What is Digital Marketing? – Features, Tools Importance, & More

Marketing is all about connecting your brand with your audience by being in the right place at the right time. Every company is taking their business digital or at least promoting their business on various social media channels as it offers high growth potential. 

Did you know that there are about 5 billion global internet users as of 2022, which is a 400 million jump from 2021? About 89% of internet users go online at least once a day, and 31% are online almost all the time.
This means that every time a person is using their phone, they are away from the offline world of marketing and exploring the digital world of marketing. Today, let’s learn about digital marketing, its types, its fundamentals, and more.

Introduction to Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is also known as online marketing. It refers to the use of digital channels to market products and services in order to reach consumers. This type of marketing involves the use of websites, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other similar channels.

According to Google, about 88 percent of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a related store in the next week. Let’s understand the fundamentals of digital marketing with an example – 

For a minute, try to recall the last important purchase you made. It can be something big like a home or something small like hiring a plumber, or maybe you changed the lunch suppliers at your office.

Regardless of what it was, you probably began by searching the Internet to learn more about the available options, the businesses that provide the exact product or service you needed, and how much it would cost. Your ultimate buying decision was then based on the reviews you read, the friends and family you consulted, and the solutions, features, and pricing you researched.

The important thing to note is that all of this was done online. In today’s world, most purchasing decisions begin online. This means an online presence is absolutely necessary, regardless of what you sell. So, how do you create a presence online?

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Evolution of Digital Marketing

The advent of digital marketing can be traced back to the 1990s. Since then, it has evolved into one of the most popular marketing fields. Let us discuss the timeline of this evolution.

• The Beginning: 90s Era

In the early 1990s, Archie, the first search engine came into being followed by search engine optimization (SEO). In 1994, the first clickable web ad banners were launched. It was in 1997 that a social media site-like website was launched. By 1998, we had Google and Yahoo’s web search engine. 

• Millennial Era

Several new sites launched in the 2000s, such as LinkedIn (2002), Myspace (2003), WordPress (2003), and Facebook (2004). This is also the time when mobile text messaging marketing is becoming popular. 

• The Mobile Era

The era saw an increase in marketing and sales activities with Amazon being a pioneer in the e-commerce industry. Further, the mobile app culture expanded, giving a push to digital media marketing. Apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp became popular during this time. 

• Present Scenario

Today, the majority of the activities happen through digital media. There is a rise in influencers and bloggers who have become an integral part of the digital marketing space. With the digital advertising industry already valued at around $200 billion, it is expected to grow even more in the future.

Types of Digital Marketing

Here is a list of different types of digital marketing to help you get started.

1. SEO – Search engine optimization, or SEO, is technically a marketing tool rather than a form of marketing in itself. It is basically used to optimize your website so it appears on the first page when someone searches for a product or service that you offer. It can also help convert organic traffic into potential leads using different types of SEO techniques. Here is a quick abbreviation to remember the main process of SEO – R.O.C.K.E.T.

R – Research

O – Optimization

C – Content with good quality

K – Keywords

E – Earn the social media support

T – Test the website

Also, learn the importance of SEO in digital marketing.

2. Social Media Marketing – In simple terms, social media marketing means creating awareness about your brand by engaging with people through your online social business handles. 

3. Email Marketing – The concept of email marketing is simple, you send promotional emails to your audience and hope that your prospect clicks on them to buy your products or services. It is the process of sending commercial messages like discounts, sale alerts, new product launches, etc. in the form of emails to your customers to get their attention. There are three types of email marketing: email newsletters, transactional emails, and behavioral emails.

4. Pay-Per-Click Advertising – In Pay-Per-Click, or PPC, brands pay a fee when someone clicks on their digital ads. This enables brands to pay for only those ads that actually bring in some traction or revenue for the business. Otherwise, brands have to pay high rates for ads that people might not even see or click. 

5. Content Marketing – Content marketing refers to the creation and sharing of quality content online. It focuses on producing relevant and informative content for the brand’s target audience. It includes blog posts, e-books, newsletters, video or audio transcripts, whitepapers, infographics, etc.

6. Affiliates – Affiliate marketing lets you make money by promoting another person’s business. For instance, Amazon’s affiliate marketing program is one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing programs. In this, creators, publishers, and bloggers sign up to have Amazon products and services shared on their websites or apps, and in return, receive compensation for the sales their sites generate.

7. Native Advertising – Native advertising is digital marketing in disguise. Its goal is to blend in with its surrounding content so that it’s less obvious as advertising. For example, Twitter hashtags, Instagram and Snapchat story filters, etc.

8. Influencer Marketing – Like affiliate marketing, influencer marketing relies on working with an influencer (an individual with a large following), such as a celebrity, industry expert, or content creator, in exchange for exposure.

9. Marketing Automation – Marketing automation uses software to power digital marketing campaigns, improving the efficiency and relevance of advertising.

