What is Digital Marketing?

In the past, we’ve talked about tips on how to get started with digital marketing, and we’ve even told you what to look for in an agency. But, one thing we haven’t done is talk about what digital marketing is.

Many times, no one really knows what marketing does. They’re that team with the open floor plan that seems to have meetings constantly. They don’t call prospects, they just send a few emails and talk, right?

Wrong.

What is digital marketing?

Loosely, digital marketing is any type of advertising that’s done via an Internet or mobile-based platform. As factual as that is, it doesn’t really shed any light on what that actually entails.

Digital marketing includes the emails your company sends. Those emails help onboard clients, educate prospects, and nurture people through the buying cycle. You may think they’re just emails, but they’re actually highly targeted pieces of content meant to attract and keep someone’s attention. That initial contact will lead that person to a conversion element such as a webinar registration or blog article. Email expands your scope and allows you to reach your target audience where they already live— their inbox.

Those ads you see on Google and Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are also part of the digital realm. It’s also landing pages you come to after scanning a QR code, and the banners you see on your favorite blogs. It’s even the blogs you read, the white papers you download, and the memes you giggle at during lunch.

Digital marketing = analytics

You cannot make business decisions without analytics. Without analytics, you’re flying blind. You won’t know which campaigns are working and which aren’t. You won’t know how people are responding to you, or if you’re actually achieving your goals.

These days, digital marketing means analytics. We can measure everything down to the most granular detail in digital campaigns. And that’s a key part of most marketing roles.

Measure impressions, clicks, and conversions of your PPC ads. Track the open rates, click-through-rates, and unsubscribe rates in your emails. Determine at what point people are abandoning your shopping cart. Then use those metrics to optimize your campaigns and minimize abandonment. Your bottom line will thank you.

Why is it important?

You need a digital marketing strategy just as much as you need a sales team. Digital marketing allows us to reach people where they already spend their time. Everyone is online these days, and if you’re not, you’re missing out.  

Stop limiting your business growth. Use digital marketing to deliver your message, consistently, across a myriad of platforms, in a variety of formats. Bring in new prospects with a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Then, use the data you get from your campaigns to optimize for conversion. None of this would be possible without digital marketing.

Ready to get started? DemandZEN can help.