MODULE 1

Meaning
The definition of digital marketing according to IDM (Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing)
includes "the management and execution of marketing using electronic media such as the web, email,
interactive TV, wireless media in conjunction with digital data about customers characteristics and
behavior."
Unique differentiators
1. Digital marketing involves reaching out to potential customers through a set of
interactive, intuitive, and advanced electronic devices and platforms which go
beyond the normal web and e-mail to include mobiles, interactive TV,
applications, social media, which were earlier not common to marketing online
through ‘e’ models
2. Application of marketing to consumer interaction touchpoints that integrate
digital data about customers and their behaviors in a manner which was not
extracted and targeted earlier
3. Introduction of interactive communication channels like search, display
advertising, social media, etc., which have a strong combination of pull–push
marketing rather than the earlier models which were primarily of push marketing
nature
4. Incorporation of a variety of technological advances in communication, social
integration, machine learning algorithms along-with their application to multiple
devices and platforms

Marketing as a discipline has undergone radical changes over the past few decades. Marketing
has kept up incredibly well with changing technology.
1. Marketing Era-
• Trade era: products were handmade; hence, supply was limited
• Production era: products were mass produced and consumers focused on features like
low cost and availability
• Product era: focus moved from quantity to quality and consumers laid more emphasis
on quality, performance, and innovative features
• Sales era: with increasing competition companies were compelled to emphasize on
aggressive selling and promotion, commoditization of products, leading to saturation of
consumer demand
• Marketing era: marketing emerged as a practice as consumers started demanding
better products; differentiators like pricing, distribution, and promotion became
 important.
• Relationship era: customers started getting valued to build a long-term orientation
• Digital era: also called the social/mobile era, the focus is on real-time and social
exchange based marketing where communication and social interactions play a prime
role.

2. Modern Marketing Techniques-

2. Modern marketing involves the following platforms and techniques:
• Search marketing: using search technology towards marketing.
• Online advertising: placing ads across websites/digital platforms.
• E-mail marketing: sharing commercial messages with people .
• Social media marketing: using social media platforms/networks for marketing.
• E-commerce: selling/trading goods and services on any online platform.
• Digital on traditional mediums: integrating digital technologies with traditional
marketing , mediums to improve interactivity (set-top box for TV can be integrated
with inter net-enabled features to support digital sales)
Although modern marketing is surging ahead, traditional marketing methods have their
own importance while targeting niche customers and high-end groups who are more
used to personalized and value-added targeting.

The Evolution of Digital Marketing (5 Key Turning Points)

Having discussed the current state of digital marketing, let’s now take a look at how it has
evolved over the years using examples of some major milestones in its history.

1. The advent of the internet

3. The mass adoption of the internet into everyday life is the single biggest event that has
affected marketing over the last three decades. Although early desktop publishing
software in the first PCs caused a surge in print marketing in the 1980s, the computers
were little more than a glorified typewriter.
1. Search Engines Come Into Play
4. The World Wide Web was launched in 1991, but it didn’t make much of an impact until
the first really popular browser, Netscape, made its way into the market in 1994. More
people began to use the web, and as this happened, search engines such as Google also
made appearances between the 1990s and early 2000s.
Search engines work by crawling web pages and storing them for later retrieval based
on keywords used in search terms. This has brought rise to what is known as Search
Engine Marketing (SEM), the practice of promoting websites and blogs by increasing
 their visibility through strategies such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid
advertising.

1. The Social Media Revolution

5. The World Wide Web was initially meant to be a collaborative space for sharing
information. You can probably agree that it has become much more than that. Social
media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and many more have made it possible not
just to exchange information, but also to connect with other people.
This also enables businesses to reach global audiences. To do this, brands can utilize
paid ads targeted towards general or specific audiences, work with influencers who
market products to followers, and more.
Facebook, for example, was launched in 2004 and attained a user base of one million by
the end of that year. In 2007, it launched its first self-service advertising platform as
well as business pages, further increasing overall ad revenue to $700 million. More
platforms have followed suit, providing a base for brands to reach their audiences.

