What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. It includes everything from search engine optimization to email marketing to social media marketing.

In today's digital age, it's more important than ever to have a strong online presence. If you're not doing digital marketing, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to reach potential customers.

Over 5 billion users are online today. If you can just capture a tiny percentage of that base, you would do extremely well.

In this blog post, we will discuss what digital marketing is, the different digital marketing channels you can do and why it's so important.

Why Is Digital Marketing Important?

Digital marketing is important because it allows companies to reach a larger audience with their marketing message. In addition, it offers the ability to track customer behavior and buying patterns, which can be used to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Digital marketing provides access to data that can be used to make better decisions about advertising efforts.

If you're not setting up digital marketing campaigns, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to reach potential customers. In today's digital age, having a strong online presence is more important than ever.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to start incorporating digital marketing tactics into your overall marketing strategy. It doesn't matter if you're a small business owner or blogger, you need to incorporate digital marketing!

Types of Digital Marketing

There are many different types of digital marketing channels and here is where I'll list the ones that you should focus on.

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is where you promote a product or service created by a company or someone else and earn a commission on every sale that you make. This is a great way to earn extra income, especially if you're already doing other types of marketing.

If you're a blogger that doesn't have a product to sell, affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your blog.

To get started, find a product or service that you believe in and look for an affiliate program for that product. Once you sign up, you'll be given a unique affiliate link that you can use to promote the product or service. When someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase, you'll earn a commission.

Interested in affiliate marketing? These courses can help.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

On-Page SEO is what most people think of when thinking about SEO, but it isn't everything. There are many different types of off-page SEO including link building, social media marketing, etc. Search engine optimization is also known as search engine marketing. They are basically the same thing.

Technical SEO focuses on the code behind your website. This includes things such as meta tags, internal linking, speed, and mobile friendliness.

When your website is well optimized, it will rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which will lead to more organic traffic.

SEO is important because it can help you attract free, organic traffic to your website. In other words, if you want people to find your website without paying for advertising, you need to optimize your site for search engines. The better your SEO, the higher your website will rank in SERPs, and the more likely people are to find it.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective digital channels because it allows you to reach out to your customers directly. You can send emails about promotions, sales, events, and anything else that relates to your brand. This type of marketing helps you keep in touch with your current and potential customers.

Here are some examples of how you can use email marketing to promote your products and services:

Here are some tips to make sure your emails are effective.

Know Your Audience

Before you start sending out emails, it's important to know what type of person you're targeting. Are you trying to reach someone who already knows about your product or service? Or do you want to attract new customers?

Knowing who you're reaching helps you craft messages that resonate with your target audience.

Once you have a good list of subscribers, you can further drill it down by segmenting your list. This way you'll be able to send relevant emails depending on what the people on your list are more interested in.

Be Personal

You don't always have to stick to a generic template when creating your emails. People like to hear from real people, especially when it comes to sales.

Use personalized subject lines, include customer testimonials, and offer discounts or special offers. This makes recipients feel valued and encourages them to open your emails.

Keep Them Engaged

If you're not doing email marketing, you're missing out on a great opportunity to reach your target audience. Email marketing is an affordable and effective way to reach your customers. You'll need email marketing software to manage your campaigns.

4. Video Marketing

In recent times, people are viewing videos online more frequently than reading articles. This shift toward video consumption is due to several factors including ease of use, accessibility, and low cost of production.

As a result, video is becoming one of the most effective forms of communication today. Video marketing is now being used by businesses across industries to increase brand awareness, promote products/services, generate leads, and enhance customer relationships.

The best part is that you can create a YouTube channel for free. You don't need any fancy equipment and sometimes your cell phone will work just fine.

When creating a video, think carefully about what you want to achieve and how it fits into your overall strategy. If you're looking to improve sales, consider creating a product demo video.

You could even create the video without any fancy software, just turn on your camera and start filming. Remember that it's the content that counts. No one really cares about fancy editing.

Pay attention to your YouTube analytics to closely follow the behaviors of your users. By following these tips, you can create a successful video marketing strategy for your small business.

YouTube also has an SEO strategy that can be used to improve the ranking of your videos in SERPs. You can optimize your title, description, tags, and thumbnail to ensure that your video appears higher in search results.

Want to start a YouTube Channel but don't know how? These YouTube courses can help you start a channel step by step.

5. Content Marketing

Content marketing helps you create unique messages tailored to each prospect or client. In today’s digital world, it’s important to make sure your content is relevant and engaging to your audience. If you want to increase brand awareness, build trust, and generate leads, content marketing is one of the best ways to do it.

One of the most important aspects of content marketing is creating quality content. This means writing articles, blog posts, eBooks, infographics, and other types of content that are interesting and useful to your target audience. It’s also important to make sure your content is SEO-friendly so that people can find it when they search for keywords related to your business.

Another key element of successful content marketing is distribution. You need to make sure your content reaches as many people as possible. One way to do this is by promoting your content on social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also submit your articles to online directories and post them on relevant forums.

6. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to market a small business online.

Social media marketing can be done either for free or paid. The most common free social media marketing activities include creating profile pages, posting updates and messages, and joining groups. Paid social media marketing activities include boosted posts, ads, and Sponsored Stories.

