Digital Marketing in layman's terms is simply promoting your brand, products and connecting with your customers on a platform using the internet. Since technology has become a huge part of our lives, it's time we take our business online as well. Digital marketing has certainly proved to be more effective than traditional marketing.
What is traditional marketing?
Traditional marketing means the marketing of a brand and products without the help of the internet.
A few common methods are:
- Billboards
- Direct mail
- Tv advertisement
- Newspaper ads
Though it's not entirely much of use now, it is being practiced side by side with digital marketing
Few types of digital marketing practices :
- Search Engine Optimisation(SEO)
SEO is used to rank your website in a higher position in google search results. To make use of SEO, the brand must do complete research on the keywords and phrases that the consumers are searching for. SEO can be on the page and off-page. On the page, SEO refers to internally linking the pages in the website. Off-page, SEO refers to getting backlinks from a similar website of your niche.
- Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing refers to using third parties to market and sell products. Generally, it's done by celebrities and influencers. They produce original content and mention the brand/product. They get a commission for each action taken.
- Content Marketing
Brands capture customers by providing content that solves the problems of the people. Through content, they capture the market/or the specific niche. Content marketing can be in the forms of blogs, social media, emails, newsletters, etc
- Social Media Marketing(SMM)
Social Media Marketing as the name implies is promoting the brand and product through social media. Depending on the niche ad products of the brand different social media platforms can be used. These platforms include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, Etc. Marketing can be done organically or through paid advertising.
- Email Marketing
Though email marketing is considered a dead-end nowadays, it has a significant role in digital marketing. Email marketing is sending promotional emails to your customers. With the advancement of technology we now have the opportunity to send personalized emails that are more appealing than generic ones. We can also now monitor the click-through rates of these emails.
- Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing refers to attracting customers by providing the right content that people want. It helps in collecting leads(potential customers). The 3 strategies used for inbound marketing are :
Attract - Capture customers organically or through ads by posting content, videos, etc
Engage - tailoring the content to solve the problems of the customers rather than being determined to sell the product
Delight – keep the customer satisfied with after-sale services and ensure they are happy with their purchase
- Marketing Automation
It is software used to perform repetitive marketing activities. It not only makes the work easier but also gives a personalized experience. Automation can be done for social media posting, running ads, emails, etc
- Pay per Click(PPC )
PPC refers to the paid advertisement that shows up at the top of the search results. The instrument for PPC is Google AdWords. Money is deducted only when someone clicks your ad. You can control your budget as per your financial strength. Google Ads is commonly used by most brands. The main cost involved here is the use of keywords( high or low competitive). Google ads provide a huge area for personalization and are very handy to use.
- Video Marketing
Video marketing has acquired a huge place on most social platforms. When advertising about a brand it's the videos that are more likely to increase engagement. Videos play a major role in removing the language barrier in most countries. Even if one doesn't know the language, by seeing the actions in the videos he/she can understand what the product/brand is about.
Careers in digital marketing :
- Social Media Manager
- Brand Manager
- Digital Marketing Manager
- Website Designer
- Email Marketer
- Blogger
- Content Creator
- SEO Specialist
- Analyst
- Google Ads Specialist
To get hands-on experience in digital marketing checks out these top rated Digital Marketing Courses. They are very helpful and will help you to master the skills easily.
