What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing is a complete course of marketing action, having different strategies of Online and Offline schemes. To stimulate the interest in customers minds towards the products or services which are in for promotion. Herein, both offline and online mode of electronic devices is used. For displaying intuitive contents, to advertise, publicize and promote brands or services.

 

Every agency has their own understanding when it comes to Internet Marketing. There is no exact definition of it. Some explain it in one phrase by calling it a form of marketing. Whereas some use very tech definitions which make everyone minds boggle. Therefore, I have given a simple Digital Marketing Definition as per my understanding.

Digital Marketing History

Digital Marketing is a buzzword which is gaining lots of attention in the Marketing Turf. But you may also be hearing terms like Online Marketing, Web Marketing, or Internet Marketing. All are the same and refer to the services of Digital Marketing and Advertising.

Eventually, with progressing years the buzz about Digital Marketers started to grow. But with popularity comes the misconception.

Before getting into Digital Marketing and its services let’s check how it came into existence and what is its history.

According to Wikipedia essence of Digital Marketing can be sensed back in the year 1971. It was the year when the first email was sent by Ray Thomlinson. But the actual growth of Digital Marketing started in the year 1990. After the first Search Engine, “Archie” was formed for indexing FTP archive.

But in the year 2000, when the internet became accessible to the major population, Digital Marketing became a booming industry. Devices like iPhone and internet-enabled handheld devices have given a big boost to it.

With the invention of Social Media, the industry of Digital Marketing became the most hyped element in the fields of Advertising.

Though it has been available long before, even now people are having misconceptions about it. So let’s clear the air and understand.

Let us move ahead and understand what are the Services of Digital marketing:

Important Digital Marketing Services for Business Development.

Previously marketing services like advertisements and promotions are only performed over Television ads, flyers, radios, and billboards. (Traditional Approach)

Today business uses digital channels like Mobile Phones, Emails, video ads, banner ads, etc. using the internet as the core of branding. (Digital Approach)

Let us check the eight most important Digital Marketing Services:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation is no doubt the most important service of Digital Marketing. But it is not the complete course of action. SEO basically means to get your website rank higher for the searches made on Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, etc. The service includes lots of technical skills and tactics. So, in short,

SEO is a way of organizing your website contents and links (internal and externals), so that search crawlers can easily crawl your website and understand your niche. Evermore, it helps search engine to value the purpose of your website and rank it on top when someone searches for the relevant key phrases.

Furthermore, white hat SEO help you to rank organically and bring traffic to your website. And if you are not performing Quality SEO then your website can get lost in the pile of unused sites.

Search Engine Optimization is performed by a Digital Marketing specialist. It is a continuous process and requires lots of understanding and expertise. Every business person today hires SEO experts to improve their website SEO performance. If you are at the starting phase of SEO then you can learn some of our SEO tips for 2019.

Furthermore, you can use certain SEO tools to an extent for checking your initial SEO performance or can opt SEO Company India for the same.

SEO tools like SEMrush can help you with keyword research, SEO audits, backlink audits. These are very important factors for SEO support.

2. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social media needs no introduction. But if you are eager to understand more then you can learn about “Social Media Optimization Importance“.

SMM is the correct use of Social Media Platforms for the purpose of paid or un-paid Advertising. Social media marketing uses social platforms for posting contents relevant to your niche. Furthermore, share counts and trending topics on Social Networks are used for bringing traffic to the website.

Nowadays, Social Media is the biggest battleground for every business. After all Social Media is handling most of the audiences.

Luring customers is not an easy task. It takes lots of research and brainstorming. Develop your plans accordingly to perform SMM. Because Social Media Marketing is not completely free. So you don’t want to spend your money on zero results. Learn more about Social Shares, UTM Links, and other metrics which are countable.

[Source: Buffer]

According to Forbes UTM Links can help you improve social media marketing. But if you are new to the field of Social Media then you must go thru the Basics of Social Media Branding Strategy.

Social Ads Like Facebook ads, sponsored Instagram pages can help you in your SMM. Social Media Marketing is going to be the biggest key player in the Online World.

In fact, today also the goal of the expert organization is to engage with customers through Social Media Platforms. By regularly updating them through posts, videos, contents on social platforms.

But don’t spam your social media account with unwanted posts. Schedule your post using a tool of Social Media Marketing. Like Hootsuite which provide management dashboards to manage all accounts from a single platform.