10. Mobile Marketing – Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that allows you to engage with your target audience on their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This can be via SMS and MMS messages, social media notifications, mobile app alerts, and more.

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

It is safe to say that digital marketing can work for any business regardless of the industry or what the company sells. This is because digital marketing involves building buyer personas to identify your audience’s needs and creating valuable online content. This, however, does not mean that the same digital marketing strategy will work for all businesses. Here’s how different businesses mold digital marketing strategies to their advantage.

• B2B Digital Marketing –

Just like in traditional marketing, the first thing you need to do is define your goals for digital marketing. In the case of business-to-business (B2B), digital marketing is done to generate online leads with the end goal of a prospective customer talking to a salesperson. 

• B2C Digital Marketing –

If you are running a business-to-consumer (B2C) company, your digital marketing efforts will be spent on creating awareness and encouraging people to visit your website. Here, they will convert from prospective leads to customers without ever needing to talk to a salesperson. 

In B2C business, you are less likely to focus on ‘leads’ in their traditional sense and more likely to build an accelerated buyer’s journey from when someone lands on your website to when they make a purchase.

Now that we understand a little more about the meaning of digital marketing and the fundamentals of digital marketing for various businesses, let’s look at the various features of digital marketing.

Features of Digital Marketing

Now let’s discuss about what are some features that make digital marketing widely popular.

Flexibility – Digital marketing can be done in various ways. These include email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, banner ads, etc. It completely depends on the user and their needs.

Affordability – The methods of digital marketing are reasonable as compared to other methods of marketing. The expenses of advertisements are also low in digital marketing. 

Expansion – Digital marketing attracts customers who mostly shop online. Your products and services can be advertised through paid campaigns, which will help you drive relevant traffic to your website quickly.

Interactivity – Digital marketing allows you to receive reviews, comments, and feedback from the customer. This will help you gain customer trust and bring transparency.

Tracking – It tracks the most successful campaign. So, it makes it easy for people to focus on the area which is bringing more traffic to the site and enhancing the efforts over there. It also gives you insight on communication. Rework can be done if the techniques are not beneficial. 

Explore the top 9 benefits digital marketing for business.

Importance of Digital Marketing

Let’s discuss the importance of digital marketing in business building.

1. Affordability

Digital marketing is much more affordable than other forms of marketing. It spends less amount of money on advertisements and sponsorships. 

2. High Reach

Digital marketing has an astonishingly high reach, which can help brands reach a global audience quickly.

3. Increases the ROI

Digital marketing helps increase the ROI (return on investment). It helps you keep a track of the profits and losses that are generated from various digital marketing campaigns. These reports help companies understand how well their digital campaigns are doing. 

4. Brand Awareness

Digital marketing helps create brand awareness among relevant audiences. 

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy?

To reap the benefit of the time, effort, and money put into marketing a brand, we need to strategize well. Here are some steps to create a digital marketing strategy:

• Research

The first step is to research the landscape well. You need to identify and analyze your competitors, the work they are doing in the digital space, and how well they are performing. You also need to know more about your potential customers by studying their demographics, interests, and behavior. Do not forget to evaluate your previous strategies to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated again.

• Set a Goal

Be clear about what you are aiming for and how you wish to achieve it. Set a larger goal and smaller objectives for easy planning and execution. Decide if you are seeking to increase brand awareness, number of followers, or conversion. 

• Define Target Audience

The brands do not aim toward everyone and anyone but have a specific target audience that they wish to attract through their digital marketing campaign. Creating a buyer persona will help you understand the audience better and identify the target audience for your brand. 

• Build a Content Strategy

Look at your objectives and the target audience and curate a content strategy accordingly. For content-related ideas, you can research your competitors and customers, check Google search suggestions, trending hashtags, etc. You will also need to plan what kind of content will work for your brand and how much content is required. 

• Select Channels and Tactics

You need to select what digital channels you will use for marketing your brand. Select the channel that is likely to give favorable results to you. The tactics that you will use should also be in line with your brand’s image. You do not want to spend time creating a video for a channel where normal posts fare better. 

• Set KPIs

It is important that you set key performance indicators or metrics for your strategy to analyze its performance. Keep your goal in mind and select these metrics accordingly. For example, if you wish to focus on brand awareness, then your KPIs would be engagement rates and impressions. 

• Incorporate Best Practices

Ensure that you incorporate the best practices in your strategy. The digital marketing field witnesses many changes frequently. To keep your strategy up-to-date, follow the trends and include the ones best fit for your campaign in your strategy. 

• Analyze and Optimize Your Strategy

Once your strategy is in place and your campaign is running, do not forget to analyze it. This practice will give you insights into what is working for you and what is not. Therefore, you can make the necessary adjustments and optimize your strategy for better results.

