11 digital marketing strategy ideas to boost business in 2024

Digital marketing is the cornerstone of marketing in the 21st century. As social media evolves, search engines become smarter, and the internet becomes more integrated into our daily lives, it is crucial for businesses to stay on top of the hottest digital marketing trends.

“Marketing is largely a digital field,” expressed Natalia Kuvelas, Marketing Manager of Custom Goods. “Consistent social media engagement, a functional and optimized website, and targeted ads are the key to making your business known in the digital age.”

With 2024 underway, here is a review of the digital marketing strategies that have been on the rise, with all signs pointing toward continual success.

Social media is a hub for discovery and relationship building in the digital age. Many people check social media daily, if not multiple times a day. Posting consistently on social media allows your business to be recognized and remembered by your audience. 

“Social media is at the center of any strong marketing strategy,” explained Ryan Rottman, Co-Founder and CEO of OSDB. “Posting consistent, engaging content is necessary to build brand recognition and a positive reputation.” 

When you post consistently, consumers are able to engage with your business frequently. That way, when it’s time to shop, they think of your business before your competitors.

Trust is essential to a strong marketing strategy. Your customers need to trust the legitimacy and quality of your business in order to engage consistently with what you offer. Partnering with content creators helps your business establish trust with an audience who may have not heard of your business before. 

“Content creators are your key to building trust and reputability on social media,” offered Maggie Brown, Founder and CEO of Recess Pickleball. “They already have an established relationship with their audience. When they endorse your business, their audience can build your business into that relationship.”

Beyond just extending the reach of your marketing campaign, partnering with content creators helps your business build a strong network of reliable and consistent customers.

Simply posting photos of your product or flashy infographics isn’t enough to bring consistent traffic to your profiles. Make sure your content is engaging for your audience and brings value to their feed so that you stand out among the crowd. 

“Content that poses a question or has a direct call to action tends to get the most traction,” Greg Hannley, Founder and CEO of Soba Texas expressed. “Engaging content catches better in the algorithm, which means your content will not only get more interaction from your audience, but it will also be pushed out to more people.”

Before you post on your business’s social media pages, consider asking yourself, is this content engaging, educational, or exciting? Does this post bring value to my audience? If you answer yes, then you’re on the right track to building a captivating online presence for your brand!

Social shopping pages are digital storefronts integrated into social media platforms. Social shopping is seeing a huge rise in popularity, as it allows a streamlined process for discovering and purchasing a product all in one place. 

“The nature of social commerce impacts shopping behaviors and product discovery,” Rachel Autumn Lee, co-founder of Prism Bags, told Forbes in 2022. “The seamless and single path to purchase from a social media app allows for quicker purchases and easier sharing of new products between friends.” 

Set up a social shopping page to help boost your product to a wider spread audience while building an easier shopping process for your customers.

Your website is the heart of your business’s online presence. It is the reference point for the rest of your digital marketing, so it’s important that your website is set up to run quickly and easily. 

“Your business website is one of the strongest selling points for your credibility and professionalism,” explained Max Schwartzapfel, CMO of Schwartzapfel Lawyers. “A fast, easy-to-use, and beautiful website says ‘I care about customer experience’ and is an effective way to demonstrate your aesthetic strengths.”

Consider running an audit on your website to make sure there are no broken links or bulky files that slow or interrupt the customer experience. A streamlined and intuitive experience on your website can be key to bringing in customer engagement.

Your brand identity is the elements that identify and distinguish your brand in the consumer’s mind. It’s important to develop a consistent and clear identity across platforms, so customers can recognize your business easily. 

“Consistency is key to building a strong and recognizable brand identity,” said Andrew Chen, Chief Product Officer of CommentSold, a company that helps brands expand their reach with Shopify live selling. “Your business should have a clear visual identity, tone of voice, and general aesthetic that is uniquely yours.” 

Taking the time to build a consistent and thorough brand identity can really help build brand recognition. With a loud and busy digital space, it’s important to make your business stand out with an eye-catching and clear brand identity.

Search engine optimization brings organic search traffic to your website. You can optimize your website for search engines by using relevant keywords on your page, creating intuitive URLs, and having an easy-to-use navigation system.

In a 2022 Forbes article, Geoff Crain, the senior director of sales and marketing at Kingstar Media, stated, “Creating and maintaining a strong SEO strategy can help ensure that a brand is being seen by the right audiences, and it’s a cost-effective method to drive traffic, leads, and sales.”

SEO is a key component of any successful marketing strategy. Ranking on Google or other search engines for a relevant search query can bring in a new set of consumers looking for what you offer. Plus, it’s a free marketing tool that can be extremely effective.

Shoppers who abandon their carts are great leads for future engagement. They have already shown interest in your business by filling a cart and could be incentivized to return with a little nudge. 

“An abandoned cart is lead gold. A shopper who finds your website, searches through your products and services, and builds a cart is highly likely to return to your business, even if they didn’t go through with the purchase right away,” explained Roman Peysakhovich, CEO of Cleango, a company known for their commercial cleaning services.

Retarget shoppers who abandoned their carts with direct emails or personalized messages asking them to come back. Consider offering small deals to bring these customers back around to your business.

Reviewing the numbers around consumer behavior and engagement is an often-forgotten part of marketing. However, understanding your consumers is key to building a successful marketing strategy — and you can’t understand your consumers without analyzing the data you have at hand. 

“It’s crucial to understand your target audience, what they want, and how they find it,” Amanda Howland, Co-Founder of ElleVet Sciences shared. “Taking the time to analyze consumer behavior and trends in engagement will allow you to fine-tune a targeted and effective marketing strategy.” 

Consider reviewing your analytics data, like the keywords you’re ranking for and the most popular pages on your website, to better understand your target audience.

Targeted ads are personalized ads based on consumer behavior. They allow you to personalize your ads for the unique patterns and interests of each individual consumer.

“Every person has a unique set of interests and needs. Targeted ads help you create a personalized marketing strategy that focuses on what your business offers that the consumer actually wants,” stated Asker Ahmed, Director of iProcess Global Research.

Targeted ads allow the consumer to feel seen and help them better understand how your business fits into their lives. A consumer who frequently watches and engages with videos of cats, for example, may be more likely to engage in your pet supply business through a targeted ad with a photo of a cat than a generic ad with another pet.

While much of marketing is focused on bringing in new customers, it is also important to engage with and acknowledge the customers who are already shopping with your business. Sending updates and exclusive offers to your regular audience through email can be a useful marketing tool to build a returning customer base. 

“Enticing your audience with exclusive savings and opportunities delivered directly to their inbox is a powerful strategy,” said Cody Candee, Founder and CEO of Bounce. “It not only enhances brand recognition but also motivates repeat customers, creating a sense of value for those who have purchased from you before.” 

You can show your return customers how much you value them by reaching out to them directly with special offerings and updates.

A strong marketing strategy is key to bringing in business. With these tips and tools, you will be better able to stand out among the crowd and boost your business online! Consider fine-tuning your digital marketing strategy this year to see new engagement and opportunities for your business.