1. Mobile-First Marketing
6. Over the last decade, smartphones have taken over the mobile phone industry.
With the convenience that smartphones have provided users, accessibility to websites
straight from phone web browsers is essential.
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, “Smartphones have overtaken personal
computers as the primary device for going online.”
So, as smartphones continued to solidify their prominence in the online world,
businesses had to adapt their digital marketing to meet the mobile interface, especially
when it came to their websites.
Once smartphones had internet access, digital marketing never looked the same.
Now, we want to make it clear that having an accessible website and having a
mobile-friendly website are two very different things.
Because approximately half of the worldwide web traffic comes from mobile phones,
the importance of having a mobile-friendly website is even more evident, and this has
been consistent since 2017.

4. Consumer Data and Targeted Campaigns

Another major milestone in the history of digital marketing is the reliance on data for
creating targeted marketing campaigns. Customer Relationship Management (CRM),
for example, is a business process that enables brands to develop long-term
relationships with their customers through data-driven marketing activities.
CRM tools let you work iteratively based on data from performance analytics. This can
make it easier to predict customers’ purchasing habits, further define target audiences,
and increase overall customer satisfaction.
The ability to make predictions about customer behavior is particularly significant
because marketing strategies keep evolving as a result of technology and other factors.
Using CRM techniques such as regression and statistical analysis can make it possible
to identify any changes in consumer habits.
This also makes it possible to create better business impact models for accurately
measuring marketing performance.

5. Voice Search and Interactive Content

One important goal for brands is increasing engagement with customers and fostering a
sense of community and loyalty. This has given rise to high-quality and interactive
content such as games, fun social media contests, immersive app experiences, and
more. These not only attract audiences but provide a way to sustain their attention over
the long-term.
On the other hand, voice search is now one of the most important marketing trends,
providing a new way to conduct searches as well as promote businesses. It can also
attract more traffic as its results generally have a high chance of being extremely
relevant at first attempt.

Benefits of Digital Marketing over Traditional Marketing

1. High Engagement
Arguably the biggest difference between traditional and digital marketing is how much
easier it is to track, measure, and assess consumer engagement with the latter strategy.
Not only does digital marketing serve as a direct pipeline of communication with your
loyal customers and target audiences, but you can also evaluate their engagement in real
time. For example, utilizing social media marketing offers businesses the opportunity to
produce engaging content that can be liked, shared, and commented on by their
customers, allowing businesses to visually assess what types of content and marketing
are more effective than the other.

1. Wider Reach
Traditional advertising has a few critical flaws that internet marketing easily overcomes
— physical boundaries. While traditional marketing is mostly localized, online
marketing is globalized. That has opened up plenty of opportunities for business
 owners to expand (or start new) businesses beyond a single country’s borders.
All of the above was possible thanks to the power of search engines like Google and
various social media platforms. Some social media giants like YouTube have more than
two billion monthly users. Just imagine how much exposure your brand could get if you
built a presence on one (or more) such platforms!

1. Minimum investment
7. Traditional marketing media like newspapers, hoarding, television ads incur an
immense cost and effort. With digital marketing, such expenses get lower and are not
cost-prohibitive. Hence, with digital marketing, there is no trouble doling out millions
for marketing and advertising. One can get maximum interest with minimum
investment through digital marketing.

1. Enables Precise Audience Targeting

8. Identifying and segmenting your target audience is essential to better tailor your
marketing message to their preferences and needs. Targeting a subgroup that is likely to
be interested in your product or service is much more effective than targeting a broader
set of audiences. That way, you generate leads in an affordable manner.
This is exactly where digital marketing triumphs over traditional marketing – the
former enables target marketing.

Traditional marketing is all about running an ad in front of a large set of audience,

hoping that a few people will like what they see and convert. On the other hand, online
advertising allows marketers to target a specific segment based on their behavioral
activities. Thus, it is comparatively more effective at driving higher conversion.

