Digital marketing has become one of the most trending terms presently. Every sort of business is adopting digital marketing methods. Consider a large or small business, every person has adopted digital marketing activities in few capacities or other. In this article, we would cover what digital marketing is, its importance, and the fundamentals of digital marketing also referred to as the types of digital marketing and many more aspects.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing means marketing your product, whether it is a good or service, through digital means. It includes marketing through online mediums & can be understood as the converse of traditional marketing.
Digital marketing initiates all the modern marketing strategies and is a growing marketing trend, which is why it is significant to learn about the fundamentals of digital marketing. It has opened many avenues for different organisations, and every brand has to imperatively employ digital marketing techniques for leading their business successfully, also a career in digital marketing is in huge demand.
Why is Digital Marketing Important?
In India in January 2021, there were 448.0 million active social media users and 624.0 million internet users combined. The number of social media users in India was equivalent to 32.3% of the total population. Now, if we consider this number, then we would simply get the answer to the question of why digital marketing is crucial. It only makes sense to utilize social media for your advantage when 32.3% of the population uses it. The success of digital marketing can be attributed to various factors.
1. Wider audience- With traditional methods of marketing, your efforts get limited to a particular demographic but with digital marketing, your presence can be felt globally, hence reaching a wider audience.
2. Compete with the big forces- If Reliance is on social media, so can you. Now that everyone may use digital marketing techniques to their advantage, the marketing chances are no longer just available to large corporations, elevating small brands to the level of major players.
3. Reach to potential customers- Earlier it was difficult to reach out to potential customers, but with the efforts of digital marketing it has become easy to identify and reach the target audience. Targeting the potential audience will yield better results.
4. Track the reach- Traditional marketing methods were hard to track. It is challenging to determine how many people saw a specific billboard and ultimately made a purchase, but digital marketing makes it easy, thanks to a number of tools that make it possible to monitor social media activity, website traffic, etc.
5. Return on Investment- Based on the Litmus report, email marketing ROI stands at 4,200 percent or 42x. Brands receive $42 back for every dollar they spend on email marketing. This is the sort of return we are talking about. It is huge & hence it would be a considerable decision to invest in digital marketing opportunities and witness your business grow.
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing:
1. SEO – The 1st and the most inexpensive aspect of the fundamentals of digital marketing is SEO which stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is one of the greatest and simplest ways to grow a brand’s visibility.
SEO can be described as the process of optimising the content through the strategic use of keywords & complying with the algorithm of search engines so that when you explore on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or other search engine, they index the content & present it to the right individual.
The likelihood of drawing traffic and potential customers increases with the amount of visibility one may achieve through a search. This explains why understanding SEO is important. The Internet has become the top medium for people to get details, so if businesses want to get noticed & get to be ranked on a search, they have to put money into SEO activities.
SEO is the organic way of gaining traffic. You can invest in SEM strategies or perform SEO for free. Search engine marketing is a form of paid advertising used to improve SERP presence.
2. Online Advertising – Online advertising, often known as paid media, is the costly component of digital marketing’s fundamentals, as SEO was described as their lowest priced component. When you search on Google, let’s say for free courses with certificates, at the top of the search results, you will notice some links before which the word “Ad” is mentioned.
This is an example of online advertising. All those ads that appear on your screen while you are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram are also instances of paid media.
There are a lot of channels for online advertising, such as Youtube ads, Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, Instagram ads, Google ads, PPC Campaigns, and many more. Brands should determine what works best for them and what channel would be the most effective for interacting with their target market. The most efficient way for reaching the target demographic and raising brand awareness is thought to be online advertising.
Google and Facebook have made numerous resources available to assist brands in creating ads and reaching their target audiences. Also, online advertising has offered brands the ability to keep track and analyse their reach, which is not possible with traditional marketing.
3. Content Marketing – To put it simple, content marketing is a strategy to target the desired audience by creating relevant content, which can be in the form of articles, videos, podcasts, or any other medium meant to engage and retain an audience. It can be attained through blogs, newsletters, emails, etc.
Content marketing is also an organic way of increasing traffic by developing SEO-friendly content and helps in increasing brand awareness. Content marketing, when done strategically, leads to great results, which can be analysed by the fact that businesses with blogs get 67% more leads than other companies. Content marketing helps in earning leads and helps brands convey product ideas and vision.
