Introduction

The term digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels to

market products and services to consumers. This type of marketing
involves the use of websites, mobile devices, social media, search
engines, and other similar channels. Digital marketing became popular
with the advent of the internet in the 1990s.

Digital marketing involves some of the same principles as traditional

marketing and is often considered an additional way for companies to
approach consumers and understand their behaviour. Companies often
combine traditional and digital marketing techniques in their strategies.
But digital marketing comes with its own set of challenges, including
implicit bias.

 Digital marketing involves marketing to consumers through digital

channels, including websites, mobile devices, and social media
platforms.

 This form of marketing is different from internet marketing, which is

exclusively done on websites.

 Digital marketing relates to attracting customers via email, content

marketing, search platforms, social media, and more.

 One of the biggest challenges digital marketers face is how to set

themselves apart in a world that is oversaturated with digital
marketing ads.

 Digital marketing comes with various challenges, including implicit

bias.

Corporations traditionally focused on marketing through print,

television, and radio. Although these options still exist, the internet led to
a shift in the way companies reach consumers. That's where digital
marketing came into play. This form of marketing involves the use of
websites, social media, search engines, and apps—anything that
incorporates marketing with customer feedback or a two-way interaction
between the company and its customers.

Digital marketing is the use of digital channels to market products.

Also known as online marketing, digital marketing promotes brands and
connects them to potential customers via the internet. It takes many
forms, including:
 Search engines
 Websites
 Social media
 Email
 Mobile apps
 Text messaging
 Web-based advertising

Digital marketing uses the same principles as traditional offline

marketing but in a digital space. It relies on consumer data to find a
business’s target audience and deliver the most relevant messaging
possible. This is effective, but digital marketing is so popular that the
biggest challenge today is learning how to stand out from the crowd.

The benefits of digital marketing

1. Reach a large demographic
Digital marketing allows you to reach a wider customer base with less
effort. When you post an ad online, it can reach anyone, regardless of
their location. You can connect with customers on the other side of the
world, in multiple time zones, as seamlessly as though you were taking
out an ad in the local newspaper. You can expand your market reach and
grow your business in ways that would have seemed impossible before.
 2. Cost efficiency
Traditional marketing channels like TV, radio, and print media typically
have higher costs than digital channels. Posting on social media and
creating blogs doesn’t have a cost beyond the time you spend producing
the content. You can create a slick, professional website for a relatively
low cost by using one of the many template systems or paying more for a
bespoke creation.

3. Results are measurable

Digital marketing comes with a host of analytics opportunities that
traditional marketing just can’t match. You can track the number of
conversions and leads, visits to your website, and much more — giving
you plenty of valuable insight to help grow your business. For example,
digital marketing allows you to:

 Measure social media engagement with built-in analytics.

 Track the organic traffic and SERP rankings of every blog post.
 Pull accurate data on paid ad views, clicks, and conversions.

Traditional marketing doesn’t allow for further engagement and only

allows for one-way communication. But digital marketing gives you the
opportunity to chat one-on-one with customers. You can engage with
them directly on a blog or social media post to learn how they found you,
what they think, and what they need. This gives you both quantitative and
qualitative information on your marketing efforts, which is worth its
weight in gold.

4. Easier personalization for customers

Customer data is the foundation of digital marketing. Because it requires
so much data, businesses naturally learn a lot about their ideal customers
during a digital marketing campaign. Thanks to this data, it’s never been
easier to personalize your marketing campaigns.
For example, businesses use customer data to:
 Monitor the behaviour of their social media followers to see which
types of content and post formats they prefer.
 Segment customers based on their demographics, which makes it
easier to personalize messaging based on their pain points.
 Address customers by name in email campaigns.
 Acknowledge key events like customer birthdays and anniversaries.

5. Opportunity to engage with customers at various stages

Digital marketing is more cost-effective, which means you can engage
with customers at several points during the buying process. For example,
you can create a paid advertising campaign and then follow up with those
leads after they’ve made a purchase. This could be as simple as saying
thank you, or using it as an opportunity to upsell with related items or a
subscription. A traditional TV ad can’t do that.

6. Easy and convenient conversions

Thanks to its cross-channel connectivity, digital marketing makes it a
cinch to increase conversions. Shoppers can move from a social media
platform to your ecommerce store to make a purchase in just a few taps.
Digital marketing also allows for automation, so if customers don’t make a
purchase right away, you can quickly follow up with them to recapture
their business before they forget about you.

Types of digital marketing

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of optimizing the content, technical setup, and reach of
your website so your pages appear at the top of a search engine result
page for a specific set of keyword terms. With SEO, businesses analyze
their website’s performance, score it against competitors, and create a
data-backed strategy to improve their rankings over time.
In digital marketing, the goal is to get your content to the top of the
search engine results page (SERP). This is important because 67.6% of
organic traffic clicks come from the first five results on the SERP. Most
businesses boost their rankings on the SERPs by:
 Creating quality content
 Fostering user engagement
 Ensuring marketing material is mobile-friendly

Businesses also have to consider on-page and off-page SEO, as well as

technical SEO. On-page SEO focuses on optimizing aspects of your
website that users engage with. This facet of SEO leans heavily into
keyword research. With the right list of target keywords, you can optimize
your web copy to answer your audience’s most important questions.

