What Is Digital Marketing?
There are many aspects to digital marketing, and innovative marketers are coming up with new ones every day. With our reliance on Google, the popularity of social platforms, and the number of mobile devices with internet access, digital marketing is more important than ever.
Digital Marketing
Methods of promoting your brand, product, service, or offer to customers on their digital devices through various online channels such as search, social media, websites, email, and mobile apps
As technology advances, so does the ability to reach audiences on a very granular level. Everyone has experienced ads “following” them around the internet. Marketers can track consumers’ behavior, interests, location, and even intent in the digital space. On a personal level, this may seem a bit invasive, but as a business owner, digital marketing creates opportunities to reach a well-defined audience like never before.
Some examples of digital marketing:
- Social media content
- Social media ads and promoted posts
- Search ads (PPC) and SEO
- Targeted display ads
- Pre-roll video ads
- Mobile app and native ads
- Geofencing
- Email marketing
- SMS text message marketing
Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing generates 50% fewer interactions with customers than digital marketing.
This is not to say traditional marketing is dead. We offer many traditional methods that can be very effective when reaching a broad audience. The results are amplified when run in conjunction with a digital strategy. Comparing the two approaches on face value, digital dominates traditional forms of marketing in terms of targeting, automation, optimization, analytics, and ROI.
Marketers are now taking those traditional offline methods and connecting them to digital tools to measure effectiveness and drive conversions. It’s not uncommon for a physical marketing piece to have a QR code or specific discount code. These unique identifiers allow marketers to track engagement with collateral in the real world.
How To Get Started With Digital Marketing
The key to success in any digital strategy is planning. The most successful marketing plans start with defining goals, identifying the audience, and allocating a budget for the methods most likely to achieve the stated goals.
The more information you provide about your business, the more successful the marketing strategy will be. If not already familiar with your business, a marketer might provide you with a questionnaire to learn about your history, mission, culture, and objectives.
For larger companies, understanding what each channel is trying to achieve is vital in developing a marketing plan. Today, digital marketing is the cornerstone of any corporate strategy. Whether the goal is to convert more leads to customers, promote a brand or product, or simply increase site traffic, digital marketing provides a solution.
For smaller businesses, often, the business and marketing decision-maker is one and the same. However, the expertise usually lies in the core business rather than knowledge of marketing methods. Partnering with an agency provides strategy, tools, and creativity that many small business owners are not well-positioned to produce themselves.