Remember the days when there was no technology, no mobile phones, messages, calls, or emails, and we used to write letters to communicate? Sounds like a million years ago right? Now, we cannot imagine our lives without the internet and electronic devices.
According to Data reportal, currently, 4.66 billion people use the internet worldwide. Times are changing rapidly, and so, the way businesses used to approach their customers has also evolved. Traditional marketing has taken a step back, and a new face has emerged in the industry, i-e ‘Digital marketing‘.
What is Digital Marketing?
According to the Macmillan dictionary, “Digital marketing is a form of marketing that includes all the activities done to promote a product, service, app or website on digital devices.”
From a layman’s point of view, digital marketing is no different than traditional marketing, except for one significant difference: Digital Marketing is designed to reach today’s consumers with the help of any or all types of electronic devices!
Types of Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing can be both Online and Offline.
Online marketing uses the internet to reach people to promote a product or service. Whereas, Offline marketing uses electronic devices without the internet and is sometimes related to conventional marketing.
Here, we will list down a few top categories (both online and offline) to help you understand the concept of Digital marketing.
- SMM (Social Media Marketing)
- Podcast & radio marketing
- SEO (Search engine optimization)
- Content marketing
- Marketing through mobile phones
- PPC (Pay-per-click advertising)
- Email Marketing
1. SMM (Social Media Marketing):
It refers to social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and paid social media techniques to promote a product or service. Here is a list of Top Social Media Marketing tools that will help you establish a strong social media presence and track your results.
2. Podcast & radio marketing:
Radio & podcasts use wireless networks to deliver information, such as Call and response programs, talk shows, etc. The marketing here is the audio version of information that reaches out to many ears at once without using the internet. Read this blog to find out the 7 Best Podcast Hosting platforms.
3. SEO (Search engine optimization):
A process of achieving the site’s visibility, improving the quality and quantity of its traffic from a search engine’s results. In simpler words, SEO, if done with the right set of tools, can help your business rank at the top of Google or any other search engine search results!
4. Content marketing:
This marketing style is a little different from the other marketing types because it does not directly promote a company’s product or service; instead, it creates valuable and relevant content that enhances people’s knowledge and indirectly increases it’s reach.
Using a good Content marketing platform will ensure that your company’s content is meaningful and engaging, yet optimized.
5. Marketing through mobile phones:
Promotion through messages, calls, and offline mobile ads that occur on apps is known as mobile phone marketing. You may include special discounts, deals, and promotional messages as part of this category.
6. PPC (Pay-per-click advertising):
PPC is a paid form of advertising. As the name reveals, advertisers have to pay a certain fee each time someone clicks their ads, or visits their website through the advertisement.
7. Email Marketing:
Marketing a company’s product or service using emails is called email marketing. It is the most effective marketing form because you can send various emails to different prospects and turn those prospects into loyal customers. All you need is an efficient Email marketing service!
We are done with the basics here. Let’s jump to: Why should you choose digital marketing?
Top 7 Reasons to Choose Digital Marketing
In the past few years, the world has shown a paradigm shift from analog to digital. People are soaking up all sorts of information online, making digital marketing the best way to reach the target audience.
Digital marketing has a lot of benefits. To give you a clear picture, we have listed the top 7 reasons why you should choose digital marketing over traditional marketing.
- More cost-effective than traditional marketing
- Trackable results
- Allows you to find your target market
- Improve outreach
- Connect with the audience
- Reach people at the start of your business
- Helps to grow your business
1. More cost-effective than traditional marketing
Imagine spending all your money on print (brochures), and it doesn’t even reach your target audience? What a waste!
Digital marketing is more cost-effective than traditional marketing because it allows you to choose your daily budget. It helps you determine which strategies are working well for you and which ones aren’t worth the cost, so you spend in a particular direction.
2. Trackable results
When you invest in marketing, you desire to know whether the audience is liking your campaign and is it driving better revenues or not?
In traditional marketing campaigns, you had to ask each customer what brought them to the store, which is time-consuming and can annoy the visitors. Digital marketing has made this simpler; you can easily monitor the performance and find out what your audience is looking for. You don’t have to worry about bothering your customers; everything is easily trackable.
3. Allows you to find your target market
Imagine targeting those who are more likely to buy/invest in your product or service? Yes, this is possible with digital marketing.
Let’s say your product is for females, and your ideal customer would be a female aged between 20-30 who earn at least Rs.35,000/- a month; wonder what? You can even target that specific niche!
The power to target customers and reach your niche is also one of the main reasons to choose digital marketing. When you better target people, you drive progressive results and higher revenues.
4. Improve outreach
Traditional marketing could be a better option to reach a particular geographical location, but why limit your reach? Anyone who uses the internet can be your potential buyer with the help of online marketing.
You can share your blog, post, or any information around the globe. Anyone from a different country might be looking for the products or services you are offering, so you can easily connect with them and spread your business worldwide.
5. Connect with the audience
While traditional marketing allows you to have a one-way conversation, digital marketing can provide a two-way conversation with your customers.
In the modern era, people expect to engage with the product or service, so keeping that in mind is essential. From solving customer’s complaints to responding to people’s suggestions, queries & problems, you can create a trustworthy relationship with your audience; it will help foster brand reputation and customer loyalty.
6. Reach people at the start of your business
Another reason why digital marketing is a must is that you can reach people before even launching your product!
You can research the trends, people’s preferences, which product to offer and more, in advance. If you want to launch a product or service that people want, you will know when is the right time to enter the market and make a positive impact.
7. Helps to grow your business
The foremost reason you should choose digital marketing is that it helps you grow your business.
You can find your audience, target a specific location, associate with your audience, track results. It will help increase conversation rates, generate better revenues, build brand reputation, increase customer loyalty and your reach.
Whatever a business needs, digital marketing has everything on its plate.
Real-Life Examples of Digital Marketing Paying Off!
Time to go real! We have gathered here a few real-life examples of Digital Marketing coming to life.
L’Oreal grouped with influencers and inspiring beauty YouTubers to promote their products and events (usage of YouTube channel).
Due to this, L’Oreal’s YouTube content has been viewed more than 5 million times and got more than 100,000 likes.
McDonald’s Question Time – McDonald took the challenge of answering customer’s questions and responded to around 10,000 questions.
As a result, they built strong relationships with customers and gained their trust & loyalty. People loved their transparency & concept, which increased their sales.
Uber is the best example of digital marketing. It came up with the idea of booking a car with just a few clicks from the app, offered coupons to riders, provided the concept of referrals, and sent promotional messages.
It impacted the market at an extent that nowadays, UBER is a must-have app in almost all
According to build fire, Uber has 75 million active riders worldwide; Uber is available in more than 80 countries and completed more than 5 billion rides.
These examples are just a nip in the bud to explain what wonders can Digital marketing bring to your business. Needless to say, it can help boost up your business if done correctly!
Wrapping Up
We could write thousands of books on digital marketing and why you should choose it. Still, the guide illustrated above is enough to give the core concept of digital marketing and how it can positively impact your business.
If you currently don’t have a digital marketing strategy in place, you might be losing out on a great opportunity.
Did you enjoy this blog? You might like to read: How to make your online presence stronger.