1. Flexibility & Measurement

9. Perhaps the biggest risk associated with traditional marketing methods is how murky
and unclear it is to truly assess, measure, and alter, if necessary, your marketing
strategies. How can you truly know how many people saw your billboard while passing
an interstate exit or came into your store because they heard your advertisement on the
radio?
The fact is that digital marketing makes evaluating and amending your marketing
strategies so much easier. With so many analytics tools to choose from, digital
marketing will help you monitor the performance of your online ads, allowing you to
see impressions, engagement rate, cost per click, and many more insightful metrics.
Emergence of Digital Marketing as a Tool
Customer interaction as the manner in which any potential lead or customer gets to know or interacts
with any product or service with the intention of gaining information or to respond to the marketer’s
goal of considering him/her as a consumer and finally convincing the latter to buy its products.
Any consumer, in a reactive or proactive mode, is typically looking to obtain information on any
specific area of interest. He/she might not be looking at a product or a service itself but information
which would solve any one of the problems at hand. He might also be just curious to gain knowledge
on any subject (academic or general interest) or might just generally want to know what is happening
currently around his neighborhood, city, or the world at large.
In the traditional form of marketing, the information to be delivered to consumers was decided,
selected, or created by a group of media experts who took the decision of what knowledge would be
circulated, printed, or broadcasted (in the relevant examples of newspaper, magazines, radio, and
TV), which format it would be shared, and at what price would it be delivered.
The consumer was more of a passive receptor of information and while in certain feedback columns
or radio programs he could raise some questions. He was essentially gaining information and
knowledge pre-curated for him and packaged with advertisements and promotions which he had no
control over and maybe not much interested either.
The difference which successive marketing concepts kept bringing about till the present digital
marketing era relate most to the manner in which the power of consumer choice has shifted from
being a tame receptor to an active seeker of information. And, it is in this active seeking of
information process that the heart of digital marketing lies.
Pull and Push Marketing
Any type of customer interaction with any digital media can be most simply be divided into two types
depending upon where the contact is initiated:
(a) Medium-initiated contact (Push marketing): This is the traditional type of marketing where
marketing messages are packaged with information pre-configured for a particular set of users. Take
the example of a newspaper, which typically is current information pack aged across different
verticals like politics, economics, sports, etc., and packaged along with large ad columns which bring
in the revenue (along with the classifieds).
(b) Consumer-initiated contact (Pull marketing): Pull marketing involves a consumer placing his
intent and specific interest for a particular type of information and being offered that information
along with relevant marketing messages suited to his intent, query, or profile-based interests. In the
same example of a newspaper, as above, consider that the company decides to provide information in
a way that each article of the newspaper is tagged and categorized based on multiple criteria to be
searched upon a digital platform.
In this case, when a consumer makes a specific search for a piece of content and chooses matching
information/news, promotions are sent based on his profile preferences, real time location, and the
topic of the article he found interested in reading. This would then
become be an example of pull marketing

Digital marketing includes all those techniques and concepts that utilize the intent (pull-based) action
of the consumer to market products and services (in a push-based manner) which would be most
needed, relevant, and of interest to him/her.

Types of digital marketing areas to see how digital technologies have been built around the
combinations of pull–push marketing concepts:
(a) Search marketing: Search was one of the most pioneering pull–push marketing concepts which
involved providing a technology platform to consumers to help them express their intent towards
finding a particular piece of information and building a push marketing-based business around that
search.

(b) Display advertising: Similar to print advertisements, display advertising was built on pulling data
from consumers’ readership interests on any particular website wherein display ads were pushed next
to the content being read for consumers to interact, click, and buy on landing pages created for this
action.

(c) Social media marketing: With the power of social networks coming to internet-based platforms, a
marketer could not only use the information pulled from customer intent but also from the intent of
his social networks which would be marketed back to him in the form of sponsored and native
advertisements.

Basis for Push Strategy Pull Strategy

Compariso
n
Meaning Push strategy is a strategy Pull strategy is a strategy that
that involves direction involves promotion of
of marketing efforts to marketing efforts to the final
channel partners. consumer.
What is it? A strategy in which third A strategy in which customers
party stocks company's demand company's product
product. from sellers.
 Objective To make customer aware To encourage customer to seek
of the product or the product or brand.
brand.
Uses Sales force, Trade Advertising, Promotion and
promotion, money etc. other forms of
communication.
Emphasis on Resource Allocation Responsiveness
Suitability When the brand loyalty is When the brand loyalty is high.
low.
Lead Time Long Short
Aligning Internet with Business Objective
Internet by definition is a global system of interconnected computer networks where millions of
private, public, academic, business, and government net works worldwide connect with each other to
share massive amounts of information, resources, and services.

Role of internet in marketing

In the rapidly expanding and ever-shifting digital age in which we live, the role of Internet marketing
in modern marketing is no longer a minor one. Internet marketing is a vital part of the success of any
organization. From IT support to lead generation to sales, Internet marketing is beneficial to nearly
every aspect of the business.

Internet marketing, which also goes by the names of online marketing, digital marketing, web
marketing, e-marketing, etc., is defined as the process of promoting brands, products, or services,
over the Internet. It includes any promotional actions that are done via the Web or wireless media,
including email marketing, blogging, SEO, and social media.

