Traditional marketing uses offline channels, whereas digital marketing uses digital channels. Digital marketing uses digital channels, whereas traditional marketing uses offline channels. As an example, a traditional marketing campaign may use billboards, print ads, and mailers, whereas a digital marketing campaign might use social media, blog posts, and email to promote a business and its offerings. Even traditional channels like billboards, TV ads, and direct mail have developed a digital component in recent years, blurring the line between "traditional marketing" and "digital marketing".Even traditional channels like billboards, TV ads, and direct mail have developed a digital component in recent years, blurring the line between "traditional marketing" and "digital marketing".
Why is digital marketing important?
Digital marketing matters today because it offers the following benefits:
- Online marketing strategies
- Marketers who offer cost-effective solutions
- Equitable playing field
- Targeting and personalization options
- Measuring and tracking campaigns accurately
- Performance feedback on a continuous basis
You can learn more about digital marketing’s benefits below.
Digital marketing offers multiple online marketing strategies
Online marketing lets your business choose from a number of strategies. Here are some examples:
- SEO
- PPC
- Content marketing
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
- Social media marketing and advertising
- And more
When using traditional marketing methods, you may not have as many options. These marketing methods are less flexible. It is only possible to access a few channels, like radio, print, and television, and many of these channels are expensive, limiting your choices further.
A range of digital marketing strategies is available to your company when you opt for a digital marketing company. You can choose the ones that are most likely to benefit your business, goals, and target market, so you can maximize the impact of online marketing.
Digital marketing offers cost-effective marketing solutions.
Online marketing is extremely cost-effective compared to traditional marketing. When you advertise online, whether, through social media, websites, or search engines, you set your budget and bid for ad space. You can decide how much you want to spend, which is not the case with a billboard.
Digital marketing is characterized by flexibility. Campaigns and budgets can be scheduled to run for months or even minutes. When paired with precise targeting, businesses gain agility that is often absent from traditional campaigns. A PPC campaign, for instance, can be paused if it is not performing well. On the other hand, when you buy a billboard, you own it for the duration of the contract, regardless of whether it works.
Digital marketing equalizes the playing field
Using digital marketing also helps small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) stand out from larger companies. Online marketing offers cost-effective solutions, such as SEO, that can help your business reach its audience.
Large corporations are able to market themselves in ways that small businesses can't. With company locations, they take up prime real estate. They employ large numbers of cold-callers. Their exhibits at trade shows and conferences are elaborate.
In digital channels, it is just as easy to click an ad for a large corporation as it is for a small business. A Facebook Page for a Fortune 100 company looks the same as one for a five-person company.
By avoiding big brands and reaching your target market on an even playing field, your company can compete in a more competitive market.
Additionally, you don't have to worry about how your marketing budget will compete with larger brands. To get your products or services in front of your audience, digital marketing offers several cost-effective strategies, such as SEO.
Digital marketing allows for advanced targeting and personalization
Making web marketing part of your business strategy also gives you access to advanced targeting and personalization options. When it comes to targeting, traditional marketing, which is broader, cannot compete with digital marketing.
With online marketing, you can use targeting options such as:
- Age
- Location
- Interests
- Marital status
- Hobbies
- Device
- And more
Using these targeting options can help you amplify digital marketing's other benefits, like its cost-effectiveness. When you launch a PPC campaign, for example, you could use targeting options like location and device to target users most likely to convert, such as those who visit your brick-and-mortar store.
You can also personalize content with information like the following:
- Name
- Interests
- Purchase behavior
A personalized experience for users, whether via email marketing or your website, can improve marketing results. For example, sending an email that recommends products based on past purchase behavior can lead to another sale and even word-of-mouth marketing.
Digital marketing offers accurate campaign tracking and measurement
Traditional marketing makes it difficult to determine whether someone found your business through a billboard, radio advertisement, or newspaper article.
Digital marketing provides easy tracking of performance and results.
Google tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Ads make monitoring your strategy simple. Google Analytics, for example, allows you to track website traffic, user behavior, and conversions. By comparison, Google Ads provides a 360-degree view of your PPC ads. Any digital marketing strategy worth its salt would not be complete without these types of website analytics.
You can also use programs like Google Data Studio to compile all your data into easy-to-read and easy-to-share digital marketing reports. These tools help you demonstrate and analyze the performance of your online marketing.
Digital marketing offers continuous campaign performance feedback
Including digital marketing in your business strategy will give you access to a marketing approach that provides constant feedback, whether it's your SEO strategy or your PPC campaign.
If you exclude mobile devices from your PPC campaign, you may notice a sudden drop in conversions. Taking immediate action allows you to react quickly. You can undo the targeting update and bring your campaign back to its optimal performance.
Constant feedback is provided by long-term strategies, such as SEO.
You can determine the effectiveness of your keyword targeting strategy by analyzing your website traffic and conversion rates. This analysis can also improve the design, usability, and content quality of your site.
All in all, digital marketing is a huge asset for companies like yours.
How does digital marketing work?
The term digital marketing is well known, but what is digital marketing?
That means your business uses multiple channels, like social, email, and search, to support an overarching strategy, like generating brand awareness, leads, or sales
For perspective, think about this digital marketing example:
- Goal: Earn leads
- Channels: Search, email, digital advertising
- Strategy:
- Write a blog post that targets a middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) need.
- Optimize the blog post for search engines and users.
- Include a downloadable resource that requires users to share their email addresses.
- Build a drip campaign for those email subscribers to move them to conversion.
Although it's a basic example, the above scenario shows how companies can use digital marketing to achieve global goals, such as attracting leads. Even though you can use online marketing channels individually, they work best when used together, which is one of the biggest challenges for digital marketers.
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