The online world is diverse and ever-changing. Just a few years ago, most marketers were limited to internet marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing. But as the world shifted to the digital sphere, new types of marketing emerged, bringing with them new challenges and opportunities.
Whether you are a seasoned marketer or simply beginning your career, you’ll probably find that working in digital marketing is different from working in traditional marketing. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the methods and tools you use will likely be different. And the one constant is you’ll need to work hard to make the strategy work for you.
Here are just a few of the different types of marketing that can help you stand out from the crowd.
Inbound Marketing
If you’re reading this, I assume you’re either already working in digital marketing or are about to begin your career. Inbound marketing can help you achieve excellence as a marketer and be more efficient in your work. First coined by marketing strategist Keith Horman, inbound marketing stands for “ attracting, engaging and delighting people to grow a business”. To put it simply, inbound marketing is all about marketing to attract, engage and delight audiences and customers so they keep coming back for more.
The main principles of inbound marketing are:
- Attracting: The foundation of any marketing strategy is attracting potential customers to your product or service.
- Engaging: Once you’ve attracted a customer, you need to keep them interested in your product or service and avoid losing them as a customer (or potential customer).
- Delighting: You must delight your audience with compelling reasons to keep them coming back for more. You may want to consider investing in quality content to better meet their needs. If you want to grow your business, you need to ensure that your customers come back for more because they enjoy your product or service rather than because they feel they have to.
According to HubSpot Blogs research, 71% of millennials have bought something on the basis of an online review, compared to 49% of baby boomers. Additionally, 56% of millennials have bought an item or service after watching a TV commercial, compared to 42% of baby boomers. Finally, 38% of millennials have bought an item or service after seeing it featured in a magazine or online article, compared to 24% of baby boomers.
Forrester Research states that if you want to establish a brand identity as a leader in your industry, you must develop a digital marketing strategy that encompasses SEO, content creation, email marketing, and social media.
Traditional Marketing
If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering what traditional marketing is all about. Simply put, traditional marketing is all about selling your product or service to consumers through traditional means. It can include anything from radio ads to billboards to magazine spreads to television commercials.
In terms of demographics, the B2B Marketing Guide states that 61% of consumers worldwide are digital natives who rely heavily on digital media. Additionally, 59% of consumers are likely to have bought a product or service after seeing it advertised online. As a marketer, you must consider digital marketing a key part of your overall strategy, even if you also draw on other marketing tactics.
So, what is a digital native? It’s someone who was born and raised using digital media and who may have never known a world without it. They may use social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter to connect with friends and family, but they also expect brands to engage with them on those same platforms to get their attention and make a sale.
Social Media Marketing
The B2B Marketing Guide states that 48% of consumers worldwide get most of their marketing information from brands via social media. Additionally, 40% of consumers get technical information related to products via social media. To succeed in social media marketing (SMM for short), you must have a large audience on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. It helps to have thousands of followers on these platforms. But even if you only have a few hundred followers, you can still engage with your audience on social media.
SMM can include anything from sharing valuable content to engage with your audience to using social media to get the word out about your product or service. Essentially, you’re aiming to convert your audience into buyers or subscribers. To do this, you can start by engaging with your followers on social media. For example, if you’ve got a Twitter account for your brand, you can regularly share valuable tips and content that is related to your niche. Or, you can use the platform to get the word out about your upcoming events or webinars. Whatever you do, make sure that your social media posts are consistent and well-designed.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
The B2B Marketing Guide cites Google and Bing as the top two search engines, accounting for 69% of all searches worldwide. It follows that if you want to succeed in SEM, you must understand how to perform SEO effectively on your own website. To perform SEO, you must first identify the key words or phrases your target audience uses to find information online. Next, you use those key words or phrases to build the content on your website and in other places online. You want to create content that is relevant to your audience, but also makes sense for search engines to pick up on. It is a never-ending process of trial and error.
Back in the day, you would have had to “manually” work to optimize each individual page on your website for search engines. Now, with the help of tools like Google Analytics, you can see the results of your efforts in real time and make necessary adjustments as you go. For example, if you notice that certain pages on your website aren’t performing well, you can work to improve those pages’ rankings in search engine results. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to track the results of your website’s SEO efforts over time.
Email Marketing
As the world shifted to the digital sphere, email marketing became popular as people realized the power of this “free” marketing tool. The B2B Marketing Guide states that 38% of consumers have purchased a product or service after receiving an email marketing offer. Additionally, 22% of consumers have gone ahead and made a purchase simply because they received an email marketing message at the right time.
It’s important to note that in terms of ROI (return on investment), email marketing can vary. But, in general, you are aiming to build a list of email subscribers who are interested in your product or service. From there, you can send out regular email blasts with valuable information and offer coupons and discounts. You can also use email marketing to follow up with phone calls, as appropriate.
Product Marketing
The B2B Marketing Guide cites brand awareness as an important consideration in successful product marketing. If you are launching a new product or service and want to succeed, you must build brand awareness. You can do this through traditional marketing channels like radio ads, television commercials, or direct mail. But, to gain a competitive edge, you must consider digital marketing and mobile marketing.
With digital marketing, you can use the internet to reach a huge audience and be heard by those who are most interested in your product or service. Whether you’re trying to promote a new restaurant or a luxury brand, you can use digital marketing to find your target audience.
Mobile marketing refers to using digital marketing techniques on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Although your cell phone might not necessarily be your main computing device, you’ll probably spend a lot of time on it while on the go. This is why mobile marketing is so important. If you want to succeed as a marketer, you must consider mobile marketing.
TV Advertising
Traditional TV advertising has been around for longer than many people care to remember. But since the rise of platforms like YouTube, people have learned to tune out ads and focus on the content.
According to the B2B Marketing Guide, 13% of consumers worldwide get their news from TV. Moreover, 12% get their information from ads shown on TV. Despite YouTube’s existence, Millennials may still prefer to tune into their favorite TV shows for their news and information. To succeed in TV advertising, you must have a huge audience and be able to reach every corner of the globe with your ad. Simply put, you want to make sure that your commercials are seen by as many people as possible. This is why TV advertising is still popular despite the world shifting to digital platforms. To find your target audience, you can either run ads on traditional TV networks or use platforms like YouTube to find your audience.