What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the utilization of the Internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other channels to reach consumers. Some marketing experts consider digital marketing to be an entirely new endeavor that requires a new way of approaching customers and new ways of understanding how customers behave compared to traditional marketing.

Simply put, digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands using electronic devices or the internet. It also includes text messaging, instant messaging, video, apps, podcasts, electronic billboards, digital television and radio channels, etc. Digital marketing uses multiple channels and technologies that allow an organization to analyze campaigns, content and strategy to understand what’s working and what isn’t – typically in real time.

Analyzing Digital Marketing

Digital marketing targets a specific segment of the customer base and is interactive. Digital marketing is on the rise and includes search result ads, email ads, and promoted tweets – anything that incorporates marketing with customer feedback or a two-way interaction between the company and customer.

Internet marketing differs from digital marketing. Internet marketing is advertising that is solely on the Internet, whereas digital marketing can take place through mobile devices, on a subway platform, in a video game, or via a smartphone app.

In the parlance of digital marketing, advertisers are commonly referred to as sources, while members of the targeted ads are commonly called receivers. Sources frequently target highly specific, well-defined receivers. For example, after extending the late-night hours of many of its locations, McDonald’s needed to get the word out. It targeted shift workers and travelers with digital ads because the company knew that these people made up a large segment of its late-night business. McDonald’s encouraged them to download a new Restaurant Finder app, targeting them with ads placed at ATMs and gas stations, as well as on websites that it knew its customers frequented at night.

FORMS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Website Marketing

A website is the centerpiece of all digital marketing activities. Alone, it is a very powerful channel, but it’s also the medium needed to execute a variety of online marketing campaigns. A website should represent a brand, product, and service in a clear and memorable way. It should be fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC advertising enables marketers to reach Internet users on a number of digital platforms through paid ads. Marketers can set up PPC campaigns on Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook and show their ads to people searching for terms related to the products or services. PPC campaigns can segment users based on their demographic characteristics (such as by age or gender), or even target their particular interests or location. The most popular PPC platforms are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Content Marketing

The goal of content marketing is to reach potential customers through the use of content. Content is usually published on a website and then promoted through social media, email marketing, SEO, or even PPC campaigns. The tools of content marketing include blogs, ebooks, online courses, infographics, podcasts, and webinars.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels. Many people confuse email marketing with spam email messages, but that’s not what email marketing is all about. Email marketing is the medium to get in touch with your potential customers or the people interested in your brand. Many digital marketers use all other digital marketing channels to add leads to their email lists and then, through email marketing, they create customer acquisition funnels to turn those leads into customers.

Social Media Marketing

The primary goal of a social media marketing campaign is brand awareness and establishing social trust. As you go deeper into social media marketing, you can use it to get leads or even as a direct sales channel.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing, and the Internet has brought new life to this old standby. With affiliate marketing, influencers promote other people’s products and get a commission every time a sale is made or a lead is introduced. Many well-known companies like Amazon have affiliate programs that pay out millions of dollars per month to websites that sell their products.

Video Marketing

YouTube has become the second most popular search engine and a lot of users are turning to YouTube before they make a buying decision, to learn something, read a review, or just to relax. There are several video marketing platforms, including Facebook Videos, Instagram, or even TikTok to use to run a video marketing campaign. Companies find the most success with video by integrating it with SEO, content marketing, and broader social media marketing campaigns.

SMS Messaging

Companies and nonprofit organizations also use SMS or text messages to send information about their latest promotions or giving opportunities to willing customers. Political candidates running for office also use SMS message campaigns to spread positive information about their own platforms. As technology has advanced, many text-to-give campaigns also allow customers to directly pay or give via a simple text message.

BENEFITS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

One of the greatest benefits of digital marketing is that it allows you to target your ideal buyers.

When you purchase billboard space or place an ad in a magazine, you’re taking a shot in the dark that this messaging will reach its intended audience. Though there are certainly ways to increase your chances of success with traditional marketing tactics, it just doesn’t offer the same targeting capabilities as digital marketing.

With digital marketing, you can ensure that the right consumers are viewing your content. SEO allows you to reach those consumers who are searching the web for content and topics that are relevant to your business. While pay-per-click, display, and social media advertising enables you to target those who are most likely to be interested in your products or services based on demographic information and general characteristics.

Measurable results

There is no effective way to measure home many people looked at your billboard or how many people looked at your flyer instead of recycling it. With digital marketing, you are provided with solid, reliable reports that show you the exact results of how many people opened your email or clicked a specific link, for example.

Flexible

Consumers today are looking for a more custom and personalized customer journey that simply is not possible with traditional marketing, which is generic by nature. Digital marketing allows you to use an individual’s interests and preferences to tailor the marketing message they receive. Personalization may just be the biggest asset of digital and online marketing.

Low barrier to entry

Traditional marketing activities come with a large price tag. Billboards, TV ads, and radio commercials are certainly not cheap. Digital marketing products come in scalable sizes so that small, medium, and large businesses can all utilize these products to reach their audiences.

Reach larger audiences

Since digital marketing takes place online, it is accessible to a larger, global audience. Whereas with traditional marketing, you’re typically limited to a geographic area, digital marketing allows you to reach international audiences through effective means.

Easy to optimize

Since digital marketing comes with reporting, if you see something that is not performing as well as you’d like, it’s easy to pinpoint it and change it. You can even try several different things, measure which one worked best, and select that option as the main tactic moving forward.

Improved conversion rates

Converting a customer online is just a few clicks away. Instead of a customer having to pick up the phone or get in their car and drive down to a shop, they can click from your email to your website and make a purchase or learn more about your organization from the comfort of their home. Get started on your digital marketing strategy by utilizing marketing automation to start reaching customers online now. From email and SMS, to online forms and social media, all of it can be done from with determination.

Associated Digital Marketing Challenges

Digital marketing poses special challenges for its purveyors. Digital channels are proliferating rapidly, and digital marketers have to keep up with how these channels work, how they’re used by receivers, and how to use these channels to effectively market their products or services. In addition, it’s becoming more difficult to capture receivers’ attention, because receivers are increasingly inundated with competing ads. Digital marketers also find it challenging to analyze the vast troves of data they capture and then exploit this information in new marketing efforts.

The challenge of capturing and using data effectively highlights that digital marketing requires an approach to marketing based on a deep understanding of consumer behavior. For example, it may require a company to analyze new forms of consumer behavior, such as using website heatmaps to learn more about the customer journey.

Drop your comment.