You may be wondering, what is part of online marketing?

There are several tactics and strategies used in online marketing, but none of them can exist in isolation. All of them work together to achieve success.

What differentiates “online marketing” from other marketing approaches is the presence of the internet. While other forms of marketing still exist, they’re largely irrelevant in today’s digital world.

The Evolution of Online Marketing

Over the past few years, the line between online marketing and traditional marketing has blurred. Offline marketing efforts such as television ads and billboards are becoming more akin to digital ads such as Facebook posts and Instagram photos.

Here’s a closer look at how the two forms of marketing have evolved, and how they work in tandem.

Marketing to Consumers

It used to be that businesses would look to reach as many consumers as possible with their marketing efforts. They’d want to blanket the city with radio ads, plaster London with billboard posters, and reach everyone in between with direct mail.

In today’s digital world, businesses can gain valuable insights about their target audience by analyzing the data that apps and websites provide. They can create content that is more personal and relevant to their target audience, and tailor their marketing efforts to maximize engagement and conversion.

As a business owner or marketing professional, you may be wondering what tactics can I use to attract customers to my company. One of the best ways to answer this question is to think about the people you’re trying to reach, rather than the potential customers you may have in mind. If you can relate to someone’s pain point, you can design a product that is specifically tailored to address their needs.

Cross-Platform Reach

With the rise of mobile shopping, consumers have come to expect quick and convenient access to information via their phones. As a result, mobile marketing made the switch from being a buzzword to a real necessity. It’s no longer enough to have a website – you have to have a mobile-optimized one.

When designing a mobile-optimized website, you need to consider a number of things. To begin with, make sure that your site is accessible on all major platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows). Accessibility is especially important for those with impaired vision or mobility issues. You also need to ensure that the content is viewable on small devices such as smartphones and tablets – otherwise, you may end up with a bland, unappealing site.

When attracting potential customers to your mobile-optimized site, make sure that you consider a variety of factors. Is the content easy to understand? Can someone find what they’re looking for quickly and without any trouble? Are the images big enough that they can be spotted easily by the screen reader, a tool used by visually-impaired individuals to access the web?

If you’re using email marketing to promote your business, ensure that the email meets the guidelines set by the major email marketing software platforms such as MailChimp and Constant Contact. Following the templates provided by the platforms will not only make your emails look more professional, but it’ll also ensure that they can be easily identified as coming from your business.

Personalized Content

With the rise of artificial intelligence and big data, businesses can gain valuable insights about their target audience by analyzing the data that websites and apps provide. What makes these tools so valuable is the fact that they can provide personalized content based on the person interacting with it. If you’re able to provide personalized content that is relevant and interesting, you’ll find that users have little trouble engaging with your content.

For instance, if I run a marketing agency and I see that a particular blog post is getting considerable engagement, I may assume that the readers are largely female – and I’d aim my content towards female readers.

Incorporating data about a user’s behavior into a personalized piece of content means that the content is not only relevant, but it’ll also be more interesting to the user. In theory, this is a great way to achieve more engagement and turn a greater number of clicks into paying customers.

If you’re new to internet marketing or you’re looking to evolve your existing practice, consider these tips to help you become familiar with a few of the things you need to know.