Looking for an effective way to boost
traffic to your site and attract more buyers to your business?
Feeling overwhelmed by the countless types of
digital marketing you could use?
We’re here to help.
Digital
marketing is not just a buzzword thrown around at networking events. You need
to understand the types of digital marketing at your disposal. You need to use
these methods to stay afloat in a sea of digital competition and stand out from
the crowd.
Ask
yourself, “Do I really know what digital marketing is?”
If
you answered no, that’s okay.
In
this article, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of digital marketing. We’ll go
over the term’s definition, importance, and teach you how to use 9 types of
digital marketing.
By
the end, you’ll feel confident in your ability to employ digital marketing as
an effective part of your overall marketing strategy.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Most
people do a poor job of nailing down the definition of digital marketing. The term
is less vague than you might imagine from the outset.
What
is digital marketing? Any type of marketing for products or services that
use electronic devices.
If
you can believe it, digital marketing is nothing new. Digital marketing came on
to the scene as electronic devices entered our lives. People often
assume that digital marketing is all about content marketing and social
media. While these exist as types of digital marketing, they are not all
encompassing. Digital marketing happens online and offline.
We’ll
touch on offline marketing at the end of this article, but the majority of our
time together will consist of online marketing tactics. You need both forms of
digital marketing for a super effective marketing strategy. If you’re wondering
why digital marketing matters at all, read on!
Why Digital Marketing
Matters
The
amount of time we spend connected to our electronic devices increases every
day. In fact, Americans spend over 11 hours each day using electronic devices.
I know what you’re thinking: “but there are only 24 hours in a day.”
This
might scare you, but we’re so close to spending every waking hour on electronic
devices, digital marketing is more important and impactful than ever before.
Without digital marketing efforts, you stand to reach almost no one. As a
result, your business will get left in the dust. Don’t get left behind.
Consider the following types of digital marketing and think about which ones
work best for your industry, your company, and your audience.
Types
of Digital Marketing
We’ve
arrived! It’s time to dive head first into 9 types of digital marketing. Types
of online digital marketing include:
1.
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
2.
Search Engine
Marketing and Pay-Per-Click Advertising
3.
Social Media
Marketing
4.
Content Marketing
5.
Affiliate
Marketing
6.
Influencer
Marketing
7.
Email Marketing
8.
Viral Marketing
9. Mobile Phone Advertising
10. YouTube Marketing
1.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization or
SEO refers to the process of growing your online visibility in non-paid
(organic) search engine results. SERPs or search engine results pages appear to
users after they search for a given set of keywords using a search engine like
Google or Bing. Each user receives an individualized results page based on
keywords, the user’s location at the time of searching, and their browsing
history.
Organic
search results appear in a list and are ranked using the search engine’s
algorithm. As users change the way they search and engage with online content,
these algorithms change. The higher you rank on a SERP, the more traffic
is directed to your site and the more chances of making a passive visitor an
active customer.
How
do you get your company’s website to appear at the top of a user’s organic
search results? By optimizing your website using SEO.
Search
engine optimization includes many factors from keywords within your content to
links to your website around the web. It includes both On-page and Off-page
SEO. On-page SEO refers to the steps you take on your own website to boost
your SEO. Off-page refers to the relationships you make and actions you take
outside of your website to fuel SEO.
SEO
trends change as algorithms change to fit user needs. In this way,
SEO is never about building a website for the sole purpose of ranking high on a
list results. At its core, SEO is about crafting the best possible website
for your user. If you stay on top of SEO trends, you’re that much closer to
more visibility online and traffic to your site.
2.
Search Engine Marketing
Search
Engine Marketing or SEM covers the ground SEO ignores, paid traffic from search
engines. With SEM you purchase advertisement space that appears on a user’s
SERP. The most common paid search platform is Google AdWords. Next, is Bing
Ads.
The
search engine charges a marketer a predetermined amount to display an
advertisement in a number of places on a SERP generated from specific keywords
or phrases. One example of SEM is pay-per-click advertising or PPC. PPC refers
to a digital marketing method wherein search engines charge a company each time
their advertisement is clicked.
Social
media platforms began adopting PPC advertising in recent months. These ads show
up in the news feeds of a company’s target audience. This system is a great
example of how the different types of digital marketing bleed into each other
to form a complete digital marketing strategy. In this example, SEM overlaps
with social media marketing.
3.
Social Media Marketing
By
now you know that social media is a crucial part of your marketing strategy.
But do you know the ins and outs of social media marketing? Social media
marketing gives you increased exposure. It allows you to connect with your
consumers in a more intimate way. From this interaction, you can gain valuable customer
feedback that allows you to improve your customer service, product, or service.
Using social media marketing you’ll gain more reach when you
post quality content. Everything you do to increase traffic or
business on your social media channels is social media marketing. Whether
you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or LinkedIn these efforts all amount to
social media marketing.
