What digital marketing is is a question often asked by businesses trying to penetrate the digital landscape. A strategic move indeed, especially since the Internet is getting more accessible. More and more people are going online daily.
Such change is the only thing constant that we see today, increasing up to 5% in Internet usage, particularly among adult users. That’s according to Pew Research.
This says a lot about the ever-changing purchasing behaviors and the offline marketing methods that are no longer as efficient as they once were. Although, this is not to say that you must solely concentrate on the digital platform. You still need to look into the nature of your business and what it needs to push the branded message to the right people.
Marketing is the process that connects the business with its target market. Essentially, it involves connecting them at the right time and in the right place.
Today, however, most activities are done online, including marketing. It also means that, as a business, you should meet your target marketing where they are, which is the Internet. The process gives birth to a whole new dimension of marketing: digital marketing.
What is digital marketing exactly?
Digital marketing simply refers to marketing activities that exist or happen online. The all-encompassing marketing efforts are initiated or implemented through electronic devices. With this said, there’s a plethora of digital marketing strategies and tactics that fall under this umbrella term.
A digital marketing campaign can be extensive, with an omnichannel approach, or small, focusing on one to three keyword groups. Nonetheless, the campaign is supported by organic, paid channels, or a combination of them.
Digital channels include search engines, email, websites, and social media. These are the examples of channels that any business may leverage to reach its target audience or the prospects that can be turned into customers or clients.
Under each channel are strategies and tactics a business can use to its advantage. The goal is to get creative, experimenting with all you want until you find the best strategy and tactic for your business and marketing budget.
A budget is essential to a digital marketing campaign. It influences the extent of implementable strategies and penetration of the most relevant channels.
Digital marketing campaigns must be monitored diligently. Some tools can help with this that may not be accessible by using print advertisements. Virtually all digital marketing agencies use tools to determine the progress of the campaign—whether reaching the goals initially set to measure success or not. If not, then actionable insights are recommended.
What are the different types of digital marketing strategies?
There are several types of digital marketing, including:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- Online marketing
- Paid advertising
- Paid social advertising
- Affiliate marketing
- Influencer marketing
Notice that the type of strategies differs based on the interactions occurring on the channel. For instance, SEO is a technical tool that connects the website and search engines, particularly Google. So the basis of interaction is well-optimized content. Bear in mind that Google favors original, authoritative, and valuable content. Such content encourages a more positive user experience (UX).
Is digital marketing similar to inbound marketing?
It pays to know the difference between these two marketing strategies. At the onset, they seem alike because they both focus on content creation.
Digital marketing is composed of both inbound and outbound marketing tactics. There’s no differentiating between the two because it is the umbrella term that captures these tactics.
Thereby, inbound marketing forms part of digital marketing through its content creation, publication, and promotion arm. Its counterpart in digital marketing is content marketing, but with a blog as its biggest asset. This allows the blog or website owner to capitalize on terms or keywords that the users are already searching for.
Content marketing is utilized to attract the right audience by providing them with valuable information—helpful information that may get them past their pain points. This marketing strategy targets people ready to receive and consume the content.
What is the role of digital marketing?
Because digital marketing exists online, it allows a brand or business to reach more customers. Other than reach, it is also easier to cultivate brand awareness at a fraction of the cost that you should otherwise spend doing traditional marketing (TV, radio, and print).
A business can have a website and perform all marketing activities through it. It may also combine it with a social media presence to strengthen the promotional efforts, thereby reaching more potential customers. Or, if it wants a more targeted campaign given the marketing budget, paid advertising would complement the existing website.
From another angle, even the consumers themselves expect businesses to have an online presence. They rely on this presence when learning more about the brand, searching for new products or services, discovering more about new product offerings, and more.
To remain competitive in the market, a business needs digital marketing. It must embrace some or all aspects of it because it will lag behind the competition if not. This tells us that the competition in the real world is no different than that of the digital landscape, if not more competitive.
That’s why you need digital marketing, especially if you belong to a competitive industry. This overall strategy can get your business in front of those who need your product or service. Being at the right time at the right place, right?
Does digital marketing work for all businesses?
This question is the same as asking: is digital marketing for you? The answer is yes, it works for virtually all businesses in all industries. That’s regardless of the nature of the company and what it offers or sells.
Digital marketing involves crafting buyer personas to determine the target market’s needs and how the business can best address them.
However, digital marketing strategies will definitely vary. There is no need to implement the same strategy in the same way. A business needs to find those strategies that best resonate with the nature of the operation, the products and services it sells, its brand voice and values, etc.
One way to differentiate what digital marketing strategies a business needs are to delineate between B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer).
B2B digital marketing
Lead generation is the primary purpose of B2B digital marketing. The end goal is to reach the key decision-makers in the company through the salesperson or representative.
This strategy is aimed at attracting high-quality leads and converting them into clients. The website is the primary channel, although other digital channels, such as YouTube and paid advertising, are also used.
The choice of channels must echo the brand and its unique selling proposition. Business-focused digital channels include LinkedIn. Your target audience mostly spends their time here, doing the same thing that you are doing. So might as well spend your marketing dollars, time, and effort here.
B2C digital marketing
Conversion is the goal of B2C digital marketing. And the choices of channels may depend on the price points of what your business offers to your target market.
The efforts are geared towards attracting the users to the website where they would complete a conversion. It could be a purchase, download, subscription, share, etc.
As such, the lead generation approach is more transactional yet more targeted without the need to talk to a salesperson. Instead, the tactics accelerate the buyer journey and push the prospects deep into the sales funnel. Calls to action (CTAs) should be strong enough to encourage them to make a purchase from you.
This strategy also follows where the potential buyers are. Social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram, are key in targeting and retargeting or the processes of making the user go to the website or e-commerce store where they can complete a transaction.
Is digital marketing difficult?
Let’s face the hard truth—digital marketing is difficult since it is an ongoing, labor-intensive, and budget-exhausting process.
With this said, you need to devote a budget to digital marketing, spread across the entire duration of the campaign. You must plant the seeds for ongoing marketing initiatives digitally to get traction on whatever relevant channel your business is in.
There are metrics to pursue—not the vanity metrics, though. Instead, these are the fourth-dimensional metrics that lead to actual conversions such as quote requests, demo signup, plan purchase, and more.
This also means monitoring the campaign progress through data reports where you’ll get insights. These insights would make the campaign much better at achieving the supposed results.
The digital landscape is fast-paced. What works today may no longer be relevant tomorrow. Brushing up your digital marketing knowledge is crucial. You need to be constant about this also.
Optimind specializes in these end-to-end digital marketing services. A digital marketing campaign starts with a website, application, or e-commerce store. This is supported by search marketing services like SEO audit, link building, guest blogging, content writing, content marketing, ads campaign management, and social media marketing services. Call us!
