Digital marketing is rapidly replacing traditional forms of marketing. It has changed how businesses market their products and services. Over the past 3 decades, the internet has completely modified the playing field.
That means, companies have to adjust their strategies so that they can reach their customers more effectively. For businesses to succeed in the digital age, they must include digital marketing professionals as part of their teams.
A well-trained digital marketing professional must understand the different ways to market digitally so they can be in a better position to promote a company’s products and services. Digital marketing is different from traditional marketing and it comes in various forms.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing is the use of electronic devices to convey promotional messages and measure their impact. A great example is the advertising campaigns that often appear on your computer, phone, tablet, or other devices.
Let’s define it further:
Mail Chimp defines Digital marketing as
The promotion of brands to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel.”
According to Hubspot,
Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with current and prospective customers.”
Neil Patel describes it as
The act of selling products and services through channels such as social media, SEO, email, and mobile apps. Basically, digital marketing is any form of marketing that involves electronic devices. It can be done online and offline, and in fact, both kinds are important for a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.
Western Governor’s University, reports that “as technology shifts, TV advertisements change and adapt in response. Today’s consumer is very different from customers of the past. Previous TV marketing tactics relied on making sure that the consumer knew they were watching an ad, being concise about the product name, and explaining, sometimes in detail, exactly what a product could do.
Television ads in previous years were longer, and often less of a production. TV ads were simpler and shot locally by advertising agencies. But as recently as 2010, television trends have seen advertisers buy even shorter ads, and pay much more for space. As technology shifts, consumers are becoming more demanding and impatient.”
They want advertisers to get to the point faster. Similarly, the channels that consumers watch and listen to advertisements have shifted to digital platforms such as social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and LinkedIn) media sharing platforms (YouTube, Podcasts and Spotify), knowledge platforms like(Blogs and Quora)
Many confuse digital and online marketing, do you know the difference?
Is Digital Marketing Similar to Online Marketing?
There is a slight difference between digital and online marketing. Online marketing is merely a subgroup of digital marketing that involves conveying content through the internet. According to TNMedia, online marketing is
…any tool, strategy or method of getting the company name out to the public. The advertisements can take many different forms and some strategies focus on subtle messages rather than clear-cut advertisements.
If you own a business, online marketing can boost your presence and help you grow your audiences on the web. But online marketing is not without its challenges – it’s often cramped and cut-throat. A business that wants to succeed in online marketing must conduct in-depth research of its target audience and competitors and identify its key selling points.
In contrast, digital marketing is an umbrella term for marketing activities that take advantage of digital channels. This includes online marketing, Web TV and SMS.
Essentially, digital marketing refers to channels that have their roots in digital while online marketing is limited to what happens on the web.
What Are Some Types of Digital Marketing?
Here are some main types of Digital Marketing you should know:
Content Marketing
Content marketing entails creating, publishing, distributing, and measuring content such as videos, blogs, social media posts, ebooks, infographics, and podcasts for a targeted online audience. This type of marketing is intended to create interest in a brand’s products or services.
How does content marketing work?
Content marketing is all about creating telling great stories. For you to thrive in content marketing, you should have basic skills in data analysis, SEO optimization, writing, and social media management. Content marketing:
- Demonstrates expertise
- Attracts prospective customers
- Promotes brand awareness
- Keeps businesses top of mind
Effective content marketing requires you to convey the right content at every stage of the sales cycle. Statistics show the efficiency of content marketing:
- 94% of content marketers adopt the use of social media as a distribution channel for their content.
- 61% of marketers rated enhancing “their ability to measure and analyze their marketing impact” as a principal priority.
- 56% of businesses stated that they want to inflate their content creation expenditure.
Search Engine Optimization:
SEO is one of the most fundamental types of digital marketing. Content creators use it to get standard traffic from free, organic search results on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
When used correctly, SEO can improve your search engine rankings. By optimizing your content for search engines, you can rise to a stable stream of relevant traffic that will only increase over time. Without search engine optimization, people simply cannot find you on the internet.
Why is SEO important?
Driving traffic to your social media platforms especially your landing pages is the first and undeniably the most crucial step in connecting with your audience. If you want to thrive in digital marketing, you must build your expertise in SEO. By utilizing keywords and search terms that potential clients use in search engines, you can boost your discoverability.
Relevant, specific and easy to understand keywords will help your customers discover your company, product, or service.
