With the changing digital landscape and the demands of society, there is now more opportunity than ever before for an individual to make a name for themselves. Whether you believe you have what it takes or you’re just starting out, there is an incredible world of possibility waiting for you. One of the ways to make your mark is through online marketing, also known as digital marketing. If you’re looking to get started with online marketing and want to know where you can find a job, then this article will tell you everything you need to know.
What Is Online Marketing?
Simply put, online marketing is the promotion of products and services across different media channels via the Internet.
These days, whenever you search for something on the Internet, the first thing that comes up is usually an ad. You’ll see ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as websites and blogs. When an ad is displayed on a website, it means that the site owner has enabled ad serving, allowing companies to display ads on their sites. Companies will then pay the website owner for each click-through.
Because of the growing influence of the Internet in our lives, it is essential for businesses to take advantage of the online space to promote their brands and products. To help businesses succeed in today’s digital landscape, the Chartered Institute of Marketing has produced a five-step approach known as Digital Marketing.
Digital Marketing Strategy
At the heart of any effective digital marketing strategy is a strategic plan that details how you intend to use digital marketing to achieve your business objectives. This will include both short- and long-term goals, such as increasing web traffic and selling more products. To put it simply, a digital marketing strategy will help you become more efficient in your use of digital media.
To craft your digital marketing strategy, you will need to consider what platforms and techniques you intend to use, as well as the target audience you hope to reach.
Platforms For Digital Marketing
As you might imagine, not all digital marketing is served equal. Some platforms are more effective than others at driving specific results. In general, the more platforms you utilize, the more you can promote your product and grow your business. Below, we’ll discuss the various platforms and their advantages.
Website
Of course, the Internet doesn’t just operate in the physical world. In fact, a majority of people now visit websites instead of going directly to apps or social media sites when searching for something online. That’s why it’s important to have a functional and easy-to-use website.
Although it is typically the first step in any business’ digital marketing plan, having a website that is functional and user-friendly does not necessarily mean it’s the best platform for your strategy. There are many pitfalls that you need to watch out for, especially if your goal is to grow your business via the Internet. For example, if your website is difficult to navigate or unfriendly to users, fewer people will visit it and your sales will suffer as a result.
Social Media Channels
Let’s face it, social media has become an integral part of our lives. Across all platforms, from Facebook to Instagram and TikTok, people now spend more time on social media than they do on their phones gaming or using apps. Because of this, it follows that businesses should look to these platforms to gain more customers and grow their business.
As with websites, the ad quality on social media platforms has gotten so good that it is almost impossible to ignore when you are using these platforms. In addition to boasting high ad quality, these platforms also offer marketers the opportunity to engage with potential customers through comments and likes.
The great thing about social media is that there are so many platforms to target audience. Because of this, it is the perfect place to gain ground and expose your product or service to the right audience.
Blog
Blogs have been around for a very long time, but only in the past few years have they become so popular and influential. While traditional blogs like CNN and The New York Times attract big audiences and are often cited as examples of successful blogs, even the smallest websites can now afford a blog.
A blog is, at its most basic level, simply an online diary that provides information about a product or service. Because of their growing influence in today’s world, blogs have become a highly effective way to both create and maintain a community around a product or service.
Email Marketing
Even if you have a website with tons of content, it still can be difficult to captivate and engage an audience that just happens to visit your site. That’s where email marketing comes in.
Emails are still the most popular way of getting information and, thanks to the prevalence of newsletters and email marketing programs, there is a huge audience that can be tapped into. Unlike social media, which is mostly user-generated content, emails are usually curated by marketers to ensure they contain useful and engaging content.
The best part about email marketing is that it is one of the “best-in-class” marketing platforms thanks to platforms like MailChimp, which help make email marketing easier for marketers.
Offline Marketing
While most of the attention in any digital marketing plan will go towards online strategies and platforms, businesses should not neglect the importance of traditional marketing. If you are fortunate enough to have a physical store, you can use offline marketing techniques to generate customers.
Depending on your product or service, you may choose to utilize direct marketing (cold-calling potential customers and pitching your product to them) or branding (creating awareness and association with your product through various marketing methods). As the name implies, offline marketing is conducted “in-person” and includes everything from radio adverts to billboards and magazine spreads. Although these methods of marketing are considered “traditional”, the ability to target the right audience and engage them into action is still a key facet of any successful marketing plan.
The Importance Of Monitoring
If you’re following the advice in this article, you will have constructed a digital marketing strategy and are now starting to implement it. Before you sit back and relax, it’s important to monitor the results of your efforts.
The first step in this process is analyzing the results of your strategy. To do this, you will need to examine the metrics and data that can be tracked from your different marketing channels. For example, you will need to examine the number of visitors to your website as well as the performance of your social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram. In order to determine the ROI (return on investment) of your digital marketing efforts, you will need to consider the amount of money spent and the results obtained.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. If you are looking to increase your web traffic and sales, it’s essential that you examine the results of your efforts and determine if the strategy was successful or if there are areas that you could improve upon.
Where To From Here?
If you found this article useful and would like to learn more, here are a few other articles that you might find interesting:
Top 3 Examples Of Integrated Marketing Campaigns
To illustrate how integrated marketing campaigns work, let’s examine three successful campaigns from the Lexus Customer Center, a worldwide brand responsible for some of the most exclusive automobiles. These campaigns, designed to increase car owners’ trust in the brand, rely on multiple platforms and tactics to achieve their goal:
- Website
- Social Media
The Importance Of Measurement & Attribution
In the previous marketing campaign example, we mentioned that in order to determine the ROI of your digital marketing efforts, you will need to examine the metrics and data that can be tracked from your different marketing channels. Measurement is an important aspect of any marketing campaign, whether you’re using traditional or digital marketing methods. This is because without measures, it is difficult to determine the success of any campaign. This is why the Lexus Customer Center relies on measures both on and off the web to determine the effectiveness of their campaign and adjust as needed. For example, the CCS website now includes a special section devoted to measuring the success of their campaign, providing visitors with specific metrics on which to assess the performance of the site.