What is digital marketing? Why is it necessary? So how do you succeed? In this guide to digital marketing for beginners, I have broken it down into several sections so that you can better understand the topic.
Digital marketing may be a buzzword, but it’s nothing new. In 1896, the first mass transmission of wireless signals took place via radio. This is what digital marketing is all about. It differs from traditional marketing because of the use of wireless signals.
There are many misconceptions about digital marketing. For example, some people think that online and digital marketing are the same, which is not true. Online marketing involves only an internet connection while digital marketing also involves sending digital signals.
This means that billboards, radio and television are also digital marketing media. Don’t you know? You are not alone. Let’s debunk a few more myths. Is it fair? Come over!
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is as old as radio. It is a form of marketing that uses digital signals to communicate with your customers, visitors or readers. Digital marketing has grown tremendously over time, especially in recent years.
“Digital marketing is a form of marketing delivered through digital channels or electronic devices such as television, radio, search engines, websites, social media, and more.”
As you can see, there are many channels in modern digital marketing. Now you see many apps, sites and digital solutions coming out every day. According to Think with Google, 48% of consumers start their query on a search engine.
This is just one digital marketing channel. From email to social media and PPC to radio, there are many ways to market your brand or website digitally. Find out why you or your business should invest in digital marketing.
Why Digital Marketing?
Most business in the world looking for more sales, leads and net profits. For this, we need to adopt a new form of marketing. Digital marketing is old. But there aren’t many channels so far. Times have changed. The business has changed accordingly.
Social media platforms like Google and Facebook or Instagram generate more revenue than traditional media agencies. Why? Because they get more coverage. That is why digital marketing is undoubtedly necessary. There are some things you need to understand more about.
Your Customers or Readers Are Online
There are over 5.16 billion people on the internet today. That’s almost 60% of the world’s population. The number is increasing. By the end of this year, you will see 319 million new users. Imagine the power of selling your idea to those people.
Digital Marketing is Insanely Affordable with Better ROI
Digital marketing is more than just online marketing these days. The cost of running an ad online is cheaper than broadcasting on TV. For example, a national television station can spend $120,000 to run a 30-second commercial.
Creating content and sharing it on social media can cost you just a few dollars. You probably already know this. Your business with digital marketing can start immediately. Digital marketing investment is more profitable than traditional marketing investment.
Your Competitors Are Already Doing It
From McDonald’s to Gucci and from local stores to branch websites, every business is marketing digitally. Your competitors are already doing this, regardless of your industry or niche. This is a strong reason why you can win the digital marketing game as well.
But how you can do it better way? To do this, understand the main categories of digital marketing. Come over!
Major Types of Digital Marketing
You can start digital marketing if you know how to crack it. Let me do it for you. There are 9 main types of digital marketing:
- Content marketing
- Search engine optimization
- Search engine marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Mobile marketing
- TV & radio marketing
- Electronic billboards
As you can see, digital marketing is not an area to focus on. There are various ways and channels to attract and promote your products and services online. Check out these 10 ways to generate tons of ideas for content development
As a digital marketer, you should focus on a specific area instead of digital marketing in general. Doesn’t make sense? Let’s get started now.
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is the only form of marketing that has ever existed and will ever exist. From email to social media marketing and on-site SEO to electronic bulletin boards, content marketing permeates all marketing efforts.
Every marketing effort starts with unique and great content.
Let me write you a myth; Content marketing is not just about blogs, videos or tweets. It’s all about content. Even printed flyers use the power of content. It’s powerful because it tells a story. We all love stories. Isn’t that so?
Affiliate marketing is a form of content marketing where you also market content to earn an affiliate commission. Content marketing efforts include books, podcasts, videos, white papers, emails, and more.
Each has a different way of creating it, but they share the basic process of creating content.
How you can do it?
- Define your goals according to your mission.
- Understand or create your unique selling point.
- Know your audience and understand their audience.
- Choose the right type of content for your audience.
- Create a content calendar for the tracking.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Once you realize the power of your content, optimize it for search engines like Google. I love this type of digital marketing because it brings in organic traffic. More consistent than other forms of marketing.
SEO is about best practices for ranking high in search engines like Google or Bing. This means that your content should be optimized for a specific keyword or query to meet your business goals. SEO is not very fast. It took a long time to enjoy the reward, but trust me it’s worth it.
How you can do it?
- Understand what your audience is looking for.
- Do keyword research and choose the right keywords.
- Create highly relevant content for your audience based on keywords.
- Continue to help your visitors or customers with strong content.
- Increase your efforts to get affiliate or business links back to your business.
