Digital marketing

In recent years digital marketing is a very common in business. Businesses prefer it over the
traditional medias. In a simple word digital marketing is the way to reach consumers and promoting
products or brands using electronic media. Internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and
other electronic media can be used to reach consumers. It can be an entirely new endeavor that
requires a new way of approaching customers and new ways of understanding them behave compared
to traditional marketing [ CITATION BAR19 \l 1033 ].

Digital marketing works by targeting a specific segment of the customer base and is interactive.
Digital marketing is on the rise and includes anything that incorporates marketing with customer
feedback or a two-way interaction between the company and customer, for example search result ads,
email ads and promoted tweets. In the digital marketing, advertisers are commonly referred to as
sources, while members of the targeted ads are commonly called receivers. Sources frequently target
highly specific, well-defined receivers.

Among the most popular methods search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM),
content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven
marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct
marketing, display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games are being heavily used to reach
as many people as possible.

History of digital marketing

Now a days digital marketing is very common term is business. About 4.48 billion people were active
internet users as of October 2019, its around 58% of the global population the internet users are
increasing day by day [ CITATION JCl19 \l 1033 ]. Because of different advantages and usefulness, the
system of digital marketing is updating day by day.

In 1990, The term “digital marketing” was first used. The digital began with the launch of the first
search engine, Archie and the development of the Web 1.0 platform. The Web 1.0 platform allowed
users to find the information they wanted but did not allow them to share this information over the
web. Up until then, marketers worldwide were still unsure of the digital platform. They were not sure
if their strategies would work since the internet had not yet seen widespread deployment. Web 1.0
was the first stage of the world wide web that support hyperlinks. It allowed users to find the
information they wanted but did not allow them to share this information over the web. The internet
had not yet seen widespread deployment so marketers worldwide were still unsure of the digital
platform.

In 1993, the first clickable banner went live, that creating a gateway into the new digital era of
marketing. This marked the beginning of the transition to the digital era of marketing. Hotwired, had
begun to purchase huge numbers of banner ads. After this gradual shift, new technologies enter the
digital marketplace in 1994. Yahoo was launched and first e-commerce transaction start over internet.

The expansion of internet service by providers further helped prompt internet access to consumers.
Search engine sites began to see an increase in traffic, prompting companies started to optimizing
their websites to pull in higher search engine rankings to further appeal to consumers. Following the
advanced popularity of search engine sites, several small engines such as Hotbot, Looksmart, and
Alexa had been launched in the market in 1996.

In 1997, the first social media site sixdegrees.com launched. next year 1998, Google.com came to the
market. At the same time Microsoft launched MSN and Yahoo released Yahoo web search. At the last
of the decade the new addition of broadband internet came to public spheres, that increased
availability of the World Wide Web. The internet bubble burst and most of the smaller search engines
were either left behind or wiped out.

Google began to expand, introducing such products as Adwords, which are 3 line ads that show up at
the top or to the right of search engine results, and Adsense -which is a cost-per-click advertising
scheme. In time, google realized the value of analyzing the content they received and then target ads
based on the interests of the users, and thus became a major player in the world of business.

Then came Web 2.0, where people became more active participants rather than remain passive users.
Web 2.0 allowed users to interact with other users and businesses. Labels like ‘super information
highway’ began to be applied to the internet. As a result, after 2002 social networking sites began to
emerge. Myspace was the first social networking site to arrive, soon followed by Facebook. Many
companies realized all these fresh new sites that were popping up were beginning to open new doors
of opportunities to market their products and brands. It opened fresh avenues for business and
signaled the beginning of a new chapter to business. With new resources, they needed new approaches
to promote their brands & capitalize on the social networking platform.

Advertising networks soon began to develop ways that they could capitalize on some of these new
developments and the “cookie” came on the scene. The first cookie was actually developed in an
attempt to analyze user’s browsing habits. But since its inception it has evolved into a useful part of
the e-commerce sector and allows marketers and businesses ways of collecting literal user data.
Amazon still uses this method for targeting its audiences and offering them products based on
previous searches. This was a huge impact on the digital marketing world.

It’s very difficult to understand that all these changes have occurred in only 2 decades. Digital
marketing has changed drastically, and will continue to change. Web marketing remains an essential
part of SEO campaigns and provides numerous tools and strategies. There are a few of the original
search engines that are no longer in existence and it is very important that SEO and digital marketing
specialists keep up with the latest trends that continue to shape our digital future.

Types of Digital Marketing

To reach your audience you should use a mix of different types of digital marketing through various
channels. The most frequent types of digital marketing of our times that can help you achieve the
highest success rate. They are as follows:

a) Search engine optimization (SEO)

a. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When people think about different types of digital marketing, Search engine optimization (SEO) is the
first thing that comes to mind. Online businesses basically live at the mercy of Google, Bing, Yahoo,
and other search engines. If you are doing SEO right you can attract significant organic traffic to a
website. The goal of SEO is to optimize content in a way that makes it appear among the first results
on a search engine results page (SERP).

There are several methods you can use to rank high on a SERP, such as building a mix of inbound and
outbound links or optimizing the content for specific keywords. Probably the hardest thing about SEO
is to constantly follow the changes of search engine algorithms and update your strategy and methods
accordingly. SEO is essential for any website; as these days every business optimizes their content for
search engines. Therefore, without SEO, it’s basically impossible to stay competitive in a market.

b. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEO is not the only way to increase incoming traffic from search engines. Search engine marketing
(SEM) makes it possible to advertise a product in search engines and make it appear among paid
search results. Search engines usually display paid results above organic results on serps. They almost
look the same as organic results with only small differences in appearance, for instance, Google
shows a small “Ad” label next to the related URL. On the screenshot below, you can see the paid
search results for the “web hosting” search query.