The worldwide reach of the Internet has made it possible for businesses to easily reach hundreds of
new customers and has redefined relationships between businesses to businesses (B2B) and
businesses to consumers (B2C). Through the Internet, marketers from organizations of all sizes are
now able to share brands, products, and services on a global scale and can do so all the time. Through
websites, blogs, and social media platforms, consumers are able to find and access information about
and from an organization twenty-four seven, from wherever they are.

Due to the major role of Internet marketing in modern marketing, organizations cannot afford to
ignore marketing online. Because the vast majority of people spend a significant amount of time
online, whether they are at work or home on a desktop computer, at school on a laptop, or waiting at
the airport on a smartphone or digital device, marketing through the Internet provides organizations a
more effective way to promote themselves. It also provides a more efficient way because it does not
involve the costs that often come with traditional marketing. Costs that often include printing
brochures, shipping out promotional mailers, and paying for billboard advertising. By cutting down
on expenditures, Internet marketing allows organizations to experience higher revenue.

Internet marketing also helps organizations in achieving better global branding and in building greater
awareness of the products or services that they offer. Through marketing online, organizations can
more strategically reach their target audience; and if Internet marketing is done right, campaigns can
easily be tracked, measured, and tested to ensure proper results are being received.

Having the right Internet marketing strategies is an important part in helping organizations
successfully market and advertise their products and services to consumers, connect with customers,
and make sales.

Digital Strategy
Digital marketing strategy is a plan that helps your organization attain specific goals through carefully
selected marketing channels such as paid, earned, and owned media. Running a digital marketing
campaign without a strategy in place is much like exploring a new city without a GPS – you are likely
to take many wrong turns resulting in both frustration and an unnecessarily long route to get where
you want to go.

Digital strategy focuses on using technology to improve business performance, whether that means
creating new products or reimagining current processes. It specifies the direction an organization will
take to create new competitive advantages with technology, as well as the tactics it will use to achieve
these changes. This usually includes changes to business models, as new technology makes it
possible for innovative companies to provide services that weren’t previously possible.
Today, technology has integrated with business to become something more than hardware or
software. As digital technology becomes more pervasive and companies move further in the journey
of digital transformation, digital strategy and business strategy will be the same thing. For now, it is
still useful to use the term “digital strategy” to focus the effort behind digital initiatives.

5 Key Components to Crafting a Digital Marketing Strategy

● Goal Setting: Decide Where You Want to Go

When creating a digital marketing strategy, the destination is a set of defined marketing
goals you hope to achieve from your efforts. These marketing goals should be tied
 back to the fundamental goals of your business. For example, if the goal of your
organization is to increase your clientele list by 20%, then your marketing goal should
be to generate viable leads to contribute towards that success.

Whatever your goal may be, you also must ensure you are measuring your results.
Maybe your goal is to boost email subscribers. In this case, your key performance
indicator (KPI) would be increased sign-ups.

● Understanding Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience, demographics, and the psychology of existing and
new customers is very important. There are several steps a potential buyer must move
through to get to a point of purchase, and ideally become a long-term customer. The
stages may vary, but they generally begin with brand awareness and education, then
move to the consideration phase, and finally end with a decision and sales conversion.

Effective Content Marketing

You can't simply write just any content, or follow a "spray and pray" method. You need to be strategic
about what you write about, what words you want to own, have an SEO keyword strategy in place,
and think about continuous optimization of your content.

Creating a clearly defined plan has obvious advantages for every venture. While digital tools
can transform a business, it is important to keep in mind that they should be viewed as
enablers. Simply going all in on every latest technological trend is not the answer, and will
only do more harm than good.
Developing a blueprint and laying out a digital strategy template can help to see the bigger
picture, to pinpoint where digital options can be applied to harness efficiency and
effectiveness. This plan can be utilized to reduce waste, keep departments on track, monitor
progress and make necessary adjustments.

