Digital Marketing is the element of online marketing that uses digital technologies like mobile phones, desktop computers and other electronic media and social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter to promote goods and services. In recent times the term digital marketing has been used a lot for the promotion of websites through various online strategies. These include Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), pay per click (PPC) advertising and video marketing. Digital Marketing encompasses all the promotion strategies through digital channels.
A digital marketing strategy starts with the creation of a corporate identity through a logo, web content and the choice of corporate colors. The aim of a company is to create a recognizable brand in the market, which can be perceived by consumers through various media. Digital Marketing also involves creating a website, which sells the products and services of the company. The website is then hosted by the company and marketed through search engines, social media, emails and other channels. Once the product or service has been promoted digital marketing strategies include capturing feedback, providing product reviews, and conducting surveys.
When a business decides to implement a digital or Internet marketing campaign, it first begins by defining the goals that the company wants to achieve through this campaign. This will help the digital marketing agency, to develop a comprehensive strategy that will meet the challenges and needs of the company. Once the strategy has been finalised, a Digital Marketing Service will be deploying to help in creating the brand identity for the company. Digital Marketing agencies use different strategies to promote the brand. Some of these include inbound and outbound marketing campaigns, email marketing campaign, SMS marketing campaign and viral marketing campaigns.
Outbound marketing can be defined as the use of offline methods like direct mail, telemarketing and cold calling to generate sales leads. This type of advertising is commonly used to increase awareness about a product or service. This form of digital marketing works well for offline businesses as it creates awareness, credibility and increases the likelihood of buying a product or subscribing to a service. This method of advertising can also be used to track the response rate of a product or service. Once the customer or subscriber has completed the purchase they can be offered an automatic follow-up email or voucher.
Inbound marketing involves using conventional advertising techniques to create inbound traffic to a website. The concept behind this type of digital marketing activity is to create new prospects, and connect with existing customers. It also involves creating awareness, and providing information about products and services to those who are searching for them online. This digital marketing campaign uses many traditional methods of advertising including newspaper ads, television and radio advertisements, fliers and brochures. By using inbound digital marketing strategies, businesses can increase their online visibility which will result in more sales and more business opportunity.
After a brand has established itself in the consumer’s consciousness stage, it is important to maintain and gain loyalty from users. This can be achieved through user friendliness and ease of use, high quality products or services, excellent customer support and an easy to navigate website. The most effective way to retain and gain loyalty from users is to develop a digital marketing strategy which focuses on the customer’s experience rather than just the end user. It is better to focus on the interaction that a consumer has with the brand rather than just concentrating on the conversion of the visitor to the final sale.