SEO is a work in progress. There are no hard-and-fast rules or one-size-fits-all strategies. Invest wisely and expect slow returns.
3. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing (SEM) is similar to SEO because they are both search engines. But there are some differences between SEO and SEM. Search engine marketing is the process of generating revenue through paid advertising.
The goal of SEM is to achieve maximum visibility in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). You pay search engines to place ads for specific keywords. Now, if someone types it into a search engine, your site will rank higher in the organic results.
How you can do it?
- Do keyword research.
- Evaluate all relevant keywords.
- Choose only the most profitable keywords.
- Create engaging content and run Ads.
- Increase CTR with sample ad A / B.
- Target the right place for your business.
- Analyze overall performance and strategize for maximum ROI.
Test the waters for different keywords and repeat the process to increase your end results means profitability. Pay-per-click or PPC is similar because both types use a ‘paid’ form of advertisement on search engines.
4. Social Media Marketing
Yes, you guessed it right! Marketing your business through social media such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Every business in the world needs to be on social media today. Why? Because everyone is on social media these days.
But which social platform you should go for depends on the type of business and your goals. For example, if you or your business specializes in B2B, LinkedIn is for you. If you’re into fashion, Pinterest or Instagram is a great way to go.
But again, it depends. Before designing your social media marketing strategy, it helps if you test and plan properly.
You can do it too, trust me.
How you can do it?
- Understand your audience.
- Create content you like.
- Know your competition.
- Engage with your audience.
- Conduct social media audits and act accordingly.
5. Email Marketing
The first marketing email sent in 1978 generated $13 million in sales. The momentum continues. The average ROI for every dollar you spend on email marketing is $42. I love email marketing because you can develop a real connection with people. Build existing relationships with your current customers.
Maximize the power of email marketing with a customer-centric approach. Email marketing is not about you or your business; it’s all about your customer or audience. All you have to do is start with email marketing.
Prospecting is the first step in generating leads for your brand. It has spread to every form of marketing, not just email.
How you can do it?
- Identify and understand your audience.
- Get people to sign up (offer an e-book or other lead magnet).
- Create an eye-catching optical design.
- Choose the right email campaign type.
- Choose an email marketing service to automate your business / services.
Also, make sure your copy is consistent with your voice or brand image. Add a strong call to action (CTA) to convert more visitors into customers. Check the correct time for sending and outgoing emails. Personalize your messages consistently.
6. Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing includes all types of digital marketing discussed here. Everything from social media to email is on the phone. You need to optimize your content to be served on your customer’s mobile phone.
How you can do it?
- Track the correct content size
- Consider the mobile phone while streaming data
- Serve mobile responsive ads
- Optimize your newsletter, not just your video or blog content
- Measure the success of your mobile marketing
7. TV & Radio Marketing
That’s probably why you’re here, I know. But it includes TV and radio marketing because it is part of digital marketing. It can also refer to radio, television and online video podcasts. However, in this section I will talk about radio and television.
I know everything is online now, but you can only reach a specific audience through TV and radio. You can also run TV ads between TV streaming viewers.
How you can do it?
- Understand your audience.
- Make sure your audience will look at your ads.
- Place your TV and radio ads based on the location of your audience.
- Hire the best but budget-friendly advertising agency.
- Personalization of TV and radio ads and streaming service providers.
8. Electronic Billboards & Other Digitized Marketing
Electronic bulletin boards are a form of digital marketing because the medium is digital. There’s no denying that your eyelids become a fun electronic board when you’re on the road. Depending on your audience, you can do a lot of interesting things to increase your revenue.
How you can do it?
- Understand your audience.
- Craft the ads to attract their attention.
- Use the power of color.
- Make a strong slogan.
- Choose only the best possible location.
That’s all. I have done my best to offer the best value for understanding digital marketing as a learner or beginner. If the guide is too long, still read it.
Summary – Digital Marketing for Beginners in 2023
In this guide to digital marketing for beginners, you will see that it is not only for online marketing. Of course, nothing can beat digital channels. I don’t recommend doing this because it depends on the audience.
However, let’s see what digital marketing means for you:
- Create maximum unique content and strategize your content marketing.
- Focus on search engine optimization and marketing.
- Also develop a social media strategy (as described above).
- Consider mobile phones when building any marketing strategy.
- Tailor your TV and radio ads to your audience, and try electronic bulletin boards, too.
One thing that is common among all types of digital marketing is the audience. In the “How you can do it?” section, I chose to let the readers figure it out. Why? Because only then you can market yourself or your business idea.
Also Read: 5 Subtle Ways You’re Unknowingly Sharing Your Personal Data
