What is Digital Marketing? A complete Guide-2023

In the era of digitalization, the role of digital marketing in every business has become crystal clear. It is product marketing using different technologies on the Internet and other platforms like mobile apps, websites, social media, web applications, search engines etc in order to get leads. Now the question arises:

“Why Digital Marketing matters?”

We are living in a digital world and almost everyone is using mobile phones. So, if any business fails to capitalize on these platforms, it will end up lagging behind the competition. Now, Digital Marketing is no longer a game only for large enterprises to play. Small sized businesses or even start-ups prefer digital marketing services because of its cost-effectiveness.

The 5Ds of digital marketing

To understand the role of digital marketing in any business, you must be aware of the audience interaction which is not only limited to website or email now. These 5Ds in Digital Marketing strategy are about the opportunities for businesses to reach their audiences in different ways:

(i) Digital devices: Users can experience your brand services in the form of websites and mobile apps through different digital devices including desktop, TVs, tablets, smartphones, gaming devices etc.
(ii) Digital platforms: The major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter etc are the platforms for interactions.
(iii) Digital Media: Paid, earned or owned platforms to have an interaction with users through advertising, messaging, email, social networks, search engines etc.
(iv) Digital Data: Data collected in the form of audience profiles and business interaction. Now data protection is mandatory in many countries.
(v) Digital technology: Businesses use this technology for interactive experiences from email campaigns and websites etc.

Why Digital Marketing?

Digital, electronically or online marketing has replaced traditional or offline marketing including physical marketing, print ads and phone communication. With online marketing, there are endless website-based, social media, email, video marketing possibilities for brands. Even you can monitor the ROI and success of your campaigns using analytics tools in Digital Marketing. The following are some reasons explaining why digital marketing is the future.

(i) Cost-effective: Even small businesses or startups can reach the masses with Digital Marketing which was not possible earlier because of limited advertising budgets. Now, businesses can engage with their target audience in a very cost-effective and impactful way. So, Digital Marketing has offered equal opportunities to all businesses.
(ii) The audience is online: A big fraction of consumers now make online purchases which offers many opportunities to small and medium-sized businesses. The number of online buyers is still increasing so investing in digital marketing would result in a huge chunk of sales opportunities. Moreover, you can reach your target audience easily with online platforms.
(iii) Customer feedback: You can easily collect customer feedback or even track their journey through online marketing platforms. Analytics platforms like Google Analytics help in monitoring all actions and preferences of users. Moreover, it gives a good amount of valuable data that is not so easy to obtain. Customer preferences allow businesses to tailor their services in a more productive and effective way.
(iv) Strong brand reputation: With online marketing, businesses can build brand loyalty, expand their customer base and provide a platform where their clients can contact or share feedback. Having a strong online presence makes a positive image of your brand among customers which will take much time using traditional ways.
(v) Social media engagement: With digital marketing, businesses can reach their target audience even in a very tight budget. It also allows targeting users based on their demographics or individual preferences etc. A strong social media presence can help in bringing more traffic to the site as it builds credibility and trust among users.
These are just a few benefits, Digital Marketing has many things to offer including business growth, increased conversions etc.

How does Digital Marketing work?

Digital marketing is almost the same as traditional or offline marketing as you need smart companies to develop beneficial relationships with your customers and leads. So, you can say that digital marketing has replaced the tactics of traditional marketing.

For example, if you want to purchase any dress then you probably would have searched online to know about your shortlisted product before buying. Your buying decision would have a great impact on the features, customer reviews, pricing etc. All these things were not so easy in traditional marketing.

There are different ways to keep your customers engage with your services like:

With advertisements, you can get paid traffic to your website which is helpful for visitors to find your offers.
Providing updated content according to the industry standard is a good way to stay connected with your audience.
Email marketing is a good way to stay connected with your audience and to offer them the desired solutions.

Marketing channels:

There are different marketing channels in digital marketing like-

(i) Search Engine Optimization (SEO): It is the process to rank your website at the top of the search engines using specific keywords. SEO is performed through technical set-up and content optimization by search engines. The main purpose of SEO is to attract visitors to your website who are searching for services related to your business. The following are some ways of SEO to get traffic to your site. These are:

On-page SEO: In on-page SEO, existing “on the page” website content is focussed. By answering questions according to your targeted keywords, you can rank higher on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Off-page SEO: It covers all “off the page” activities while optimizing your website. These activities include “backlinks” which can be earned by connecting with other publishers and submitting guest posts etc.
Technical SEO: It’s basically the website backend including CSS file optimization, image compression, structured data to increase the loading speed of your website page. It is an important factor to rank your website on the search engines.

(ii) Paid Search (Google Ads): Pay-per-click or paid search advertising means the ‘sponsored results’ on the SERP (Search Engine results pages) which are very effective and visible for different kinds of businesses. In this type of search, you only need to pay for every click. Even you can target a particular audience in paid search.

Where you can use pay-per-click:

Facebook paid ads: Here, Facebook will publish your ads, customized video or image post to the news feeds of users matching your business.
Sponsored LinkedIn messages: Using this, people can send messages to other users depending on their background and business.
Twitter Ads campaigns: Here, people can pay for a specific audience to achieve a business goal like getting twitter followers, app downloads, website traffic, tweet engagement etc.

(iii) Content Marketing: As we already know that ‘Content is King’ because it is like the fuel to drive your Digital Marketing strategies. So, content marketing means content promotion to get lead generation, brand awareness, traffic growth etc. Following are some important channels without which content marketing is incomplete:

Videos: Nowadays, videos are completely ruling on the digital marketing world. Its use in content marketing is increasing rapidly because videos can convert your visitors into customers. Various surveys have confirmed that video conversion rates are much higher than other marketing content.
Blog posts: You can generate organic website traffic by publishing unique articles demonstrating your company expertise. It is also a great way to convert your visitors into leads.
ebooks: Long-form content gives detailed information to the users which increases their time on the website. It is very beneficial for the website to rank and generating leads.
Infographics: It is a kind of visual content helping your website visitors for concept visualization.

To rank on search engines, only promotional content is not required. Educational and inspirational content can also help to engage readers on a website as they take your website as a valuable information source.

(iv) Social media marketing: To get relevant traffic, leads and brand awareness, social media marketing is important. This marketing can be done using different social media platforms including:

Facebook
Instagram
Linkedin
Twitter
Pinterest
You Tube

Today, users are so smart that they research any brand before going for it. So, it is not sufficient to upload your product posts on social media. More sharing opportunities, engaging posts are required to convert your leads into potential customers.

Wrapping up: In the modern economy, businesses need Digital Marketing to stay active in the market. This is a domain that will not fade away soon and can outperform marketing strategies. Moreover, this online marketing is very straightforward and the result can be seen clearly in the form of the customer response rates.