If you’re looking to learn more about marketing, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll teach you the basics of online marketing as well as provide you with an overview of the role the industry plays in the grand scheme of business. We’ll cover everything from marketing strategy to digital marketing tactics, so you can begin your journey to market dominance confidently.

What Is Online Marketing?

To put it simply, online marketing is the practice of marketing products or services using digital technologies (such as digital marketing, SEO, and content marketing).

Although it can be helpful to understand the differences between traditional and digital marketing, it can be difficult to fully grasp the complex world of online marketing. That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide which will break down the basics of online marketing for you.

Let’s get started.

Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing.

When attempting to grasp the complex world of online marketing, it’s helpful to break down the differences between traditional and digital marketing. Simply put, traditional marketing is anything which happens outside of the digital sphere, and digital marketing is everything related to marketing activities inside the digital sphere. In other words, digital marketing is everything online-related.

Even though traditional and digital marketing are distinct, they’re not necessarily separate entities. For instance, social media is a great tool for both traditional and digital marketing. When used well, social media can be a powerful platform for marketing any product or service.

As a marketer, you’ll most likely be involved with both traditional and digital marketing. For this reason, it’s important to continually learn and grow as a marketer. Being updated with the latest trends and technologies is vital to being able to provide value to your clients.

The Evolution Of Marketing.

If you’re just getting started, it might be hard to know where to begin your education. The evolution of marketing is vast and it can be difficult to keep up with the changes as they happen. That’s why we’ve attempted to put together this quick guide which will introduce you to the basics of online marketing and also provide you with an overview of the role the industry plays today.

When it comes to marketing, nothing stays the same. New technologies emerge which change the game and how we as marketers approach tasks such as lead generation and conversion. In the digital sphere, where the bulk of marketing takes place, the pace of change is rapid and it’s crucial that marketers keep up. As you read through this article, you’ll learn about some of the most important things which have occurred in the marketing world in recent years. Take a look.

Why Should You Study Online Marketing?

As the name suggests, online marketing is primarily done online. That doesn’t mean that it’s only available online, but it does mean that most of the tasks which you’ll be performing will happen online. Why is that important?

Firstly, being able to access a potentially worldwide audience means that you can market your product or service to a geographically diverse group of people. Thanks to the internet and the various platforms which it provides, online marketing is accessible to anyone with a laptop or a mobile device. Not only that, but since the internet is always with us, online marketing allows you to continuously create content which you can then distribute to your desired audience whenever you want. Being able to update your content without having to go through a publishing phase allows you to stay relevant to your audience.

Secondly, marketing on the internet doesn’t end at the end of the website. In the world of digital marketing, SEO and content marketing are terms which are often tossed around, but they’re not necessarily separate entities. Having one website is no longer enough when it comes to reaching your audience. Thanks to various platforms which allow for content to be distributed across the web, from blogs to forums to social media.

Being able to reach an audience on multiple platforms is vital for the success of a marketer. Having a YouTube channel doesn’t just mean that you can post videos about your products and services, but it also provides you with an opportunity to engage with your audience through other media channels such as Twitter or Facebook. Being able to capture and maintain their attention through different platforms is vital in today’s ever-changing digital sphere.

Key Facts About Online Marketing

Here are some interesting facts about online marketing which you might want to know.

YouTube currently boasts over 3 billion hours of video content, which has been viewed by over 1.8 billion people.

Millennials spend 20% of their time on social media, while Gen-Z spend almost 15% of their time online. The trend of kids being more online than their parents is continuing as Generation-Y spends more time on social media than any other before them. Additionally, 71% of adults use TikTok.

Over the past five years, the number of brands on social media has grown from 17.7 million to 44.3 million. This is likely due to the rise of TikTok and other similar platforms.

Thanks to the internet and social media, marketers can now target their efforts towards a geographically diverse audience. This has immense benefits for the marketing community as a whole. In the near future, you may find that certain locations and areas become associated with certain products or services as a result of this trend. For example, maybe Florida is known for its beaches and sunshine, so when a customer in Florida searches for a hotel, the first items which come up are beaches and sunshine. In a similar manner, when someone in Sydney searches for a hotel, the first items which come up are the iconic Opera House and a gorgeous view of the city. Using targeted online marketing, you can ensure that your products or services are only displayed to the right audience, wherever they are located.

The Demographics Of Online Marketing

Thanks to the internet, we’re now able to see where people come from when they visit a website or use a service. In the case of hotel booking platforms, information about a customer’s location can help a hotelier decide what types of deals or discounts to offer them. Knowing more about a customer’s demographics can help a business in many ways, from understanding what types of products or services they want to see more of, to being able to tailor the content which they receive based on their interests.

In the coming years, as more businesses move to the digital sphere, marketers will be responsible for adapting to this new environment and creating new methods of engaging with customers.