Need for digital marketing strategies

● It motivates you to learn more. When you start to develop a digital marketing plan, you need
to think through every aspect of your business. You also have to thoroughly analyze your
audience, competitors, trends, and neighboring niches to create a polished and up-to-date
digital marketing strategy. Developing a plan is an amazing chance to get more in-depth
knowledge of your business!
 ● It provides real data. During the analysis, and after turning your strategy into action, you will
get a lot of comprehensive data about what works well for your brand and what doesn’t.
Empowered with that information, you’ll have a catalog of options for improving your
business.
● It structures your actions. Developing a digital marketing strategy avoids the chaos of
making blind guesses that you have to make without having a plan. If you create a strategy,
you will get a better understanding about how to combine various marketing channels and
realize the full potential of your company.
● It helps to increase ROI. Once your actions are structured, you make fewer actions and fewer
mistakes. With a well-crafted plan, you will be able to detect your weaknesses, predict
problems, and quickly react. You will save time, money, and efforts to increase margins as a
result.
● It helps you reconsider your relationships with the audience. A digital marketing strategy
gives you a fresh look at your communication with prospects and customers during all of the
stages of the buyer’s journey. When you make a business plan, you need to focus on your
customers, find ways to add more value to your relationships, and develop new ways to engage
with them.

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy?

1. Conduct SWOT Analysis

A cornerstone of marketing strategy, SWOT analysis is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities, and Threats. From this standpoint, SWOT includes both internal
(strengths/weaknesses) and external (opportunities/threats) components:

● Strengths — Strengths are internal factors that help organizations reach and, potentially,
exceed their goals. Examples of strengths can include high sales and profits, customer loyalty,
long-term employees, or attractive brand/culture.
● Weaknesses —Weaknesses are internal factors that prevent businesses from reaching their
goals. Examples of weaknesses can include improperly marketed products or services, regular
customer complaints, high levels of employee turnover, inadequate funding, or supply chain
issues.
● Opportunities — Opportunities represent potentially positive, external situations that might
help an organization succeed in the future. Examples of opportunities can include changing
attitudes or aspirations, new laws or legislation, trade agreements, or removal of
tariffs/sanctions.
 ● Threats — Threats represent potentially negative, external situations that might harm an
organization in the future. Examples of threats can include shifts in the labor market,
increasing supply costs, or new competition/technology.

2. Establish SMART Business Goals

Another popular acronym in the marketing strategy context, SMART refers to business goals that are
Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. By establishing SMART business goals,
organizations can help ensure that their marketing strategy moves forward in a positive direction.

In order to establish SMART business goals, marketers and leaders should evaluate the following
questions:

● Specific — What am I trying to achieve, why is it important, and what will be required?
● Measurable — How can I measure and track progress to meet deadlines and accomplish the
end goal?
● Attainable — Based on available resources and existing constraints, is the end goal actually
achievable?
● Relevant — In light of prevailing business needs/realities and overall environment, is the end
goal valuable at this time?
● Timely — When can I expect to make progress toward the end goal? What benefits are
expected immediately versus in the short, intermediate, or long term?

3. Engage in Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is usually a vital piece of an effective digital marketing strategy. This practice
involves dividing an organization’s target market or audience into smaller groups. By segmenting an
entire customer base into digestible pieces, it becomes easier to tailor unique marketing tactics to
each market segment.

Within the sphere of market segmentation, organizations typically start with four categories:

● Demographic — Demographic segmentation occurs in the business-to-consumer (B2C)

context and focuses on personal characteristics. Demographic segmentation utilizes factors
such as age, education, gender, or geography to divide customers into categories.
● Firmographic — Firmographic segmentation occurs in the business-to-business (B2B) context
and focuses on organizational characteristics. Firmographic segmentation examines factors
such as revenue, industry, location, or number of employees to separate businesses into
categories.
 ● Psychographic — Psychographic segmentation can occur in either B2C or B2B contexts.
Psychographic segmentation examines factors such as personality, opinions, goals, or lifestyle,
to separate prospects into categories.
● Behavioral — Behavioral segmentation can occur in either B2C or B2B contexts. Behavioral
segmentation examines factors such as purchasing history, brand loyalty, or usage patterns to
separate prospects into categories.

4. Create Buyer Personas

Often utilized in conjunction with market segmentation, buyer personas are fictional profiles that
represent the customer. Buyer personas are particularly helpful in helping to understand a company’s
customers — whether existing, prospective, or desired. Correspondingly, buyer personas vary greatly
from industry to industry and organization to organization.

As noted above, it is common practice for marketers to unify buyer personas with market
segmentation initiatives. In doing so, marketers attempt to create profiles of ideal customers based on
demographic, firmographic, psychographic and behavioral data. In that way, organizations can
individually customize their messaging, products, and services to match each different buyer persona
and market segment,

5. Identify Budget Constraints

Fundamentally, commercial and nonprofit organizations of every flavor must ensure that they budget
appropriately to roll out an effective digital marketing strategy. Even the best marketing strategies and
tactics are dependent upon adequate cash flow. Consequently, it is vital for organizations to think
realistically about their budget to determine which marketing tactics are achievable and affordable.

