Digital marketing is an umbrella term which refers to various techniques which are implemented to reach customers through digital technologies. The questions that need to be asked are, how is digital marketing different to other forms of marketing? What is not digital marketing? Why is digital marketing becoming increasingly significant?
Digital marketing differs from other forms of marketing in that it’s much more targeted and able to focus on the groups needed. Digital marketing’s very core is the internet, and it revolves around it. However, while many believe that digital marketing and internet marketing are synonymous, there are differences. Whilst internet marketing encompasses digital marketing services, such as display advertising and email marketing, there are services which transcend the internet, such as mobile marketing.
What about traditional marketing? With traditional marketing, when a campaign is in progress, while it can track how many people are receiving and responding to it, it does so quite inaccurately in comparison to digital marketing. The business pushes products onto the consumer, products that the consumer may not be looking for. On the other hand, with digital marketing, specific products can be aimed at consumers that are after that certain product. This is not to say that traditional marketing doesn’t work anymore, traditional marketing itself is developing, and even old methods such as person to person selling can still be extremely effective. However, with digital marketing, there are advantages. For example, a big target audience can be reached. Also, smaller businesses can compete with bigger ones, through the use of solid online marketing. This wouldn’t be possible in traditional marketing, whereby size usually wins. Businesses can monitor responses to its marketing schemes, for example in an email marketing campaign, the business can check how many people opened their e letters and what actions they took afterwards. The results of this monitoring or feedback from customers on the website of the business can then be used to improve the business marketing schemes.
With the speedy development of technology and the role of internet increasing in day-to-day life, digital marketing has taken a foothold on the mountain, and is looking to take the whole thing. Businesses are putting less effort in traditional methods, and moving swiftly to new, modern marketing schemes, which enable them to focus specifically on the consumers that are looking for the product that they, the businesses are selling, enabling them to yield more success for their business. Google is slowly moving away from traditional elements and methods, and is looking to reward those with new, quality and original content. Digital marketing is slowly becoming the phone that you hold in your hand, to the computer that you use at work, to Facebook which you log into later at night. The best part? Digital marketing is tailored for you. The things that you want and are interested in will be advertised to you. Digital marketing is steadily becoming the present, and is most definitely the future.
