What is the scope of digital marketing in 2023?

 

digital marketing scope in 2022

 

Over the last few years, I've had numerous conversations with small businesses and startup founders about what percentage of their revenue comes from digital marketing. It's usually somewhere around 10%, if not less. So that's why I was so shocked to see a report published earlier this week that paints a much different picture.

 

In fact, in the market research firm Gartner's view, businesses without a website are becoming obsolete. Gartner believes that by 2022, no small business or startup will survive without a website.

 

They claim that "even when they are priced lower, small websites can't match the depth of discovery that customers expect when using a desktop search." And that's because as the Internet has grown in popularity, it's become increasingly difficult to establish and maintain a website without a professional web designer or developer.

 

I do agree with Gartner that having a website with a search-engine-optimized design and comprehensive content can attract customers. I was an avid digital marketing strategist before I started my company. But I also believe that website design is not a silver bullet. In fact, websites that don't work can cost your business dearly. If they're inefficient, hard to navigate, and don't have the resources to support the traffic they are attracting, they'll cost you customers and, in some cases, even entire customers.

 

That being said, I also see some validity in Gartner's opinion. Businesses with strong brand names and large advertising budgets can afford to invest in a professional website design. In order to compete in the digital marketing world, you have to have a robust marketing strategy to begin with, so creating a well-thought-out website isn't always the best first step.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that most entrepreneurs have seen this as a primary marketing strategy. And it shows. The majority of business owners don't consider digital marketing a significant part of their marketing. In fact, fewer than 20% of small businesses currently have a digital marketing plan.

 

The reasons for this are clear. There is a false sense of security that comes with keeping marketing campaigns offline. In the past, the majority of businesses had little to no digital presence, and that's not something most business owners want to admit. Many feel they are doing enough digital marketing without needing to spend money on a website.

 

There's also an unfortunate feeling that an online presence will hurt their business. Online reviews can help you stand out from the crowd. But you can't ignore the negative comments that can negatively impact your overall reputation. Similarly, your website can't compete with the sheer amount of information that's readily available on Google and other search engines. For example, your website can't match the depth of discovery that customers expect when using a desktop search.

 

These perceptions can keep most businesses from investing in an online marketing strategy. They don't see the merit in taking the time to focus on digital marketing.

 

But this fear of online marketing isn't just limited to small business owners. Internet marketers aren't getting the message either. Many companies are afraid to invest in search engine optimization or they're scared to devote any money to digital marketing. According to a study published in 2013 by Appetite for Change, nearly 80% of Internet marketers don't believe in the value of online marketing. In the same survey, 66% of the marketers said that their company spends too little on online marketing.

 

Obviously, most Internet marketers are wrong about this. The first piece of research I'm going to point out in this article is the correlation between website design and success.

 

As I have explained in previous articles, customers have a limited attention span. Unless a site is designed to make it easy for customers to quickly find relevant content, it won't attract much attention from them. Many people spend as little as 0.04 seconds searching for the information that will help them solve a problem. However, we have no such expectation from websites. They have become as adept at hiding content as they are at offering it to customers.

 

You can see the problem when you compare the amount of time it takes to load a website to the number of time customers spend browsing through it. While loading a website takes 1.5 seconds on average, the average customer spends just .09 seconds on a website. While that's 0.09 seconds short of the length of a fast-moving tornado, it's still significantly less time than we expect from websites. Even worse, customers have a very low level of patience for slow websites, especially those with graphics that slow down the page.

 

When you consider that customers are often shopping for a specific product or researching a particular company, website performance becomes even more important. The website will determine how well a customer finds the information he or she needs, and it will determine the odds of success. If a company spends more time and money creating a beautiful website, the chance of an average customer visiting that website will go up. But if the company keeps their online product or service information buried on their site, customers will forget about it in favor of finding the information they need more quickly.

 

So if website design matters, why isn't everyone running to their favorite digital marketing tools? To answer that question, consider the studies conducted by multiple agencies.

 

The most recent survey conducted by Gartner placed traffic to your website as the number one consideration for company leaders when considering what to do with digital marketing dollars. This makes sense because traffic is what customers do on your website. Therefore, an increase in traffic is an easy way to attract new customers and increase profits.