Digital Marketing 101 - What You Have Been Told And What You need to Know

 

Hello friends and welcome to Instanters.

Have you ever heard of email marketing, search engine optimization, and digital marketing in general? In this article, we look at digital marketing as a relatively interesting niche in marketing management.

The article touches on what digital marketing is broadly, the relationship between businesses and digital marketing, the tools or sub-niches of digital marketing, how to become a digital marketing expert, as well as the historical cum future trends in digital marketing.

A BRIEF BACKGROUND TO DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing (DM) is no longer a passing trend, but an essential part of businesses and organizations around the world. With the ever-growing demand for digital marketing skills, it's important to stay informed on the latest facts and trends.

In this article, we look at basics of digital marketing to help you understand the importance of this field and how it can benefit your business.

 

WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING?

Digital marketing is the process of using technology to promote and sell products or services. It includes a variety of online and offline marketing activities, such as email marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.

Digital marketing is effective because it allows businesses to target a wide audience with minimal effort. With so many people using the internet, businesses have a large pool of potential customers to reach. And, with the right digital marketing strategy, they can reach those customers with little to no advertising costs.

HOW DOES DIGITAL MARKETING HELP BUSINESSES?

• Increased visibility

Digital marketing helps businesses be seen by more people online. This increased visibility can lead to more customers and sales.

• Greater engagement.

Digital marketing techniques allow you to achieve a high level of engagement with your target audience. This means that you can build relationships with potential and current customers, which can eventually lead to more sales.

• More cost-effective.

Digital marketing is often more cost effective than traditional marketing techniques like print or television advertising. With digital marketing, you can reach a large audience without spending a lot of money on advertising.

• Better return on investment (ROI).

Because digital marketing is so effective and efficient, it often has a better return on investment (ROI) than other marketing strategies. This means that you'll see a higher profit from your digital marketing campaigns than you would from other types of advertising.

 TOOLS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Experts in digital marketing have categorized digital marketing types, tools, or approaches into the following broad categories.

-Social media marketing

-Search engine optimization (SEO)

-Email marketing

-Video marketing

-Mobile marketing

-Pay per click (PPC)

-Content marketing

-Internet marketing

-Search engine marketing (SEM)

-Outbound and inbound marketing

These categories are not all-encompassing in themselves. The terminologies used are interconnected, not mutually exclusive, and more often than not overlap due to the rapidly evolving nature of the niche. We will take a look at some of these sub-niches briefly.

• Social Media Marketing.

Social media marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing tools available today. It allows businesses to connect with their target audience directly, and build relationships that can lead to increased sales and brand loyalty.

i) When used correctly, social media marketing can be an incredibly powerful tool for any business. Here are some essential facts about social media marketing:

ii) There are over 2 billion active social media users worldwide. This represents a huge potential market for businesses of all sizes.

iii) The average person spends over two hours per day on social media sites. This gives businesses a great opportunity to reach their target audience where they are spending a significant amount of time.

iv) Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are incredibly popular with users all over the world. This means that businesses have access to a large number of potential customers through these platforms.

v) Over 80% of companies use social media for marketing purposes, and this number is only increasing as time goes on.

vi) Social media marketing can be extremely cost-effective, especially when compared to traditional advertising methods like television or print ads.

vii) When done correctly, social media marketing can lead to increased brand awareness, higher levels of customer engagement, and ultimately more sales and revenue for businesses

• Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing tools available today. It allows businesses to reach out to their target audiences through mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Mobile marketing campaigns can be very effective in terms of reaching out to potential customers and increasing brand awareness.

However, it is important to note that mobile marketing should be used in a way that is not intrusive or disruptive to users. Otherwise, it could have a negative impact on the overall user experience.

• Outbound and Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a methodology that attracts customers to your brand and products, rather than interrupting them with advertising. It's about creating valuable content that pulls people toward your company and product, rather than pushing your message out to them.

Some inbound marketing tactics include SEO, blogging, gated content, and lead nurturing.

Outbound marketing is the opposite of inbound marketing. It's a more traditional form of marketing that involves Interrupting potential customers with your message, rather than attracting them to it. Outbound marketing tactics include things like buying lists of leads, trade show attendance, and print or TV advertising.

• Email Marketing

Email marketing involves using emails to enhance sales, conversion, customer experience, and satisfaction.

The purpose of email marketing could range from new brand awareness, promotional offers, and customer feedback, to customer suggestions or expectations. These can take the form of promotional emails, email newsletters, retention emails as well as acquisition emails.

