Digital marketing. A fancy word that surfaces across every industry. It contains a whole world of opportunities for organizations and professionals alike. So, let’s start the discussion on what is Digital Marketing.
Digital Marketing Definition:
Whenever we advertise or market a product or service or anything that can be sold through an online medium, it comes under the bracket of digital marketing. The time you start a television ad or email marketing campaign, you connect with through various digital channels such as mobile applications, social media, email, search engines, etc.
Throughout this guide, we will tell you about digital marketing channels and types of digital marketing techniques.
If you believe that digital marketing is a new concept, you’d be making a Himalayan blunder. It is actually 10 years old. In the early 2000s, when the radio was born, the world saw the first instance of digital marketing.
Anyways, it was not hard for marketers to figure out that this channel could be used to market products and services. That is when the first digital strategy was made. Since then, we have only revamped the processes which have led to the evolution of different types of digital marketing.
In the past decade, the easy availability of mobile phones and access to the internet has enhanced its popularity.
Today, 3.3 billion people use social media in some capacity or the other.
So without further ado, let’s dive in and explore answers to the following questions:
What is Digital Marketing?
Define Digital Marketing.
How important is digital marketing course?
What is Online Marketing?
Digital Marketing examples
What job opportunities are available in different types of digital marketing fields?
The skills do you require for a career in digital marketing
Can a course help you receive the required knowledge for digital marketing?
Starting with Basics: Understanding What is Marketing?
Understanding Marketing Basics Source – Freepik
Before we explore and understand what is digital marketing, let’s start with the basic concept of marketing.
Marketing is a broad term that encompasses every activity related to promoting the services of a business or selling products to the customers. For instance, the door-to-door approach to selling is a type of marketing. Pamphlets and newspaper ads are also a type of marketing. Business exhibitions or a stall in an expo is also a type of marketing.
Through all these mediums, a marketer or business tries to sell or promote their product or service. In all these aspects, you will notice that although the method and motive may change, the presence of the customer is consistent. Newspaper ads are seen by several potential customers and exhibitions are attended by many users.
Every time the marketer communicates with the customer, delivers a product, or has a simple conversation about the product, they are marketing their service or product. The goal is to attract new customers and keep existing customers satisfied and happy. In this process, many businesses also find a feedback loop which helps them improve their product or service or internal processes.
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Digital Marketing
Undoubtedly, marketing and types of digital marketing methods are core functions of a business. The reason we say ‘core’ is that you will rarely find a business outsourcing their marketing activities. Even if they do hire an agency to outsource their digital marketing channels, they will keep control of most of the aspects.
This also means that these businesses still require an in-house team to manage various aspects of marketing. That is where freshly graduated students can find opportunities.
It is necessary to understand that most marketers in the digital arena are self-taught. But, that doesn’t change the fact that you require knowledge of traditional marketing. Through the fundamentals of traditional marketing, digital marketing channels are embraced.
Digital Marketing Channels Source – Freepik
To achieve or gain full knowledge of marketing and its traditional form, consider pursuing a course to understand the basics of what is digital marketing.
After going through this section of the guide, you will know what is digital marketing. While marketing includes every online or offline activity related to advertising and promotion, what is digital marketing contains only online aspects of this discipline. Let’s understand the concept in detail.
What is Online Marketing?
The term ‘online’ may bring to mind a series of images.
To some, being online means staying connected to family and friends through Instagram and Facebook. For others, it means the ability to search and find anything on the internet. Similarly, every person has a different meaning of online which are all true.
But, did you notice that all these are still a type of digital marketing? Facebook and Instagram offer us a chance to utilize social media marketing and search engines allow us to utilize SEO or PPC marketing.
Simply put, when we think of the term online, marketing automatically attaches itself due to the availability of several digital marketing channels. These channels offer an array of choices to market products and services, personalize the customer experience, and execute cross-channel marketing.
While we don’t really need to discuss what is digital marketing in detail, here’s a brief overview of the concepts.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is using digital channels to reach out to more number of audience and build a customer base wider than before. Due to the easy availability of a huge customer base, internet marketing helps the business pitch more customers than traditional sources.
Further, if you are wondering what is online marketing or what is internet market, these are the synonyms of what is digital marketing.
