Types of Digital Marketing: An Overview

These days, a variety of types of digital marketing are available to even the smallest of businesses. Our easy access to these media channels has made digital marketing a lot more popular today.

Advertisers and marketers are using digital marketing to promote their brands through various forms of online media.

Different types of digital marketing act as an interactive platform for consumers to learn more about brands and make conscious and subconscious decisions to spend money on certain products.

Throughout the day, most of our faces are glued to some sort of electronic screen.

Businesses use this to their advantage through digital marketing.

This can be done through social media platforms, television screens or even electronic billboards. In this article, we’ll walk you through the basics of digital marketing and why it has become one of the central uses of any and all digital media.

Basic Types of Digital Marketing

To simplify things, let’s break down the phrase digital marketing into separate words. Marketing is the process of advertising and promoting a product or service based on intensive market research.

Digital marketing has become the way in which businesses do so using digital platforms. These platforms can vary from websites on the internet to electronic billboards on display.

Here are a few other definitions you’ll want to keep abreast of.

Digital Devices

These are the ways in which audiences experience digital content. This can be through mobile phones, TV screens or even billboard screens and game consoles.

Digital Platforms

They are the applications or websites that allow the sharing of digital marketing content. For example, Facebook and Instagram are media platforms that are the base for many digital marketing schemes.

Digital Content

Content is where the magic really happens. This is all the content that is created to be shown and shared on digital platforms. This can range from text to images, to videos to even virtual reality experiences.

Digital Data

The information that businesses collect about their audiences’ interactions is known as digital data. This information can be used to improve digital marketing plans and the effectiveness of digital marketing as a whole.

Data can comprise the likes of user behaviour and demographics, as well as financial information relating to different digital marketing channels.

Types of Digital Marketing Channels

Digital marketing can be broken down into the various ways in which it is performed. We can look at the different channels used in digital marketing and the different types of content created for digital marketing.

For example, if you’ve heard of search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, or influencer marketing, these are all methods of digital marketing.

Marketing schemes are also bound to adapt as the market expands and develops.

Digital marketing is one of the ways in which we can actively witness this development. As digital platforms are becoming actively involved in our everyday life, businesses are incorporating digital marketing in their marketing plans.

Essentially, all different types of digital marketing channels fall into two categories. These are:

1. Inbound channels – Where you put the conditions in place for customers to find you.
2. Outbound channels – Were you actively seeking to get in front of potential customers?

We’ll cover a variety of more specific channels later. First, though, let’s take a look at why this all matters for businesses.

What are the Benefits of Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is special because it is interactive. What makes digital marketing stand out from other forms of marketing is how easily accessible it is and, ultimately, how effective it becomes.

The key thing here is that, unlike old-fashioned marketing techniques, you don’t need a massive budget to reach new customers with different types of digital marketing.

We are now more likely to search for a product online and watch a video about it rather than visit a store to find out the same information. Even if we do want to buy something in a physical shop, we’re likely to research it online first.

These are the main reasons why digital marketing is so popular today, but let us walk through the different reasons why brands are refocusing their efforts towards digital marketing.

Cost Effectiveness

Starting a digital marketing campaign is the most cost-effective way to advertise a product or service. Almost all target audiences are taking part in some action online and are exposed to countless digital platforms.

Not only is this form of marketing a more modern and popular strategy, but it is also far more cost-effective. Digital media offers a medium for business support not offered cheaply in printed media but in a much more desirable channel.

Measurable and Quickly Adaptable

The nature of digital marketing also means that success is much more measurable. Success can be monitored visually via traffic, online purchases and references. All of which are monitorable via a display.

This would be impossible with a billboard ad.

This is important because your approach can be altered more quickly. Within a few days, the effectiveness of a marketing strategy can be decided based on online traffic, sales figures and potential referee rates.

Contrastingly, more traditional forms of marketing strategies’ success must be decided over a longer period of time through sales numbers.

Reach the Right People With the Right Message

Different types of digital marketing allow you to tailor your messages to very specific audience segments.

At a basic level, you might use different messaging to target old customers as opposed to newer ones. Alternatively, you could target people by gender, age, or other factors.

Mobile-Friendly Content is the Way to Go

Modern marketing is very much catered to the mobile user. The average person spends an incredible amount of time on their phone each day. It only makes sense for any marketing scheme to be made mobile-friendly.

Mobile phones have evolved to become almost replacements or alternatives to desktop computers. Therefore, any content made accessible by these devices will reach a larger and potentially more mainstream audience.