Most
everyone benefits from social media marketing, but B2C companies stand to gain
the most. Pay attention to what your target audience talks about on social
media. Engage in the conversation. Use social media marketing as a way to gauge
what content you put out does well by monitoring shares and likes. Shares
equate to free advertising for you.
4.
Content Marketing
Content
marketing refers to the practice of delivering a quality piece of content to
your users to generate sales and leads. This content can live anywhere
online. Tweets, a YouTube video, and blogs on your website all comprise content
marketing. Content Marketing works because it melds together exceptional
content with other types of digital marketing like SEO and Social Media
Marketing.
Keep
your audience in mind as you create content. Remember who you’re talking to and
what they’re interested in. This will dictate the subject of your content.
Consider the language your audience uses when they search online for
information. Use these keywords to boost your SEO.
Last, share your
content across all of your social media platforms for maximum exposure and
feedback.
Content marketing is an ongoing practice. It’s not always about sales but more
so about engaging and educating your consumer to build brand recognition,
trust, and equity.
Stay
away from fluff pieces. Think about how much content a user comes by every day.
Creating relevant, quality content helps you stand out and boosts your SEO.
5. Affiliate
Marketing
Affiliate
marketing refers to the process of paying for conversions. Think of it like
hiring a sales person for your product or service. That affiliate earns a
commission. You determine the rate for affiliate marketing. You only
pay for conversions. This means there is no upfront cost to affiliate
marketing. Many bloggers or e-commerce websites use affiliate marketing.
When
you choose to use affiliate marketing ensure that all of your terms and
boundaries are discussed beforehand. The affiliate represents your brand, so
you want them to carry your brand’s message close to them. Think about the
kinds of words you want the affiliate to use. Of course, you need to make the
deal work for the affiliate, too.
6.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer
marketing is among the newer types of digital marketing.
Influencer marketing uses people with an enormous online reach considered
experts by your target market to drive traffic and sales.
Influencer
marketing is popular on social media channels like Instagram and Snapchat.
Companies hire Instagrammers with large followings to promote their brand by
posting one or more photos with the product. Companies now engage in Instagram
or Snapchat “takeovers” where the hired influence controls the company’s social
media platform for a given amount of time, most often a day. These social media
takeovers drive the influencer’s following to your social media channels
increasing your new followers and unique views.
Always
make sure to do your research on an influencer before you decide to do business
with them. You might want to verify their Google analytics and make sure their
following proves legitimate and not full of fake accounts.
7.
Email Marketing
Email
marketing allows you to update your email subscribers on a regular basis about
your company. This fosters a relationship unlike any of the other types of
digital marketing. Your email updates provide value to your consumer. As a
result, you build brand trust and brand loyalty.
The
best email marketing campaigns involve a list of subscribers earned by your
content and company, not paid for by your company. People who opt-in to your
email subscription prove more likely to become active buyers.
8.
Viral Marketing
Viral
marketing refers to a post of some sort that is trendy, funny, or strange
enough to garner a massive amount of shares online. Viral marketing causes an
enormous spike in website traffic over a short period of time. This is hard to
do but the benefits alone make the effort worth your time.
B2C
companies stand to gain the most from viral marketing. B2C companies can use
social media to reach an enormous audience across all of their active
platforms.
9.
Mobile Phone Advertising
Each
of the types of digital advertising can happen on a mobile device. Some types
of marketing using a mobile phone do not fit the above types of digital
marketing.
These
include SMS advertising which could prove an asset to local marketing efforts.
You can prompt your consumers to use SMS to receive special offers, coupons,
and updates from your company.
10. YouTube
Marketing
It’s all about YouTube Channel promotion and get
like and comments, here is checkout our previous post about YouTube
Marketing
Offline Digital Marketing
It
is worth it to know that your digital marketing strategy is not complete with
online digital marketing alone. You should consider and implement some types of
offline marketing to reach your goals. Enhanced offline marketing is offline
marketing that uses electronic devices to boost the user experience. An example
of this is a restaurant that lets customers put in their order with electronic
tablets.
Radio
marketing, television marketing, and phone marketing also comprise offline
digital marketing.
Using These Types of Digital
Marketing To Benefit Your Business
Now
you know the types of digital marketing. You can use these online types of
digital marketing to boost your visibility online and engage your consumers. We
must stress that this is the real goal of all of the types digital marketing.
Creating experiences for your target audience that boost your brand into the
forefront of your mind. Quality marketing practices benefit both you and your
target audience.
Your
success is not yet contingent on online marketing alone. Yet the way people
live their lives leads marketers to believe this is around the corner. Remember
the key to visibility is boosting your SEO. Through quality content marketing
that adheres to the best SEO practices and is shared on social media, you can
increase your reach by leaps and bounds.
Leverage
social media to listen to the conversations your customers take part in.
Measure the traction of your content and adjust youfuture content to
replicate your success. If you want to learn more about how your business
can capture more leads improve your ROI via digital marketing, contact us today!
