You probably think: “Well, another abstruse word. Is it not ordinary or online marketing? ”. But digital is not so terrible as the name itself sounds. And many companies successfully use its methods, sometimes without even knowing it. To clarify, we have described that part of the digital-marketing and asked the experts to comment on this topic.
Digital marketing is a generic term for marketing products and services that uses digital channels to attract and retain customers. And any – from advertising on online radio to the announcement of contextual advertising on the Internet. In simple terms, digital marketing is any promotion in which “figure” participates.
Often this concept is confused with Internet marketing – but they have a significant difference. Rather, digital marketing includes Internet marketing too, but not limited to the Internet. Let’s compare: Internet marketing is SEO-site promotion, context, webinars, etc. – all channels that are available to the user only on the Internet. And digital marketing is all of the above, plus advertising and promotion on any digital media outside the network. That is, it implies digital communication, which takes place both online and offline .
Well and, of course, digital marketing does not include promotion through such traditional channels as ads in newspapers, flyers, TV ads, billboards. Although, if a QR code is indicated on the billboard, with the help of which you can go to the website, then this is digital marketing.
How it all began
At one time, digital was possible without any internet marketing. An example of this – the pioneers of this direction, the company SoftAd Group (now ChannelNet). In the mid-80s, they developed an unusual advertising campaign for several automakers.
The idea was this: the readers of the magazine had to cut out a special insert from the magazine and send it by mail. And in response, they received an offer of a free test drive and a floppy disk on which there was advertising for various car brands. So the company used digital media in conjunction with tools for offline promotion. And the term “digital marketing” (or “digital marketing”) began to be used in the 90s.
What is included in digital marketing
Each of the tools and channels of digital marketing can be devoted to the article. Therefore, we will not analyze them in detail, but list the most common ones:
- digital TV and online radio;
- advertising in applications, instant messengers, online games;
- SMS and MMS distribution;
- advertising on interactive and outdoor LED screens, self-service terminals;
- SEO and SEM – search marketing online;
- contextual advertising, banners and teaser ads;
- SMM – social media marketing;
- email marketing;
- affiliate marketing, in which the webmaster receives payment for attracting each visitor or buyer.
Few companies can afford it all at once, but this is often not necessary. The choice depends on the business objectives and/or the approach of the agency that leads the project. The view on digital and the effectiveness of different channels may differ, so we asked the opinions of several experts from this area at once.
What digital agencies do
Generally speaking, digital agencies provide for the presence and promotion of a brand in a digital environment. The team may include a marketer, SEO specialist, analyst, project manager, designer, layout designer, programmer, content manager, and copywriter. For irregular jobs, such an agency may hire freelancers, such as videographers or photographers.
Digital agencies provide the following services:
- development of a comprehensive product promotion strategy;
- creation and promotion of sites, design, media, and contextual promotion;
- working with online communities;
- organization of offline events;
- creating advertising for digital TV or online radio, etc.
But there is one more important point – digital marketing is almost first and foremost an analyst. Fortunately, the digital environment makes it easy to collect data. Marketers analyze information about users and their behavior: demographic data, interests, online activity, advertising sources to go to the site, etc.
Using such data, digital agencies can better understand the target audience and how effective a particular advertisement or promotion strategy is. Therefore, among the most important tools in their arsenal, experts call precisely analytical systems.
“Google Analytics fits all. The main thing is to correctly set up tracking of key performance indicators (KPI), use the collected data and make decisions based on them. I also regularly use the Google Tag Manager. This allows, firstly, to depend less on developers, and secondly, to track more data and, starting from it, make important decisions. ”
– Maxim Gapchuk, web analyst at SOTNIK online advertising agency.
Thanks to analytics, digital agencies understand what works best. And they can even explore the popularity of various promotion channels for specific topics. For example, Sergey Korgut from Promodo shared with us the results of such research (it can be downloaded entirely from the link).
The agency’s specialists studied which digital marketing channels are used by 93 large online stores from Central and Eastern Europe. It turned out that search engine optimization and contextual advertising bring the most traffic:
Benefits of Digital Marketing
- Digital marketing allows you to reach both online and offline consumers who use tablets and mobile phones, play games, download applications. So the brand can appeal to a wider audience, not limited to the Internet.
- The ability to collect clear and detailed data. Almost all user actions in the digital environment are recorded by analytical systems. That allows you to make accurate conclusions about the effectiveness of different channels of promotion, as well as an accurate portrait of the buyer.
- The flexible approach – digital marketing allows you to attract an offline audience to the online market, and vice versa. For example, using a QR code on a flyer, you can direct a user to the site. And at the same time, thanks to the email list you can invite subscribers to a seminar or another offline event.
Digital marketing is a comprehensive promotion that includes multiple channels. Therefore, it is important not to try to cover them all, but to proceed from the goals and opportunities of the business. Moreover, almost all of the surveyed experts believe that there are no universal solutions, and the tools must be chosen for a specific company. By the way, Ringo sat actively cooperates with agencies and offers them a special loyalty program.