Search Engine Marketing:
Just like SEO, Search Engine Marketing increases the visibility of a website on search engine results pages. This type of marketing is sometimes referred to as paid search or pay-per-click. Paid search results often have the little sign “Ad” at the beginning of the URL and Google prioritizes these pages first in the search results.
Why is search engine marketing important?
SEM’s main goal is to boost a website’s visibility using paid search, advertising, and organic search rankings. SEM is simply a wider concept that includes both Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click.
If a website is properly optimized it can organically drive traffic through search results. However, SEM involves taking advantage of all the marketing tools in search engines which includes the paid ad results that appear at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) By increasing your online presence, you get to improve your brand awareness which translates to an increase in online leads and sales.
Email Marketing:
Email marketing allows you to dispatch promotional messages to potential and existing customers. Subscribers can get information on new products, discounts, or services. Using email, you can educate your audience about your brand and keep them engaged between purchases.
Why is email marketing important?
Email Marketing is much cheaper compared to other marketing channels which often require shooting videos, paying for expensive editing software, ads and so on. The only investment you need is an automated email marketing tool that can send, track and analyze your correspondence.
Even digital marketing beginners can get started easily since it doesn’t require jargon – just a few industry-related terms (open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates etc.)
Social Media Marketing:
Social media marketing uses social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. All businesses of all types and sizes can gain followers and customers. Through captions and multimedia content a business can drive engagement and promote its brand.
Why is social media marketing important?
By creating social media profiles for your business you get to raise awareness and increase your brand’s visibility. Social media is better than traditional marketing because it’s mostly free.
It gets your brand noticed more quickly. A well-executed social media campaign will have people talking about your brand and the services you offer in no time. And you can get instant feedback from consumers online through social listening.
Influencer Marketing:
You’ve probably bought a product or service after an influencer endorsed it on their timeline. This is called influencer marketing or affiliate marketing.
It entails endorsements and product placement by influencers or people and organizations that possess expertise or social influence in their field. These marketers are well compensated for boosting awareness of their products and services.
Advantages of influencer marketing:
Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to build your brand online and create awareness among your target audience. Influencers have already built trust and established relationships with their followers.
Partnering with them increases brand awareness, drives traffic and generates new leads for your business.
Connected TV Advertising Versus OTT Advertising:
Over-the-top (OTT) and Connected TV (CTV) devices are two very prevalent mediums of accessing TV/video content, but they are often confused for one another. An article by Oracle defines a connected TV as,
A device that is embedded in a TV to support video content streaming, for instance: Xbox, PlayStation, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV. Over-the-top is the delivery of TV/video content directly from the internet. Users don’t have to subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite provider to access this content; they can watch this content on various devices like tablets, phones, laptops/desktops, TV etc. ”
Advantages of CTV and OTT advertising
CTV and OTT advertising both provide superior targeting and reach capabilities. Advertisers can target consumers based on location, interest, lifestyle and internet browsing habits.
Ad formats provided by CTV and OTT are more innovative and engaging which increases the likelihood of their target audience watching instead of flipping channels.
Along with targeting options, CTV and OTT provide a more accurate way to track and measure campaign results compared to linear TVs such as cable, satellite, and antenna.
As the viewership for OTT and CTV continues to grow, businesses will find better ways to engage with the right target audience and at the right moments.
Is Pursuing Digital Marketing Worth it?
A digital marketing course is a quick way to upskill and become more adept in the field. There is a vast growth in how digital marketing budgets have increased over the years, making it the most successful form of marketing that’s even been discovered. So you can be sure that digital marketing is a good career choice.
Getting Started in Digital Marketing
First, create an online portfolio where potential clients can find you. Because digital marketing is constantly evolving, you must keep abreast of the latest trends. Reading blogs, attending seminars, masterclasses and enlisting for short courses will enable you to stay on top of your game. The good news is, all the information you need is online and readily available for you!
Networking is also a key skill that will get you ready for the digital marketing world. Go out there, meet new people and learn the different tactics they use. You could also pitch your ideas and who knows, you may get a potential lead on a new job!
ADMI’s Digital Marketing course is ideal for anyone involved in the planning, implementation or measurement of digital strategies.
Through dynamic lectures, case studies and group discussions, you will gain exposure to the latest methods, techniques, and tools to improve your organization’s digital marketing and brand-building efforts. Join the next class here.