Tools like Zoho Social are also effective for Social Media Marketing. Hope these tools will add to your SMM performance the same way as ours.

3. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM or Search Engine Marketing is becoming one of the shortest ways to generate traffic.

Search Engine marketing uses paid advertisement to sponsor their websites to rank on top of SERP to improve online visibility for some key phrases. In simple it is a keyword marketing to put your website on top of Search Pages.

If you are opting for Search Engine Marketing then you must take advise from Digital Marketing experts. As there are some metrics like Keyword analysis, mobile-friendly check, etc. which plays a crucial role while performing SEM.

Because at the starting stage while performing SEM people find it very difficult to tackle with Google Ad words. So, check the comprehensive guide to Learn Google AdWords. Google Ad words service help businesses to get ample opportunities to grab. But before getting hands into the SEM you must understand its need.

As of now, Search Engine Marketing is a vast area and one shall understand that it is a paid service. So make investments accordingly and aim for high ROI.

4. Email Marketing (Oldest Service of Digital Marketing)

It is a part of the digital marketing process. Where commercial emails are used as a medium for promotions, requesting donations or brand awareness.

Email marketing is a method to share information relevant to the Brand, business or products. Via emails (commercial messages) to the group of people using their mail ids, acquired through a different process. Such as landing pages, contact form, internal form filling, paid list, etc.

Email Marketing became more effective in the 21st century. Because previously, there were only prime Email users. But with the technological advancement, every individual is now having some email id. Organizations are using them to establish a relation. By making people aware of the products they are selling or the services they are providing.

This promotion uses emails list. Either purchased (Lead List) or in-house list of to the current customer (own company database).

E-commerce companies while listing new products mainly opt for email marketing. To retain an existing customer and add a new one by informing them about new stocks and ranges.

There are various benefits of email marketing but you can check the important 7 benefits of email marketing to improve your campaign. One of the most important benefits I like to mention. It can be used in combination with different kind of media files.

Further, you can have Email Marketing for free. If you have a controlled database or one can opt for paid outsourcing.

5. Local Search Marketing

You may have noticed while searching product in your google search bar some local store reference pops up. All this is a result of Local Search Marketing.

Local Search Marketing is a digital way of getting your business visible to the searches made near your location.

Let’s understand this using an example, recently Max bought one Levis Jeans from an eCommerce Store for a party. But he is not satisfied with the product. And decided to purchase a new one by going personally to the Levis Store. The next thing he did, takes up his phone and search Key phrase “Levis Store”. And with Google giving the most accurate result showed him that a Levis Store is 10 minutes away from him. He takes his bike and went to the shop and comes home with brand new clothes of his choice.

Now did you notice what happened? The Local store found a customer based on the result of Google Search.

If you have an offline store but no websites. Then also you can be a part of the searches made near you for some specific keywords. For that purpose, you can use Google My Business. The most efficient way of registering your business and target audience in your location.

Because Google is now giving search results based on location. And if you are not getting in the list of results then you are losing customers.

The key factor of Local Search Marketing is Reviews and Feedbacks. The business or service owner having better reviews will top the list. Getting better reviews is not an easy task. You have to earn those through quality services and responses. Be polite to the customers visiting your shop. Ask them to give Online Reviews and feedbacks for your services and products.

6. Content Marketing (Base of Internet Marketing)

To all those who frequently readers of our blog. May have noticed that we give major importance to the content. The biggest reason behind this is “That you are our readers and if you are reading this part then you must have realized the importance”.

Engaging readers is not an easy task. If you are giving no credible pieces of information then you cannot expect good readers like yourself.

Mainly people confuse content marketing with a business revenue generator. But the actual term is interest generator for your services and products.

Content Marketing is a way of curating and publishing various kind contents(blogs, videos, images, banners, etc.) on digital platforms to stimulate customers to consider product or services you are selling.

For instance, if someone is reading about web designing and looking for ways of getting a website. And if your article excites them to consider what offers you are giving. Maybe the very next thing they will do is to look up the plans for the services you are providing.

Similarly, if you are opting content marketing strategy and generating high quality, impressive and unique contents. Either for a service, blogs or any technical write-ups. The audience will start to buzz about you on every platform. Whether its social media sites, bookmarking or even they can share it through email. So, it seems that you got various opportunities by just delivering quality content.

