Imagine a toolbox full of different tools that brands can use to attract, engage and convert customers. Tools that let you connect with people wherever they are – online as we know it. Effective digital marketing is about finding the right mix of those tools and strategies to help you achieve your business goals. Understanding the basics of digital marketing will help you choose the right mix.
Digital marketing refers to the use of all Internet-based marketing efforts. It’s about sharing content to engage and influence potential customers, drive website traffic, generate leads and ultimately convert those into sales.
Digital Marketing Fundamentals refers to the guiding principles that can guide your strategy and lead to successful marketing campaigns.
3 Basics of Digital Marketing
When building your brand’s digital marketing toolbox, keep these 3 key basics in mind:
1. Understanding your audience
Digital marketing starts with understanding your target audience:
- who are they?
- What are their needs, preferences and behaviors?
- What problems does your product or service solve?
By answering these questions, you can create campaigns that resonate with your audience.
“If you don’t know who your customer is, you don’t know what message to communicate,” he said. them”
By understanding your audience, you can focus time, effort and dollars in areas where you can see a return. Define who you’re reaching – and who you want to reach. Try to do your research on these groups to better understand how to reach and serve the right people.
In this new era of marketing, businesses have the power to reach global audiences and connect with customers in ways that were once inaccessible.
“The advent of digital marketing was a game changer for many,” Gable said. “A few new companies can buy large blocks of network TV time, but everyone can have a website.”
Compared to traditional outbound marketing, digital marketing is cheaper, faster and customizable, he said.
2. Create useful content
Content is the center of digital marketing. Whether it’s blog posts, videos or social media updates, your content should provide value to your audience. This means educating, entertaining or inspiring them. Regardless of the format, your content should be engaging, informative and shareable.
With people consuming more content than ever before, Haddox says, “This is fundamental and should transcend all other content consumed by your target audience.”
A few things to consider when creating useful content include:
- Length Decide where the content will live and what its purpose is – this alone will help determine the length. An email is longer than a tweet, but not as long as a blog post. Regardless of the platform, consider quality over quantity.
- Mobile friendly. Think mobile first. More and more people are using the Internet from their phones and are looking for an experience tailored to their devices.
- Views. Incorporating elements like infographics, videos, and images will help you tell your story in a compelling way and create content that will grab your audience’s attention.
“Companies should do some promotions, but they should provide more valuable (relevant) content to consumers and listen to what consumers have to say,” she said. “Otherwise, they won’t come back. No one likes someone who only talks about himself at a party.
3. Analysis, measurement and data
To be successful in digital marketing, you need to track your results and measure your return on investment (ROI). Using as tools Google AnalyticsYou can track website traffic, engagement and conversion rates, and use that data to adjust your campaigns accordingly.
“When the book is finished, think of the information; information holds the content together,” Haddox said.
This means starting with data to end with data to target and optimize your audience.
“Using and interpreting large amounts of data and turning those data points into insights and actions is (a) fundamental key to digital marketing,” he said.
Digital marketing is unique in how readily available these insights are to businesses. With traditional outbound marketing techniques like radio, print, or TV, there’s less engagement to measure, which means less data to help you learn what’s working and what isn’t.
Brouille says data and analytics are essential parts of digital marketing.
“It’s the best way to see if you’re moving toward your goals,” she said. “If the goal is the destination and the strategy is the map, then key performance indicators (KPIs) are the road signs that lead to your final destination.”
What are the 5 Ds of Marketing?
Another way to approach digital marketing is to think of the 5 Ds. The 5 Ds of Digital Marketing are:
1. Digital tools
This refers to the various devices that people use to access digital content, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. Digital marketers must optimize their content for each device to ensure a seamless user experience. Think back to “mobile-first” thinking.
2. Digital platforms
These are online platforms that people use to access digital content, such as search engines, social media networks, email, and websites. Digital marketers need to understand the nuances of each platform and tailor their strategies accordingly. YouTube, for example, has best practices around video titles, captions, and descriptions to get (or get) your content found.
3. Digital media
The types of digital content that people consume – such as text, images, videos and audio – are all considered digital media. Digital marketers need to create engaging and engaging content that resonates with their target audience. This is where the term integrated marketing campaign comes into play, where marketers create campaigns that span multiple digital and offline channels to create an integrated experience for their audience.
4. Digital information
This refers to the large amount of information that digital marketers can collect about their audience, such as their demographics, interests, and behaviors. This data can be used to create more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns. With traditional marketing techniques, information is very limited.
“An additional difference with digital marketing is the concept of a digital footprint and the ability to track and understand engagement in depth,” Haddox said.
Visibility and understanding of the customer journey is much more understandable in the digital marketing space than in the traditional marketing space, he said.
5. Digital technology
This is due to the various technologies that digital marketers use to create and deliver their campaigns, such as marketing automation software, data analytics tools, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Digital marketing and your business
Thinking of entering the world of digital marketing in your career? Now is a great time. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), total employment of advertising, promotion and marketing managers in 2010 10% increase From 2021 to 2031, faster than average for all occupations.
The BLS expects demand for advertising and promotion managers to be highest in industries that rely on these workers to create digital media campaigns and reach customers through websites, social media or live chat.
“My SEO class made my transition to working with real campaigns at work seamless,” said the graduate of SNHU’s digital marketing program. Danielle Upham ’19 ’21G. “I’m Google and Hootsuite Certified and have been able to manage SEO campaigns from day one thanks to my classroom experience.”
Education can change your life. Find the SNHU digital marketing course that will best help you achieve your goals.
Emily Distasio ’19G is a copywriter at Southern New Hampshire University. Connect with her LinkedIn.
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