Is digital marketing a fancy slogan that you should use in your sentence just to sound smart amongst your peers or is it the real deal?
To start with, maybe a better question should be what is it? Before narrowing down to tactics, strategies and other related topics in the digital marketing field.
Digital marketing can be termed as an umbrella phrase for all the online marketing efforts. Online marketing revolves around social media, Google search, and websites where your prospective and current customers interact with you.
Nowadays, offline marketing has lost most of its effectiveness as people spend most of their times online. This has transformed marketing and advertisement as they have migrated to the digital platform. In the real sense, marketing has always been about connecting your prospective customers at the right time and in the right place. And in today’s world, that means meeting them where they are spending most of their time- on the internet. This is now what is called digital marketing.
So, what is the real definition of digital marketing?
A quick and simple search on Google will bring up a crappy definition by Wikipedia; digital marketing is an umbrella term for all your targeted, interactive, and measurable marketing of services and products using…
Aargh!
I know you want a simple definition to help you understand what exactly digital marketing is;
Digital marketing, also known as internet marketing, refers to anything you do online too;
1. Drive people to your website
2. Grab the attention of your audience
3. Convince your prospects to buy your product, subscribe to your email list, or download your app.
There is a broad spectrum of tactics that fall under digital marketing. To be an effective digital marketer you need to have a clear picture of how each tactic supports your ultimate goal of reaching your target audience.
The common tactics of internet marketing include;
1. Search Engine Optimisation
This is the process of optimising your blog and websites to rank higher in search engine result pages so as to boost your organic/free traffic to your website pages. Hiring someone like Topratedsearch – Stockton on Tees SEO Experts can vastly increase your business!
2. Inbound Marketing
This refers to the whole process of guiding prospect customers down the purchase funnel; from attracting, converting, closing the sale, and delighting customers using online content.
3. Content Marketing
This is the creation and promotion of online content for the purpose of ensuring traffic growth, generating brand awareness, lead generation, or attracting potential customers.
4. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
This refers to a method of driving traffic to your pages by paying a marketer or publisher, a certain amount every time a visitor clicks on their ads placed on your site. The most popular PPC is Google AdWords.
This is the practice of promoting your content or brand on social media channels to drive traffic, generate leads for your business, or increase brand awareness.
6. Email Marketing
This has been in existence for quite some time and involves promoting your content, events, and discounts via emails. You can also use it to direct people to your business website.
7. Affiliate marketing
It’s some sought of performance-based marketing where an affiliate marketer receives some commission for promoting and advertising someone else products on their website.
There are many digital marketing tactics, but these are the main ones.
So, Why Does Digital Marketing Matter For Your Business?
Internet marketing gives a business, regardless of its size, access to a large market at lower cost, unlike print or TV marketing. With digital marketing, you can personalise your marketing strategy to reach your targeted audience with ease. Here are more benefits of internet marketing;
– Global reach. With a website or blog, you can find and reach new markets at a global level for a small investment.
– Measurable results. There are loads of web analytics tools that make it easier for you to measure how effective your marketing strategies are. This helps you to channel your time and resources on the most effective strategies.
– Lower cost. A well-thought-out digital marketing campaign can help you reach the right audience at a lower cost as compared to traditional marketing methods.
– Improved conversion rates. With a website, your customers are only a click away from making a purchase. Unlike other marketing methods where people have to go to the shop or make a phone call, digital marketing can be immediate and seamless.
The benefits are plenteous, so there is really no reason you shouldn’t start your digital marketing strategy. Increase your sales and boost your brand awareness by marketing it online.