What if you had all the knowledge you needed to master digital marketing? We live in a time where our next customer is just a click away. Digital marketing also known as online marketing isn’t just a fancy word, it’s the lifeblood of modern business and you will learn that in this article. 

 

Digital marketing, also referred to as online marketing, is a form of marketing that uses the internet and digital technologies to promote products and services. It uses the same principle as traditional marketing. In Uganda on average, an individual spends six and a half hours using the internet. As someone who wants to promote their business and services in Uganda, it’s important to take advantage of online marketing platforms like Google ads and meta etc. 

 

To dominate and be successful in your marketing efforts, it’s crucial to have a digital marketing strategy. A digital marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how a business will establish an Internet presence through various online channels with the aim of achieving its marketing goals. 

 

Reasons why online marketing is important in Uganda.

Companies like jumia, jiji and TilyExpress in Uganda are one of the best ecommerce businesses that rely on digital marketing to sell their products to customers. They following are some of the reasons as to why online marketing is important in Uganda:

• Global Reach: Online marketing allows businesses like Jumia to reach a global audience. With a headquarter in Kampala, however they have a reach in other parts of Uganda like Northern, Eastern and Western parts of Uganda.

 

• Cost-Effective: Digital marketing is much more affordable than traditional marketing. For example, all your need to create a social media account is a phone or laptop and access to the internet. This allows businesses to reach a larger audience at a fraction of the cost of TV, radio ads and others.

 

• Target Advertising: Online marketing enables targeting based on location, interests and more. You can decide to only run your campaign in Kampala or any other specific location of your choice. This feature ensures all marketing efforts are directed at the most relevant audience.

 

• Measurable Results: Believe it or not with online marketing, businesses can track and measure the performance of their campaigns in real-time. This information includes Click-through rate, conversion rates and customer engagement. These insights provide valuable insights for optimising strategies. 

 

• Personalization: Digital marketing allows business owners and marketers to personalise their marketing strategies to cater to individual preferences. This assists to build a stronger relation with customers, which increases brand loyalty.

 

• Competitiveness: Currently in Uganda, businesses that do not engage in online marketing are likely to fall behind their competitors. That’s why event companies like Stanbic bank Uganda, Torocement in Tororo, and many others include digital marketing in their strategy so that they can better compete for customers.

 

Types of digital Market

 

Digital marketing covers a wide range of specialisation, each with its own unique approach for engaging with customers through digital platforms. Here are a few examples of the types of online marketing methods you can use in Uganda.

 

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization also referred to as SEO is the practice of optimising a website and its content to rank highly on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and others. SEO is all about increasing the quality and quantity of organic traffic to a website, this is achieved by optimising the website and its content for both search engines and users. The main purpose of SEO is to improve website visibility and ranking on search engines.

When optimising a web page for search engines in Uganda, the following elements are important to consider:

• On-page SEO: This includes optimising content, meta tags, keyword usage and others.

 

• Off-page SEO: These are a set of strategies such as link building and social signals which are used outside of the website to improve it’s ranking. 

 

• Technical SEO: This is more of a behind the scene practice that power your organic traffic acquisition. Such activities include site structure, page load speed and URLs.

 

• Local SEO: What good is a business when customers can’t find it. With local SEO, your business will be more visible in the local search results on Google. This is common for keyword queries like “restaurant near me”.

 

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM is like SEO on drugs, whereas SEO relies on organic traffic to drive traffic to the website, search engine marketing uses paid advertising to help business’ content rank higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). 

When you build a new website in Uganda and don’t have enough domain authority and content to rank on top of SERPs. You can invest in Search Engine Marketing, this is identified by the “sponsor” label next to the URL link.

Key elements of SEM include Pay-Per-Click also known as PPC, Google Ads, Bing Ads, keywords bidding, and ad placement.

Benefits of Search Engine Marketing in Uganda.

• Increase in brand awareness, SEM like Google Search Ads allows business owners to expose their brand name in the ad’s headlines. This greatly increases band visibility.

 

• Increase in website traffic, getting website traffic for your business in Uganda is hard. However when you use Search Engine Marketing as in your digital strategy, there is an increase in website traffic and this is through driving your website to the top page of Search Engine Results Page (SERPs).

 

• SEM also provides an advantaged targeting option which allows you to reach a specific audience like in areas of Kampala only.

 

• Ability to provide measurable results, this is through detailed analytics and reporting.

 

Email Marketing 

Fun fact time: Did you know that the first email was sent in 1971, it was between two different computers on the ARPANET by Ray Tomlinson.

Email marketing is a form of digital marketing where businesses use email to connect with their customers. The purpose of email marketing is to directly communicate with customers through personalised email. 

Benefits of Email marketing in Uganda.

• High ROI: The average ROI for email marketing in 2022 was $35 for every $1 spent. That means for every dollar you spend on your marketing efforts with email marketing, you will see a significant return, which is higher than any other form of marketing.

