Did you know that 63.1% of the people on the planet access the internet? That amounts to 5.03 billion people, 4.7 billion of whom are social media users. Not only that, but the number of internet users continues to rise on a daily basis.
This is why businesses are going digital, because people rely primarily on the internet or social media for their daily needs in today’s rapidly evolving technological world. Communication, information, transportation, shipments—all these attest to the fact that we have convenience right at our fingertips.
Let’s say we don’t have enough time to travel to the places we need to be, we search the internet to find out which is the fastest way to get there and then try to book a cab. Or, if we need to buy lunch from home as we are unable to leave the house, we try placing an order using a delivery app.
As more people use internet services and mobile applications, businesses need to find innovative ways to reach their audience, and this is where digital marketing comes in. Now, what is it and what are the benefits of digital marketing? Let’s find out in this blog.
What is Digital Marketing?
According to Investopedia, “digital marketing” refers to “the use of digital channels to market products and services in order to reach consumers.” In essence, this type of marketing takes advantage of the internet. To improve a company’s earnings, traffic, or any other purpose involving the digital world, a company or organization may utilize various tools, procedures, content, and tactics.
Businesses employ digital platforms, such as email, search engines, social media, and other websites, to interact with their current and future customers. Additionally, text messaging and other forms of multimedia are used in digital marketing.
Different Types of Digital Marketing
There are several forms of digital marketing. The most popular digital marketing strategies are listed below:
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing strategy that allows one individual to earn money by promoting the business of another. You might be the promoter or the company that collaborates with the promoter.
An example is when influencers who use affiliate marketing to promote other people’s products get paid every time a lead or sale is generated.
2. Content Marketing
The objective of this type of marketing is to draw leads who will eventually become customers. It does it in a different way compared to conventional advertising. It provides content, such as blog posts, e-books, infographics, newsletters, and video or audio transcripts.
3. Email Marketing
The fact that “58% of users check email when they go online.” already creates a market that companies should concentrate on. Email marketing can help tap into that market. It could also be used in a content marketing plan. Sending a promotional email to your subscriber list and hoping they click on it is one of the aspects of email marketing.
4. Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a marketing practice that involves attracting and engaging with consumers at each stage of the buyer’s journey. In an inbound marketing plan, you may apply any digital marketing method to build a customer experience that works with the consumer rather than against them.
5. Native Advertising
As stated by Outbrain, “Native advertising is a form of paid advertising in which the ads match the look, feel, and function of the media format where they appear. They fit ‘natively’ and seamlessly on the web page.” For example, you open your Instagram app and open the selfie camera. You “beautified” your face using a filter from Sunnies Face. An example of native advertising is the filter that Sunnies Face made available to everyone.
6. Pay Per Click (PPC)
Paid advertisements may be used by marketers to target internet consumers on a variety of digital channels. Advertisements for products or services can be displayed to users who are conducting PPC campaigns on Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
7. SEO/SEM
SEM focuses on enhancing a company’s or organization’s ranking on search engines. Additionally, sponsored adverts on a search engine results page are a component of this type of marketing.
On the other hand, SEO aims to boost a company’s position in Google search results, thereby boosting traffic from search engines to the company’s website. To do this, SEO marketers look up the terms people use to seek information online and include them in their own material.
8. Social Media Marketing
The two major goals of social media marketing are to increase brand awareness and foster social trust. It serves as a direct sales channel or a tool for lead creation. Promoted posts and tweets are two examples of social media marketing.
Benefits of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is vital since products don’t sell by themselves. Businesses have to devote a lot of time and resources to marketing and publicizing the goods and services they offer to customers. With that, here are the benefits of digital marketing:
1. Geographically Wide Reach
Unlike traditional marketing that has a more constrained reach, digital marketing boasts of a broader scope. The reach of digital marketing is enormous, both domestically and globally. You can cover a greater geographic area if you have the brand recognition you seek.
2. Efficiency in Terms of Cost
Digital marketing campaigns that are well thought out and carefully targeted may more effectively reach the appropriate consumers at a lower price tag.
In comparison to traditional marketing, not only does digital marketing reach more people; it also costs less. There may be a significant overhead associated with television commercials, print advertisements, and other conventional marketing strategies. They also provide you less control over the likelihood that your target viewers will ever receive those communications.
3. Measurable Outcomes
Third among the benefits of digital marketing is the ability to benchmark your results. Finding out how many consumers and how much income your marketing approach overall brings in can help you determine whether it is effective.
But how can you accomplish it using a traditional marketing strategy? There is always the conventional choice of inquiring how each consumer found us. Unfortunately, not all sectors can do that. Many businesses can’t have one-on-one talks with their clients, and polls don’t always yield accurate answers.
Digital marketing systems and tools automatically measure the number of targeted conversions that you receive, whether that means email open rates, home page views, or direct transactions, making outcomes tracking with digital marketing straightforward.
4. Simplified Personalization
In a manner that traditional marketing cannot, the fourth benefit of digital marketing is that it enables you to collect client data. Digitally recorded data is frequently significantly more accurate and detailed.
You have access to all the information you require when it comes to digital marketing.
5. More Interaction with Consumers
Real-time communication is possible with your consumers, thanks to digital marketing. They can now communicate with you at their own convenience, which is more crucial.
Additionally, your consumers will profit from the interactions. As people actively participate in your brand’s narrative, their degree of engagement also rises. Strong brand loyalty might result from that feeling of ownership.
6. Simple and Fast Conversions
The last of the benefits of digital marketing is that with digital marketing, your target audience can respond to your content or advertisement right away. The fastest you can hope for with traditional advertising is a phone call right after someone sees it. Here, they may quickly advance through the sales funnel by clicking a link or saving a blog article.
Pursue a Career in Digital Marketing with CIIT’s ABM Strand and BS Entrepreneurship Course
A career in digital marketing pays handsomely. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that overall employment for advertising, promotion, and marketing managers will increase by 10% between 2021 and 2031, which is faster than average for all occupations.
Therefore, if you have the desire to pursue it, learning the benefits of digital marketing is just a click away. You can pave the path toward success by learning how to work as a professional in digital marketing. The BS Entrepreneurship program and ABM strand at CIIT are designed to equip students in pursuing their goals of becoming successful professionals. If you want a sneak peek into Digital Marketing or simply upskill, you can try CIIT’s Specialist course, the Digital Marketing Specialist.
So, why persist in waiting? See what classes CIIT offers, sign up, and become a CIITzen right away!
