What is Digital Marketing?
This question seem to be odd given digital marketing has been around for several years now. However, it is still the most searched for marketing related term on google. That’s why I am giving this a try and hope I can answer some of your questions:
The internet has become the most widespread form of communication in history, with millions of people making use of it at any given moment. As people surf the web they are exposed to hundreds if not thousands of messages ranging from news, celebrity information, and of course marketing. An entire ecosystem has formed around making use of the internet and similar technology to reach out to potential customers and sell products to them, either directly or indirectly. As the internet evolves and changes, so does this industry designed to sell products to people, meaning that new innovations are constantly being developed to remain on the cutting edge.
The ‘What’ is digital marketing
To define digital marketing again, it is the use of the internet and electronic devices to reach out to customers and spread brand awareness with the goal of generating profit. There are many types of digital marketing, such as videos, search ads, email, popup ads, and even posts on social media. This only scratches the surface of digital marketing, with numerous minutiae being focused on as time has gone on and the process of getting your ad seen by people has become more refined. Given the vast volume of people using the internet at any given moment, digital marketing has rapidly become the most sought-after form of marketing in the world with numerous companies striving to outperform each other.
The ‘Who’ is doing digital marketing
Digital marketing has a low skill floor, meaning that anyone could perform digital marketing if they wanted to, while also having a very high skill ceiling. Amateur digital marketers might simply post about their product on their social media page, while professionals will use a more complex variety of tools to spread the word about their product as far as possible. Companies are the most active participants when it comes to digital marketing, thus their content is likely going to make up the bulk of ads you’re liable to see while browsing the web, and with good reason, as the high skill ceiling mentioned before means that there are a lot of tricks to learn to become a true Master of Digital Marketing. If you want to enter a career that is constantly evolving and becoming more refined, digital marketing is the field to consider.
The ‘How’ to run digital marketing strategies
Digital marketing has evolved to encompass a variety of techniques, with some being more prominently featured in the modern climate than others. The main idea is to reach as many people as possible with your advertisement, and this can be accomplished in a myriad of ways.
Email Marketing
This technique is somewhat self-explanatory and is one of the older techniques used in the field of digital marketing. The basics behind email marketing is to have your customers subscribe to an email list and then offer value through your emails. This is done by offering coupons or special deals that might influence a customer into making a purchase they might have otherwise hesitated to make. It is simple yet effective, so it is still practiced by many companies even today.
SEO
When it comes to digital marketing, SEO, standing for search engine optimization, is likely one of the more complicated aspects. This complexity is due to the need to align a website or advertisement with the nuances of search engines. There is a myriad of factors involved in optimizing a website, though the most prevalent are the effective use of keywords. They need to be present both in the web page itself, as well as the hidden metadata. Since the algorithms that fuel search engines are constantly being tweaked and refined, so are the methods of SEO that are employed by digital marketers.
Social Media Marketing
Social media occupies an ever-expanding role in the lives of most people, making social media the perfect vector for advertisements and marketing plans. It is also relatively simple compared to SEO, as all that a company or individual needs to do to promote their product on social media is to make a post about it. This post differs depending on the platform, but the goal is the same regardless, to get your product seen by as many people as possible.
Pay Per Click Marketing
While SEO relies on fine tuning a website to reach the top of a search results page, Pay Per Click Marketing skips that and allows your ad to reach the top of search results in exchange for cash. Payment for this type of marketing is only rendered when someone clicks on the ad, so if no one clicks then you don’t have to pay, though in that event you might want to alter your strategy. Pay Per Click ads are also only the first step in a process, as the website it takes a potential customer to still needs to be appealing and functional to generate a sale and thus make up for the cost of the ad.
These are just a handful of the strategies used by various brands to spread awareness about their product, though they are the most prevalent. New forms of digital marketing are likely to be developed as the climate of the internet continues to develop and evolve further. This doesn’t mean any of these methods will soon become outdated though, as many of the core aspects of the internet will likely remain the same, such as the influence of Google and social media.
The ‘Why’ is digital marketing important
The simple truth is that almost everyone will at some point meet the internet and electronics, meaning that every interaction online is a potential avenue to a sale and thus revenue. An increasing prevalence of technology in daily life is the motivating factor that pushes many companies to invest millions of dollars, if not more, into their digital marketing teams, making sure they have the best advertisements and thus best sales. It is an ever-evolving industry as new technology continues to develop and change the way people interact online. Either way, digital marketing certainly isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.
