Digital Marketing or Online Marketing as it is popularly known is a tool to market our product online.
Direct email marketing, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing are just a few of the tools that fall into this category. They are becoming more and more common in the online world. It is a very popular form of advertising,
Media is important now because we have access to a large amount of data and more and more people have access to this big data. They often see and review the data related to customer tastes, ever-changing choices, and so on.
Other forms of marketing include text messaging, mobile apps, electronic billboards, digital television, and radio messages. All of these are powerful tools to increase our visibility to customers.
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses use digital channels like Google search, social media, email and their websites to connect with their current and potential customers.
From your website itself to your online branding assets — digital advertising, email marketing, online brochures, and more — there’s a huge spectrum of tactics and assets that fall under the digital marketing umbrella. And the best digital marketers have a clear picture of how each asset or tactic supports their overarching goals.
What exactly is digital marketing?
It’s an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses use digital channels like Google search, social media, email and their websites to connect with their current and potential customers.
From your website itself to your online branding assets — digital advertising, email marketing, online brochures, and more — there’s a huge spectrum of tactics and assets that fall under the digital marketing umbrella. And the best digital marketers have a clear picture of how each asset or tactic supports their overarching goals.
Here is a brief overview of some of the most common tools and tactics:
financial assets
your site
blog entries
eBooks and white papers
infographics
Interactive tools
Social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram etc.)
Earned online coverage (PR, social media and reviews)
Online brochures and lookbooks
Branding assets (logos, fonts, etc.)
tactics
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The process of optimizing your website to rank higher on search engine results pages, thereby increasing the amount of organic (or free) traffic your website receives. (Read this post to teach yourself SEO in 30 days.)
content marketing
The creation and promotion of content for the purpose of generating brand awareness, traffic growth, lead generation or customers. (Learn what goes into a modern content marketing strategy here.)
inbound marketing
Inbound marketing refers to the “full-funnel” approach to attracting, converting, closing and delighting customers using online content.
Social Media Marketing
The practice of promoting your brand and content on social media channels to increase brand awareness, drive traffic, and generate leads for your business. (Discover 41 resources to learn how to use social media marketing here.)
Pay Per Click (PPC)
A method of driving traffic to your website by paying a publisher each time your ad is clicked. One of the most common types of PPC is Google AdWords.
affiliate marketing
A type of performance-based advertising where you receive a commission for promoting someone else’s products or services on your website.
native advertising
Native advertising refers to advertising that is primarily content-driven and displayed alongside other, non-paid content on a platform. BuzzFeed sponsored posts are a good example, but many people also consider social media ads to be “native” — Facebook and Instagram ads, for example.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation refers to the software that exists with the aim of automating marketing actions. Many marketing departments need to automate repetitive tasks like email, social media, and other website actions.
email marketing
Businesses use email marketing to communicate with their audience. Email is often used to promote content, discounts, events and drive people to the company’s website. (Check out these 15 successful email marketing campaigns for inspiration.)
online PR
Online PR is the practice of securing earned online coverage using digital publications, blogs, and other content-based websites. It’s similar to traditional PR but in the online space.
What is the difference between digital marketing and inbound marketing?
On the surface, both appear to be similar: both are primarily online, and both focus on creating digital content for people to consume. So what’s the difference?
The term “digital marketing” doesn’t differentiate between push and pull marketing tactics (or what we might now call “inbound” and “outbound” methods). Both can still fall under the umbrella of digital marketing.
Digital outbound tactics aim to get a marketing message right in front of as many people online as possible – regardless of whether it’s relevant or welcome. For example, the garish banner ads you see at the top of many websites try to get a product or promotion across to people who aren’t necessarily ready to receive it.
On the other hand, marketers using digital inbound tactics use online content to attract their target customers to their websites by providing assets helpful to them. One of the simplest yet most powerful digital inbound marketing assets is a blog, which allows your website to capitalize on the terms your ideal customers are searching for.
Ultimately, inbound marketing is a method that uses digital marketing resources to acquire, convert, close, and delight customers online. Digital marketing, on the other hand, is simply an umbrella term for online marketing tactics of any kind, regardless of whether they are considered inbound or outbound.
Does digital marketing work for all businesses? B2B and B2C?
Digital marketing can work for any business in any industry. Regardless of what your business sells, digital marketing still involves building buyer personas to identify your audience’s needs and creating valuable online content. However, that doesn’t mean that all companies should implement a digital marketing strategy in the same way.