In fact, nowadays, people spend a lot more time looking at their phones than they do on their laptops.

Challenges of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a great tool, but you are bound to face some problems along the way. While the benefits of digital marketing mostly outweigh the negatives, there are some challenges faced by all businesses that decide to invest in digital marketing.

However, knowing these challenges will definitely help you in avoiding them. So let’s take a look at some of the challenges of digital marketing.

Devising a Plan

The most common challenge to the implementation of digital marketing as a tool, is the formation of your plan.

The idea is that your plan must be formed on the basis of large-scale and comprehensive reports. However, that is often not the case and this thinking often hinders how much is actually done.

On the other end of the spectrum, many businesses try to use digital marketing without any clear plan or objectives in mind. This leads businesses to posting at random on Facebook and wonder why they’re not seeing any return on investment.

Keep the Scope in Mind

Another trial that may be faced in administration of a digital marketing plan is the scope of your work.

A large term with even larger implications. Digital marketing techniques range far and wide. The scale at which you may choose to operate with has implications on which of the techniques you will choose

Success is Relative

A less holistic issue that a marketing team might face is their interpretation of success. Where business owners stipulate what success means to them. One way to approach this problem is to look at the numbers and measure information thoroughly.

Different types of digital marketing use different KPIs. Things like inbound traffic, consumer online counts, live responses, and other related data must be recorded prior to and after the execution of your campaigns.

The key is to set realistic, achievable marketing goals, and take concrete steps to meet them.

Budget Planning.

Budget availability is often an issue when it comes to digital media marketing. This is often the case when people are only beginning to use this form of marketing, and it has not proven successful enough to justify higher spending.

The best way to get around this obstacle is to use what funding is available to add value to what your customers are purchasing. Whatever service or good you are offering, your marketing strategy should add value to your customer’s purchase.

Manage Your Resources.

One more issue with digital marketing actually has the time and resources to launch effective campaigns. As a small business, it’s typical for a non-specialist to be in charge of the digital presence in addition to their normal duties.

What this often leads to is the plan and your resources become spread too thin as you begin to work on too many smaller endeavours which may not prove fruitful.

Competition

Another issue you might come to deal with in different types of digital marketing is a busy market. In this day and age, digital platforms have become the popular method to advertise and endorse messages and content.

So how do your products and marketing strategies stand out? The best way to address such an issue is to provide useful answers to customers.

Provide solutions to the issues they might face, and confront why they sought you.

The other side of this is that as users are exposed to more and more marketing messages, they also become much more cynical. This means that authenticity and great brand relationships are crucial.

What are the Core Types of Digital Marketing Campaigns?

To fully understand the different types of digital marketing, it’s important to know the specific strategies and techniques which you can leverage to reach your audience.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the strongest types of digital marketing you can use to your advantage. A strong website is the bedrock of all different types of digital marketing.

SEO is an essential inbound strategy. Essentially, it’s all about ensuring that your website can be found by users when they conduct a relevant search online.

PPC

Pay per Click (PPC) advertising is one of the most effective ways to get your brand noticed in the digital space. These are sponsored links you see on search engines and social platforms.

The results from using PPC vary, but it is a useful tool when you have some marketing dollars to spend.

Public Relations

Public Relations (PR) is one of the most traditional ways to market your brand. It works within the digital and non-digital marketing spaces and provides exposure for your brand, whether it’s through a press conference or a viral video.

The goal is to achieve positive associations with your brand in the minds of your target audience.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing helps you connect with your audiences for exposure. This is the way you will engage and have conversations, build relationships, and demonstrate why your brand is worthy of their time and attention.

This is one of the fastest ways to build a following and get your brand exposed to the masses. Almost every company and brand utilizes social media to talk to their audience.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a combination of digital marketing elements working together for the best results. This includes SEO, social media marketing and public relations. It entails writing good content for your audiences, including emails, blog posts, website content, and more.

This is a great way to generate leads that can quickly turn into conversions. Content marketing channels the best of your digital marketing strategy for every single audience you have.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing helps you work on other things while someone else markets your products and services. Consider this – you have an ad on someone else’s site, and it attracts visitors. When that visit turns into a sale, you make money.

You have to split those profits with your affiliates, but you are generating money for your bottom line. In other words, affiliate marketing means hiring freelance marketers to promote your products, in exchange for a commission

If you want help with any of the different types of digital marketing, including digital marketing training, contact ProfileTree today.