What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is the components of marketing that uses the components of marketing that uses the internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobiles phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. The COVID- 19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online banking, retail education and telehealth and these trends aren’t going away. The global digital marketing market size was valued at USD 43.8 billion in 2019.
Types of digital marketing
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. The goal of SEO is to get a business to rank higher in Google search results, ultimately increasing search engine traffic to the business website. To accomplish this SEO marketers research words and phrases consumers are using to search for information online anduse those terms in their own content.
This includes everything a business does via social media channels. Just about everyone is familiar with social media but marketers must approach social with an integrated and strategic approach. Social media is used on the net only to pass it, but you can also boost the ad of your business in it so that more and more people see it. Not all social media platforms are created equal and its important to choose the ones that align with your target audience and business objectives. Research the demographics, user behavior and engagement levels of different platforms to determine where your audience is most active. For instance if your business targets professionals LinkedIn might be a more suitable platform than Instagram. By strategically selecting the right platforms you can maximize your reach and connect with your ideal customers more effectively.
Content marketing uses storytelling and information sharing to increase brand awareness. Content can mean blog posts. Content should be published regularly with the target audience in mind. Ideally your brand would become a trusted voice within the industry by publishing quality reliable content. Now that we know what content marketing is, let’s explore its importance. In many ways content marketing is the complete customer acquisition channel. It drives traffic, builds trust, establishes your authority, and generates revenue. Sure Pay-Per-click (PPC) ads can bring traffic and revenue. Social media can be used to position your brand as an authority. But only content marketing helps you achieve a host of marketing goals without coming across as salesy in the first place. Content marketing is so important and works so well because it captures people throughout the sales funnel. You can use content marketing to attract users at the very top of the funnel, before they even think about making a purchase. In many cases a great piece of content is the moment when your relationship with the customer begins and that content is going to be with them through every step of the customer journey.
SEM
Search Engine Marketing or SEM refers to paid advertisements that appear at the top of the SERP. The cost of these ads typically depends on the number of clicks the link receives. It helps attain a top rank quickly and it is time efficient. Search engine marketing is important for businesses of all sizes, but what exactly is it and how can you best utilize it for your marketing strategy? Search engine marketing is a popular concept in online marketing. In order to understand why SEM is important. It’s crucial to understand the benefits it offers for businesses online. SEM refers to a variety of techniques and strategies a company can use to generate more visitor traffic from search engine result pages to a website. The goal of SEM is to promote a website’s visibility using paid search contextual advertising and organic search rankings.
Affiliate and Influencer marketing
Working with an affiliate or influencer can help increase your audience reach by engaging with their existing audience. For an effective/ Influencer relationship try to work with an individual who is well known and respected with your industry. They can create content promoting your business or product and share a link to your website.
Email Marketing
When someone visits your website or business invites them to join an email subscriber list with their permission you can send emails about sales, special events or product releases Email marketing is often underestimated and according Life marketing approximately $40 of revenue is brought in for every dollar spent on email marketing. The most important part of this digital marketing channel is that it should provide value to your audience. Benefits of Email Marketing.
- Creating personalized content.
- Collecting feedback and surveys.
- Improving sales.
- Increase leads.
- Generating traffic to your site.
- Saving time.
- Learning more about your audience.
- Increase brand awareness.
- Communicating with your audience.
- Owning your media and contact lists.
Mobile marketing
Mobile marketing is mandatory for brands who desire to be with their customers side by side. It requires the marketer to adapt everything he is doing on the desktop to mobile. You must also be efficient in mobile specific tasks such as in app advertising texting and social messaging apps. It is significantly important for brands that target a younger audience.
Advantages of digital marketing
Advantages of digital marketing
The main advantages of digital marketing is that a targeted audience can be reached in a cost effective and measurable way. Other digital marketing advantages include increasing brand loyalty and driving online sales.
Lower cost
The cost of digital marketing is very less, even small businessmen can promote their products and services with digital marketing at very low cost. A properly planned and well-targeted digital marketing campaign can reach the right customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods.
Global reach
A website allows you to find new markets and trade globally for only a small investment.
Personalization
If your customer database is linked to your website, then whenever someone visits the site you can greet them with target offers. The more they buy from you the more you can refine your customers profile and market effectively to them.
Improve conversion rates
If you have a website then your customers are only ever a few clicks away from making a purchase. Unlike other media which require people to get up and make a phone call or go to a shop, digital marketing can be seamless and immediate.
