Digital marketing is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large corporations. It can help you reach a wider audience, build brand awareness, and increase sales. But with so many different types of digital marketing available, it can be hard to know which one is right for your business. In this article, we'll take a look at the four main types of digital marketing: content marketing, display advertising, mobile marketing, and social media marketing.
We'll discuss the pros and cons of each type, as well as some next steps you can take if you want to start using digital marketing for your business. Content marketing involves creating and distributing content, text, images and multimedia that add value to your audience, rather than simply spreading an advertising message. If you're in B2C (business-to-consumer), “content” can mean social media posts, blog articles and fun videos; if you're in B2B (business-to-business), it could be more white papers or reports, webinars and educational videos. Content marketing is driven by a funnel, which also influences the type of content to be used. Content marketing can be used according to several objectives.
But the most common thing is to convert visitors into potential customers, who will be more qualified if you use content allied to other strategies, such as email marketing. Display advertising, also known as banners, is very similar to traditional print ads that appear in magazines, except that they are online, and you can target specific publications that you know your audience reads. Now it's become much more sophisticated with programmatic advertising (where ads are automatically booked, analyzed, and optimized using algorithms) and retargeting (like when you look at a pair of shoes on your favorite department store's website and then those shoes follow you on every website you visit).Mobile marketing is almost as broad as digital marketing itself and will overlap with many of the other types. It involves doing everything you do on your desktop, but adapting it to mobile, as well as doing things specific to mobile devices, such as in-app advertising, sending text messages, and using social messaging apps. It's especially important if you're targeting a younger audience that spends all the time on their phones. Social media marketing involves leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat and more.
Instead of simply conveying messages to a massive audience, you can engage with your customers and listen to what they have to say. There are all kinds of channels: organic (for example Facebook groups, page posts, stories and Messenger) or paid ads like those on Facebook. Practically every company should be on at least a couple of these social channels. Influencer marketing involves partnering with influencers, celebrities, experts, and authority figures who have an existing audience. When they promote your product to their audience - often on platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube - loyal followers jump to their recommendation and buy from you.
Of course, you can think of the Kardashians or some supercool young actress who helps promote your product to individual customers; but influencers can also be effective for B2B - only that you'll be partnering with opinion leaders or experts that are more serious and specific to your industry. Radio has come a long way since the Golden Age of commercial broadcasting in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Even though radio was replaced by television, most people continue to listen to the radio every week - especially now with the growth of Internet radio. You still have the option of traditional radio advertising or similar ads on channels like Spotify; but audio marketing can be much broader - including podcasts and smart home assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home. The four main types of digital advertising are social media marketing, paid search advertising (such as Google Ads), native advertising (such as sponsored posts on social media) and display advertising (such as banners). Using one or more of these ad channels can help you establish an online presence and convert potential customers into real customers. Consistent internet usage among adults increased by 5% in just the last three years according to Pew Research; and while we say it a lot - the way people shop has really changed - which means that offline marketing is no longer as effective as it used to be. Digital marketing provides several benefits to your business - such as creating a brand image and saving money - but it also requires time and effort.
To get started with digital marketing for your business - consider these next steps:
- Conduct an audit of your website through 200+ checkpoints
- Create a diverse team of 120+ experts
- Develop an understanding of digital marketing
- Create a strategy for each type of digital marketing
- Test different campaigns on different channels
