Technology is the next big thing and alongside it comes the internet.
An average computer teacher at a secondary school will define the internet as the ability to interconnect on the world wide web.
Well, not bad😊
But it is more than that for a business owner who seeks to leverage the internet to reach a global audience!
It is more than an ability to connect with friends and families.
It’s an opportunity to tap into the global market and position yourself against the millions of other competitors while securing huge profits.
The process of doing this is called Digital marketing.
In this blog, we will discuss what digital marketing is, how it works, what types there are, and everything else you need to know.
What is Digital Marketing?
if you’ve ever promoted your business online, you’re a digital marketer.
Digital marketing is any form of marketing that occurs on the internet.
It is the promotion of brands and products using the internet and other digital communications to connect with your prospective audience on a more global scale.
Unlike traditional marketing which pioneers billboards among several other old methods.
Digital marketing uses various online channels to promote products and increase brand awareness.
How Does Digital Marketing Work?
Digital marketing connects businesses with potential customers through channels like social media, search engines, and mail.
It starts by identifying and understanding your prospective customers, what they are interested in, and where they spend the most time online.
Once you’ve set this target, you will be able to create content specifically tailored to the preferences and behaviors of your audience.
The focus of digital marketing is to engage users and then convert them into returning customers.
This engagement happens through direct interaction like emails, and social media activities, thus building a relationship with your customers over time.
Types Of Digital Marketing
There are various digital marketing strategies you can use to reach your audience online.
However, your audience and available resources will determine the strategies you use.
Below are some key examples:
Search Engine Optimization(SEO)
SEO focuses on increasing a website’s visibility on search engines.
By optimizing your website’s content, keywords, and other technical elements, you stand a better chance of appearing higher in search results pages.
Such that when users search for keywords relating to your service, you come first on the result page(SERP).
Thus, increasing your chances of being noticed and engaged by the users
SEO is one of the most effective ways to attract organic (non-paid) traffic to your website.
The more your website ranks, the more likely people are going to find it, and the more sales you stand to make.
For example, a well-optimized blog that answers the questions most people have is sure to receive constant traffic for months or even years.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Do you remember those annoying ads that pop up anytime you’re browsing😀? Yes, that’s pay-per-click advertising.
Unlike SEO which focuses on organic reach, PPC gives you instant visibility by displaying your ads directly in front of your audience.
The good news however is, that you only get to pay when someone clicks your ad, thus making it cost-effective and an easy way to drive traffic.
With PPC, you can easily target your audience based on age, interests, and even behavior, enabling you to reach more tailored audiences.
Google ads, for example, allow you to bid on specific keywords so that your ad shows up when users search for relevant terms.
Content Marketing
Content marketing involves the creation of hooky content to attract and engage your audience.
This could be in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, or even infographics.
As against other strategies that focus mainly on promoting and building brand awareness, Content marketing seeks to provide valuable information that solves real-life problems the users have.
By doing this, you gain trust, credibility, and authority in your industry.
For instance, a company that constantly shares useful blog posts that answer users’ queries won’t break much sweat gaining loyal followers which will in turn lead to loyal customers.
Social media marketing
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms provide businesses with direct access to billions of people online.
Social media marketing involves creating and sharing content, engaging followers, and running ads on social media platforms.
All of this aims to build brand awareness and also promote your product through social media.
This digital marketing strategy helps to foster a responsive community.
By regularly posting engaging content, companies can increase their customer base while driving traffic to their website.
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies.
It requires little investment compared to other strategies and it offers a high return.
It involves sending tailored messages to a list of subscribers through newsletters, promotional offers, etc.
The key to effective email marketing is personalization.
This means tailoring messages to specific audiences based on their preference and past behaviors.
In this way, users become more engaged with the content.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a partnership between businesses and affiliates.
Affiliates promote companies’ products in exchange for commissions using customized referral links in their blogs, social media platforms, and websites.
When someone makes a purchase using the link, the affiliate receives a percentage of the sale made.
This way the business gains access to new audiences without having to invest all their efforts in marketing.
And at the same time, the affiliates earn by referring people for products they trust.
This type of digital marketing is mostly used in the e-commerce industry where products can be easily promoted through blog reviews, tutorials, and social media posts.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing leverages the popularity of influencers who have built large and loyal following on social media platforms.
This celebrity promotes businesses and products for payments.
Imagine seeing your favourite artist wearing merch with the Creaitz logo on it.
That could easily be the best incentive you need to check out our website and join our community😀.