Digital Marketing Models

Booz & Company has identified four equally successful digital marketing models: Digital Branders,
Customer Experience Designers, Demand Generators, and Product Innovators. A company’s focus
for marketing investment might have elements of each, but odds are that one of these models
represents the right marketing organisation for your company.

● Digital Branders are most often consumer products companies or other marketers that focus
on building and renewing brand equity and deeper consumer engagement. These companies
are shifting their investment from traditional linear advertising toward more immersive digital
multimedia experiences that can connect consumers to the brand in new ways. They are
reimagining how they engage consumers with the primary goal of recruiting new consumers to
the brand and driving loyalty through multiple experiences with the brand.
● Customer Experience Designers use customer data and insights to create a superior
end-to-end brand experience for their customers. Typically, these companies (such as
financial-services companies, airlines, hotels, and retailers) build their business models around
customer service. By reinventing how they interact with customers, and wowing them at
multiple touch points, these companies hope to create an ongoing dialogue and build a loyal
customer base.
● Demand Generators (typically retailers) focus on driving online traffic and converting as
many sales as possible across channels to maximise marketing efficiency and grow their share
of wallet. All elements of the digital marketing strategy - website design, search engine
optimization, mobile connected apps, and engagement in social communities - are tailored to
boost sales and increase loyalty. Although Demand Generators also need to leverage content to
drive engagement, they are more focused on driving volume and efficiency than on curating
the deep, emotional branded experiences that Digital Branders pursue.

● Product Innovators use digital marketing to help the organisation identify, develop, and roll
out new digital products and services. These companies employ digital interactions with
consumers primarily to rapidly gather insights that can help shape the innovation pipeline. By
helping nurture new sources of revenue, the marketing group directly increases the value of the
company.

Digital Marketing Landscape

A digital landscape is a collective name for websites, email, social networks, mobile devices
(tablets, iphones, smartphones), videos (YouTube), etc. These tools help businesses sell their
products or services.
Digital Marketing is a very new field and it has constantly evolved in the short period of time
it has been around, the Digital Marketing Landscape is constantly growing and changing,
Some of the basic things that constitute the landscape are.
1. Social Media Marketing (SMM)- This can include paid as well as organic
marketing on Social Media Channels, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Linkedin, Quora etc. - this is becoming ever so important with the increase in
Social media channels.
2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - This is basically paid marketing on search
engines of Google, Bing, Yahoo - even though google is the major part of search
engine marketing, bing plays a big role if you are marketing all over the world.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Organically or non-paid search rankings,
this is the most powerful tool in the long run. This always considered in the end
 by most companies as it does not give instant results but you should invest
heavily initially in SEO to get a benefit in the long run.
4. Content Marketing - Write relevant content to engage users in the form of
Blogs, Quora answers, email content. Video content is also a part of content
marketing and is gaining traction rapidly good engaging videos can help in
organic reach.
5. Affiliate marketing - Engaging affiliate website or partners to generate referral
traffic, this is a major part of marketing when you are dealing with big budgets.
10. Besides the basics a lot of advanced functions are becoming part of Digital Marketing
like
1. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (ML & AI) - Digital marketing
is one of the major fields affected by the advent of self-learning algorithms.
Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning, digital marketeers can
hyper-target by creating personas. This leads to a much better user experience
and higher ROI for Marketeers.
2. Conversational Chatbots - With self-learning chatbots the user can get the
experience of chatting with an actual person. Digital Marketers are using
chatbots to convert more people into paying customers, by answering customer
queries in real-time.
One cannot sum up the entire digital marketing landscape in these small boxes as while I am writing
new fields would have been added to digital marketing landscape but the above will get you started
with a basic idea.

Digital marketing Plan

A digital marketing plan is a document that outlines the marketing goals pursued by a company. It
encompasses strategies, timelines, channels, and budget.
Why is it important to have a digital marketing plan?

Although only 37% of marketers document their actions, data shows that recording your
strategies increases the chances of business success. An accurately designed plan contains a
"map" with step-by-step instructions for achieving goals. Here are the main advantages a
marketing plan can bring to your business.