4. Email Marketing – Email marketing is a simple and effective way to stay connected with existing & potential customers. Email marketing is nothing but generic mail that is used to target an audience. It can be acknowledged as an advertisement that is aimed at garnering traffic on the website and has the highest conversion rates. The majority of email marketing consists of emails that communicate new offers and coupons in order to pique the recipient’s interest.
There are numerous tools like Mailchimp that have made the job of email marketing simple and easy. They assist in generating emails & sending them to the list of potential leads.
5. Social Media Marketing – It is the practice of promoting a good or service using social media networks. It is the easiest & most productive way to connect with the target audience. We all have seen the power that social media holds. The impact of social media on our opinions is huge. There are millions of people on social media influencing others with their opinions, and if brands use this fact for their sake or welfare, then that becomes social media marketing.
Every brand should strive to remain relevant on social media and be knowledgeable about the most recent trends. Due to the numerous tools provided by the social media platforms themselves, social media marketing also gives businesses the chance to monitor the reach of their content. This makes it very simple for businesses to spot trends, determine what strategies are most effective for them, and identify areas in which they can make improvements.
6. Pay-Per-Click – It is a part of paid media that is used to expand the rankings on search engines through paid means. Pay-per-click is used to increase traffic and raise rankings by going to the top of the search results. The duration of the advertisement is only as long as it is being paid for; after that, it disappears.
It is called PPC, as constantly when the advertisement is clicked by any person, your ad account is charged for it. PPC is a quick fix for increasing traffic, thus many major businesses spend a lot of money on this when there are special offers, new products are introduced, etc. The cost is determined based on the length of the advertisement and the keywords utilized.
7. Mobile Marketing – How many people do not possess a phone? “Too many” is the general answer. Mobile marketing dominates the digital landscape. It pivots on reaching the target market by means of smartphones. This can be achieved through email, social media, text messages, etc. Mobile marketing involves everything that is done on the desktop and presenting it on the mobile. The websites that are created should be mobile-friendly, and other activities that can be categorized unique to mobile marketing are in-app-built notifications, text messages, & social media activity to some extent.
8. Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is getting the product promoted through another person and paying commission to them on every sale made. It is using the reach of a person to your own advantage. Here, the affiliate requires not to be an individual alone but can be an entity also.
The affiliate promotes the product, whether it is a good or service, through any medium such as a YouTube video or a blog, and when any person clicks on the link provided to them for the item, ultimately buying it, then they are compensated for it through commission.
Most companies have started collaborating with influencers to increase their brand awareness. Brands are utilizing social media influencers to promote their products because of the significant influence they have on their fan-base’s opinions. As affiliates, influencers receive a commission as an incentive, while brands receive sales.
9. Video Marketing – It is a proven reality that videos are more engaging than any other form of content. If you are reasoning about how to market your item, this has to be on the list. Video marketing can be used to promote the product and drive more people to the website. Additionally, the possibility of a video going viral exists with video marketing.
These days, many brands collaborate with influencers to make trending videos & hope for them to get viral quickly. With the younger generation where they literally stuck to their phones, there is nothing superior than a viral video to catch their eyes.
Videos that promote products can also inform viewers about how to use them. Additionally, it can offer client references to foster confidence among stakeholders. You may improve your business by learning about video marketing online.
10. Audio Marketing – Radio is no longer the exclusive medium for audio marketing. Additionally, radio is not what it used to be, with the establishment of internet radio, the audience has swapped, and so has the potential it holds. Other options for audio marketing are now available, such as streaming an audio advertisement on platforms like Spotify or using one of the most well-liked strategies, a podcast. There are also smart home assistants such as OK Google & Alexa who have accorded towards audio marketing.
How to start Digital Marketing?
- Define your goals.
- Identify your target audience.
- Establish a budget for each digital channel.
- Strike a quality of balance between paid & free digital strategies.
- Create engaging content.
- Optimize your digital assets for mobile.
- Conduct keyword research.
- Iterate based on the analytics you measure.
Conclusion:
Digital marketing is a growing vertical of marketing that holds immense scope. It has many aspects that one can explore. The career opportunities are vast and digital marketing is certainly the marketing of the future.
Any opportunity where you can connect to your audience is an opportunity to convert a lead or acquire a customer. Digital marketing creates so many more of those opportunities by allowing you to reach prospective buyers through a wide variety of channels. Whether it’s social media platforms, websites, text messages, or any other online medium, it’s an invaluable way to promote your business, service, or product.
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