Digital Marketing is the study, management and promotion of brands, products or services via digital technologies such as email, search engines, social media, websites, mobile apps, etc. The primary goal is to promote brands through various digital media channels to maximize reach and growth.
Digital marketing also includes text messaging, display advertising, search engine marketing, and any other form of digital media.
Many marketing experts believe that ‘digital’ requires a new approach to marketing and a new understanding of customer behavior in that it requires organizations to analyze and quantify the value of app downloads, tweets on Twitter, likes on Facebook, etc.
The 5Ds of digital marketing
To understand the importance of digital marketing to the future of marketing in any business, it’s vital to understand which user interactions we need to understand and manage. Digital marketing today is about many more types of digital interaction than website or email, it involves managing and harnessing the ‘5Ds of Digital’. The 5Ds define the opportunities for consumers to interact with brands and for businesses to reach and learn from their audiences in different ways:
- Digital devices – audiences experience brands as they interact with business websites and mobile apps typically through a combination of connected devices including smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, TVs and gaming devices.
- Digital platforms – most interactions on these devices are through a browser or apps from the major platforms or services, that’s Facebook (and Instagram), Google (and YouTube), Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Digital media – different paid, owned and earned communications channels for reaching and engaging audiences including advertising, email and messaging, search engines and social networks.
- Digital data – the data points that businesses collect about their audience profiles and their interactions with businesses.
- Digital technology – the marketing technology or martech stack that businesses use to create interactive experiences from websites and mobile apps to in-store kiosks and email campaigns.
Making An Impact With Digital Marketing
The consumers of today are much more intelligent when making a purchase and will turn to family, friends and online research before making a purchase. This is why it’s important to master digital marketing if you want your business to bloom and your brand to keep its promise. Recently, it was reported by Statista, one of the top consumer data providers, that the number of global Internet users for January 2018 alone was estimated to be at 4,021,000,000 making your potential reach extremely massive.
January 2018 worldwide statistics For Internet Users:
- East Asia: 947 million users
- Southern Asia: 673 million users
- Southeast Asia: 380 million users
- North America: 320 million users
- South America: 290 million users
- Eastern Europe: 215 million users
- Western Asia: 175 million users
- Western Europe: 175 million users
- Western Africa: 147 million users
- Southern Europe: 118 million users
- Eastern Africa: 118 million users
- Northern Africa: 116 million users
- Central America: 110 million users
- Northern Europe: 98 million users
- Central Asia: 36 million users
- Southern Africa: 34 million users
- Oceania: 28 million users
- Caribbean: 21 million users
- Middle Africa: 20 million users
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Web Development and Design
Web Development is the writing of code to make a website function in a way that serves the needs of the user and the goals of the website owner. Web Design is the design of the appearance of the website, and may also include coding.
The goal: Build a website that is engaging and follows good design and marketing principles to lead site users through your sales funnel to become subscribers or customers.
SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) incorporates the use of techniques and tools that help search engines discover website content and serve relevant content to search engine users. On-page SEO involves the use of tags and website structure to tell search engines what a website page is about. Off-page SEO tells search engines that your site has authority and is trustworthy. Such things as reviews and links to your content from authoritative sites, help boost your off-page SEO by letting search engines know your website contains quality information that is relevant to searchers.
The goal: Deliver traffic to a website via organic search engine results.
Content Marketing
The use of content such as web pages, blog articles, videos, social media posts, and eBooks to attract website visitors through helpful and engaging published information that answers their questions and provides value. For SEO to do its job, there must be relevant content on your website.
The goal: Create, publish, and promote content that attracts target buyers and helps search engines determine the relevance of that content in answering search queries.
Social Media
The use of social networking sites to share content and build a community of followers. Social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are valuable lead generation tools for driving visitors to websites and landing pages.
The goal: Drive leads to your website using engaging content, including images, written posts, and video while building a community of followers and customers.
PPC and Social Advertising
Pay-per-click is a method of advertising by displaying ads in search engine results. Google PPC ads are based on targeted keywords. Advertisers pay when the ad is clicked by a search engine user. Social advertising is the display of ads on social media platforms. Advertisers select targeted audiences based on user behaviors and interests. Costs for social advertising are generally determined on a pay per click (PPC) basis, as well.
The goal: Place ads in front of targeted search engine and social media users. Drive leads to your website through the use of ads, without having to earn a spot in organic search results.
Lead Generation
The use of SEO, social media, and advertising to attract visitors to a form on your website or landing page where they will sign up for an offer in exchange for their contact information. The term lead magnet is sometimes used to refer to the free content that is offered as a download upon filling out a request or subscription form.
The goal: Attract relevant, targeted leads to your website so that you may build a relationship with them which will result in sales.
Lead Nurturing and Email Marketing
Once you have leads, you’ll want to build a relationship with them by providing value and extending your content beyond what they can find on your website. Email marketing is the main method of lead nurturing as it allows you to stay in front of your audience and customers on a consistent basis. If done well, lead nurturing, and email marketing help you build the “know, like, and trust” factor.
The goal: Build a relationship with your audience and potential customers and lead them further down your sales funnel toward a purchase.
Analytics
The use of metrics and data to determine whether or not your digital marketing efforts are successful in meeting goals and discovering where adjustments need to be made. Tools such as Google Analytics and Search Console reveal website use data that will help you make decisions about the efficacy of your digital marketing strategy and the effectiveness of your tactics.
The goal: Make informed decisions about your digital marketing strategy and adjust your strategy as you learn more about your website users and target audience.