Disadvantages of digital marketing
High competition
While you can reach a global audience with digital marketing. You are also up against global competition. It can be a challenge to stand out against competition and to grab attention among the many messages aimed at consumers online.
Skills and training
You will need to ensure that your staff have the right knowledge and expertise to carry out digital marketing with success. Tools, platforms and trends change rapidly and it’s vital that you keep up- to-date.
Time consuming
Tasks such as optimizing online advertising campaigns and creating marketing content can take up a lot of time. It’s important to measure your result to ensure a return- on -investment.
Security and privacy issues
There are a number of legal considerations around collecting and using customer data for digital marketing purposes. Take care to comply with the rules regarding privacy and data protection.
Complaints and feedback
Any negative feedback of your brand can be visible to your audience through social media and review websites. Carrying out effective customer services online can be challenging. Negative comments or failure to respond effectively can damage your brand reputation.
Traditional Marketing
Understand traditional marketing in simple words, the same old way of marketing like giving ads on TV radio or putting big posters in the market. Traditional marketing makes use of conventional channels like newspapers, TV, radio, outdoor billboards, posters, magazines etc to promote products and services to each potential customer. Traditional marketing fundamentally uses the mass media to reach the potential customers and encourage them to make the purchase. Traditional marketing is a relatively less effective and more expensive marketing strategy. Another major limitation of traditional marketing is that it is limited to the specific geographical region. However the traditional marketing may be more effective in creating a band due to its aging.
Advantages of traditional marketing
There are many advantages of traditional marketing.
- Audience growth -: Options like Tv, radio and billboards can reach consumers in new markets and diverse geographic locations. More localized efforts such as flyers, direct mail and print ads can also engage consumers in a specific geographic area.
- Fast -: Tradition marketing can be very fast as campaigns can be launched quickly without much planning. This is advantageous in times of crisis or when a new product or service is urgently needed.
- Personal connection with customers-: Traditional marketing allows businesses to build personal relationships with their customers, providing them with a level of service and attention that is difficult to replicate through online or other forms of marketing. This emotional connection typically results in a higher customer satisfaction rate.
- Convenient for customers-: Most traditional marketing methods are suitable for customers. For example, businesses can send out mailing for make phone calls without having to leave their homes
- Flexible -: Traditional marketing can be very flexible as different campaigns can be launched at other times and in different ways. This means that it can be used to target a wide range of customers.
- Widely accepted -: Traditional marketing is widely accepted by most businesses as it has been used for many years. This means that a lot of trust and credibility are built over time.
- Easy to reach -: You can easily reach the customers through traditional marketing. With traditional marketing, you can reach your customers directly and you can tell them directly about your products and service.
Disadvantages of traditional marketing
- Expensive -: Traditional marketing is very expensive. Traditional marketing is very expensive for small or just started businesses. The means of limiting the number of campaigns launched in a year may be necessary.
- Limited reach -: Traditional marketing reaches very few people. This means that there may be limited expansion opportunities.
- Responsive -: This depends upon how you use traditional marketing and how well you tailor it to your target audience. However as mentioned above traditional media can be very responsive regarding targeted audiences.
- Traditional marketing does not give good results -: Traditional marketing does not give good and fast results.
Some tips of using traditional marketing
Your business is unique
Your business idea should be unique, the more your idea is unique the more chances are there for the business to be successful.
Understand the audience
You have to understand what the audience wants from you. Which age group is your service or product for? . You can better tailor your message to their needs if you understand your target audience. If they don’t fit within what the media offers, it’s best to skip that specific medium.
Use media selection wisely
You have to select media very wisely in traditional marketing. Remember that media is not always the same in conventional marketing. Different media gives you different results.
Get creative
You have to be creative not only in traditional marketing but also in digital marketing. As everyone knows creativity has no end. Use your creativity skills to promote and expand your business.
Be realistic
Not every traditional media piece will work for every marketer. If this is the case then make sure you do a thorough analysis before using an outlet.
Conclusion
Both traditional marketing and digital marketing have their own advantages and disadvantages. Today is a time for smart work. If you want to reach many people in a short time, then digital marketing is the best way. Traditional marketing is very expensive for small businessmen and for those who have just started, it is very costly. Promotion on digital marketing is very easy and not too expensive, you can reach a lot of people for very little value. There are many platforms in digital marketing where you can promote your brand. Digital marketing is better than traditional marketing and it is for everyone. Everyone can use it. With digital marketing, you can connect directly with your customers.