All small, medium or large businesses make use of email marketing to drive sales and ultimately growth.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of technical planning, procedures and operations focused on increasing the potential of a webpage, website, or blog to rank higher on the search results pages or algorithm of a search engine e.g. Google.

SEO is the most popular indirect digital marketing tool. It helps improve a page’s visibility by increasing the position of a search engine-optimized page within the order of non-paid results. This allows the webpage or website to be easily seen with little effort on a similar topic, thereby driving its traffic exponentially. It is useful for content creators, mobile app developers, as well as other digital businesses.

• You may also be interested on how to boost your website's ranking as a Nigerian blogger.

• Pay per click (PPC)

Pay per click is a type of digital marketing whereby an advertiser pays per click on the ads of their product or service. In digital marketing, PPC allows the ad publisher to charge an agreed fee whenever a product or service advertised is clicked by a user.

• Search engine marketing (SEM)

This is a strategy developed to rank a webpage high in the search engine result. ? It is used essentially to boost the visibility of a website within the search engine results algorithm.

HOW TO BECOME A DIGITAL MARKETER

Digital marketing is one of the most in-demand skills today. While there is no one-size-fits-all in the training required to become a digital marketer in today’s rapidly evolving industry trends, it is highly imperative to be aware that businesses are looking for digital marketers who can help them reach their target audiences online and convert them into customers. If you’re wondering how to become a digital marketer, here are some essential facts you should know.

• A digital marketing career requires a combination of skills.

To be successful in digital marketing, you need to have a mix of skills including strategic thinking, creativity, analytical ability, and project management. You also need to be comfortable with technology and have good written and oral communication skills.

• There are many different paths to becoming a digital marketer.

There’s no one-size-fits-all path to becoming a digital marketer. You can get started in this field by working in an agency, as an in-house marketer for a company, or as a freelance consultant. Many online courses and boot camps can teach you the basics of digital marketing.

• A solid understanding of analytics is critical for success in this field.

Digital marketers need to be able to measure and analyze data to determine which marketing strategies are working and which ones need to be improved. If you want to succeed in this field, make sure you have strong analytical skills.

• You need to be constantly learning new things in this rapidly changing field.

The landscape of digital marketing is always changing thanks to the ever-growing information technology opportunities. Carving a niche within the digital marketing sphere requires creative thinking which can accommodate and utilize these technologies to optimize user experiences and improve innovative techniques in how we do business.

 

HISTORICAL TRENDS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Contrary to what most people might picture, digital marketing is not a 21st-century idea. Rather, digital marketing has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the early 1990s albeit with a traditional approach. In those days, marketers used simple techniques like email blasts and banner ads to reach their audiences. Today, digital marketing is a complex and multi-faceted discipline that uses a variety of tools and strategies to reach customers online.

Some of the most popular digital marketing tools include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing. Each of these tools has its strengths and weaknesses, and businesses must carefully choose the right mix of strategies to achieve their desired results.

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and new technologies are emerging all the time. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) is starting to play a role in digital marketing, helping businesses to automate some of their tasks and make better decisions about targeting their audiences.

As digital marketing evolves, so too does our understanding of it. The following facts provide a snapshot of where we are today and where we might be going in the future.

THE FUTURE TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing is not a new concept, but it has come a long way in recent years. With the advances in technology, digital marketing has become more sophisticated and data-driven.

The future of digital marketing looks very promising. Marketers are now able to target specific audiences with laser precision and measure the results of their campaigns with detailed analytics.

This data-driven marketing approach is here to stay and will only become more refined as time goes on. So what does the future hold for digital marketing? Here are three predictions:

• Personalization will be key.

As digital marketing becomes more sophisticated, personalization will become increasingly important. Marketers will need to find ways to tailor their messages and content to individual consumers.

• Content will continue to be king.

In the age of information overload, quality content is more important than ever. Consumers are looking for brands that can provide them with valuable and interesting information.

• Social media will evolve.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have already had a major impact on digital marketing. In the future, social media will become even more integrated into digital marketing campaigns.

The influence of information technology, social media proliferation, as well as business analytics on how we improve products, services, and feedback mechanisms between users and creators cannot be overemphasized.

Whether you are a search engine optimization manager or web developer, business analyst, or just an investor, the integration of digital marketing in products and service delivery has come to stay and will be around for a long time.

Therefore, digital marketing may be the game changer to your career or business growth and future.

Happy studying!

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