Therefore, Content marketing is a way of implementing digital marketing campaigns using high quality, informative and interesting contents. To stimulate the interest of the audience towards your products or brands.

Either use images, text, infographics, videos, etc. the prominence is problem-solving skills. If you are able to lure your customers through content and actively participate in queries. Then definitely you can capture the market.

7. Mobile Marketing

Mobile has now become the most integral part of our day to day lifestyle.

We all understand the fact about the role of mobile devices in our lives now. And the same importance it has for marketing purposes of businesses.

Mobile Marketing is completely a target-based strategy. In which specifically targeted audience are shown ads and promotional contents. Using Mobile Devices, Smartphones, tablets or any other similar functioning devices. Thru SMS, website, e-mails, Applications, push notifications, etc. for promoting themselves.

For instance, while watching the video via Video player (app) on your smartphone. Suddenly, an advertisement starts to play about web designing. Which makes you interested to have a website of your own. Then surely you will follow the advertisement.

In such manner of Mobile marketing, business uses mobile devices of the targeted audience. Further, to introduce the products and services they are providing. The best thing about Mobile Marketing is its multi-channel technique for promotions. Conducted through the universal network where audiences are constantly connected.

Mobile marketing methods include SMS, MMS, Push-Notification, App-based marketing, in-game mobile marketing, QR-codes, Bluetooth, proximity system, location-based services, and ringless voicemail. Rather not divert from the original topic of Internet marketing. So we will list the major one according to us.

Let’s look at three major Mobile Marketing methods:

SMS for Digital Promotions

Short messaging services (SMS) are the best way to connect with customers. In fact, Wikipedia states that SMS has 98% opening rate and most of the messages are read by the user within three minutes after receiving.

The pace of SMS marketing started to flourish after the year 2000. It is the era when mobile devices are becoming popular and proper networking system is getting implement by telecom companies.

SMS marketing can have inbound marketing strategies as well as outbound marketing. Through SMS either you can generate lead or you can send out messages (SMS) for sales and promotions.

Some states that SMS marketing and email marketing are somehow similar. But this is incorrect. Maybe the end goal of both the services is to create awareness. Rather they follow very different guidelines.

SMS advertisements follow very strict guidelines and rules. Depending on the government bodies and the regions. Even they have to satisfy the regulations of service providers and telecom companies.

Being its legitimate marketing techniques various disputes have arisen in the past. These kind of services are fruitful for many advertising companies in various regions like America (North), Europe (Western). But the limited effect in regions having strict guidelines for Mobile Messaging. Like in India, the government has given subscribers an option to opt-out from those mobile advertisements. By opting do not disturb services help users to decline some kind of mobile advertisement (SMS).

Push Notification

Firstly introduced by Apple in 2009 and then by Google in 2010 in the form of C2DM which was then revised in the year 2013 as Google cloud messaging to engage user across android, ios and chrome.

In like manner of SMS, push notification also work but have some limitation. For push notification to work the application on which you are running the service must be installed. Regarding its limitations, it is considered pretty good by the marketer using this service to promote their brand.

Because the rate of Android and iOS user have grown rapidly in the past. As per the reports of surveys conducted by Marketing company Leanplum. 3.48% is the opening rate of Push Notification in Android operating devices. Whereas 1.77% in iOS-based devices.

Application-based marketing

As per reports from Statistics Portal-Statista. They forecast that the number of Smartphone users will grow to 2.71 billion by 2019. With a flourishing market of Mobile Applications, marketer finds themselves a new spot for promoting goods, services, and brands.

Application Based Internet marketing is currently facing a lot of competition. Because of its increasing demand is becoming very competitive and costly. Similar to other services of Marketing on Digital Platforms its results are outstanding.

Nowadays if anyone is carrying a smartphone then basic applications (5 to 10) must be installed in the devices. The number of Application may increase depending on the usage. Come up with exciting deals and offers. Then you can have ample result expectation. But it’s not that easy to capture the whole mobile market by just using App-based marketing strategy.

Additionally, the true nature of marketing is to be versatile. If you are looking for promotions then you must prepare to look for options available.

With this, we are moving to our other services on Digital Marketing.

8. Marketing Automation:

For you all, we are mentioning the best one in the last. Marketing automation today is one of the most essential portions of any marketing consultants or marketing services providers.

Marketing automation is a software-based or one can say groupware program to automate the marketing tasks. Making job computerized and reducing the risk of human errors. Analyze, plan, execute and deliver are the key roles of MAT tools.

