Get the complete overview of what DIGITAL MARKETING actually is, here in this blog..
So, let's get started and understand what Digital Marketing actually is..
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, is the process of promoting brands online to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes search engine marketing (SEM), Search engine optimization(SEO), email marketing, social media marketing, web-based advertising, etc., apart from text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel.
Digital marketing utilizes a wide variety of marketing tactics, tools and technologies to reach consumers/users online. As a form of online marketing, it provides companies/organizations with plethora of opportunities to establish their brand identity and brand awareness and has truly revolutionized the marketing industry in the recent years especially after COVID-19.
Now, that we understand what digital marketing is , let us now see what are the different ways in which digital marketing helps a company to growand establish themselves in today's marketing and business era.
Types of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing can be broadly classified into 8 main branches: 1.Search Engine Optimization, 2.Pay-per-Click, 3.Social Media Marketing, 4.Content Marketing, 5.Email Marketing, 6.Mobile Marketing, 7.Marketing Analytics and 8.Affiliate Marketing .
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The goal of SEO is to make a business website's webpages to rank as higher as possible in Google search results (SERPS), ultimately increasing organic search engine traffic to the business’s website. To accomplish this, SEO marketers research words and phrases consumers are using to search for information online, and use those terms in their own content. According to leading SEO software company Moz's "Beginners Guide to SEO," SEO encompasses many elements, from the words on your web pages to the way other sites link to you on the web to how your website is structured. An SEO specialist can make around 70,999, according to Salary.com.
So, what are some things that can improve a site’s SEO? It’s important to understand that one of the things that makes SEO challenging is that the answer to this question always depends on search engines and their most current algorithm. Keeping that in mind, here are a few of the most important things for SEO strategists and marketers in general to understand about how SEO works today, from Moz's "Beginners Guide to SEO":
- Content indexing – It is important to allow search engines to clearly “read” what your site content is, by doing things like adding alt text for images and text transcripts for video and audio content.
- Good link structure – It is important that search engines can “crawl” your site structure to easily find all the content on your site. There are many things that an SEO specialist can do to properly format links, URLs, and sitemaps to make them most accessible to site crawlers.
- Keywords and keyword targeting – Properly deploying your keywords – i.e. the search terms you want your site to be found for—in your content and headers is one of the fundamental building blocks of SEO. It is no longer good practice to “stuff” your content with as many keywords and keyword variations as possible. Writing high-quality content that uses keywords in the headers and a few times in the crawl-able page content is now considered better practice, and will make pages rank better in search results.
2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click refers to paid advertisements and promoted search engine results. This is a short-term form of digital marketing, meaning that once you are no longer paying, the ad no longer exists. Like SEO, PPC is a way to increase search traffic to a business online.
Pay-per-click can refer to the advertisements you see at the top and sides of a page of search results, the ads you see while browsing the web, ads before YouTube videos and in ads in mobile apps.
One of the other things that differentiate pay-per-click from SEO is that you only pay for the results. In a typical PPC model like a Google AdWords campaign, you will pay only when someone clicks on your ad and lands on your website. You can spend just about any amount of money on pay-per-click advertising. Some companies may see results from investing just a few hundred dollars, but plenty of large companies spend tens of thousands a month on pay-per-click.
How much it costs to run an ad or promote your search results will depend primarily on how much competition there is for your keywords. High competition keywords (i.e. keywords that many people are searching for and that many sites are trying to be found for) will be more expensive and lower competition terms will likely cost less.
When you set up a pay-per-click campaign, you will also be able to choose whether you want your ad or promoted results to be shown to users all over the world, or only within a specific geographic area. If you are marketing a brick-and-mortar business, this ability to tailor by location helps you not waste ad dollars serving ads to users who don’t live anywhere near your business, according to Google
3. Social Media Marketing
This includes everything a business does via social media channels. Just about everyone is familiar with social media, but marketers must approach social with an integrated and strategic approach. Social media marketing goes far beyond simply creating posts for social channels and responding to comments.
