What Is Digital Marketing & Important Information to Know
Reading Time: 8 minutes Digital marketing is one of the most important factors in growing and maintaining a business, so it is crucial to understand the overall meaning and techniques that are widely used.
Let’s dive in and explore the basics of digital marketing, different strategies within digital marketing, the benefits, and the steps for creating your digital marketing strategy!
Table of Contents
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is the promotion of products and services through digital channels such as social media, search engine optimization (SEO), email campaigns, and more. Compared to more traditional marketing tactics like TV commercials, billboards, and radio ads, digital marketing relies heavily on technology and the Internet to reach current and potential customers.
Before delving into the world of digital marketing, it is essential to comprehend the distinction between inbound and outbound marketing methods. Understanding which marketing techniques are best suited for your business can help you create more effective campaigns.
Outbound Marketing
The focus of outbound marketing is to engage potential customers with targeted messages that are tailored to their specific interests and needs. Outbound marketing involves tactics like email campaigns, direct mail, and cold calling which can all be effective in generating leads.
Often the goal of outbound marketing is to pull customers to your brand who aren’t likely to find your company on their own.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a form of marketing that focuses on getting potential customers to come to you, instead of outbound tactics which involve reaching out to customers directly. Content creation such as educational blog posts, eBooks, articles, and newsletter campaigns are all examples of inbound marketing methods.
Inbound marketing techniques such as SEO, social media channels, and content marketing help to create a relationship with customers in an organic way which leads to increased brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Different Types of Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital marketing campaigns can be broken down into various subcategories to better understand what it is, what marketing strategies are available, and how they should be implemented.
Knowing the various types of digital marketing tactics out there will help you create an effective and strong digital marketing campaign.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine marketing is one of the most important elements of digital marketing. It involves optimizing a website’s content to improve your ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs).
Search engines are where potential customers go to search for something online, typically on Google or Bing. Showing up on the first page of the results page is crucial, as most users are unlikely to scroll to the next page.
By utilizing keywords, backlinks, and other techniques, businesses can increase their visibility within search engine results pages. Digital marketers can position a company’s website as an authoritative source for potential customers looking for answers or solutions with a strong SEO strategy.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
Google Ads are the most popular type of PPC advertising. PPC campaigns are a type of paid marketing where marketers create an ad and pay a fee each time the ad is clicked.
Rather than attempting to organically rank for certain keywords, PPC advertising allows advertisers to bid for ad placement in a search engine’s sponsored links section. Sponsored links appear when someone searches for a certain keyword or types a query related to the intent of the ad.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social media marketing is a type of digital marketing that uses social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to promote products or services.
Social media marketing involves creating engaging content like infographics, videos, and images that your target market would enjoy and find valuable. Having a strong presence on social media helps build brand awareness and community. Currently, video is the most favorable content for reach and engagement on social media platforms.
Boosting posts and advertising on social media are also part of social media marketing and paid media strategies.
Email Marketing
Email marketing involves sending promotional and informative emails to targeted customers. This type of marketing allows companies to deliver relevant messages to their current and prospective customers in a cost-effective way.
A common myth is that email marketing is ‘dead’ and that is far from true! Email marketing is still one of the top ways to reach your customers and drive sales.
Companies can use email campaigns to send out newsletters, offers, discounts, product updates, and announcements.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an effective digital marketing strategy that helps businesses increase brand awareness and grow their customer base. Typically through this marketing method, a company will partner with affiliates (influencers or other brands) who promote the company’s products or services in exchange for a commission on each sale or lead generated by their efforts.
Affiliate marketing allows businesses to gain access to a new realm of customers without investing heavily in costly advertisement campaigns.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the practice of creating, publishing, and distributing content to attract and engage a specific audience. The content created should be catered towards your target audience, and be informative, valuable, and engaging. Common types of content are articles, blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, and more.
Benefits of Digital Marketing for Businesses
Now that we understand the various forms of digital marketing and how they can help to grow your company, let’s explore the advantages it offers.
Cost Effective
Digital marketing is cost-effective compared to traditional marketing (offline marketing). You can reach current and potential customers without spending a fortune on advertising campaigns. With the right strategy in place, you can increase brand awareness and build customer loyalty with minimal investment.
Measurable Results
Digital marketing offers measurable results, making it easier to track the success of your campaigns and optimize them for better performance in the future.
You can use analytics tools to measure click-through rates, conversion rates, and other important metrics. This allows you to make informed decisions about what is working and what needs to be changed.
Targeted Audience
With digital marketing, you can target a specific audience based on their interests and demographics. This helps you reach people who are more likely to be interested in your product or service. You can also use retargeting tactics to reach customers who visited your site but didn’t complete their purchase.
Higher ROI
Digital marketing offers a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional advertising methods. With the right strategy, you can reach more customers and increase your sales with minimal expenses. This makes it easier for businesses to maximize profits without overspending on advertising campaigns.
Steps to Creating Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Formulating an impactful digital marketing plan requires thoughtful consideration and adherence to specific steps. Here at Rescue Marketing, we have mastered the art of developing a strong digital marketing strategy that delivers exceptional results for our customers.
If you’re ready to begin your digital marketing strategy, here’s a great starting list that will get you on your way.
1. Set Clear Goals and Objectives: Before diving into crafting a digital marketing plan for your business, it’s important to establish what you want to achieve from your efforts.
Setting clear and measurable goals, often known as SMART goals, are essential for any digital marketing strategy.
2. Analyze Your Audience: Understanding your target audience is key to creating an effective digital marketing plan. Gather data on what kind of people make up your customer base, what their needs are, what platforms they use, what type of content they engage with most, etc.
3. Identify Your Platforms: Once you have a good understanding of your audience and what they’re looking for, it’s time to identify the platforms that are best suited to reach them. Depending on what kind of business you have, different types of digital marketing strategies may work better than others.
4. Create Content That Engages: Content will engage your customers and keep them coming back. Create content that speaks to what your customers want, what they need, and what they’re looking for.
5. Track Performance & Optimize Strategies: Finally, track the performance of your digital marketing efforts using analytics tools to get a better understanding of what’s working and what’s not. Popular analytics tools are Google Analytics and built-in social media platform insights.
Make sure to adjust your strategies as needed in order to get the best possible results.
Time to Get Started On Your Digital Marketing Strategy!
By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful digital marketing strategy for your business that will help you reach and engage with current and potential customers.
While this information can definitely get you on your way to creating the best digital marketing campaign for your business, Rescue Marketing is here to help you every step of the way. Our team of digital marketing experts are always available to discuss your goals and develop a plan that will get your business the results it deserves!