 

• Maintaining Customer Relationship: Email marketing is very crucial for maintaining customers; this is because it can deliver personalised messages to each customer, which are grouped in a given segment.

 

• Perfect for nurturing leads: Email marketing is a great tool for nurturing leads through the sales channel; this is achieved by sending targeted and relevant content at different stages of the buyer journey.

 

• Highly Personalizable: Email marketing is highly personalizable which means you can tailor and direct your messages based on factors like customer preferences and past interactions. This makes customers feel valued and leads to a higher conversion rate.

 

Pay-Per-Click Ad (PPC) 

Pay-Per-Click commonly known as PPC, is a type of internet marketing which involves advertisers paying a fee each time one of their ads are clicked. This gives business owners and advertisers relief because they know how their budget is being spent.

The most common type of PPC today is search engine advertising, and many businesses use Google Ads for PPC advertising because Google is the most popular search engine which means it has a wide reach and audience. 

Importance of PPC in Uganda 

• Pay-per-click generates immediate results to your website as soon as the campaign is live. Unlike organic searches which take a lot of time to build momentum.

 

• PPC also allows for targeting of specific audiences based on various factors like location, keywords, devices and interest.

 

• With PPC, businesses have full control over their budget. They can choose to set daily or monthly spending limits and later allocate budget based on the performance of the campaign.

 

• PPC helps to increase brand visibility by placing ads at the top of search engines, this is great for new businesses who have little brand visibility.

 

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that relies on working with an influence. An influencer is an individual with a large following; they include people like celebrity, industry experts and content creators. 

Influencer marketing works well for Business 2 Business and Business to Consumer companies. However before you collaborate with an influencer, create out research to make sure their audience is going to be interested in your product. Keep in mind that the wrong influencer can tarnish the image of your business.

 

Key aspects of influencer marketing in Uganda

• Authenticity: Influencers share their genuine option, which makes their endorsements feel more trustworthy.

 

• Target Audiences: When done right, brands reach a relevant and engage audience by collaborating with influencers that have an audience related to their market.

 

• Amplified Reach: With influencer marketing, brands can extend their reach to new audiences hence boosting their awareness and sales..

 

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an online marketing strategy where individuals earn a commission by promoting other people’s businesses. In this model, affiliates promote a company’s product or services through channels like websites, blogs, social media, email marketing and when people buy through their link they get a commission.

 

Benefits of Affiliate Marketing

• There is low risk for businesses; this is because businesses only pay for actual conversions, which can be informed for sales or leads. This makes affiliate marketing a cost effective marketing strategy.

 

• Affiliates can extend a brand’s reach to new audiences through various channels like websites, emails, and blogs.

 

• Businesses can partner with multiple affiliates which make scaling their marketing efforts cost friendly.

 

• Affiliates can earn passive income through promoting products and services to their audience.

 

Native Marketing

Native marketing is a type of digital marketing where the ads match the platform, which they appear making it look and feel like natural content. This is basically digital marketing in disguise. 

Because of this, It is important to label your native ads clearly with words like “sponsored” or “promoted”.  

Key characteristic of Native Marketing

• Seamless Integration: Native Ads are hard to point out without the “promoted” and “sponsored” label. This is because they are designed to match the look and feel of the content near them.

 

• Non-Disruptive: Because native ads blend in with the platform’s content, they don’t interfere with the user’s experience. 

 

•   Higher Engagement Rates: Native ads are more relevant to users and they tend to have a higher engagement rate, this includes more clicks and shares as compared to traditional marketing. 

 

• Variety of Format: Native ads appear in various formats and this includes; sponsored articles on news sites and recommended content widgets.

Native marketing aligns with the user’s natural content consumption habits which makes it highly effective.

How to create a digital marketing strategy

A digital marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how a business will achieve its goals using online channels. 

Set Goals

The marketing goals should be SMART, which means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Whereas there are many goals that you want to achieve, focus on one at a time. 

Know your target audience

Create a comprehensive market research to identify your customers. In the customer persona, include details like demographic, interests, pain points and buying behaviour.

Create a budget

A budget will ensure you aren’t over and under spending. Determine how much you’re going to spend in your digital marketing campaign, also include cost for tools, advertising and content creation.

Select Online Marketing Channel

The digital marketing channel often depends on your marketing goals, audience and budget. Examples of digital marketing channels include content marketing, affiliate marketing and PPC.

Analyse marketing efforts

Once the campaign has been set and running, analyse your data to identify what’s working best and what needs to be optimised. This will allow us to create a better campaign in the future.

 

Key Takeaway

93% of online experiences begin with search engines like Google and Bing. This makes search Engine Optimisation (SEO) highly important in a digital marketing strategy. If your company doesn’t appear in search results? Then how will users find you?