The first rule of marketing is - you should do it where people's eyeballs and attention are at all times! A decade back it was the radios, televisions, newspaper, magazine ads, pamphlets, and billboards that used to attract the highest traction. Now, the same is achieved through the internet. 

According to Statista, as of January 2021, there were 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, and the number is on a roll with each passing day. This indicates people are going digital every day, every second. They are hooked to their mobile devices which is more than just a communication enabler that it used to be. 

Powerful brands have already decoded the rubric of digital marketing long back via- 

> Engaging

> Connecting

> Promoting

> Advertising and finally

> Sealing the Deal 

Marketing done through digital channels has the potential to break through every hurdle of the conventional form of marketing. 

So if you want to equip yourself with the ins and outs of digital marketing, you must start strong by clarifying your basics and knowing how you can do digital marketing the right way. 

Ready? let’s jump right in!  

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is an online method of spreading brand awareness, building engagement, promoting products/services, and finally sealing the deal using multiple digital platforms. Making use of social media, emails, search engines like Google or Bing, and e-commerce are the elements of digital marketing. 

But with digital marketing, it only takes a good copy and a phenomenal paid ad to reach millions with targeted marketing, half of what you spend in traditional marketing. 

Digital marketing is cost-efficient and provides you real-time analytics of what's working and what's not working with your marketing campaigns. With analytics, you can measure the good, bad as well as ugly for the success of your business.  

Why is Digital Marketing Important In 2021?

In 2021, digital marketing is important because of its growing popularity and potential in the world of marketing, branding, and advertising. It is no more a necessity for the business to own a physical store to offer their products and services. Instead, digital marketing allows you to have a virtual store that you can operate just like a physical one! 

Digital marketing has evolved with time because no matter what, the age of the internet isn't ageing anytime sooner. The booming possibilities and opportunities the internet has to offer to digital marketers all over the world are immense and rewarding. Every major and minor detail related to your business like- releases, updates, launch, and even rebranding are spread through the voices of social media.

The 5 Types Of Digital Marketing To Choose From

Digital marketing is an umbrella term, clubbed with a set of 5 digital channels for you to pick and decide what’s going to work best for your business. 

Having said that, it broadly depends on what digital platforms your target audience are using. This will indicate you to start being active and engage continuously on those platforms via creating valuable content that resonates with them on a personal level. The better you do it, the better you will be able to grab their attention. 

It’s up to a digital marketer if they wish to stick to a single platform, use a combination of 2-3 digital mediums or manage all of them at once. 

But here’s what you should be mindful of- It's not enough to be on every platform half-heartedly, but to use a digital channel to the fullest, even if that means using only one. 

Now here are the 5 types of digital marketing tactics that can bring you success as a digital marketer:-

i) Social Media Marketing

All our favourite social media platforms like Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, and now even Clubhouse aren't only for communicating with our high school or college friends anymore. 

Social media is a one-stop-shop where you can find a huge population of people between the age of 16-45 years. You only need to tap and focus on the people from whom you can benefit. This is achievable through digital marketing 

With social media, you can-

> Promote engagement and interact with your audience directly

> Educate your followers with valuable content to build credibility

> Increase your brand awareness with high-quality ads

> Boost traffic to your landing pages on websites and social media pages

> Build useful and valuable networks to grow your business

> Find hundreds of leads for your business

> Attract people that can connect to a social selling gimmick 

Even though it’s still a tool for you to bond with your friends and family, it is capable of doing more than just that. It's a powerful marketing platform that drives huge amounts of profits, awareness in abundance, and spikes up the overall success of your digital marketing efforts.  

ii) Content Marketing

Creating anything on a digital channel begins with content that’s impactful and worthy of consuming. You must have heard the phrase “content is king”. Well, this is a statement that inspires every digital marketer to create valuable, savable, shareable, and persuasive content that educates and entices your potential customers to take action that‘s beneficial for you as a business. 

Creating persuasive content is the art of copywriting which entices your audience to either click on the subscribe, follow, retweet, share or buy button! This action is referred to as Call-To-Action (CTA) where you bring your customers a step closer to your products and services that will ultimately lead to bringing more revenue. 

Content marketing lets you:-

> Increase your brand visibility on search engines that escalate traffic

> Good content ensures an inflow of quality leads that has the potential to convert into the final sales

> You receive popularity and credibility to put high-quality content for free

> Improves your chances for a referral through good word of mouth

Content can be written and marketed in the form of:-

> Blog Posts & Articles 

> White Papers & Case Studies

> Website Content

> Social Media Copies, Captions & Ads

> Video and Audio Scripts for Podcasts

In a nutshell, good quality content sets you apart from your competitors, making you look authentic and trustworthy.

iii) Search Engine Optimization 

Search engine optimization is an organic way (free) to improve and increase your website rankings on search engines without spending even a buck. It all comes down to how polished, authentic, and refined information you share with your target audience. 

Google roughly handles an average of 3.8 million searches per minute across the globe. This means that when people like you and me get stuck with questions on top of our head, we straight away do a quick google search to get the answers. 

The same applies to digital marketing as well. How often do you search for the best products or services online and the first 3 results you see on the search engines make you click one of them. The three links you see on top of the page and not any other link by any company are the result of nailing SEO organically. 

Here's what you need to do to make your content SEO friendly:-

> Doing a thorough keyword research

> Using a catchy title

> Shorter sentences with active voice 

> Enough inbound and outbound links 

> Optimized meta descriptions and images

> Structuring content appropriately with H1, H2, and H3 tags

iv) Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC is a paid mechanism that is used to take your rankings higher on the first page of Google. It's a short-term marketing tactic that can fetch you enough visitors on the site, boost engagement, and can bring loads and loads of leads and inquiries in no time, unlike SEO which takes years to reach that position. 

But PPC should not be your ideal or go-to solution every time you want to scale up your business. In the longer run, it can adversely affect your digital marketing analytics and may not give you the exact picture of the metrics which can adversely affect your business in the longer run. 

So then when should you be using PPC? Here’s when:-

> When you need immediate results and can’t wait because of time constraints

> Promoting an offer that can drive huge traffic to your website

> When your website content is not SEO friendly

> Advertising a product or service that is time sensitive 

However, always remember, nothing can beat the credibility of search engine optimization. So try to optimize your site with SEO and only use PPC when it's an absolute necessity.

v) Email Marketing

There is a misconception about email marketing that it does not work. Well, because a lot of businesses think this to be true, the ones who use email marketing effectively are saving themselves from the intense competition. The reason being, email marketing is no less than a gold mine to help you close sales! 

This digital marketing tool works in favour of any brand as it gives a sense of personalized touch that shows that you nurture your relationship with them. 

Email marketing works like wonder because:- 

> Cost-effective way to build a new customer base

> Helps you create customized and personalized emails

> Retains and keeps engaged your existing base of customers

> Drives instant revenues and ales closures

> Feasible to get started and measure the outcome

Summing It Up

We are not saying traditional marketing is dead, but its scope is way limited in comparison to when you market your products and services on digital platforms. Imagine spending thousands of dollars on a launch of a new product with big billboards and print costs to reach the masses. Even then, there will be no guarantee that you will attract your exact target audience. And that is why digital marketing is the present and the future you should look out for if you want to build a worthwhile career in marketing.