Traditional Marketing Vs Digital Marketing

Now let’s talk about traditional marketing vs digital marketing and which one you should choose for your business:

Parameters	Traditional Marketing	Digital Marketing
Cost	It is not cost-effective.	It is cost-effective.
Reach	It has local reach.	It has a global reach.
Brand Building	It offers help for brand building.	It is good for brand building.
Flexibility	The advertisements can’t be altered.	The advertisements can be altered even after they are posted.
Communication	There is only one way of communication.	There is two-way communication between the brand and customers.
Advertisement Type	The users have to watch the same ads repeatedly for a long duration of time.	The advertisements are innovative and you can skip them if you lack interest.
Tracking	Traditional marketing is difficult to measure.	Digital marketing is not difficult to measure.
Medium	It takes help from newspapers, pamphlets, and TV ads to advertise.	It uses social media, paid digital ads, influencer marketing, etc.

Tools of Digital Marketing

The following are the common digital marketing tools.

1. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of the top email marketing tools in the world. It has more than 12 million customers. You can have 2000 subscribers for free on MailChimp and has self-service support to make it easy to find all the answers to your questions.

2. HubSpot

The HubSpot CRM provides email tracking and notifications, prospect tracking, meeting scheduling, and a live chat option. It is also free of cost.

3. Ahrefs

It is one of the best tools for brainstorming keyword ideas or opportunities. This tool allows you to check any URL’s top organic keywords. It also estimates the traffic a competitor can receive for any given search term and can also identify a site’s top-performing content.

4. SEMrush

SEMrush tracks the volume of your priority keywords and suggests new keywords for better reach.

5. Screaming Frog

It is an advanced SEO site audit tool. It crawls websites and gives on-page SEO elements. You can review the website’s optimized title tags and meta descriptions and improve SEO drastically with this tool. It diagnoses URL errors in real time. You can crawl up to 500 URLs for free using this tool.

B2B Vs B2C Digital Marketing

The following are the differences between B2B and B2C digital marketing. 

Parameter	B2B Digital Marketing	B2C Digital Marketing
Branding	B2B marketing focuses on the positioning. The aim is to uniquely position the brand in the market, create a brand identity, and increase lead generation.	B2C marketing focuses on the message that the customer will get. The aim is to establish an emotional connection with the customer, build loyalty, and motivate the buyer to buy.
Audience Targeting	B2B finds the target audience by identifying niche markets.	B2C businesses work in a large-scale market and the target audience is created by the digital marketing funnel process.
Customer Relationships	It is aimed at building strong client relationships as it derives long-term business.	It builds transactional relationships since the aim is to sell the products to the customers and increase sales.
Ad copy	Ad copies in B2B digital marketing use the terms that the clients are familiar with.	Ad copies in B2C digital marketing use emotional tactics and are written in a relatable voice to attract customers.
Decision Making	In B2B marketing, decision-making is through open communication. Here, during evaluation, rational and emotional needs are separated and then a decision is made.	B2C aims to simplify the decision-making process by using a conversion funnel. This involves creating influential advertisements and utilizing keywords.

The 5 D’s of Digital Marketing

Here are the 5 D’s of digital marketing.

1. Digital Devices

These are the main assets of the digital services. You can freely access the services available online if you are equipped with digital devices such as television, desktop, laptop and smartphones etc. 

2. Digital Platforms

Digital platforms such as social media applications like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter have broadened the reach of digital marketing at a brisk pace because they have been used daily by the masses. These platforms act as a medium between companies and customers.

3. Digital Media

Digital media or electronic media uses electronic devices for distribution. 

4. Digital Data

 It is a type of electronic representation in a format language that only machines can understand.

5. Digital Technology

It is the electronic tools, devices, systems, and resources that generate and store data or are able to process the data.

Digital Marketing Career Scope

Digital marketing offers a huge career scope. According to the Goldman Sachs report, companies will invest more than $160 billion in digital marketing by the year 2025. Following is a list of jobs you can pursue after completing a digital marketing course –

1. Digital Marketer
2. SEO Executive
3. Google Ads Specialist
4. Email Marketing Specialist
5. Web Analyst
6. Paid Advertising Manager
7. Social Media Manager
8. Digital Branding Head

Salary in Digital Marketing

Do you know your salary can vary from company to company even if you are in the same location? Yes, it’s true! Check out this digital marketing salary data from Google to understand this better:

• The future in digital marketing is incredible, and so is income.
• The average salary of Google digital marketing Managers in India is ₹ 18.9 Lakhs per year.
• The salary of a digital marketing Manager at Google is between ₹ 4 Lakhs to ₹ 36 Lakhs per year.

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Conclusion

Digital marketing makes gathering customer data easy which ultimately helps organizations to easily understand buyer behavior and make accurate forecasting decisions. It is a vast subject that goes beyond the points discussed above. You should learn digital marketing to develop a digital marketing strategy that puts you in all the places where your followers are already hanging out. It is one of the primary focuses of almost any business as it is vital for a company’s growth.