Small businesses can use social media to connect with customers and prospects, build relationships, and increase brand awareness. By utilizing the power of social media, small businesses can reach a larger audience for less money than traditional advertising methods.

To get started, create profiles on relevant social networking sites and start posting updates that are interesting and engaging to your target audience. Be sure to promote your content on other online channels such as your website and blog to get the most exposure.

If you can't decide between social media marketing or email marekting, it's important to understand the differences first. However, both are relatively implement so there's no reason why you can't do both.

7. Influencer Marketing

If you're thinking about getting into influencer marketing, it's important to understand what it entails. Influencer marketing is essentially the practice of bringing attention to products and brands through people who already have large followings.

The most popular form of influencer marketing is through social media, where people with a large following on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter can post sponsored content to their followers.

To get started with influencer marketing, identify potential influencers in your industry and reach out to them to see if they're interested in promoting your products or services. If you have a smaller budget, you can also look for micro-influencers who have a smaller but more engaged following.

Each type of influencer has their own unique appeal, but one thing holds true across the board: they all want money. That doesn't necessarily make them bad people; it just makes them human.

They might choose to partner up with you because they like your brand, or they think that you'll help their career grow. But they're still looking for ways to earn money, and sometimes that means working with companies that aren't exactly reputable.

Make sure you do your research on any potential influencers before you commit to working with them. That way, you can avoid any unpleasant surprises down the road.

8. Native Advertising

Native advertising is a type of online advertising that blends in with the surrounding content. The most common form of native advertising is through social media platforms, where brands can pay to have their ads show up in users' feeds alongside organic content.

Native advertising is effective because it's less intrusive than other forms of online advertising, and it can be customized to match the look and feel of the platform on which it appears. For example, a Facebook ad will look different from a Twitter ad, but both will blend in with the surrounding content.

The downside of native advertising is that it can be more expensive than other forms of online advertising. Additionally, some users may find native ads to be annoying if they're not relevant to their interests.

9. Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a type of advertising that allows businesses to generate revenue without having to spend money upfront. Instead, advertisers will bid on keywords related to their products and services, paying for each click on their advertisement. An advertiser will pay for every click on his ad, depending on the price he bids for it. This is called cost-per-click (CPC).

PPC can be an effective way to generate revenue without having to spend money upfront. However, it's important to note that you'll only make money if people make a purchase after they click on your ad.

There are many different types of PPC campaigns. Some of the most popular include:

Keep in mind that PPC campaigns can be quite expensive, depending on the keywords you're bidding on. Ensure that you stick to daily budget that you can afford.

10. SMS Messaging

Text messaging is an effective way of reaching out to your audience. Companies such as Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and Domino’s Pizza are among those that rely heavily on SMS marketing. Many people prefer paying via text rather than online.

In fact, studies have shown that SMS marketing has a 98% open rate, while email marketing has only a 20% open rate.

There are a few things to keep in mind when sending out SMS messages. First, you need to get permission from your customers before adding them to your text messaging list. Second, make sure your messages are clear and concise. Finally, don't send too many texts or you'll run the risk of annoying your customers.

11. Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is a type of online advertising that involves paying a publisher to feature your content on their site. This can be in the form of an article, video, or infographic. The benefit of sponsored content is that it allows you to reach out to a new audience that might not be familiar with your brand.

It's important to note that sponsored content should not be confused with native advertising. Sponsored content is clearly marked as such, whereas native advertising is designed to blend in with the surrounding content.

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating sponsored content. First, make sure it's high quality and relevant to your target audience. Second, include a call-to-action (CTA) so people know what you want them to do after viewing your content. Finally, make sure the publisher you're working with is reputable and has a good reach.

What Skills Are Needed in Digital Marketing?

To be successful at digital marketing, you'll need certain skills. These include:

• Writing and editing - You'll need to create high-quality content that is both informative and engaging.
• SEO - You'll need to optimize your content for search engines so people can find it easily.
• Social media - You'll need to be active on social media sites and interact with your audience regularly.
• PPC - You'll need to be able to manage a PPC campaign effectively in order to generate revenue.
• SMS marketing - You'll need to be able to create concise, attention-grabbing text messages.
• Sponsored content - You'll need to be able to create high-quality sponsored content that will resonate with your target audience.

These are just some of the skills needed to be successful for each type of digital marketing channel. The good news is that you don't need to incorporate all. You might do very well with just one aspect of digital marketing.

How Can I Become a Digital Marketer?

The good news is that you don't need any formal training to become a digital marketer.

For example, on my blog right here, I focus on content marketing and SEO. I don't pay influencers or do any type of PPC advertising.

This is because SEO and writing content are what work for my blog. You will find out what works best for your business by just trying any of the strategies above. Go with what you are comfortable with and you'll get better in time.

You don't need to go to school for this either. There's plenty of free information online to help you get started. Just make sure that the information you're getting is from a reliable source.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This wraps it up and I hope you have a greater understanding of what is digital marketing. It's a vast topic but I think it's important to understand the basics. Whether you decide to employ affiliate marketing, email marketing, influencers, a content strategy, or SEO, just be sure to give it 100% and never give up. The secret is to always be up on your competition so watch them closely - and do better. So go ahead and implement your own digital marketing strategy!

If you ever have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or contact me directly. I'm always happy to help!