gives you a more reliable foundation for attracting new business. In this way, referrals are still important, but you don’t need to rely on them.
Gives You More Control Over Business Growth
Digital marketing gives you more control over your business growth because you can craft your strategy according to your marketing goals. When you rely on referrals, you don’t necessarily have much control over the types of new business that come your way. This can make it difficult to achieve certain business goals, especially if you’re looking to expand into new markets or grow a particular part of your business.
For example, if you want to attract more customers for a specific service, you can focus your marketing efforts on reaching people who need that service. This allows you to be more deliberate about the opportunities you create, rather than relying on whatever business happens to come your way through referrals.
Digital marketing allows you to control the trajectory of your business a lot more than referrals allow. Both are important to growth, it’s just that digital marketing gives you a level of consistency that referrals simply don’t. They also tend to run out after a period of time. Digital marketing protects against that.