Off-page SEO, on the other hand, is the practice of optimizing activity

outside of your website that could affect your rankings. With off-page SEO,
you look at all the ways you can garner external attention to your website.
This generally focuses on gathering quality backlinks to your site, which
can affect your rankings in the long term.

2. Search engine marketing (SEM)

Not to be confused with SEO, SEM revolves around paid ads that display in
the SERPs. Paid search typically refers to the sponsored result on the top
or side of a SERP. These ads appear when users enter a certain search
term. As the advertiser, you pay every time someone clicks on your ad.
The two most popular SEM platforms are Google Ads and Bing Ads.

SEM works because 68% of online experiences start with organic and paid
searches. By promoting your brand at the source of most online
experiences, you can attract more interested leads to your site.

3. Social media marketing

Social media marketing involves promoting your business organically
through various social networks. But this isn’t just a promotional channel
— social media is effective for digital marketing because it gives
businesses the power to chat with their most engaged followers one-on-
one.

Social media is everywhere, so your business must be active on different

platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are the
most popular social platforms right now. But depending on your industry
and target audience, LinkedIn can also be a lucrative platform. However,
the key to effective social media marketing goes far beyond simply having
a few social media accounts.

Many social networks, like Instagram, allow your followers to make direct
purchases within the app, although sales alone might not be your goal.
Companies often use social media marketing to start conversations with
their audience. It’s also a fantastic tool for promoting your content
marketing pieces to a wider audience.

Follow these best practices to increase your reach on social media:

 Know your audience, including their favourite social media
platforms.
 Produce engaging, high-quality content.
 Respond to comments and questions within 24 hours, if possible.
 Stick to a consistent posting schedule.
 Post at optimal times for your target audience.
 Hire a social media manager to facilitate campaigns.

The goal of social media marketing is to engage with your followers. The
more your audience is inspired to engage with your content, the more
likely they are to share it, potentially inspiring their peers to become
customers as well.
 4. Email marketing
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing where you reach out to your
customers through strategic email messages. After more than two
decades, email is still the quickest and most direct way to reach
customers. However, to avoid getting buried by competing content in your
subscribers’ inboxes, your content needs to be incredibly engaging,
relevant, informative, and entertaining.

Email marketing can take many forms, but these are the more common
types of emails businesses send:
 Blog subscription newsletter
 Welcome emails to new customers
 Holiday or special event promotions
 Post-purchase follow-ups that include tips, tricks, and best practices

Email might be the oldest form of digital marketing, but it’s kept up with
the times. Follow these best practices to get even more out of your email
marketing campaigns:
 Your audience expects personalized emails, so include their name in
the email body and subject line, at a minimum.
 Always make the intention of the email clear with a single call to
action.
 Include an unsubscribe link in all of your email signatures.
 Timing and scheduling are important. Don’t bombard customers’
inboxes with repetitive or irrelevant messaging, or they could hit the
unsubscribe button.
 Integrate transaction and promotion emails.

The goals behind creating a website

1. Generate More Qualified Leads
This is arguably the most popular goal for business websites that have
lead generation as their main purpose. This goal is best for companies
that want to get more sales leads through improving their website’s
marketing performance. To measure lead increase, I recommend setting a
percentage rate increase as opposed to an absolute lead count. This
accounts for monthly traffic fluctuations and allows for meaningful
historical comparisons. Also, make sure to track qualified leads versus
total general leads and set specifications as to what is considered a
qualified lead.

2. Improve Lead Conversion Rate

This measures the ability of a website to capture information of a visitor
and convert them into a prospect (measured as a percentage of website
visitors who become prospects). This goal is good for companies that want
to focus on the website’s ability to convert and is a great goal to set for
inbound (content) marketing campaigns. This goal can also help measure
changes in the quality of traffic. For this type of goal, it is crucial to know
your website’s current conversion rate.

3. Increase Awareness
This goal lends to measuring how effective your website is in educating
users about your new products or services when you are not necessarily
“selling” online. This works well for websites that serve an informational
purpose but don’t necessarily need to generate leads or capture
information, such as: micro-sites for new product launches, political and
government websites or non-profit websites dedicated to raising
awareness around a certain cause.

4. Generate More Sales

This is the most popular goal for e-commerce websites that sell products
or services online (SaaS also falls into this category) and is best for
companies that want to maximize their online sales. Similar to lead
increase goals, I recommend setting a percentage rate increase (in %) as
opposed to an absolute sales amount. This will account for seasonal sales
fluctuations and will allow for more meaningful historical comparisons
5. Improve Sales Conversion Rate
Similar to marketing, this goal measures the ability of a website to sell
(convert a website visitor into a customer). It is typically measured as a
percentage of website visitors who become paying customers. This goal is
suited best for e-commerce/SaaS websites that want to focus specifically
on maximizing a website’s ability to sell. This goal can also help measure
changes in the quality of traffic. Just as with marketing KPIs, it is
absolutely crucial to know your website’s current conversion rates before
setting this goal.