What Is It? And Why Should I Care?

As we enter a more remote world, learning the ins and outs of digital marketing is a necessity for your business. Digital marketing is a form of marketing that markets to consumers through an online platform like websites or social media. The ability to provide insight into audience behavior, grow awareness, and measure results makes digital marketing a powerful tool for businesses. 

Digital marketing reaches clients through several different channels. Here are a few examples:

• SEO– Search Engine Optimization helps websites perform better in search engines like Google or Yahoo. SEO allows your website to move from lower-ranking pages to the front page of a search engine.
• Digital Advertising– These are display advertisements you may see on the side of web pages that look like traditional ads. Digital advertising reaches target audiences through precise analytics and keywords. 
• Email Marketing– This is an effective way for businesses to promote sales, blog posts, or events to their audience. It also allows businesses to reward consumers through thank you emails enclosed with discount codes for signing up to newsletters or blogs.
• Content Marketing– Creating content that freely gives consumers advice, information or tips can grow brand awareness and increase traffic to websites. Infographics, eBooks, and blog posts are all forms of content marketing.
• Social Media Marketing– Social media marketing is one of the most cost-efficient ways to promote products and services because starting a social media account is completely free. Companies also have the option of running paid advertising campaigns that reach a larger, more precise target audience. 

Traditional marketing is difficult to measure because you know how many pamphlets and TV ads your company is sending out, but you don’t know which audience members are actually interested. Digital marketing provides tangible information that allows businesses to measure results and re-strategize if necessary. 

A recent survey conducted to understand what consumers expected from a digital marketing agency revealed enlightening information. The top 5 answers received from consumers were content marketing, digital advertising/PPC, email marketing, search engine marketing, and social media marketing. The bottom 5 answers received were outbound calls, inside sales support, direct mail, native advertising, and print advertising. These results clearly show that consumers are more interested in digital marketing than traditional marketing. 

Digital marketing consists of many different services. Most digital marketing agencies offer an array of marketing services. The way it typically works is a client receives a specialized set of services that is best tailored to their type of business and marketing goals. One client may be better suited with just an email marketing campaign, another may need a combination of services. It’s up to the agency to decide which services would better serve individual clients.