Here Are the 7 Types of Digital Marketing (And How to Use Them)

Few people would argue that marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a business. After all, generating revenues is one of the main reasons a business owner puts up a firm.

And it only gets nearly impossible to sell a product or service that people aren’t even aware exists. Where would revenues come from if your product or service are invisible to your customers?

Here’s where marketing comes helpful.

With the advent of more sophisticated technologies and innovations, marketers are developing more and more radical ways to approach and utilize various online platforms to promote a brand.

Definition

Brands utilize digital marketing, which is one of the most sought-after tools and most profitable means, to promote and heighten awareness of their products to their target customers.

Also known as “internet marketing”, digital marketing is the marketing tool of choice when wielding the vast and seemingly infinite network of the internet to market a particular business.

This marketing tool encompasses the use of mobile phones and other forms of digital medium.

So what makes this form of marketing so relevant and lucrative?

The Numbers

As of July 1, 2018, the world population is at 7.593 billion. According to Smart Insights, of this figure, 4.021 billion are internet users.

There are 3.196 billion active social media users, while 5.135 billion are unique mobile users, and 2.958 billion are active mobile social users.

Being exposed to such an astonishing volume of audience that could, in turn, become potential customers substantially widens the margin of profitable success, for business startups and seasoned entrepreneurs alike.

Imagine: the more people who visits a shop, the more products are going to be bought.

Now there are several types of digital marketing that are currently being practiced and they include, but are not limited to, the following:

Social Media Marketing

Marketers use various social media sites and platforms to advertise a product or a service. Social media is comprised of different platforms, tools, sites and applications that require the use of electronic devices such as computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, smart watches, and more to share information and interests.

Meanwhile, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Youtube, are some of the most popular social media entities.

As the figures shown above show, the more that the world continues to make giant leaps forward in terms of technology, the more that the general population changes and evolves to accommodate the inevitable changes into their everyday lives.

Interaction and engagement has become increasingly digital.

According to Statista, Facebook alone accounts for 2.2 billion of monthly users, with Youtube following closely behind at 1.9 billion. Messaging platforms Whatsapp follows with its 1.5 billion figure.

On the other hand, Facebook Messenger, which the business sector definitely did not fail to take notice and take advantage of, boasts of 1.3 billion users.

SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a series of steps taken to reassure search engines that your website is trustworthy.

Search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and more are online platforms that can be used to pull up information from the World Wide Web.

To provide the most efficient and most trustworthy solution to a query, search engines “crawl” through millions of websites, utilizing complicated algorithms to determine the rank with which they are to appear on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

The top spot of the first page is the most coveted position for obvious reasons.

SEO marketing focuses on aspects that would improve a website’s “score”, allowing it to show up higher and more often in search results, and building organic brand awareness in the process.

Email Marketing

E-mail (electronic mail) is a way of correspondence using electronic devices while email marketing is simply the process of sending content to various people at once to elicit attention and pique interest to the product being offered.

Email marketing is considered to be one of the oldest forms of digital marketing. In 1978, Gary Thuerk, the “Father of Spam” sent the first mass email for advertising purposes.

Technology has since taken strives towards developing other innovative means, but email marketing remains prevalent in the industry, with brands like the Marriott International, Uber, and Quora opting to continue taking advantage of its many benefits.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the type of marketing that deals with the production and distribution of relevant and engaging material/content for targeted audiences.

Perhaps one of the best examples of content marketing done right would be SEO and digital marketing-focused company Moz. By providing helpful articles and beginner’s guides in a range of subject from link building to social media marketing, it has firmly established itself as an authority in its field.

And the fact of the matter is, people are more likely to buy the product or to hire the service of a business that knows what it’s doing than otherwise. Some of the content that can be used for this particular concept are as follows:

  •  Blogs
  • Webinars
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Ebooks
  • White paper
  • Interviews
  • Checklists
  • How-to-guides
  • Case studies
  • Infographics

SEM

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. The name itself gives a pretty obvious explanation as to how this particular marketing is done.

In SEM, websites pay search engines to display advertisements on the SERP, without having to rely on organic SEO rankings.

Perhaps the most notable examples for paid search platforms through which search engine marketing could be performed would be Google AdWords and Bing Ads.

PPC

PPC or Pay-Per-Click is a type of marketing that involves buying ads from search engines. It is easily confused as being one and the same as search engine marketing.

However, whereas SEM ads are limited to the SERP (Search Engine Page Results) PPC ads are also shown on partner sites.

True to its name, PPC are paid, well, by the click, the price of which is determined by a number of factor such as keyword bids, quality score, competition, click-through-rate, and so on.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing relies on the utilization of popular and influential figures in society to attract attention to a product or service.

“Influencers” could vary from celebrities, models and politicians, to athletes and top executives. There are numerous ways to perform influencer marketing.

Some of the most notable practices, however, include supplying clothing articles for events, sending product samples to reviewers, providing free accommodations in exchange of being advertised on various social media platforms, and sponsoring events whereby a significant number of people of a particular niche could gather and interact.

Final Words

There are a lot of factors that should be considered in the process of choosing which type of digital marketing would be best for a business.

What should be kept in mind is that, these strategies don’t necessarily have to be applied exclusively.

Depending on the existing needs and goals of the company, any and all combination of these different types of digital marketing techniques can be exploited at the same time, with proper research and execution.

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