Yesterday, I presented a fun talk at BNI Woking about Growing Your Business with Digital Marketing. It was really good fun. During the presentation, I explained how digital marketing works and how it relates to the buyer’s journey.

Did you know that digital marketing can be used to nurture leads throughout your sales funnel?

The idea is to build trust with the potential customer, by sharing useful and interesting content at every stage.

The buyer's journey consists of 5 stages:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Consideration
• Conversion
• Retention

It's important to use the right type of digital marketing at each point. Because if you sell to people at the wrong part of their journey, you run the risk of irritating them.

Social media builds awareness

For example, social media is designed to be used during the first two stages, because it is chiefly used to build awareness. Lots of businesses I speak to mistake social media as a tool for conversions. It's actually designed to build brand awareness and trust.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) converts leads into customers

Whereas, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) should be used at the conversion stage (stage 4 of the buyer's journey). As, this is the point at which people are most likely to buy. We know this because, potential customers are searching on Google for solutions to their problems.

Digital marketing is essential for every business

Digital marketing is an essential part of every business's arsenal, because these days it can make or break brands. So it's important to consider your marketing content carefully. Ask yourself, what types of content would most appeal to your ideal clients? What would interest them? Put yourself in their shoes. If you're in any doubt, you can always seek advice from a marketing professional.

Towards the end of the digital marketing presentation we had a lively Q&A session, where the members and visitors asked me questions about social listening. I also discussed my arts background and connections to the Princes Trust, the Tate Modern and Facebook.