In the 21st century, everything is digital, and the internet is necessary. According to a 2021 PewResearch, the number of people using the Internet is still increasing if you can believe it.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the dependence on the internet has only increased. We use it to do everything. We use it for work, to get food, and to buy items we need.
It is the quintessential tool of the world right now. However, due to this influx of people to the digital world, the way to market products and services has changed, too.
Nowadays, marketers work tirelessly to connect audiences to the right place at the right time, essentially known as digital marketing.
Hi, I am Shovon Joarder, a digital marketing consultant who has been making a living in this sector for about seven years now. I had a cushy corporate job that constantly felt unfulfilled, so I left it to become a digital marketer.
I knew instantly that it was my calling. Now, why I became a digital marketer is a story for another time. Today I thought you should know about the fundamentals of digital marketing, what it is and what or who is a digital marketer exactly.
As a digital marketer, I have to ensure my work attracts, engages, and delights customers online. Due to my line of work, I often come across questions about what digital marketing is and what my job entails, and in the following passages, that is precisely what we will talk about. So, without any further ado, let's start!
So, What's in Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing, a.k.a online marketing, is everything you can think of about marketing on the internet. Marketers leverage online platforms like search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect businesses with their prospecting and existing customers.
Complete digital marketing approaches often include reaching audiences through text and multimedia messages. You may have read in many blogs about digital marketing that inbound marketing and digital marketing are virtually the same thing.
However, I have found no significant differences in my experience working with digital marketing agencies and businesses worldwide.
Digital marketing is vital for building a business today and is the cornerstone for building brand awareness. Every brand has a website, at least some form of social presence, and a well-rounded digital ad strategy. In addition, consumers online expect and rely on digital content and ads to find the best products and services.
Now, digital marketing is anything but one-dimensional. Instead, there are several different aspects that can be approached in a wide range of ways. So you can get creative and experiment with various marketing tactics even on a budget.
Digital marketing, as mentioned above, is the use of multiple tactics on different digital platforms to connect brands to their intended audiences.
As a digital marketer, my first task is to clearly understand the brand's overarching goals and craft digital marketing campaigns that meet those requirements.
Then, depending on the goals, the marketer's job is to identify and utilize all the free and paid channels available to achieve the brand goals.
Whether it's content marketing or social media marketing, the digital marketer's job is to achieve specific brand goals, like generating leads through blog posts or garnering engagements and impressions on content and services by promoting them on social media.
The Importance Of Digital Marketing
In the age of information, the importance of digital marketing cannot be understated. However, traditional and digital lines are almost non-existent, and this is true for marketing.
It will help you reach a larger audience and target demographics that are most likely to use your service or buy your products. Digital marketing is enormously important for businesses, especially small businesses, as it's cheaper than traditional marketing.
It also allows you to monitor and tweak it daily without any hassle. As a result, digital marketing is a godsend for new budding businesses and entrepreneurs alike, and here are some ways it can help you reach your potential:
- Digital marketing allows you to have a laser focus on demographics who are interested in your niche.
- It is a much more cost-effective option than traditional marketing tactics.
- Digital marketing ensures everyone gets a fair chance and allows smaller brands to compete and beat more prominent brands within their industry.
- You can track it at every moment, meaning it's measurable.
- It is highly versatile and can be changed anytime, making it easier to adapt to demands.
- With the right strategy, you can increase your conversion rate and the quality of the leads you generate.
- Digital marketing allows you to monitor and engage with audiences at every stage.
So that covers the importance of digital marketing and what's in it. Now, let's check out the different types of digital marketing businesses utilize to grow.
Types Of Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is not just a monolith. It has several different aspects, including a wide range of specialties. Here are the various types of digital marketing that businesses utilize:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Affiliate Marketing
- Native Advertising
- Marketing Automation
- Email Marketing
- Online PR
- Inbound Marketing
- Sponsored Content
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Instant Messaging Marketing
So these are all the different digital marketing types that marketers and agencies leverage to grow brands. Now that you are acquainted with the types of digital marketing, let's talk about digital marketers, the skills they require, and what they do!
What Makes Digital Marketers Most Qualified?
As a digital marketer, my main priority is to drive brand awareness and generate leads through every available digital channel for a brand.
The best digital marketer will work towards utilizing both the paid and free channels to induce growth. Here are some of the most common channels any digital marketer worth their salt will utilize:
- Social media,
- Company website,
- Search engine rankings,
- Email,
- Display advertising,
- And the company's blog.
My first job as a digital marketing consultant was to set the key performance indicator (KPI) for the project that caters to the goals.
Whether it's an SEO or content marketing campaign, setting the KPIs is the priority when I structure a campaign. The term digital marketer is a broad-spectrum term that covers SEO specialists, Social media specialists, content marketers, marketing automation, and any other specialists you can think of in the digital marketing niche.
Different sections have different KPIs to measure that a digital marketer will set. Here are a few examples of what a digital marketer tracks in three different digital marketing sectors:
- SEO- The main KPI for tracking SEO is organic marketing. As an SEO manager, I ensure your business ranks on search engines like Google. As an SEO manager, I usually work closely with content creators to ensure the content performs well on search engines.
- Content Marketing- Content marketing KPIs are completely SEO. Content marketers usually monitor time on the page, blog traffic, and overall growth and reach through content.
- Social Media Marketing- Social media deals with both written and visual content. The job of your social media manager is to ensure they provide you with substantial growth. The KPIs they use to measure growth are impressions, shares, and in some cases, subscriptions.
- Marketing Automation- Marketing automation coordinators are marketers who work on and manage software. Companies rely on them to understand customer behavior and measure growth. Some common KPIs for this sector are email open rate, campaign click-through rate, and lead generation conversion rate.
What Skills Does A Digital Marketer Need To Have?
The modern-day digital marketer needs to be multi-faceted and always needs to be on top of their game. While the job is about building buyer personas, identifying audience needs, and creating valuable content, all this can only be achieved with the right set of skills. Here are some skills you should look for in a digital marketer:
- Technology skills
- Creativity
- Analytical thinking
- Marketing skills
- Adaptability
- Very Open To Changes
- Critical thinking ability
- Problem-solving skills
- Broad knowledge of the business
- Independent thinking capability
- Leadership skills
- Collaborative
- Strong ethics
- Killer instinct in new environments
- Persuasive
Simple Digital Marketing Guidelines That Everyone Should Follow
So there you go—that's all I have for you today. I have written about all the fundamental aspects of digital marketing that you need to know.
Hopefully, by now, you know what digital marketing is, what digital marketers are, and what skills they must possess. However, I understand that hiring one of the best digital marketers or agencies can seem financially daunting, but it isn't.
Digital marketing solutions are cheap and relatively easy to see tangible results from. But I do understand if you can't afford one right now.
So make sure you follow these guidelines below whenever you are doing digital marketing yourself and without an expert:
- Defining the goals.
- Target audience identification.
- Setting up the budget.
- Create strategies with a healthy mix of paid and free media.
- Make sure to create engaging content.
- Always make sure the website is optimized for mobile use.
- Then, you expand and tweak the strategies as you go along.
Make sure to follow these simple guidelines, and you alone should be able to create meaningful digital marketing strategies that encourage growth. That's all I have for you today.
Keep an eye out for my blog to learn all the latest happenings in the digital world, along with some helpful content that can help you grow.
Follow the blog and drop any questions you may have about digital marketing, and I will answer them all. You can also reach out to me on my social media, where we can talk further about how to take the next step.
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