Table of content
- Introduction
- Importance of Digital Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Conclusion
Introduction
Marketing is all about identifying the needs and wants of a customer and coming up with products/services/ strategies. This leads to better sales, more profits, and an edge over existing competition. In practice, digital marketing involves performing these functions digitally with a special focus on electronic devices in the form of marketing campaigns. When done, these marketing campaigns usually appear on electronic devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Since it involves online means of carrying out activities, it is also alternatively known as online marketing.
Digital marketing involves leveraging the best of existing and potential customers through channels like search engines, emails, and social media to connect and engage. In an era heavily dependent on the internet, marketing is no exception, as companies rely on the internet to create awareness about their brand. However, creating awareness is not only limited to promoting their goods and services but is also one of the most sought-after ways to get creative within a limited budget. Although it is a buzzword many companies have followed, some continue to stick to the traditional forms of marketing. Despite that, digital marketing is important in today’s world for the following reasons.
Importance of Digital Marketing
- It is easy to measure the accurate output and the return on investment of any digital marketing campaign using metrics, tools, and analytics like website traffic.
- Easy to reach out to target audiences worldwide who follow a specific niche.
- At every stage of your digital marketing campaign, you can engage with your target audience throughout their buying journey.
- Easy to modify strategies in case it does not work out well.
- It creates an even playing ground for small brands to compete with global ones.
- It is easy to identify the trends and patterns of the target audience, and decisions can be taken accordingly to convert them from a pipeline to revenue.
It is interesting to note that digital marketing is a very broad topic with different approaches and strategies. Read on to learn more about them:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The key to digital marketing is to make sure that companies have optimal content on their websites such that it leads to an increase in their online presence when their target audience searches for anything related to their goods or services. In such a case, SEO delivers. It is the process of optimizing the content on your websites to gain a higher rank on search engines like Google. With a higher rank, there is an increase in the number of visitors to the website, leading to a rise in the website’s traffic. Every niche has a keyword on the internet and, when incorporated, can help increase online traffic. A dedicated SEO campaign can involve adding keywords such that the content is optimized and the company’s online presence increases.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
It is common to see companies having their presence on social media. Optimizing the content for social media for marketing is no exception. Social Media Marketing (SMM) involves driving awareness, traffic, and leads for your brand. Social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can come in handy in creating a viral marketing campaign. However, it is important to know that one size does not fit all, so it is important to have a tailor-made approach for every social media platform.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Many tend to confuse themselves with SEO and SEM. Search Engine Optimisation is a more narrow term and part of the SEM process. While SEO focuses only on the organic part of generating online traffic, SEM does the same, along with paid marketing campaigns. It is one of the most sought-after techniques used by big companies and can deliver immediate results on a short-term basis.
Digital marketing is so versatile that it can work with any industry as it involves understanding the buying persona of the target audience and coming up with content accordingly. However, it is important to note that there is one size fits for digital marketing. Yes, every company in every sector must have a unique idea for coming up with a marketing campaign. This can be understood once companies understand what the target audience wants and the stages involved in the buying process, right from identifying the company to buying any of their products. It starts by identifying the goals, selecting the target audience, establishing a budget for the marketing outcome, creating engaging content, implementing it, and measuring the outcome.
Content Marketing
Content is king regardless of niche, product, service, or target audience. Content marketing is creating content to create awareness about the brand and the product or services offered. This can be in the form of infographics, blogs, audio, or visual content. Content marketing can be done either organically (unpaid content that the audience finds naturally) or inorganically (paid ad campaigns).
Email Marketing
Sometimes, companies use emails to communicate with the audience, especially about information like discounts, events, or any new product introduction. Companies also use this technique to drive people to their websites. Content on email campaigns usually includes loyalty programs, follow-up emails, newsletters, or welcome emails
Conclusion
Compared to mainstream marketing, digital marketing is here to stay, thanks to the boom in technology and the different types of marketing software dominating the market to make the efforts of marketers easier. It is a dynamic field and requires being updated with the trends daily to survive and sustain in the market in the long run. Digital marketing is a broad term, and it involves a lot of skill-centric activities, so while one starts from a specific skill or duty, it is important for that person to upskill by learning the different aspects of digital marketing while climbing up the ladder of the organization.