But the irony is that very few understand its need and carry on with there old crappy methods.

In simple, Marketing Automation is a tool based on recent technologies. It helps marketers, freelancers, and consultants to efficiently develop and manage their digital marketing campaigns.

The software platform helps you to perform several tasks. Like promotions, Social Media Management, email marketing, re-marketing, database collection, etc. in an organized form. In combination, of various analytic tools, it gives the best results. Furthermore, being software it reduces the risk of human error.

Major MAT providers compile them to be user-friendly which help marketers to understand its customers. And successively come up with best strategies and plans for execution.

In fact, the base of Marketing Automation is Email Marketing but as technologies advance the task improved. Some major task performed by Automation Marketing tools are:

• To make an analysis of customers need. And develop campaigns accordingly.
• The next major task is to manage and automate marketing campaigns.
• Third-one is the storage and database creation. It is important because in future things like a database can help you to perform even better.
• Now the most important part is generating lead using those customers.

The tools even help you to perform re-marketing which is one of the unnoticed terms by some organization.

Inbound Digital Marketing or Traditional Outbound Marketing Services?

Inbound Marketing is a way of attracting customers toward products and services based on their preferences. Via new marketing tactics like content marketing, social media marketing, SEM, etc.

Whereas, Outbound marketing or famously known as interruption marketing. It is an old tactic of Marketing Strategy, in which continuous Ads and promotions happen to push products onto customers. Like television ads, cold calling, email spams, telemarketing are all forms of Outbound marketing.

In today’s scenario no one like to get interruptions so why opt for obsolete tactics like outbound marketing.

With our experience, Inbound marketing is the best way to generate quality customers. Because it works on gaining audience interest, through various stimulating contents. Deliver the right content over the digital platform like blogs, videos, articles, etc.

Oppositely Outbound marketing is an annoying way of promoting. All can relate to TV advertisements where a similar pitch of various products is played. They are neither relevant to our need nor we are interested in it. But then also we have to watch those because of the absence of the Skip Button. Customers often discard such kind of marketing tricks today.

Now everyone knows what to buy so you can’t force them to consider your product. Rather, work on the strategies. So that people can correlate the need for your products. Try hard to generate interest in Audience mind.

In brief, inbound marketing is a way of generating lead using some services of Digital Marketing. Being a permission marketing tactics, it relies on earning audience interest, instead of telling them to make the buy right-away.

Digital Marketing Services for Every Business Genre

Mainly this question arises in every business owners mind. Whether my business kind fits with the services of Digital Marketing or not?

Digital Marketing(DM) is suitable for every kind of business in any category. Whether your business is small or big, you can rely on DM for getting results. Because the main task of Internet Marketing is to understand the ways to generate audience interest in your business.

B2B Digital Marketing

If your company is based on business to business model. Then the main focus of your marketing is to attract the right partners. For that purpose, you want to generate quality leads, afterward which the salesperson will finalize the deal.

In such marketing strategies Website is the first part adding to it is the social media presence and responses. For the B2B model, LinkedIn should be part of your overall strategy. As it can help you generate quality leads and sales.

B2C Digital Marketing

If you are a product based company or Business to Client Model Company. Then ways of Online Marketing can boost your sales. In the B2C model, the focus is more on promoting a website and bringing the audience to it. And making the audience directly a customer eliminating the need of the salesperson.

In B2C Model Social Media preferences are based on the products you are selling. If you are a clothing line then surely you can get more audience from Pinterest and Instagram rather than LinkedIn.

Conclusion

All thing comes to an end, even the blogs are.

Well, we have mentioned our understanding of What is Digital Marketing. And how Digital Marketing Agency is something which can change the ways of business development.

In this harsh world of the competitive market, no business or organization want to be at the back foot. So don’t be! Follow the services as per your business demand and work accordingly.

Always prepare yourself with full proof flexible plans for future campaigns. If you can choose Digital Marketing Services from the best companies then positively go for it. And beat the competitions out of the park.

If you are not sure about the Internet marketing campaign. Want to know more about Digital Strategies to follow for a successful business. Then you must read the Digital Marketing Strategy to Follow for Business Development.

Hope, the above-described Services are going to help you in your campaigns and Marketing Strategies. Do share your feedback with us so that even we can improve. If some services are left out please mention them in below comment box.