So, what makes something digital marketing? While traditional marketing focuses on direct mail, print, broadcast, etc., digital marketing is any form of marketing that exists electronically or online. It is important to highlight that digital marketing can be considered both online marketing and offline. Digital marketing includes both paid and organic efforts, depending on the client and the strategy.
The Role
As a digital marketer, I am responsible for using digital channels to generate leads and build brand awareness. Some of these channels include company websites, social media, search engine rankings, e-mail marketing, online display ads, and corporate blogs.
Within the broad title of Digital Marketers, there are many skills and specializations, some of which are: video, content marketing, social, data & analytics, SEO & SEM, and design. The most exciting part of this field is that it is constantly changing and requires a forward-thinking mind.
Related: Online Reputation Management: The Reputation You Didn’t Know You Had
Why It’s Important
Even if you understand the marketing world, you still might be curious about the importance of digital marketing. Using digital marketing has an array of benefits, one of the most significant being the use of analytics. With digital marketing analytics, you are able to gain a full view of customers across the growing number of channels. This allows organizations to respond proactively and in real-time. Analytics give insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your digital marketing efforts. Without metrics or platforms like Google Analytics, there would be no way to measure the success of your digital marketing strategy.
With digital marketing analytics platforms like Google Analytics, you are also able to display the data collected in a visually appealing and easily digestible format. This is particularly beneficial when delivering and summarizing data to clients. Using a visual element retains the attention of the client. Just ask yourself: would you rather look at a spreadsheet of numbers or a color-coded diagram of the most important data points?
Digital marketing is beneficial for organizations or businesses of all sizes and industries. It allows your business to reach an enormous audience in a measurable and cost-effective way. Chances are, your audience spends a lot of their time online, so why not go where your customers already are? If a potential customer is unable to find your company online, odds are they will move to your competitors. In addition, if a customer cannot find you online, they may conclude that your business is not legitimate.
If you’re not yet convinced that digital marketing is vital to any business, take a look at what your competitors are doing. This gives insight into what is working in the industry, as well as what might not be working. Try this exercise: look up a description of your business in your favorite search engine. Chances are that if your business does not show up at the top of the results, it is not showing up for potential customers either.
With a solid digital marketing strategy, that includes a search engine optimization strategy, you will be able to reach your target audience and more right there on page one of Google or Bing.
Integration
Digital marketing tends to intersect with various teams of a business, leading to many integrated projects. Sales and digital marketing are some of the most common because they are ultimately working towards the same goal. TEAM LEWIS, for example, is a fully integrated communications agency. We combine public relations, digital operations, and strategy to create marketing campaigns with impact.
When done the right way, this collaboration can lead to notable results and new opportunities
Challenges
Like anything, there are some challenges that come with digital marketing. For one, digital marketers are expected to have a pulse on what every other department is doing. In a crowded digital space, it is also challenging to grab a user’s attention. This requires constantly thinking of new and creative ways to stand out from the crowd. Both keeping up with current trends and predicting up and coming trends are extremely important for a successful digital strategy. Example: did you think the social media platform, Tik Tok died years ago? It now has 500 million active users and its success is continuing to rise.
As digital marketing continues to blur the lines of traditional marketing, the uptick of digital channels, innovation, media and more, requires marketers to evolve their own practices and wear multiple hats. For a brand to stand out, marketing efforts require a diverse knowledge base, and for marketers to do their due diligence to stay ahead of the latest trends in both traditional and digital marketing.
Although digital marketing comes with its own unique difficulties, it is always keeping me on my toes and I love the fact that no two days are the same.
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