What is Digital Marketing or Online Marketing?

The number of internet users has doubled over the past two decades as e-commerce continues to grow each year. In this context, it is undeniable that digital marketing is becoming more important to companies and brands as a way to approach the target. Online marketing, as it is also known, could be defined as a set of tools that use online media and the Internet for the promotion of products and services. Among the tools at our disposal, we have email marketing, social media, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), content marketing, etc. Like traditional marketing, digital marketing is based on a fundamental principle: to take our brand where consumers are. In this case, we are talking about connected users who make online purchases, review news and share on social platforms. Knowing what tools and strategies are right for each one can be the difference between brand success and failure. In addition, digital marketing has an advantage over traditional: it allows us to segment our target audience in detail, something impossible to replicate in mass media. Here are the benefits of investing in online marketing and some of the most effective tools at your disposal.

Why invest in digital marketing?

It is currently difficult to find a company that does not deal with part of its marketing budget for digital media. One of the main reasons is the cost-benefit ratio of these types of strategies because with a smaller amount of money you can give the boost your brand needs to grow. On the other hand, digital marketing campaigns have analytics that allows you to see your performance in real-time. In this way, you can correct on the fly what doesn’t work and empower what connects with your audience. With analytics offered by companies like Google or Facebook, you know the behavior of your consumers. Not only in general but also how they react to your campaigns or what may be failing in the purchase process. You can also test different strategies at the same time and measure your users’ responses. With this data, you can build increasingly personalized campaigns for your customers. In this way, you create valuable relationships with your consumers that in turn will be transformed into sales. Remember that it’s easier to keep your current customers than to attract new ones in every product cycle.

Digital marketing tools

The term digital marketing encompasses a lot of channels and tools that you can use. Depending on the type of product or service your company offers, you can go for one or the other. The important thing is to know where your audience is to choose the best way to reach it. Some of the most used tools in digital marketing are:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
• Content Marketing
• Social Media
• Email Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing

For the strategy to work, it’s important to combine the different channels to increase the chances of finding your target audience.

Seo

Your website is one of the main tools for the digital marketing strategy, so it is necessary that your customers can find you in search engines (Google, Bing…). To do this you can use optimization techniques that help you appear in the first places of Google or any other search engine. Optimizing a page depends on various technical factors and the quality of the content you are presenting to the user. Among the techniques used to improve rankings we have: SEO on-page, off-page, and technical aspects.

SEM

Search engine marketing is similar to optimization, with the difference that in search engines you use keywords to buy ads. When your lead searches for products similar to yours, the search engine displays the ads you’ve invested in. Both Amazon and Google offer advanced online advertising systems and are able to deliver ads to your target audience in an automated manner.

Content Marketing

As the name implies, this strategy consists of creating and promoting content to attract customers or create brand awareness. In addition, it is a way to create added value for the user who visits your page and social media profiles. The main techniques used are publishing articles in blogs, e-books, essays, and infographics. The important thing, in this case, is that the content is of quality and has interesting information.

Social Media

You can use your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin to create awareness and generate traffic to your website. In general, it is considered a complementary strategy to the digital marketing mix. Although social media demands more time and effort than other tools, it’s important to note that the results you can get in the long run tend to have a better cost-benefit ratio.

Email Marketing

One of the most effective strategies is email marketing. If you have a newsletter or a database of your customers, you can contact them directly. This allows you to keep them informed of the latest offers available. However, it is advisable to limit communications of this style to avoid tiring the customer. In addition to newsletters, you can use your email to invite for events and track purchases made by the consumer.

Affiliate marketing

Some sites like Amazon and YouTube offer affiliate programs where users who generate content can take a sales commission. This form of advertising allows you to reach captive audiences who are actively looking for information to buy one of your products. Affiliate marketing works great for niche products as they are often specialized and purchasing-capable audiences.

The digital marketing mix

To create an online strategy for the marketing of your products or services you need to know your target audience well, the added value of what you sell and set measurable goals. At first, it is recommended that you try different strategies and tools until you get the expected results. By representing less investment than traditional marketing, you have greater opportunities to correct mistakes and try new ways to reach your customer.

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