So you’ve decided to enter the world of digital marketing. Fantastic! But what do you actually need to know? How can you produce results from your efforts? This article is an introduction to basic digital marketing tactics and terminology. More importantly, we will cover the essential components you need to know in order to become a successful digital marketer.
What is Digital Marketing?
Simply put, digital marketing is the use of digital tools to promote a product or service. It typically involves the use of social media platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook) as well as pay-per-click advertisements (e.g., Google Ads and Bing Ads) to build interest in your product or service.
The term “digital marketing” was first used in the early 1990s to describe the use of computers and the internet to promote brands. However, the practice itself is fairly young. For instance, radio commercials were used to promote products more than 70 years ago.
To create business value, the practice of digital marketing needs to be taken to the next level. To do this, you must integrate digital marketing with other marketing disciplines. This means creating marketing plans that not only include the digital marketing tactics you’ve learned, but also strategies from other areas of marketing (e.g., radio, TV, and print).
Why Should You Become Familiar With Digital Marketing?
There are several good reasons why you should become familiar with digital marketing. To name a few:
- The world is changing. With more people turning to digital marketing, it’s important to ensure you’re using the right set of tactics to suit your target audience.
- More and more people are relying on digital marketing to find relevant information about products and services, building an audience which provides you with potential customers.
- If you’re looking to grow your business, digital marketing is the best way to go. Thanks to the increasing power of mobile devices and the development of online marketplaces, being present online is more important than ever before.
- Marketing departments are now being integrated with other departments. This means marketers are working with salespeople and customer service employees to drive online marketing campaigns.
- Digital marketing is a growing field. One of the best places to look for a job is https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?location=san+francisco%2C+ca%2C++consumer+product+marketing%2C+digital+marketing&q=marketing%20job%20in%20the%20sf%2C+ca%2C+job+market&fref=ts. You can also search for similar jobs in: San Francisco, California.
- The average person now spends more time online than they do in their backyard. That means your potential customers are just a click away. Taking advantage of this fact is the key to online marketing success.
- Being able to access online content and being able to connect with potential customers is now a necessity for any business. It doesn’t matter if you sell shoes, electronics, or ice cream. If you can’t be found online, you can’t be found by anyone.
- The more you know, the more you can do. The more you do, the more you know. So with that being said, keep on learning!
To sum up, digital marketing is the practice of promoting products or services online using digital tools (e.g., social media platforms, email marketing, and paid-per-click advertising).
Basic Digital Marketing Tactic
Let’s get down to brass tacks! What are the basic digital marketing tactics you need to know?
To start, you will want to develop some content. This can be anything from an ebook that you write to an infographics that you create. The most important thing is that it has to be useful to your target audience.
Once you have your content, you can implement several different marketing techniques to promote your product or service.
How To Promote Your Product Through Content (E.g., An eBook)
When I first heard about the content marketing trend, I was a little skeptical. I mean, who cares about blog posts and written content when you can just go full-fledged viral with a YouTube video? While it appears that YouTube has cornered the market when it comes to viral marketing, content marketing doesn’t mean that you should give up on other platforms. In fact, you can use various tactics on other platforms to promote your content.
For example, you can use social media to drive traffic to your blog. If you have a relatively new blog, you can use social media to gain credibility and build an audience. In addition to using social media to build your audience, you should also be using social media to engage with your audience. This means using the platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to share worthwhile content and thought-leadership from other industry experts.
Blogs are pretty important in the world of digital marketing. According to HubSpot Blogs To Watch in 2017, infographics are the most shared type of content, and blogs are the second most shared type of content. To create an infographic, simply take any type of information (e.g., figures, tables, or lists) and organize it into a visually appealing design.
When promoting your product through content, the key is to make sure that the information in your content is actionable. That means, the reader must be able to take some kind of action (e.g., buy your product, sign up for your newsletter, etc.) after reading your content. If your content isn’t actionable, why would someone continue reading? You can also use various metrics (e.g., click-through rate, bounce rate, and time on page) to determine the effectiveness of your content marketing.
How To Promote Your Product Through Video (E.g., A YouTube Video)
Youtube is the world’s second-largest search engine, getting about 23.8 million monthly searches. As you might imagine, a lot of people are turning to Youtube to research products and services. This is why you should consider promoting your product or service through a Youtube video.
Like any good content marketer, you should have an idea of what type of video you’ll create and use a formula for creative inspiration. According to HubSpot Blogs To Watch in 2017, short-form videos (i.e., those that are between three seconds and one minute) are the most popular, with the average user spending 27 minutes and 33 seconds per day on them. In this sense, short-form videos are very suitable for promoting products and services, as people have limited attention spans.
The main thing to keep in mind when promoting a product or service through a Youtube video is to make sure that the content is informative and actionable. In other words, the viewer should know exactly what they’re getting into by watching the video. Consider adding visual aids to the video to make it more informative. For example, you can add graphs and charts to illustrate certain data points. Remember, people love videos that have an informal story-telling style with lots of personality and charisma. This makes your video more memorable and ultimately more effective.
Thanks to the development of platforms like Patreon and Youtube, self-produced videos from creators who have a large following are gaining in popularity. If you’ve got a sizable audience on Youtube, you can use the platform to drive traffic to your blog or website. Alternatively, you can integrate Youtube with other platforms to grow your social media presence.
How To Promote Your Product Through Email Marketing
Email marketing is another effective form of marketing, gaining popularity every year. According to HubSpot Blogs To Watch in 2017, email marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies. Not only is it inexpensive, but it also provides you with the opportunity to target the right audience and engage with them on a personal level.
The idea behind email marketing is to send out an email blast to your email list. The email blast will typically contain instructions on how to get your free guide or some other type of promo material. The majority of email marketing programs also provide you with the opportunity to put out multiple blasts per day, increasing your chances of getting noticed by your audience.