Digital Marketing refers to the marketing of products and services through the Internet and related channels.

Digital marketing can help in promoting a brand using the various digital channels, like Search Engines, Social Networks, email, mobile, etc.

Differences with conventional marketing:

Conventional marketing relied on making customers aware of the company’s products or services mainly through offline media like TV ads, Print ads, banners, etc. It was largely a push marketing method.

With the advent of digital technology, now they can promote their business through the Internet using digital marketing techniques. This has given the power to the customers and business to interact with each other, which brings them closer to each other. Digital marketing is a form of pull marketing.

Various techniques used by digital marketing:

Digital marketing includes the following strategies:

1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO):

SEO is focused on getting a website a higher ranking in the search results in Google, Bing, etc. It increases the visibility of the website and the flow of organic (unpaid) traffic to your website.

2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

SEM relies on promoting the websites through paid advertisements in the Search Engines. Marketers can pay ad networks like Google AdWords, Bing Ads, etc to get their site to feature prominently in the Search Engine Results. There are two types of PPC ads:

a. Search Advertisements:

This is a text and HTML based advertisement which is placed in the “Sponsored” area in the Search Engine Result Pages.

b. Display Advertisements:

To get more visitors to the site, banner ads can be placed on various websites. These ads are visually attractive and can capture customer attention quickly.

3. Social Media Marketing:

Social Media is a powerful digital marketing tool. Social Media refers to networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Twitter etc. These websites enable the users to get connected and communicate freely. They can also share information, photos, videos, etc. with each other. Social Networking is particularly strong when it comes to expressing opinions, both positive and negative. Positive reviews from customers can take a business to new heights, and negative reviews have the potential to harm it in a big way. Needless to say, Social Media channels of marketing need to be managed well by the businesses.

4. E-mail Marketing:

This involves sending out customized emails to interested and potential customers to make them aware of your business or new and existing product offerings.

5. Mobile Marketing:

Creation of mobile applications on Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile apps can enable your customer to stay in touch with your business 24×7 through their Smartphones and Tablets. The customers can interact and transact with your business through these apps at any time.

We will discuss each of these digital marketing strategies in details in future Blog Posts. Stay tuned for more!