The most frequently used paid search services are Google Adwords and Bing Ads. They allow you to
buy ad space based on target keywords, location, viewer demographics, and other data. Actually,
search engine marketing is a pretty effective method, as search engines only show your ad to the
audience you want to target. In most cases, you need to pay for SEM results according to the pay-per-
click (PPC) advertising model, meaning you are only charged when someone clicks your ad.

c. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Without a doubt, social media is the queen of 21st-century digital content. Therefore, it’s also one of
the most important types of digital marketing you need to focus on—especially if you want to
promote a B2C business. Social media is not simply a marketing channel but also a way for people to
keep in touch with their friends and family, get the latest news, or follow topics they are interested in.
There is a plethora of social media platforms you can choose from, such as Facebook, Twitter,
Linkedin, Instagram, and many others. You need to find the ones that are relevant to the niche you
target and promote the business there.

Sharing quality content on social media sites is an excellent way to engage viewers and position a
brand as an authority in a specific niche. It’s also important to place social sharing buttons below each
blog post and content page so that visitors can share it across their network. In addition, every social
media platform offers different solutions for organic and paid advertising. Paid Twitter and Facebook
ads, hashtag campaigns, and influencer marketing are among the most popular methods of social
media marketing.

d. Content Marketing
Content marketing is another type of digital marketing you can use to promote a business online. In
fact, content marketing is an indirect way of marketing, as you publish content that the audience finds
naturally while browsing the web. The main goal of content marketing is to make viewers interact
with the content by reading, sharing, and commenting on it. You can use it together with other types
of digital marketing such as SEO or SEM as well. For instance, you can build the content around
targeted keywords in order to achieve an optimal result.

High-quality content also allows you to persuade an audience about the expertise of a business in a
certain niche. Gaining the trust of customers is one of the most important long-term goals of digital
marketing. You can publish shareable content either in the form of blog posts, white papers, reports,
or webinars or by guest blogging in popular publications in the same niche.

e. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a different kind of engagement, as you connect with customers within their own
mailboxes. Although email marketing is one of the oldest types of digital marketing, it’s still very
successful. It’s an excellent way to increase brand loyalty and upsell to existing customers

There are many different ways you can reach out to customers through email marketing. Besides
creating newsletter campaigns, you can send them confirmation emails, thank-you emails, and email
notifications about product updates. If you promote a local business, event invitations are also an
excellent way to engage the local audience. These days there are many awesome tools you can use to
run professional email campaigns, from marketing automation platforms such as Mailchimp to
newsletter plugins for popular content management platforms like Wordpress.

f. Online Advertising

Digital marketers have been using online advertising since the first days of the web. Displaying
banners or ads on other websites belonging to the same niche is the most common form of online
advertising. You can use online platforms such as Google Adsense that allows you to automatically
serve ads on other content sites. Ad networks usually let you configure the parameters of the sites
your ads appear on based on keyword, location, audience demographics, and other data.

Bigger online magazines frequently have their own advertising departments as well. Therefore, it can
also be a good solution to contact them and buy an ad space on their website. Some niche magazines,
such as A List Apart web design magazine, also have sponsorship programs that allow you to feature
a brand, logo, and other visuals on their platform for a certain period of time (usually a week).

g. Landing Page Marketing

Targeted landing pages can work excellently with other types of digital marketing and increase
conversion rates significantly. In the broader sense, a landing page is any web page on which visitors
first land when they arrive at a website. In this sense, homepages frequently function as landing pages
as well. However, many brands create specific landing pages for their marketing campaigns, too.

Digital marketers link landing pages to ads displayed as banners on other websites or appearing on
search engine result pages. Thus, when users click an ad they are directed right to the landing page
designed for the specific marketing campaign. There are several tricks you can use to create a
converting landing page such as eye-catching headlines, a clean and mobile-friendly design, and
highly visible call-to-action buttons. Below, you can see the landing page of the Slack messaging app
on which you can see all the necessary elements of a well-performing landing page.
 h. Smartphone Marketing

People use their smartphones all the time, therefore these days’ smartphone marketing is also among
the most important types of digital marketing. This is especially true if your target audience is the
younger generation. In fact, you have many options to reach your prospects through their
smartphones. As a result, smartphone marketing is an incredible opportunity to promote a business
online.

Besides sending text messages to subscribers, you can further engage an audience by providing them
with free mobile apps for Android and ios devices. Your app can also perform specific actions that
increase visibility. For instance, it can send users real-time push notifications that appear on their
smartphones when new content is available on the website. Popular messaging platforms such as
Messenger and Telegram also allow you to create marketing bots with which you can acquire new
customers in a human-centered way.

i. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing makes it possible to reduce your marketing workload by outsourcing it to external
service providers. With affiliate marketing, you only pay for conversions, after your affiliate closed a
deal and the customer purchased the product. Affiliate marketers do all the related marketing activities
from banner placements to landing pages. Probably the best thing about affiliate marketing is that it
has no upfront cost and you can decide on the terms and rates you pay to the affiliates.

Probably the most notable online affiliate program is Amazon Associates that lets anyone promote
Amazon’s products and earn a commission after closed deals. Smaller businesses can also make use
of affiliate programs—it’s an especially popular type of digital marketing in the tech sector. However,
you should only start an affiliate program if you have the means to properly monitor and educate the
affiliates.

j. Viral Marketing

Viral marketing makes use of all types of digital marketing mentioned in this article. The essence of
viral marketing is to create a post, video, meme, or another short-form content type that spreads across
the web like a virus. To make a successful viral marketing campaign, you need to promote the same
content across multiple channels such as Twitter, Youtube, Blog posts, newsletters over a short period
of time.