Followers often trust the recommendations of their favourite influencers, thus making them the best sales agents for any product.
Video Marketing
Video marketing has become more popular in recent times.
This is because video content is highly engaging and can better capture the interest of the audience.
It can be used to explain products, tell stories, or showcase customer testimonials.
Platforms like YouTube, TikTok and so many others have made it easy for businesses to share video content that explains a product or tells stories.
Inbound Marketing vs. Digital Marketing: Which is It?
Perhaps you’ve heard people throw the term inbound marketing and digital marketing around at one time or the other.
And you’re fazed as to what they are or if there’s any difference at all.
Well, while the two seem closely related, they are not the same thing
Let’s break it down.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is any form of marketing that happens online using digital channels.
It’s the general term that covers other marketing strategies like social media ads, email campaigns, PPC, and even search engine optimization.
If you’ve ever promoted your business using the internet, then you’re a digital marketer.
Digital marketing can be either inbound or outbound.
Outbound digital marketing involves reaching out to people who haven’t necessarily expressed interest in your business yet.
For example, promoting your ads in front of potential customers or cold emailing prospects.
In essence, it means presenting your service in front of a wider audience, hoping it reaches someone interested.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is more concerned with gaining an audience naturally.
The focus here is to create user-oriented content that answers the questions of the users and solves their problems.
This way people visit your website because they find your content helpful, not because they are interrupted by an ad.
Think of inbound marketing like a transaction, you provide users with the content they need and then they engage your brand willingly.
This strategy builds trust; turning visitors into leads, and eventually leads into customers.
So, Which One Should You Use?
Deciding which one to use depends on your goal and available resources.
If you want a quick result and can invest money to run ads, outbound digital marketing will be the best option for you.
You will be able to target a specific audience and you can be sure to see immediate traffic.
It can be expensive and it doesn’t always lead to long-term relationships with clients.
However, if you’re focused on building trust and long-term relationships with customers, an inbound marketing strategy is the best option for you.
You might not see immediate results, but the people are going to be loyal and you’ll receive lasting engagements.
This approach is most suitable for small businesses that have limited budgets and want to build more trust.
However, you could achieve the best results by combining both approaches.
For example, you could use outbound digital marketing to get your brand in front of people, while also using inbound marketing to turn them into leads and then to loyal customers.
What Does a Digital Marketer Do?
A digital marketer ensures the right messages reach the right audience at the right time by:
Developing Online Marketing Strategies
The foremost role is to understand what the business goal is.
Then create marketing strategies tailored to achieving these goals.
This process involves choosing which platform to focus on, who your audience is, and knowing their preferences.
Then you’ll plan on how to use this to effectively engage potential customers to drive more sales.
The behavior of your targets determines what marketing strategies will be employed.
Managing Social Media Accounts
A very important aspect of a digital marketer’s job is to manage a brand’s presence online.
They create posts, share useful updates, and engage with followers by responding to comments and messages.
Social media isn’t just about posting, it’s about building trust around the brand.
Executing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies
Search engine optimization is a very important factor in getting a website rank higher on search engines.
A digital marketer researches keywords that people search for most and then creates optimized content around those keywords.
The goal is for search engines to crawl and rank the website higher so that more people find the website naturally, visit it, and then turn it into leads.
Running Paid Advertising Campaigns
Digital marketers are also tasked with managing paid advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads.
They design ads, set budgets, and decide who to target based on factors like age, location, and interests.
Afterwards, they monitor how well the ads are performing, and also change them when necessary.
Creating and Curating Content
Engaging content is at the heart and soul of digital marketing.
A digital marketer is often responsible for creating content.
This involves writing blog posts, video production, or designing infographics and social media posts.
The content is then used to engage, educate, and build relationships with the audience.
The goal of this is to get people to trust the brand and eventually make a purchase.
Managing Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is a very powerful tool for digital marketers.
Digital marketers build email lists, design campaigns, and send out newsletters or promotional emails to engage the audience.
Just as mentioned earlier, Personalization is key here.
Marketers need to segment their audience and send tailored messages based on user’s behavior and preferences.
Collaborating with Other Teams
Digital marketers don’t work in isolation, they’re human too.
They collaborate with the development, operations, sales, and executive team to ensure that everything aligns with the company’s goals.
Effective teamwork allows them to execute cohesive, cross-platform marketing strategies.
Benefits Of Digital Marketing
- Wider Reach: Digital marketing helps to connect with a global audience online. It allows you to expand your business beyond your local market and reach potential customers from anywhere in the world.
