Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the process of using digital and social channels to promote or advertise a business’s product or service to consumers. It can take place on a variety of online platforms, including social networks, email, search engines, apps, and websites.
Using a search engine like Google can be a valuable way for users to see your digital marketing efforts at work. For example, if you place search ads on Google, which are paid placements, users can be informed of your business and its product or service through ads on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) when they search for something similar.
How Does Digital Marketing Work?
Digital marketing is used to help businesses and organizations inform existing and potential customers about their brand by providing information or content that will prompt the user to take action. Whether it’s a new product listed on a website, a new service implemented within an established company, or a new blog seeking traffic to build name recognition, the message is intended to grab the attention of the user and persuade them to click to find out more information.
Types of Digital Marketing
SEO is an important tool in website development, content production, and, of course, digital marketing. The purpose of SEO is to improve a website’s ranking on SERPs. When users search using keywords, like typing “launching a business” on Google, for example, the highest-ranking websites with those keywords show up at the top of the SERP. These first few links are considered the most relevant to the search query. By using relevant keywords, headers, and linking techniques, websites can increase their rankings and reach more users.
Email marketing is essentially the electronic form of direct mail marketing and can include newsletters with updates on the business, or promotions of sales and exclusive deals for subscribers. Marketing emails may also seek to share a general message on your business’s behalf.
While email marketing has been a standard digital marketing technique for decades, it continues to be viable for small businesses. In fact, according to a 2020 survey conducted by email marketing software company AWeber, 79% of small businesses cited email marketing as important or very important to their business strategy.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is a digital marketing technique used to drive traffic from search engines to a business’s website or app. Using PPC, businesses place ads on an advertising platform like Google Ads and pay the host of the platform when a user clicks on their ad. The ads are often listed on SERP, usually placed at the top. PPC ads may also be displayed while generally browsing the web, using apps, or as pre-roll placements before playing videos.
Social media marketing includes marketing completed through social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This form of marketing is also direct and can be targeted to users who follow other relevant social media profiles. It is beneficial because of the potential to reach a large number of users.
Mobile marketing is the method of reaching customers on their smartphones or tablets and promoting products and services through text messaging, social media, website, email, and apps.
Content marketing goes hand in hand with other digital marketing methods, such as SEO and pay-per-click. It involves creating and organizing content, such as blogs and videos, for promotional purposes. This content must be accurate and error-free, as the quality of the content will also have an impact on its search ranking.
Digital marketing is a vital tool for businesses that are launching, growing, or extending their lines of products and services, so it’s important to learn what it entails and the key techniques involved to better engage with your target audience.