Here are digital marketing examples. Check the types of digital marketing techniques explained in detail below:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. Content Marketing
3. Social Media Marketing
4. Pay Per Click (PPC)
5. Affiliate Marketing
6. Native Advertising
7. Marketing Automation
8. Email Marketing
1. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is also known as SEO in short. This type of digital marketing is utilized by marketers to optimize the content of the website to appear in organic listings of a search engine.
It simply means that marketers optimize the content and various aspects of the whole website to make it easier for search engines to show your website in the top pages of the search.
If we break down this concept of what is digital marketing, here’s what we will get:
Imagine that yo
u search for what is digital marketing; you will receive millions of Google search results but would go through all of these websites?
You most probably would not even go to the second page of the search page.
Online Presence Source – Freepik
The art of placing your website pages on this first page of the search engines through organic methods is called search engine optimization. This is achieved through keyword optimization and several other techniques.
Note: Many marketers learn and utilize black hat SEO techniques. You might want to stay clear of this. While black hat SEO may soon get you on the first page, it will get your website blocked soon.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is another essential aspect. It is an approach utilized by marketers to deliver valuable content to the audience consistently. This helps in identifying an audience base with a clear objective.
For instance, if you are selling artificial intelligence-based software, you can write about artificial intelligence. The people who land on this content page through different digital marketing channels become your target audience.
Content Marketing Source – Freepik
Let’s drill-down the definition of content marketing under what is digital marketing.
It is a long-term, strategical approach to build a strong relationship with the target audience through different types of digital marketing channels. To build this relationship, high-quality content is offered to the audience regularly.
It is necessary to note that delivering promotional content to your audience all the time is of no value to the audience. The secret of content marketing lies in offering value to the user.
3. Social Media Marketing
When one asks what is digital marketing, most really are referring to social media marketing. This is because we use social media so frequently that it has become a major aspect.
Social media marketing is a type of digital marketing which is utilized by many marketers. Due to its wide availability and cost-effective nature, every marketer usually starts by creating a social presence on Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus, and other channels first. Then they move to other aspects.
It means marketing done through social media channels. Whenever you tweet about your brand or reach out to your audience on Facebook, you are making efforts to improve your social media presence.
Social Media Presence Source – Freepik
If you are a fresher, this subsection of digital marketing is the most important one to master and here’s why:
Firstly, a lot of people use social media. More than 2.4 billion people are currently active on Facebook alone. So, instant outreach helps marketers connect with a huge user base without much effort.
Secondly, the cost of marketing on social media is very less when compared to other digital marketing examples. Initially, businesses don’t have to spend any money on this type of digital marketing channel.
Thirdly, nearly every business can benefit from social media marketing. From B2B to B2C, social media offers something to every organization. Whether you want to gain more customers, market your brand, create a social presence, spread awareness, or simply helps you in your online reputation management, social media can be your go-to option.
4. Pay Per Click (PPC)
When it is hard to earn instant organic visits to the website, many marketers utilize pay-per-click marketing. It is a subsection of digital marketing; one which can instantly boost the number of visits on your webpage.
Whenever we search for anything on the internet on Google, the top links or the bottom links of the search result page are paid ads. These are highlighted differently because these sites have bids placed on the keywords in their content by marketers to achieve more footfall to the website.
When a user clicks on the ads, marketers have to pay the relevant company for these clicks.
However, a lot more thought goes behind pay-per-click marketing. You have to select the relevant keyword (what is digital marketing in one of the above mentioned Digital Marketing examples), organize it in the right group, and set up its landing page according to the audience.
If you manage to successfully create a relevant PPC campaign, search engines tend to charge less on every click, which also reduces your charge-per-click.
5. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an important aspect. In this concept, affiliate marketers promote a service or product of a company and earn a share of profit when a person purchases the product or service.
Affiliate Marketing Source – Freepik
This type of digital marketing has 4 elements:
1. The merchant is the creator or the vendor who has created the service or the product. It can be a small merchant or a big organization. The merchant can also be individual selling products from a small manufacturing unit.
2. The affiliate or the publisher is a business or a person that runs a publishing unit by writing a review of the product or spreading the word about the product.
3. The customer is the person who reaches out to the merchant after watching the promotion on the affiliate’s link. The customer is the main element of this type of digital marketing. It is hard to run this campaign without grabbing the attention of the customer.