- Cost-Effective: With digital marketing you spend less and see huge results. It helps you promote your products and services at a fraction of the huge cost of traditional advertising.
- Targeted Advertising: With an effective digital marketing strategy you can tailor your marketing efforts to specific groups based on age, interests, location, and behavior. This ensures your message reaches the right people.
- Measurable Results: With tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics, you can track how well your campaigns are performing. This helps you gain valuable insights into performance metrics, allowing you to make data-informed decisions.
- Increased Engagement: Through social media, email, and websites, digital marketing helps you engage directly with your audience, fostering relationships and building loyalty.
- Flexibility: Digital marketing gives you the ability to easily tweak and optimize your marketing efforts quickly based on performance. This means you can stay responsive without wasting much time or resources.
- Brand Awareness: Consistent online visibility increases your brand’s awareness and familiarity. With this, you build trust and recognition among your target audience.
- Higher Conversion Rates: With the right marketing strategy, you can turn more website visitors into customers, increasing your sales and business growth.
- Mobile Access: You can reach people on their mobile devices wherever they are, ensuring you’re always present and accessible to your audience.
- Competitor Insights: You can keep an eye on what your competitors are up to. Learn from their successes and mistakes to create your marketing strategy.
Digital Marketing Challenges
While digital marketing offers many benefits.
You might be surprised it is not all roses and violets.
Below are some of the challenges of digital marketing:
Constantly Evolving Platforms
Digital marketing platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram frequently update their algorithms.
This makes it difficult to stay on top of changes.
What worked well yesterday might not work tomorrow.
To be successful, you have to stay up-to-date and adapt to changes.
Intense Competition
The digital space is crowded with many businesses like yours competing for the same audience.
Standing out from the noise and capturing attention requires uniqueness and innovation.
Data Overload
There is so much data available from various sources, analytics, social media insights, customer behavior, and many more.
While this is a good thing, it can be overwhelming to process and interpret all these data.
Figuring out which data is meaningful and how to act on it is important.
Budget Constraints
Though digital marketing can be cost-effective, certain strategies like paid advertising, can get expensive if not carefully managed.
Ensuring a good return on investment (ROI) while staying within the limits of your budget can be very hard.
This is why you have to ensure your organic performance influences the direction of your paid marketing spend, to maximize results.
Maintaining Customer Engagement
Keeping your audience engaged over time is a challenge too.
You need to constantly create relevant and engaging content to keep people interested and connected to your brand.
Keeping Up with Trends
The digital marketing space is always changing.
New tools, technologies, and trends emerge regularly.
Staying up-to-date with these trends and figuring out which ones are worth investing your time and money in is a constant challenge for digital marketers.
7 steps to becoming a digital marketer
To become a digital marketer, you need to:
- Learn the Basics
The first step is to understand the fundamentals of digital marketing.
Start by understanding the key areas of digital marketing: SEO, social media, content marketing, email marketing, and paid ads.
You can sign up for online courses to help you get a solid foundation.
A popular course is the fundamentals of digital marketing course offered by Google.
- Build Your Website or Blog
Create your website or blog to practice what you’ve learned.
This helps you gain hands-on experience with SEO, content creation, and analytics.
- Get Familiar with Key Tools
You don’t want to be one of those farmers that don’t know how to plow.
Master essential digital marketing tools like Google Analytics, Google Ads, social media platforms, content planning tools, and email marketing platforms.
These tools are very crucial in executing marketing activities.
- Gain Certifications
Earn certifications from recognized platforms like Google, HubSpot, or Creaitz.
These credentials can make you more credible to employers or clients.
- Apply for Internships or Freelance Work
Look for internships or freelance opportunities to gain real-world experience.
This helps you build a portfolio and understand the practical challenges of digital marketing.
- Network and Join Communities
Join digital marketing communities on social media. Creaitz community is a good place to start.
The benefit of this cannot be overemphasized
Networking with other professionals can help you stay updated on industry trends and find job opportunities.
- Stay Updated
Now that you digital marketer, you need to know that digital marketing changes fast.
Learn continuously and stay updated with the latest trends, algorithm changes, and best practices through blogs, podcasts, or webinars.
In conclusion
Digital marketing is a goldmine—but only for those who are ready to dig deep and learn the secrets of success😊.
Imagine reaching the right customers, boosting your brand visibility, and driving sales like never before!
If this sounds exciting, then it’s time to stop imagining and start doing it.
Join the Creaitz community today.
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