Types of Digital Marketing and Where to Begin

Digital Marketing is a vital part of every business and itsoverall marketing strategy. It uses various technologies and tactics to target customers online, making it possible for companies to reach any specific audience.

That gives better results compared to traditional marketing tactics as you can pinpoint the exact segment you want to target or target a mass audience if you like. No matter what business you are in, it has the potential to boost your sales.

But before you get all pumped into spending your money on it, you should know what is a digital marketing and what does it include? It is probably those amazing Facebook posts or Instagram stories, right? Nope! Although that is a part of digital marketing, it is just a small fraction.

What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing includes every type of marketing strategy that is brought to customers using the internet or any digital means. Whether that is social media, emails, search engines, or content marketing, TV ads, and whatnot, it’s all part of this one beast.

To make it simple, it is divided into 2 main categories; Online and Offline Digital Marketing. Online digital marketing includes SEO, SEM, social media marketing, etc., while offline marketing includes TV, radio, and phone marketing.

In this article, we will have a look at the online aspect of digital marketing to know more about it.

Online Digital Marketing

Among online and offline digital marketing means, online are the ones that are cost-effective and usually used for targeting specific market segments.

Currently, there are six main categories in the online aspect of digital marketing that are used as a combination to reach out to customers and make the brand known. Let’s dig into these categories and find out more.

• Social Media Marketing

Take out your phone, connect it with a good internet connection such as Hughesnet Gen5, and open any social media platform, you will find posts, ads, and recommendations for different products based on your interests. That’s what social media marketing is.

With ever-growing social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok (even though you don’t like it), there is an opportunity for businesses to increase their social following and reach out to new customers.

Although every social platform might not be suitable for your business, you will find a few that are. For instance, if you are operating in the B2B category, LinkedIn would be better suited for your business rather than TikTock and Instagram.

Similarly, if you are selling consumer goods such as shoes or clothing, there are no better platforms to promote such businesses than Instagram and Facebook.

Businesses can start marketing campaigns where personalization is available to the extent that you can use the city, gender, age, interests, and many other aspects as filters for your targeted ads and grab the attention of your customers.

• Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing, commonly known as SEM, includes both SEO and pay-per-click ads and is used to bring traffic to your website. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) focuses on bringing organic traffic while the PPC covers the paid ads.

The focus of SEO is to move your business up in search results for specific search terms or keywords. This gives your business better visibility when users search specifically for your business or any terms related to it.

On the other hand, PPC is placing ads in search results that are based on keywords users search for. For instance, you have a business for handmade jackets in Colorado and you want people to find your business when they are looking for jackets.

• Content Marketing

Content marketing is not like other digital marketing means where the products are marketed directly. It’s more about creating valuable content that enhances user experience and provides information.

To quick-start content writing, choose the best laptops for writers. You would have seen several big brands posting videos and blog posts that engage their customers and offer them information about the company, products, or even the usage. That’s what differentiates between a business and a brand and makes your customers like you.

• Email Marketing

Even with many outstanding marketing options available, Email marketing is among the best. It involves sending information to your customers via email. These emails can be about anything from a new product to an upcoming promotion. 

The benefit of Email marketing is that you contact your customers directly while keeping the costs low. For those businesses who know how to write a compelling email, it can work wonders.

• Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a method where businesses use other people or companies to bring customers and pay them a commission based on the number of sales.

This is a popular method to involve bloggers and webmasters in promoting your products and bringing traffic to your website. Whenever a customer purchases affiliates, they will get a commission automatically.

Affiliate Marketing is rather useful for e-commerce websites and businesses that sell their products online. And since all the hard work is done for you, you can focus on other aspects of marketing and business in the meantime.

• Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a somewhat indirect marketing method where you use people with good social reach and presence instead of reaching out to your customers directly.This is usually used as a short-term strategy with several influencers on board as the engagement gained via influencer marketing is short-term.

Where to Start

If you have a business and want to utilize digital marketing as a way to increase your sales, it is important to determine your starting point. Mostly all of these aspects are used in combination with each other as every aspect has its importance. So to get good results, it is best to make these a part of your overall marketing campaign. That way, you will not miss on opportunities and will get results faster.