What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is the use 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 endeavour that requires a new way of approaching customers and new ways of understanding how customers behave compared to traditional marketing.
Key Takeaways
- Digital marketing is the use of the Internet to reach consumers.
- Digital marketing is a broad field, including attracting customers via email, content marketing, search platforms, social media, and more.
Understanding 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.
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.
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 travellers 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.
Digital Marketing Channels
Website Marketing
A website is the centrepiece 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.
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 behaviour. For example, it may require a company to analyze new forms of consumer behaviour, such as using website heatmaps to learn more about the customer journey.
Source:investopedia
