The Who, What, Why, & How of Digital Marketing

Our online activities aren’t limited to checking emails only. From hiring online essay writers, getting homework help to discovering new restaurants and shopping monthly groceries, the online world is certainly a crucial part of our lives. There are at least 4.66 billion active Internet users all over the world. As more people started spending their time online, it became mandatory for businesses of all sizes and types to have a strong digital presence. Digital marketing is no more an option but a necessity for marketers to connect with their target audience and take your business to a whole new level. What Exactly Is Digital Marketing? You must be familiar with the term ‘marketing.’ It is the process of selling or promoting products or services for a business. Digital marketing is when you do the same thing DIGITALLY.  Meaning? Digital marketing is a form of marketing that involves electronic devices or online media. The digital channels include emails, mobile and web applications, search engines, social media, etc.  Remember the McDonalds’ advertisements on the billboards on your way to school or college? That is one classic example of offline marketing. Digital marketing is about promoting the products on electronic devices such as mobile phones, desktops, emails, etc.  Is Digital Marketing Really Important? Marketers who have always followed traditional marketing techniques often come up with this question to me. If you want your business/company to grow, then yes, digital marketing is important.  Let’s take the example of billboards. These days, people tend to look at their phones while travelling. Don’t they? Only a handful of people might look at your billboard and only a small percentage might read the ad. Now imagine the attention you could get if the same advertisement appeared on everyone’s mobile phones. THAT is the power of digital marketing.  The four major advantages of embracing digital marketing:

• More cost-effective than traditional marketing 

The biggest con of traditional marketing is that you can never know if it’s working or not. Digital marketing, on the contrary, lets you keep a close watch on your marketing campaigns on each channel. So, if any channel doesn’t generate enough ROI for your business, you can stop spending on that channel. 

• Targets only the consumers who are interested in your services 

Can you control the number of views on billboards or readerships on magazines?  But, you can do so in digital marketing. You can identify your target audience (the ones interested in your product or service.) and send them personalized marketing messages. 

• Helps you stand out of the competition 

If you are starting new, chances are you already have a tough competition out there. Most of these big brand competitors can invest millions of dollars in nationwide campaigns. So, how would you battle this cut-throat competition? The answer is- digital marketing. It is cheaper but highly effective to the extent that you can beat your competitors using just the right set of keywords. 

• Provides accurate real-time results

The best thing about digital marketing is that it is measurable. For instance, let’s say you distributed some brochures to five families. But, you wouldn’t know how many families read the brochures or if someone threw those in the trash. In digital marketing, you can insert the same brochure on your website. And then you can clearly see how many people viewed your brochure and even collect the contact details of those who saw the brochure.  Americans these days spend more than 11 hours only on electronic devices every day. Thus, digital marketing, if done right, can drive all the attention of your target audience towards your products, thereby increasing your conversion rates.  What Are The Different Elements Of Digital Marketing? As mentioned earlier, digital marketing covers plenty of topics. Instead of rushing, take your time to understand the seven main types of digital marketing. Start with the one that brings you closer to your business objectives.

• Search Engine Optimisation or SEO

Suitable if: You have a website and you want to rank it higher in major search engines such as Google and Bing.  What you have to do?

• Research words and phrases that your target audiences are using to search for your products and services
• Use those words (keywords) in your content. 
• Add text transcripts for audio and video and alt text in images to let search engines understand what your content is about 
• Format URLs, links and sitemaps to help the search engines crawl your site

What are the cons? You can’t procrastinate when it comes to SEO. It usually depends on the Google SEO algorithm, which changes almost every single day. So, keep an eye on the changes and updates to implement those in your SEO marketing tactics. 

• Social Media Marketing or SMO

Suitable if: your target client spends most of their time on social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram. What you have to do? Publish social media posts consistently to engage your target audience  Use automatic online tools to schedule the posts  Follow the social media trends and implement that in posts Analyze the performance of each post and create better strategies from that data Communicate with your target audience via polls, surveys, and questionnaires to know more about their preferences” to “Communicate with your target audience by making surveys, polls, and questionnaires to know more about their preferences. What are the cons? Social media marketing is nothing like managing your personal social media accounts. You have to be creative while writing the posts and employ a data-driven strategy to reap the benefits. 

• Pay-per-Click or PPC

Suitable if: you need highly targeted traffic immediately.  What you have to do? PPC is promoting your products on search engines for a specific period of time at the top or sides of the SERP in exchange for money. That means, every time a user clicks on the ad, Google deducts a certain amount from your account. Here’s what you need to do:

• Create the ad depending on the company goals you want to achieve. 
• Settle on the place you want to advertise, such as Microsoft Advertising or Google AdWords. 
• Figure out the keywords you want to bid on. 
• Pick your budget (daily or monthly) and set your bid accordingly for different keywords. 
• Finally, write the ad and link it to the most relevant landing page on your website. 

What are the cons? This technique requires a great deal of time along with some practice to set up a successful campaign. Also, the revenue isn’t guaranteed in this case. People might click on the ad and leave the site without purchasing anything. 

• Content Marketing 

Suitable if: you want to enhance your SEO and social media strategies.  What you have to do?

• Use the most relevant primary, secondary and LSI keywords to create and promote your content. 
• Keep a check on the performance of the content to see if it is generating traffic growth, leads and sales. 
• Demonstrate your industry expertise via your website blogs. 
• Generate organic traffic by publishing ebooks, whitepapers and other long-form content. 
• Use infographics (visual content) to convey a specific message or inform your readers about something. 

What are the cons? Content marketing is a long process. You may not see the benefits immediately. Also, finding engaging content ideas can be time-consuming.  Wrapping Up,  Whether you own a business or are working for one, digital marketing is the best way to make the most of the online opportunities out there. Nothing comes easy. You have to invest a considerable amount of time and effort to study digital marketing. Pick any one type of digital marketing method to help your brand establish a strong online presence. Once that’s achieved, you can opt for the other methods and meet your business goals successfully.  Author Bio: Clara Smith is a content creator at a reputed firm in the United States. She is also one of the essay writers at Allessaywriter.com . Clara loves to spend time with her family whenever she is free.