what is digital marketing

Digital marketing encompasses all marketing activities that utilise digital platforms and technologies, often requiring an internet connection. This broad category includes online marketing, which specifically refers to marketing conducted via the Internet, such as email marketing, paid advertisements on social media platforms, and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Digital marketing techniques include a wide range of methods, such as marketing automation, email marketing campaigns, and social media strategies. These methods leverage digital channels to reach and engage audiences.

While “digital marketing” and “online marketing” are sometimes used interchangeably, it’s important to note their distinctions. Digital marketing refers to all marketing efforts that use digital channels, including online (internet-based) and offline (non-internet-based) methods, such as digital billboards, mobile SMS marketing, and on-demand television advertising. Online marketing, a subset of digital marketing, involves explicitly marketing activities on the internet. Despite the overlapping aspects, the current understanding categorises online marketing as a type of digital marketing focusing solely on internet-based activities.

Digital marketing is crucial for business growth in today’s technology-driven world. Consumers spend many hours every day online checking email, using social media, reading news, and shopping.

Digital marketing creates growth by allowing businesses to consistently contact customers and leverage digital data for personalised marketing efforts.

Using digital marketing can expand revenue potential and growth.

Unlike old-school tactics like billboards and radio ads, digital marketing helps organisations carefully target their ideal audiences, which results in a higher return on investment (ROI) than traditional, offline marketing methods.

In addition to reaching a targeted audience, there are other benefits of digital marketing, including:

• It’s cost-effective: Small and midsize businesses often struggle to compete with big brands. Digital marketing helps even the playing field. With a clear digital marketing strategy, even a small budget can help drive leads and customers to your website, app, or in-person store.
• It’s easy to measure: Some marketing campaigns generate decent ROI, but it’s hard to attribute a sale to a specific ad or see clear success metrics. Using an integrated digital marketing strategy, you can track users across the entire buying cycle to better understand what works — and what could be improved. In fact, 72% of high-performing marketing teams analyse performance in real-time.
• It drives engagement: With digital marketing, brands can interact with customers wherever they are in the customer journey. For example, you can educate, answer questions, and even provide customer service all from one platform.
• It’s personalised to customers: Digital marketing allows businesses to segment customers based on their interests and engagement history to create personalised experiences at scale. This allows businesses to impress customers at every step of their journey.
• It’s possible to update and optimise: You can’t make changes once a direct mailer is in transit or a billboard goes up. With digital marketing, brands can test different headlines, fix typos, and tweak ads with a few buttons, and changes appear immediately.