Digital marketing can be defined as the process of marketing/promoting services and products through digital advertising channels.
Television and radio marketing used to be the 2 main forms of digital marketing channels. The benefit of advertising on television or on radio is that you generally reach quite a multitude of consumers. The downside however, is that this kind of advertising tends to be quite expensive. Let’s use television to give an example: Firstly you will have to get an entire television team to film your product or service. Even if you’re only requiring a 30 second or one minute insert on the telly, the crew will easily spend several hours or even a couple of days filming. Then your raw material must be sent to a production company for editing. In the meantime you will also need to make use of a voiceover artist and a script writer – all in all a very time-consuming and pricey process.
The net is currently a very strong challenger amongst other digital marketing channels. The reason for this is that the world wide web is not just limited to a straightforward website, but also offers access to social media and affiliate marketing. A couple of years ago the terms Twitter and facebook were still unfamiliar – today it forms part of every radio, television or printed marketing campaign.
Although the internet is a very effective advertising tool, it does not mean that it is very simple to use. There are certain things that you as a company owner can handle on your own, but for some of the more advanced campaigns you might require the services of a digital marketing agency. These companies employ very skilled individuals with extensive internet marketing experience and will be able to offer the best value your money can buy. They will also make sure that your adverts are directed to the correct target market. It is no use paying thousands of Rands on campaigns every month if you are not targeting the correct people. This is basically just as effective as throwing cash down a bottomless pit!
Digital marketing is all about servicing and engaging your clients. They need to feel like they are part of your company’s “family” and that you are genuinely interested in each and every individual.
In terms of digital marketing, there are two types of marketing namely pull marketing and push marketing. Push marketing is often done by means of electronic mails, RSS feeds and ezines where the marketer has to send (push) information to the customer in order to advertise his services or products. Pull marketing however is where the user has to hunt for something specific – this is usually by means of an internet search or an online blog page. Both of these techniques should be applied for maximum results!
In summary: Digital marketing should form an integral part of every company’s marketing campaign. The different different digital platforms will accumulatively reach a huge number of people that could soon be your customers!