One of the biggest tools of modern marketing is digital marketing. It is the system that leverages online media and the internet through devices like mobile phones, computers or the Internet of Things.

Digital marketing delivers a brand’s message to the target audience through diverse channels. The various platforms used for digital campaigns are social media handles, applications, email and websites.

This form of marketing has become more mainstream because of the increasing number of digital users. According to recent figures, 4.4 billion people of the 7.7 billion population use the internet. Brands and marketers have realized that digital is where they can grab eyeballs easily. 

Why is Digital Marketing Important?

Digital Marketing helps you build a firm online presence. This is why brands are increasingly resorting to the use of Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Advertising. We can now look at some of the specific reasons why digital marketing is important for a business.

• Best way to reach target audience: Brands know their customers are online more often than earlier. They can be targeted while looking for products and services or while catching up with their friends on social network platforms. Hence, brands cannot risk not having an online presence.
• Stay ahead of your competitors: It is no surprise that brands are going big on social media for marketing campaigns. So, it makes complete sense to be on social media but it is key to come up with innovations so that you are able to stand out and capture the attention of netizens.
• Taking up on big corporations: Social media marketing gives you the opportunity to prove yourself and your ambitions. This is an open field and it doesn’t matter how big or small your company is. So, you could be the David among the Goliaths of social media.
• Ranking advantage: SEO helps a brand in coming on top of the rankings. It helps brands to optimize their pages. Pay-per-click is a good way to get a top-ranking spot. You can boost your chances by keeping your ad or messaging relevant. Smaller and mid-sized businesses stand a good chance by opting for these tools.  
• Monitoring of campaigns: Digital marketing makes it easy for you to track campaigns so that you can invest your time and money to boost your visibility further. In the case of a TV or Print ad, you hardly get to know the reach of your campaign. The different types of metrics that are available on social media platforms include Impressions, Clicks, Likes, Shares and Comments.
• Impressive ROI: Email Marketing is said to have the highest ROI. You don’t have to spend a lot to run a campaign, be it a PPC ad or a social media post. However, if done right it can get you the desired traction and more. 

Read more: Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Learn Digital Marketing in 2021

10 Type of Digital Marketing Strategy

There are clearly different types of digital marketing and the differences are blurred to a large extent. So, it becomes necessary to know the highlights and USPs of each of the methods.

According to industry experts, brands should answer two questions before choosing any of the modes of marketing.

1. Why do you want to use digital marketing?
2. Who are you targeting with your brand communication?

The answers to these questions will help you to further narrow down to the specific method of digital marketing.

Let us now look at the various types:

• Social Media Marketing Platforms:

Social media marketing is using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to build your brand, increase sales and drive website traffic. The basic method to start a social media campaign is to first identify your key objectives, know what interests your target audience, come up with a memorable handle, build a social media team and put up relevant posts. You also need to fix and schedule and keep the content flexible and interesting.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing:

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the brand’s site to increase visibility when people search for products or services on search engines like Google and Bing. The better the visibility the more are your chances of being noticed by prospective and existing customers. 

• Pay-per-click (PPC):

This is a type of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time an ad is clicked. It helps to ‘buy’ visits to your site apart from generating clicks organically. PPC requires you to only pay for the visits you have received. It is a great way to optimize your marketing on a controlled budget. Moreover, you can also decide when and where your ad will be shown.

• Content Marketing:

Creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts and other forms of media. It includes educational articles, e-books, videos, Quora answers, blogs and webinars. These are generally specific topic-based content and is generally the best way to create awareness about a product.  

• Email Marketing:

Email Marketing: In this form of marketing, a brand can send a commercial message to a group of people. The email normally carries ads, requests for business or solicits sales. The 4 types of marketing mails are:

• Email Newsletters
• Acquisition Emails
• Retention Emails
• Promotional Emails

• Mobile Marketing:

Marketing for audiences when they are using smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices is called mobile marketing. It is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a larger target audience.

• Influencer Marketing:

In this form of marketing, a brand takes the help of content creators who can improve a brand’s awareness using niche content. It helps to increase traffic and effectively drive a brand’s message to the target audience. Influencers are generally popular content creators who have already captured a set of audience through the use of different channels. Promoting with the help of this content helps a brand reach a wide set of buyer personas.

• Affiliate Marketing:

Affiliate marketing helps a product owner or brand to increase sales by allowing others targeting the same audience or affiliates to earn a commission by recommending the product to others. Affiliate marketing involves referring to a product or service by sharing it on a blog, social media platforms or a website.

• Podcasting:

A podcast can help a business market a product by engaging with the target audience. It helps to build brand equity and loyalty. The format allows explaining the features of a product without being restricted by the format size.

• Marketing Analytics:

Marketing Analytics helps you to get insights into customer behaviour and preferences. Brands can then tailor their initiatives to suit the needs of their consumers. It also provides them with an idea of how well their initiatives are working and if they are on the point.

Skills Needed for Digital Marketing

The top 7 skills required to become a digital marketing expert are:

• Data Analysis
• Content Creation
• SEO & SEM
• Communication Skills
• Social Media and
• Basic Design Skills.

Why Are Digital Marketing Skills Important?

Digital marketing is much faster, cheaper and more effective than traditional marketing. A course in digital marketing provides thorough knowledge in digital marketing and the course is designed to give you in-depth knowledge of marketing tactics and secrets. Digital marketing has become an integral part of the corporate world.

Digital marketers are sought after by a large number of organisations to help them grow their online presence, website traffic and online conversations. It helps businesses create customer engagement and real-time dialogue.

Read More: How to Start a Career in Digital Marketing

Summary

The whole world of digital marketing runs on the 4Ps of Process, People, Platform and Performance. Together they offer digital marketers new ways to address and meet the needs of customers. The other 4Ps are Price, Product, Promotion and Place. These are considered to be the cornerstone of a successful marketing strategy.

According to industry experts, the digital marketing industry in 2021 will be optimizing Google’s next updates. Brands will have to start optimizing Core Web Vitals. Third-party cookies are no longer going to be the way digital ads are tracked and targeted. The focus will be more on customer retention and building trust.  

Having understood the entire scope of digital marketing, we can now turn our focus on where to get the degree from. DigiAcharya’s digital marketing certification has been consistent in terms of the quality of training, faculty members and curriculum. DigiAcharya’s digital marketing courses have been planned to kick-start and strengthen the knowledge needed to gain more skills and improve the digital marketing career.

DigiAcharya‘s certification programs are meant for marketing professionals who are new to digital marketing, professionals looking to secure a career in digital marketing, small business marketers and digital marketing professionals.

DigiAcharya’s program covers the following topics:

• Web Content Creation
• Email Marketing
• Google AdWords and Advertising
• Lead Generation and Conversion Optimization
• Web Analytics
• Search Engine Optimization
• Mobile Marketing.  

Know more about the course from the website www.digiacharya.com and enrol for your selected programme now.