Digital Marketing is the aspect of advertising which uses online and web-based digital technology including mobile phones, desktop computers and other electronic media and technologies. The basic concept of digital marketing is that the client will be provided with a digital medium through which they can interact with the advertised brand or product. In the last twenty years digital marketing has seen tremendous growth and this growth is evident in the number of companies who utilise digital methods for their advertising.
The growth and impact of digital marketers are evident in the fact that they are in more demand than ever. This is because digital marketers know how to reach target audiences at different demographics and through different means. Traditional marketing methods are more time consuming and are difficult to monitor. This is because television, radio, print and outdoor media are affected by the viewer’s behavior. For example, some viewers are more likely to watch a program when it is on, while others prefer to turn off or interrupt a program if it is taking too long. These factors affect the type and timing of advertisements which are most effective.
Digital Marketing can be split into two types; one is the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and the other is the Affiliate Marketing. In Search Engine Marketing the marketers use the keywords or phrases that the consumers will enter on search engines to find what they are looking for. The advertiser will pay a certain amount of money for each click if it converts into a sale. Affiliate Marketing is where the digital marketers will pay affiliates or partners a commission for their efforts.
The potential customers will share their experiences of using the product or service with other potential customers via social media networks. This means that an online marketer can create Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages and connect with the potential customers. Once the online marketer has connected with the customers through these pages, they will send out emails or send text message alerts to potential customers about the products and/or services that the online marketer is offering. This form of digital marketing is called Social Media Marketing (SMM).
The digital channels are also called digital subscriber inventory (DSI). There are two types of digital channels; one is the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) digital channels and the second is the organic search digital channels. The pay-per-click digital channels are the ones that give advertisers a predetermined amount of money every time a visitor, subscriber or user clicks on one of the sponsored advertisements on the search engine results page. The organic search digital channels are those that are found on the top results on the search engine results page when a user searches the keywords or phrases that have been pre-programmed to show up. When these search results come out the search engine uses mathematical algorithms to rank them based on the users inputting them in the search engines.
Digital Marketing Strategy is continuously evolving and changing. Marketers are constantly looking for new ways to reach their target market and present their message in a way that’s unique to their brand. The Internet has changed dramatically and now places like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have become some of the biggest social network sites on the internet. Brands need to determine what their digital marketing strategy should be based on. A good example would be if a brand was to start a blog where they would talk about their product in an honest and interactive way to gain honest feedback from their customers.
