What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing involves promoting products or services through online platforms such as social media, websites, email, and search engines to reach and connect with the target audience using various strategies for brand awareness, customer acquisition, and sales.

In this era, if you want to become a good marketer then you should learn digital marketing. You are reading this Digital Marketing tutorial which means that you give more importance to Digital Marketing than Traditional Marketing.

Read More: Types of Digital Marketing You Should Know

You know, as the number of internet users is increasing, the demand for digital marketing is also increasing rapidly.

So let us first understand what is digital marketing, then we will understand the strategy of digital marketing, through which we will be able to grow our business through digital marketing.

What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a form of promotion to promote and sell products or services over the Internet. Digital marketing refers to any online marketing effort.

It is a process that is done through various online marketing channels like search engines (Google, Bing, etc.), social media networks (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.), or email to reach your target audience.

You know that through digital marketing, you can find people interested in your products or services, You can interact with them and build trust with your brand.

Some marketing experts consider digital marketing to be an entirely new endeavor. Digital marketing is a new way to approach customers and helps in understanding customer behavior better than traditional marketing.

Digital marketing uses multiple channels and technologies that allow a company to analyze campaigns, content, and strategy to understand what is working and what is not in real-time.

There are many types of digital marketing, the most important ones include website marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, PPC advertising, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing video marketing, etc.

History of Digital Marketing

In the earlier generation, marketing was done across a few media channels: print, billboards, television, and radio. In the 1950s, advertising was primarily a one-way conversation with a captive audience. That is, the marketer would tell or show their products.

At that time, TV advertising was a workable marketing medium. Then in the 1990s, the term ‘digital marketing’ was first used, and slowly marketing itself changed.

In the 90s, people started using the Internet, especially when the World Wide Web ( WWW ) became publicly available in 1991.

By 1995, there were about 16 million Internet users worldwide. This was the decade of search engines and the beginning of the age of online information.

This decade saw many businesses invest in customer relationship management (CRM) tools to diversify their interactions with current and potential customers.

1990-2024 Evolution of Digital Marketing

Many things happened from the 90s to 98 such as:

• The first search engine is Archie
• The first clickable web ad banner was in 1994.
• The first e-commerce transaction was done in 1994.
• Yahoo was launched in 1995.
• The first social media site – SixDegrees was launched in 1997.
• Then in 1998, Google was born and Microsoft launched its web search engine.

After the 2000s, many things in digital marketing grew very fast.

• In 2001, Universal Music launched its first mobile marketing campaign.
• WordPress, LinkedIn, Gmail, Facebook, and YouTube arrived in 2003-2005.
• Twitter, Hulu, iPhone, Google’s real-time search engine results and WhatsApp market doubled between 2006-2009.

Likewise, one by one many things grew rapidly such as:

• In 2010-2011 web usage started through Instagram, Snapchat, etc. and Youth TV.
• In 2013, the social media marketing budget increased by 64% and Amazon started dominating the entire e-commerce.
• 2014 saw the introduction of the Facebook messenger app, LinkedIn features tailored ads, and mobile usage increased traffic.
• Content marketing grew rapidly in 2015.

And right now, digital marketing is at its peak. Businesses need to ensure that they have a good foothold with current practices to be able to reap the benefits of the coming advancements.

Examples of Digital Marketing Assets

Almost anything can be a digital marketing asset. It just needs to be a marketing tool that you use online.

But the sad part is that many people don’t realize how many digital marketing assets and strategies they have that they can use to reach out to people.

Here are some examples:

• You can do marketing through video content (like video ads, product demos, etc.)
• You can do digital marketing from your website.
• You can use images (infographics, product shots, company photos, etc.).
• Marketing can also be done easily through social media pages.
• You can also market your business through blog posts or eBooks.

Similarly, there are many digital marketing tools, using which you can reach your target audience and sell your products or services.

Features of Digital Marketing

Here are some of the key features of digital marketing:

1. Digital marketing leverages social media, email, websites, search engines, and mobile apps for diverse reach.
2. It’s about reaching the right audience by targeting specific demographics, interests, behaviors, and locations.
3. Tailoring marketing messages to individual preferences makes the experience more relevant.
4. You can measure success through metrics like website traffic, click rates, conversions, etc.
5. Interacting directly with customers through comments, reviews, and direct messages.
6. Streamline repetitive tasks using specialized software to make marketing campaigns more efficient.
7. Engaging audiences through different types of content such as videos, blogs, and infographics.
8. Making content more visible through SEO and paid strategies.
9. Gathering insights from data for informed marketing decisions and improvements.

Benefits of Digital Marketing

Here are some general benefits of digital marketing:

1. Digital marketing helps to reach a worldwide audience through online channels.
2. You can target marketing through digital marketing at a lower cost than traditional marketing methods.
3. The ability to track and analyze campaign performance in real-time.
4. Increased visibility and recognition among audiences.
5. Direct engagement with customers for feedback and support.
6. Increased chances of converting leads into customers.
7. The ability to compete effectively, regardless of business size or industry.
8. Use of various tools and platforms for marketing efforts.
9. Quick adjustments and optimizations based on performance metrics.

Conclusion

Digital marketing is a process using which you can promote or sell your products through online electronic devices and internet. Through this, it targets a specific segment of the customer base and is interactive.

Digital marketing is growing day by day and it includes search result ads, video ads, email ads, etc. Anything that involves marketing with customer feedback or a two-way conversation between the company and the customer.