You may be thinking, “Well, another obscure term. Insufficient conventional, online, and web marketing? However, digital is not as frightening as its name suggests. And many businesses successfully employ his methods, sometimes without even realizing it. To clarify, we have outlined the components of digital marketing and solicited expert opinions on the subject.
Reading time 8 minutes
You can go directly to the section of interest:
- What is the digital marketing
- The history of Internet promotion: how it all began
- What is included in digital marketing
- What do digital agencies do?
- Benefits of digital marketing
- Where do digital marketers work?
- Conclusions
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is the process of acquiring and retaining customers through the use of digital channels. And any – from advertising on online radio to the announcement of contextual advertising on the Internet. Simply put, digital marketing is any promotion in which the “digit” is involved.
This concept is frequently confused with Internet marketing or marketing on the Internet, but there is a significant distinction between the two. Rather, digital marketing includes online marketing, too but is not limited to the Internet. Let’s compare: Internet marketing is SEO site promotion, context, webinars, etc. – all channels available to the user only on the Internet. And digital marketing is all of the above plus advertising and promotion on any digital media outside the network. That is, it implies digital communication that occurs both online and offline.
Moreover, digital advertising does not include traditional channels such as newspaper ads, flyers, television ads, and billboards. Although if a QR code is indicated on the billboard, you can go to the site, this is already digital marketing. In a word, the essence of Internet marketing is the use of digital channels.
The history of Internet promotion: how online marketing began
Once upon a time, digital could exist without internet marketing. SoftAd Group, the pioneers in this direction, is an illustration of this (now ChannelNet). In the mid-1980s, they created a novel advertising campaign for several automakers.
The concept required magazine readers to remove a special insert and mail it in. In exchange, they were offered a free test drive and a floppy disc containing advertisements for various car brands. Therefore, the company utilized both online and offline promotional tools. In addition, the term “digital marketing” (or “digital marketing”) first appeared in the 1990s.
What is internet marketing?
Each digital marketing channel and tool can be devoted to a particular article.
Therefore, we will not analyze them in depth but instead provide a list of the most common forms of digital marketing:
- digital TV and online radio;
- advertising in applications, instant messengers, and online games;
- SMS and MMS-mailing;
- advertising on interactive and outdoor LED screens and self-service terminals;
- SEO and SEM – search engine marketing on the web;
- contextual advertising, banners and teaser advertising;
- SMM – social media marketing;
- email marketing;
- affiliate marketing, in which the webmaster receives payment for attracting each visitor or buyer.
Few businesses can afford everything at once, but this is typically unnecessary. The decision depends on the business’s objectives and/or the approach of the agency leading the project. Also, one should not forget about managing the company’s reputation in all sources where there is mentioned. The view on digital and the effectiveness of different channels may differ, so we asked for the opinions of several experts from this field at once.
In digital marketing, many tools can be divided into three main groups:
1) paid resources: all manifestations in digital for which the company needs to pay;
2) own resources: websites, pages in social networks that the business owns and can dispose of;
3) earned resources: the so-called word of mouth or earned media – free or purchased communication channels.
What do digital agencies do?
In general, digital agencies ensure the brand’s presence and promotion in the digital environment. The team may comprise a marketer, an SEO specialist, an analyst, a project manager, a designer, a coder, a programmer, a content manager, and a copywriter. For occasional jobs, such an agency may hire freelancers like videographers or photographers.
Digital agencies provide the following services:
- development of a comprehensive strategy for product promotion;
- creation and promotion of sites, design, media and contextual promotion;
- work with online communities;
- organization of offline events;
- creating advertisements for digital TV or online radio, etc.
However, there is a second significant point: digital marketing is almost exclusively analytics. Thankfully, the digital environment facilitates data collection. Marketers analyze user information and behavior: demographics, interests, online activities, advertising sources of transition to the site, etc.
With the help of such data, digital marketing services can better understand the target audience and how effective a particular ad or promotion strategy is. Therefore, experts name analytical systems among the most important tools in their arsenal.
Google Analytics is for everyone. The main thing is to correctly set up the tracking of key performance indicators use the collected data, and make decisions based on it. I also regularly use Google Tag Manager. This allows, firstly, to be less dependent on developers, and secondly, to track more data and, starting from them, to make important decisions.
Through analytics, digital agency professionals understand what works best. And they can even explore the popularity of various promotion channels for specific topics.
The agency’s specialists studied which 93 large online stores use digital marketing channels from Central.
Benefits of digital marketing
- Digital marketing enables you to reach offline and online consumers who use tablets and mobile devices, play games, and download applications. So the brand can appeal to a wider audience, not limited to the Internet.
- Ability to collect clear and detailed data. Analytical systems record virtually all user actions within the digital environment. This allows you to draw accurate conclusions regarding the efficacy of various promotion channels and to create an accurate portrait of the buyer.
- Flexible approach – digital marketing allows you to attract an offline audience to the online market and vice versa. For example, you can direct the user to a website using a QR code on a flyer. And at the same time, thanks to the email newsletter, you can invite subscribers to a seminar or other offline event.
Digital marketing is a complex promotion that includes many channels. Therefore, it is important not to try to cover them all but to proceed from the goals and capabilities of the business. Moreover, almost all interviewed experts believe that there are no universal solutions and tools that should be chosen for a specific company. By the way, Ringostat actively cooperates with agencies and offers them a special loyalty program.
Where do digital marketers work?
There are two big areas in the work of a digital marketer:
- agency;
- inhouse.
While working in an agency, a specialist simultaneously conducts several projects. Often these are clients from different business areas, so the same person does not advertise to competing organizations. Such work allows you to hone your skills without a detailed analysis of the client’s business. But for some, it can be difficult to keep in mind the information about all the nuances of their projects.
Working in an in-house team assumes that a person works as a marketer in a company’s staff and is only engaged in its promotion. Such specialists know the specifics of the company where they work and hone the skills necessary for it more than universal ones.
To find a job as a digital marketer in an advertising agency, select the agency you like, and then look for the job section on the site. For example, the constantly growing Netpeak agency publishes current vacancies in the Career section. Here you can also select the area of work you are interested in, your city and your experience to find a suitable vacancy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is digital marketing better than traditional?
It allows you to use traditional offline and digital channels for promotion. The return from the latter is easier to record and analyze, which is an advantage.
How to switch from traditional marketing to digital?
You must integrate digital promotion channels, such as contextual advertising, SEO, SMM, and email marketing. And use web analytics systems to analyze their effectiveness.
Which digital marketing metric is the most essential?
The most important metric is the number of sales generated by online promotion channels. This metric will aid in the evaluation of end-to-end analytics. If it is not connected, you can focus on conversion goals, such as the number of phone calls, items added to the shopping cart, or online applications.
Conclusions: what is an online marketing
- Digital marketing promotes goods and services to acquire and retain customers through digital channels.
- Digital marketing encompasses nearly all forms of online promotion, including SEO, PPC, SMM, and email marketing. And digital advertising comprises all paid online promotion techniques.
- Internet marketing services can be ordered from a digital agency. These companies assemble teams of specialists and provide online promotion services, from implementing targeted campaigns to developing full-fledged strategies.
- Digital marketing allows you to advertise to a wide audience that the company could hardly gather with offline promotion. Also, a distinctive digital feature is an advanced analytics, which allows you to collect clear, detailed data on the effectiveness of campaigns and optimize promotion based on them.
- Experience in digital is the work experience gained in a digital agency or in-house team engaged in online promotion.
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