4. The network acts as the mediator of this system. It ensures a smooth transaction between the merchant and the affiliate.
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6. Native Advertising
What is digital marketing native advertisements?
We often see ads on Facebook and Instagram that don’t look like ads. These ads are called native advertisements. Native ads appear in the format and look-and-feel of the media on social media. For instance, Instagram ads appear in the form of posts on the feed and in the form of a story on Instagram.
1. Many ads are displayed on the feed of the user. These ads are called in-feed ads that you will find on Twitter and Facebook.
2. Search listings are native ads that are displayed on the top or bottom of the Google search page. If you search for a digital marketing course, you will find at least three ads on the top of the Google search page and three at the bottom.
3. Sometimes, you will also find native advertisements in the form of content recommendations given just below the article you have read.
Since native advertisements are similar to regular content that you may find on the internet, the publisher ends u
p compromising the neutrality of the regular edition. However, with this, it is also necessary to understand that most of the audience can make out the difference in ad links and regular content.
7. Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is not really a part of what is digital marketing, rather it is a method to make your task easier. As the name suggests, this section of types of digital marketing helps you automate various tasks related.
1. Using the right marketing automation tool, you can automate sending of email newsletters to the subscribers of your business. You can also shrink and increase the list size depending upon the additions and unsubscribe from your list.
2. When you are trying to expand the efforts of your business, you are expected to post strategically and often. But, as work increases, so do the frequency of posting. So, at some point, you need to automate posting to social media.
3. Every marketing campaign relevant to your organization may be conducted on different digital marketing channels. These campaigns would receive different queries, emails, and phone calls. Automation software can help you sort these essentials based on the campaign to make the task easier for you.
8. Email Marketing
For many marketers, the answer to the question of what is digital marketing lies in email marketing. This is one of the oldest methods of reaching out to users. It helps you improve website traffic, enhance lead generation process, and increase product-related signups.
In fact, users are more likely to sign up for your newsletter or regular email campaigns if you offer valuable content regularly.
Here are the types of digital marketing email campaigns that can help you gain benefits if executed correctly:
1. Email for subscription to your blog.
2. Follow-up emails after selling product or service.
3. Emails to welcome the customer and get them acquainted.
4. Broadcast holiday offers and promotions through emails.
5. Tips and valuable posts to help customers.
All of the above digital methods can be utilized through effective sub-task execution. You can take one of the Digital Marketing examples as a reference, creating a landing page for your email campaign to help the customer find the CTA in the email which is redirected to a valuable webpage.
Many of the digital marketing examples utilized above can only be executed properly with the right guidance and supporting techniques. The knowledge of this is achieved through a course which helps you what is online marketing in detail.
So, let’s move ahead and explore how you can build a career in digital marketing by taking up a course in digital marketing.
Career Prospects
What are the career opportunities in the Digital Marketing landscape? Let’s find out.
We live in a digital world where almost every individual has an online presence. With so much noise to cut through, brands find it difficult to make their voice heard.
In fact, the digital economy of the country is growing at an unprecedented rate. Due to the ubiquitous presence of digital devices, the digital world is creating more jobs every second.
Of course, this creates a pathway for budding digital marketers to learn what is digital marketing and enter the field.
Career Opportunities in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing channels offers a series of career options to everyone. You don’t have to undertake rote learning. You just have to practically implement whatever you learn in the digital world.
For instance, a person who understands and enjoys coding can become a web designer or UI designer. In the digital world, web coders are valued very much.
If coding is not your genre, you can become a content writer and start content marketing. There are endless options for you in different types of digital marketing domains.
We have explained some of these career choices in detail below. Dive in and explore how learning what is digital marketing can grow your career.
Career Opportunities in Digital Marketing Source – Freepik
Job Profiles
While there are numerous job roles that can be assumed by professionals in it, we will discuss the ones related to the above-mentioned digital marketing examples.
It is interesting to note that most of the times, a digital marketer is responsible for several job roles at once. They may be handling social media marketing, as well as content marketing, together.
1. Web Designer/Web Developer
There is a difference in both terms. A web developer is only responsible for developing the website and majorly the coding part of it. However, a web designer has many more responsibilities. They are responsible for designing, coding, testing, and redesigning the website.
