TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING: THE ONLY 5 TYPES YOU NEED TO KNOW

Digital marketing is one of the fastest-growing industries, and even during times of uncertainty, companies leveraging digital marketing continue to grow.

This form of marketing has become a valuable asset to any business that wants to grow and establish an authoritative online presence.

To get there, however, it’s important to understand the different types of digital marketing strategies you can use and how you can use them to work for you. 

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing involves a wide variety of marketing tactics and technologies used to reach consumers online.

It is everything that you do with the use of the Internet to sell a product; from the way online vendors advertise products on their WhatsApp statuses to the way brands pay Google to pop up their ads on your phone.

Why is Digital Marketing Important?

More than ever before, more people are spending their time online. It's either someone is chatting up a friend on Facebook, posting and liking pictures on Instagram, checking their email, closing a deal with a client on Zoom, watching a YouTube video, or checking something up on Google.

In other words, your customers are online, looking for your products or services. And if they can’t find them online because you don’t have an online presence, then you’re leaving lots of money on the table.

Digital marketing helps you build an online presence, so you can reach and engage with your customers and potential customers online.

The truth is, your competitors are already online closing deals with your customers.

They’ve already set up social profiles, optimized their websites for search engines, and run PPC (pay-per-click) ads to reach new customers.

This could be you, but you’re not investing in digital marketing. If you want your business to compete favorably, you have to do what your competitors are doing and more.

If you want to boost your traffic, attract more clients to your business, or grow brand awareness, it is essential to understand each type of digital marketing.

Types of Digital Marketing

There are limitless digital marketing practices, all of which fall under these major types of digital marketing:

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

Over 91% of web search traffic is shared by sites listed on Google’s first page, according to the Search Engine Journal. You simply can’t afford to ignore search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO allows your content to rank in the top positions of search engines so that users can easily find your website when they search for the products and services you offer.

However, to win in SEO, you need to conduct keyword research to know the keywords the audience you want to reach is using to search.

Then, you want to develop high-quality content around these terms and woe them over to your website.

When carrying out SEO, consider using these tips:

a. Content indexing: Add alt texts to images and text transcripts for video and audio content so that search engines can find and index your content.

b. Good link structure: Get an SEO expert to properly format your links, URLs, and sitemaps so that they can be accessible to site crawlers.

c. Keywords and keyword targeting: The best way to get your site to rank better on search engines is to write high-quality content that uses keywords in their headers and a few times on the crawlable page.

PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC) ADVERTISING

PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is one of the best ways to reach people who need your product or service. It allows you to reach them where they’re already looking, and gain a leg up against your competitors.

Whether you want to increase conversions, website traffic, or both, PPC uses paid search to drive traffic and sales for your business.

With PPC advertising, your adverts could appear at the top and sides of a search results page, on users’ Facebook timelines, or before YouTube videos.

What makes PPC ideal is that you only get to pay for the result, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

What you will spend to set up a PPC campaign will depend on how much competition your keyword has. A high competition keyword will cost you more since many people are searching and many sites are equally fighting for that spot. On the other hand, lower competition keywords will cost less, though you won’t have as many people visiting your website.

When setting up your PPC campaign, you can choose what geographical coverage you want, either local or international. This is important because your business might be functional only at the local level. Creating room for international clicks will only be a waste of money.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Just like digital marketing involves all marketing online, social media marketing involves all marketing done via social media channels.

Social media marketing goes way beyond simply creating social media content and replying to comments from your followers.

One of the things you must do is to make sure your posts are consistent, and you can achieve this by using social media management tools that allow you to schedule posts in advance. 

Social media marketing doesn't work independently; it is an extension of your company’s overall marketing plan. This means it should be in sync with the general marketing efforts of the company.

CONTENT MARKETING

Today’s consumers are always looking for solutions to their everyday problems. If you can give this to them through high-quality content on your website, blog, social media, or email, you will gain their trust and loyalty.

If you succeed at content marketing, your brand will be the customer’s choice any time they need to make a buying decision.

Content marketing is all about providing answers to your audience’s questions by publishing useful content. This content can be in the form of blog posts, white papers, e-books, podcasts, videos, audio, and more.

However, to succeed at content marketing, you need to understand what a marketing funnel is and how it works. With this understanding, you’ll be able to create the right kind of content based on your user’s stage in the funnel.

For example, content for users at the top of the funnel will be more general and introductory, like guides. On the other hand, users at the bottom of the funnel are interested in more specific content, such as demos and testimonials.

Unlike PPC advertising, which is momentary, content marketing looks out for the long term.

EMAIL MARKETING

Social media and other innovative digital products have made a buzz in the industry. Yet, email still sits on the throne.

Email marketing has proven to be one of the most effective content marketing techniques to employ in digital marketing.

When it comes to email marketing, the greatest challenge is to get users to open your emails.

Here are a few things you can do to increase your open rates, according to Constant Contact, a leading email marking software company:

a. Create a sense of urgency: Let your users know that time is running out on a special deal. You can also tell them that offers are limited.

b. Personalize your emails: Make your recipient know that you’re talking directly to them. It also makes them feel special that you’re referring to them with their names. One other personalization strategy is to include your recipient’s name in your subject line to increase your open rates. Don’t worry! Most email marketing companies like Mailchimp, AWeber, Constant Contact will help you do this automatically.

c. Work on your recipient's terms: Allow your recipients to specify how often they want to hear from you. Giving them this space will motivate them to stay subscribed to your emails.

Conclusion

Staying ahead of your competitors can be daunting. Yet, it’s the only way you’ll succeed in today’s digital world. Digital marketing is a key strategy to include in your marketing if you’re looking to kick your competitor in the eye.

Start by trying out one type of digital marketing at a time, and only move to the others when you fully understand how it works.

If you’re looking for new ways to bring even more customers to your business, read our guide on New Trends in Digital Marketing in 2022!