What Is Digital Marketing?

What is digital marketing, and what all does it encompass? What are the different ways to do digital marketing? Let's look at these questions and give some answers so you can better understand what digital marketing is, and how you can start using it right away.

Basically, digital marketing is using various processes and strategies on the internet to make consumers aware of products and services, as well as marketing on devices like mobile phones, tablets, smart watches, display advertising and more.

In other words, you can set up and execute a marketing program that targets digital billboards, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, etc., using ads on websites, social media platforms and industry-specific online venues, as well as physical events, such as conferences, seminars and more. But don't just blindly target every single piece of hardware and social media platform. Know what technology your prospects are using and which social media platforms they most likely participate in.

But What Exactly Is Digital Marketing?

• It's using premium content that readers have to register for.
• It's setting up and delivering highly targeted emails to prospects.
• It's running ads on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• It's creating and running ads on smart phones, tablets and smart watches that fit the smaller screens.
• It's offering a specific promotion at events, meetings, conferences, seminars and public venues.
• It's dynamic content - videos, slide shows, podcasts and webinars designed to deliver a specific message about products and services for a highly targeted marketing persona (targeted audience).

What Are Some Digital Marketing Components?

You have a lot of methods to choose from. You can blog regularly about products and services. You can create a video or series of videos. You can choose a specific social media channel and distribute content in multiple forms to a target audience. You can make marketing campaigns specifically for mobile devices, tablets and smart watches.

Basically, the sky's the limit. If you have the technology and resources, you can create unique, useful digital marketing campaigns that will convert prospects to customers.

Digital marketing is an umbrella over content marketing, pay per click marketing, social media marketing and video marketing. Some common elements for all of these are understanding what your target audience pain points are, writing about them in a way they understand, and clearly offering a solution. You need to measure what you toss out there, and figure out if it's working or not. What defines working? Forms being filled out, marketing materials being downloaded, phone calls coming in, email inquiries and even straight up sales online or offline.

You use SEO as one tool to make digital marketing work. Don't let anyone tell you keywords are dead, because they're not. You still need to know the phrases and topics of interest your marketing persona cares about. You still need to create interesting, useful content in some form or another to communicate why your services and products solve their problems. You have to use the right social media platforms to distribute your problem solving content to reach even more of your target audience.

Digital marketing is evolving constantly. Who knew ten years ago how critical social media would be for effectively marketing to your prospects? Who knew ten or more years ago that pretty much everyone on the planet would end up having a smart phone glued to their hands?

If you're just starting out in a new business, make it your goal to learn how to use multiple digital marketing techniques, strategies and processes to reach the widest audience possible.

And if you're interested in getting SEO skills and knowledge, why not let Invenio SEO show you the most up to date processes and techniques? Take an SEO class with Invenio and get that critical online visibility to let the world know what you offer.

Get your SEO knowledge in our online class on your schedule and at a pace that suits you.

Until we meet again, keep it safely between the ditches!

All the very best to you,

Nancy McDonald

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net