● Understanding of the target audience. A well thought out marketing plan begins with
research to define your target audience. With a specified target audience, you will
understand the behavior of your customers and adjust your sales model to help them
purchase; speak one language with a customer and provide real help during the buyer
 journey; better understand the needs of your audience and prepare relevant product
launches.
● Efficient use of resources. Having a plan prevents you from spending money on things
that are unnecessary for business and were not mentioned before. You can also manage
your time properly by having clearly defined deadlines in your marketing plan as well.
● The same direction for all company departments. Since all members of your
company can access the plan as a coordination tool, it allows your company’s team to
communicate and accordingly move in the same direction.

So, a digital marketing plan will guide you to your goals and help you benefit from your
business.

Components of a digital marketing plan

● Content marketing : Content marketing is an important strategy for attracting potential
customers. Publishing a regular cadence of high-quality, relevant content online will
help establish thought leadership. It can educate target customers about the problems
your product can help them resolve, as well as boost SEO rankings. Content can include
blog posts, case studies, whitepapers, and other materials that provide value to your
target audience. These digital content assets can then be used to acquire customers
through organic and paid efforts.
● Email marketing: Email is a direct marketing method that involves sending promotional
messages to a segmented group of prospects or customers. Email marketing continues
to be an effective approach for sending personalized messages that target customers’
needs and interests. It is most popular for e-commerce business as a way of staying top
of mind for consumers.
● Advertising:Online advertising involves bidding and buying relevant ad units on
third-party sites, such as display ads on blogs, forums, and other relevant websites.
Types of ads include images, text, pop-ups, banners, and video. Retargeting is an
important aspect of online advertising. Retargeting requires code that adds an
anonymous browser cookie to track new visitors to your site. Then, as that visitor goes
to other sites, you can serve them ads for your product or service. This focuses your
advertising efforts on people who have already shown interest in your company.
● Mobile marketing: Mobile marketing is the promotion of products or services
specifically via mobile phones and devices. This includes mobile advertising through
text messages or advertising in downloaded apps. However, a comprehensive mobile
marketing approach also includes optimizing websites, landing pages, emails, and
content for an optimal experience on mobile devices.
 ● Reputation marketing: Reputation marketing focuses on gathering and promoting
positive online reviews. Reading online reviews can influence customer buying
decisions and is an important component of your overall brand and product reputation.
An online reputation marketing strategy encourages customers to leave positive reviews
on sites where potential customers search for reviews. Many of these review sites also
offer native advertising that allows companies to place ads on competitor profiles.
● Social media marketing: Social media marketing is a key component of digital
marketing. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr,
LinkedIn, and even YouTube provide digital marketing managers with paid
opportunities to reach and interact with potential customers. Digital marketing
campaigns often combine organic efforts with sponsored content and paid advertising
promotions on key social media channels to reach a larger audience and increase brand
lift.
● Video marketing: Video marketing enables companies to connect with customers in a
more visually engaging and interactive way. You can showcase product launches,
events, and special announcements, as well as provide educational content and
testimonies. YouTube and Vimeo are the most commonly used platforms for sharing
and advertising videos. Pre-roll ads (which are shown for the first 5–10 seconds before
a video) are another way digital marketing managers can reach audiences on video
platforms.
● Search engine optimization: Search engine optimization (SEO) focuses on improving
organic traffic to your website. SEO activities encompass technical and creative tactics
to improve rankings and increase awareness in search engines. The most widely used
search engines include Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Digital marketing managers focus on
optimizing levers — such as keywords, crosslinks, backlinks, and original content — to
maintain a strong ranking.
● Web analytics : Analytics allow marketing managers to track online user activity.
Capturing and analyzing this data is foundational to digital marketing because it gives
companies insights into online customer behavior and their preferences. The most
widely used tool for analyzing website traffic is Google Analytics, however other tools
include Adobe Analytics, Coremetrics, Crazy Egg, and more.

The Value of User Experience in Digital Marketing

user experience can be defined as the understanding of user needs to help and create products and
services that provide a meaningful experience to the customers. It is an essential feature of our digital
world today. It’s an increasingly important topic now. Today consumers want their needs to be
delivered instantly. Be it finding answers via search engines, booking flights, ordering food, online
shopping, internet banking, or checking with friends etc. execution of all these needs a good quality
of user’s online experience and that makes a huge difference. For the businesses that want to attract
and convert their interests into revenue, UX is the key part of their success and survival.