What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is  relatively a new concept in the world of marketing. After all, digital marketing has only existed since people got their hands on home internet. So, what is digital marketing and what is it good for? Let’s find out.

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The definition of digital marketing

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services via digital technologies where your audience usually spends most of their time, online. Basically, you’re advertising using technology. This mainly happens on the internet, but there are a few other digital mediums that have worked well for people in the past.

The spectrum for digital marketing is wide. From the brand’s original website, to brochures and email campaigns, there are many tactics that fall under the digital marketing umbrella. All in all, you really are only limited by your audience’s use of digital tech.

As mentioned before, the use of digital marketing has really only been around since the early 1990s, as most people didn’t really have access to a lot of tech before then. It wouldn’t have made much sense for a company to invest in online marketing if not a lot of people were going to see it.

Ever since its development, however, digital marketing has completely reshaped the way all businesses market. Since more and more people are reverting to using their digital devices in their everyday life, instead of physically going out and visiting these shops, digital marketing has never been more viable.

Digital marketing is a way to promote brands and products online and through other digital mediums. Most of the time, businesses have specific audiences that they’re trying to reach. The goal of digital marketing is to reach said audience via the internet or other digital channels.

The 5Ds of digital marketing

Digital marketing is nothing without the right audience. In order to be successful in this industry, you have to understand not only which audience to attract, but how to do digital marketing. In today’s world, it’s about much more than an email or a website, it’s more so about the interaction the audience receives. With that in mind, the 5Ds of digital marketing were born.

• Digital Devices

It’s pretty safe to say that most people on the planet own some sort of digital device. This category includes tablets, smart phones, gaming systems, TVs, laptops, and desktop computers. These devices are probably the most widely used medium for marketing today.

• Digital Platforms

Online platforms are a great way of reaching lots of people at once. This category includes the major social platforms that we all have access to online. You have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, and many, many more.

• Digital Media

Although it’s the same concept as digital platforms, digital media includes things like emails and search engines.

• Digital Data

This is the data that businesses collect from their experience with audiences. Because most people don’t want their information being passed around, profile data is now protected in most countries around the world.

• Digital Technology

This is a very wide category. It can be summed up by defining it as the technology that different businesses create to bring interactive and creative experiences to their audiences. Again, although this is mostly done online, there are lots of examples of tech being created for in-person interactions. A great example would be a simple in-store kiosk.

Why does digital marketing work?

Digital marketing has developed quickly in the past few years, and it’s for good reason. To put it simply, it’s convenient for everyone, including the marketer. People want things now, so the ability to bring them the information they’re looking for all while sitting at a desk is invaluable. It involves occupying space that is already used, but for a different purpose. Your audience is already on their devices, reading their emails, and on their social media platforms. The idea is to bring your brand to meet them where they’re already so familiar and comfortable.

The different tactics of digital marketing

Since there are so many different categories for digital marketing, you might have already guessed that there are quite a few tactics, as well. Here’s a quick walkthrough of a few of those tactics:

SEO (Search engine optimization)

Google and related search engines operate on a very particular algorithm. There a key components to a website that Google looks for that can affect the way your website ranks. The idea behind SEO is to build your website and its components according to that algorithm.

Content marketing

Content marketing involves creating content in order to drive awareness, traffic growth, and lead generation for a brand or product. Creating content on most websites comes out in the form of a blog that is designed to hit certain keywords that are popularly searched.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing has really taken off recently. It just makes sense to market on these platforms considering that millions of people use them daily. As a brand, you should be on every social media platform you can think of:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Pinterest
• Snapchat
• LinkedIn
• Google+

The more platforms you have, the more eyes you have and the more awareness and traffic you generate.

PPC (Pay-per-click)

PPC involves paying for advertisement but only paying the publisher when your ad is clicked. This has proven to be a very effective method for marketing as it only costs you if traffic is driven to where you want it to be. The most common medium for this is Google AdWords, where you can pay to have your website promoted to the top slots when someone searches for a keyword that you rank for. But, you can also use mediums like:

• Facebook ads
• Promoted tweets on twitter
• Sponsored messages on LinkedIn

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing involves promoting someone else’s product on your website. The idea is that it’ll drive fans of that product to your website, thus generating traffic that you’ve never had before. Good examples of this are:

• Hosting ads via Youtube Partner Program
• Posting affiliate links from your social media

Native advertising

Native advertising is purely content based and is typically featured alongside other non-paid content. Many people consider social media marketing to be related to native advertising, but the best example would be sponsored posts on big websites.

Marketing automation

Many brands automate some of the aspects of marketing by creating software that does many of the simple tasks like:

• Emailing newsletters
• Post scheduling on social media
• Updating contact lists
• Campaign tracking/reporting

Email marketing

How many times have you gone into a store and they’ve asked for your email at checkout? Email has quickly become a way for many companies to advertise because it’s easy and can be automated.

Online PR

Online PR is securing online coverage from digital publications, blogs, and other content based websites.

Inbound marketing

Inbound marketing is using every tool in your arsenal to attract and engage your audience. It most always involves every tactic listed above.

The next step

That summarizes almost everything you need to know about digital marketing. Strategies and tactics are constantly evolving, so it’s probably best that you do as much research as you possibly can. The main goal is to visualize your audience, and meet them where they’re comfortable. If you do that, and you have a brand or product that’s worth while, the traffic will undoubtedly come … and if you need help with your online business exposure and better understanding on what is digital marketing do not hesitate and contact us.