To be effective, efforts must be coordinated and consistent rather than an afterthought. To help keep posts consistent, there are many online tools available to automate and schedule social media posts, although marketers only should use automation as a tool, not a “set it and forget it” solution. Users will figure it out quickly if there is no real person behind the posts.
Social media marketers should not be in a silo separate from other marketing functions. Social marketers need to work with the company’s wider marketing team to coordinate their message across all platforms, online and off, so that every part of the brand is telling the same story.
A crucial part of social media marketing is analytics. Social media marketers must also be savvy at analyzing the performance of their posts and creating strategies based on that data. It’s important to measure how well your current social media posts are performing well before continuing to implement your new strategy.
Statista reports, 88% of industry professionals stated that an increase in exposure to their company was the leading benefit of social media marketing in 2021. Behind that 79% of companies claimed an increase in traffic to their website was the largest advantage.
There are also several free options to spread your message that go beyond Instagram and Twitter. Some other options include Google My Business, eBay and Facebook Messenger and Marketplace.
In other words, social media marketing is a lot more complicated than managing your personal Facebook or Twitter profile. It requires a blend of creative thinking and objective, data-driven strategy, and maybe a great fit for professionals who enjoy blending these two disciplines. A social media analyst with a bachelor's degree can earn about $69,834, according to Salary.com.
4. Content Marketing
Content marketing uses storytelling and information sharing to increase brand awareness. Ultimately, the goal is to have the reader take an action towards becoming a customer, such as requesting more information, signing up for an email list, or making a purchase. “Content” can mean blog posts, resources like white papers and e-books, digital video, podcasts, and much more. In general, it should first and foremost provide value to the consumer, not just advertise the brand or try to make a sale. Content marketing is about building a sustainable, trusting relationship with your customers that can potentially lead to many sales over time, not just making a single transaction.
Content marketing works in symbiosis with other types of digital marketing: It is a way to incorporate SEO search terms into fresh website content, and the content created can be shared as social media posts and in email marketing publications. Looking at the analytics for your content marketing can tell you a lot about your customers: what are they looking for when they land on your site? What kinds of content make them stay on the site longer and keep looking around? What kinds make them lose interest and navigate away?
Unlike a method such as PPC, content marketing is a long-term strategy. Over time, marketers build up a library of content (text, video, podcasts etc.) that will continue to bring users to the site via search engines, according to Marketo, a marketing automation company. This content library also helps promote knowledge of your brand and increases your profile as a resource for information. And, if users are visiting your site for information, ideally they will remember you as an authority when it’s time to make a purchase.
Content marketing is a great avenue for people who enjoy writing and/or video and audio production. But as with digital marketing in general, it also calls for strong strategic and analytic skills.
5. Email Marketing
When someone visits your website or business, invite them to join an email subscriber list. With their permission, you can send emails about sales, special events, or product releases. Email marketing is often underestimated, and according to Lyfe Marketing, approximately $40 of revenue is brought in for every dollar spent on email marketing.
The most important part of this digital marketing channel is that it should provide value to your audience. Offer them exclusives that they would not receive anywhere else, and you can build a mutually beneficial relationship that will increase brand loyalty.
Now that we have understood the types of digital marketing, let us next look into the details such as when and how to use the different types of digital marketing.
Pros
- Amongst several types of digital marketing, this one is independent of any changing algorithms.
- Staying constantly in contact with your email list allows you to strengthen relationships, and they are likely to keep you in their minds when they plan to buy.
Cons
- Often customers do not open emails.
- It gets difficult to find ways to add value so that the customers do not unsubscribe.
The Next Steps
- Select an email software such as ConvertKit, GetResponse, or Mailchimp.
- Collect your target customer's emails.
- Give them a reason to opt for your mails, such as offering step-by-step pdf guides and free design templates.
- Pay attention to the regulations.
- Maintain consistency and contact your list regularly via the weekly newsletter. Add value to your content rather than just the promotions and sales messages.