2. Content Marketer
Creating content for social media is not only about being grammatically sound but also writing appealing content. You have to deliver more in fewer words.
One is expected to write unique and valuable content for being a content marketer. In fact, he can expected to be the innovation house of the team.
3. Search Engine Optimization Executive
Search engine optimization helps in organically improving the search engine ranking of the web page. This means that an SEO professional is expected to optimize the website, keywords, and content to push the ranking of the relevant page. There are several techniques to achieve it, and with the search engines becoming smarter, SEO is a real task today.
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) / Pay-per-click (PPC) experts
Pay per click marketing experts utilize various digital marketing channels to find out the relevant keywords, plan a budget, and monitor bids. They have to strike a chord between ads, landing pages, and keywords.
5. Social Media Manager
Currently, the job role of a social media manager is trending. You have to manage end-to-end social marketing which includes several digital marketing channels.
If you have understood it correctly, there is a chance that you already know that social media grabs a major section of digital marketing definition.
You have to Tweet, update Facebook posts, track trends, respond to queries, and execute other tasks as well. One also have to utilize email marketing, analytics, and other social media aspects in collaboration with each other to successfully run campaigns.
Advantages of a Career in Digital Marketing
What are the advantages of having a career in this field?
Let’s explore some of the benefits of different types of digital marketing channels.
Advantages of a Career in Digital Marketing Source – Freepik
1. Wide-Ranging Career Options
In digital marketing, you have multiple options for a career. As discussed above, you can choose several job roles and even assume more than one role. This is to say that you can be both a graphic designer and a content writer or you can do both search engine optimization or social media marketing.
2. Be Creative
In simple words, it is a total treat for creative people. You can come up with creative campaigns, design innovative processes, and be unique with your graphics. Everything about it exudes creativity.
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3. Make Your Own Career
The best part of having a career in this field is building it yourself. No one will ask you theoretical questions like what is digital marketing or what is internet marketing or what is online marketing. You have to display your skills and to do that, you don’t need a degree. If you are good at it, all you have to do is prove it and you have the job. For instance, a content writer can write a short excerpt to prove their effectiveness.
4. Ubiquity
Digital marketing is always in demand. You will always find organizations searching for digital marketing professionals. This is because everyone is online and you instantly have exposure to billions of people.
It’s not an opportunity you want to miss.
How to Start Building your Digital Marketing Career?
Although entering this field or finding an option for various types of digital marketing is easy, it is not simple to learn digital marketing. There are no official degrees or majors on it.
Most of the people in this field will tell you how they would love to complete a degree in it or pursue a masters course in it. However, currently, it is not possible.
Even if some colleges and universities offer a course in digital marketing as a subject, they don’t offer much. Just having an overview of digital marketing definition or gaining academic knowledge won’t help you achieve anything. The absence of practical knowledge in these courses creates a void which can keep you from achieving success.
Further, it is a vast discipline that can’t be learned in one semester or one lecture. You have to dedicate yourself to the concepts to gain an all-round knowledge of its aspects. The changing industry parameters and increasing domains in the field make this task even more complicated.
However, don’t be disheartened. There is a solution to it. You can acquire help from various sources such as online tutorials, blog posts from learned industry leaders, and third-party courses.
Explore options, check the above sections to analyze the domain you want to gain expertise in, and then move forward. But, remember that to be a digital marketer, you should have knowledge of what is internet marketing, the types of digital marketing and digital marketing examples. Of course, your employer won’t ask you to do SEO one day and content another day, but you should know it.
This is because of a lot of things in it which are interconnected. For instance, you search SEO keywords which help you write specific content.
Over to you
The content is posted online on social media channels to improve the connection with the audience. To achieve the required knowledge, you should attend meetups, seminars, and watch online events to assist your digital marketing course. The combined knowledge of both will allow you to build a career as a digital marketer and help you to know how to do Digital Marketing. This task won’t be easy because it is a consistent learning process.
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Lastly, know your proficiency level before selecting one course. Many professionals learn the basics first and then get enrolled in a Digital Marketing institute so they can go directly for an intermediate level digital marketing course to learn what is online marketing.
If you also want to take the digital route and build a career in digital marketing, enroll in the Digital Marketing Course to elevate your career.
