Digital marketing, or new advertising technology

Key information:

• Virtual images have a strong influence on our perceptions and decision-making, and digital content is present almost everywhere in our lives.
• Digital marketing is a business segment that aims to reach and build relationships with customers, and its roots go back to the 1980s, when SoftAd developed an advertising campaign for car companies based on sending floppy disks.
• Digital marketing encompasses many digital channels and media, such as the Internet, mobile apps, television and electronic billboards. It is a form of activity that is quick, easy to verify and relatively low in cost.
• In the age of the Internet, consumers have a much more objective and expansive view of a brand by consulting experts, friends and other users.
• The biggest advantage of digital marketing over traditional marketing is the ability to instantly analyze a marketing campaign and monitor its effectiveness, which allows for quick optimization of activities and customization.
• The DMS (Digital Marketing System) is a tool that enables companies to effectively reach customers through the use of various digital marketing channels, such as the website and social media.
• Nowadays, the competition in the digital marketing market is getting tougher and tougher, which means attracting customer attention is getting tougher.

There is no doubt that nowadays virtual images affect our imagination and choices as much as real ones. We are confronted with the transmission of certain content in digital form almost constantly. This happens when we're browsing Facebook on our smartphone, during our morning commute, watching TV at lunch, or browsing the website of our favorite clothing store. We can refer to the totality of content that reaches us through digital media as "digital marketing."

The term "digital marketing" was first used in the 1990s, but its roots go back further to the 1980s. In that year, SoftAd Group developed an advertising campaign for car companies. It involved sending customers floppy disks with materials promoting selected cars and offering free test drives. Thus was born "digital marketing," which is now the most rapidly growing segment of the business aimed at both reaching and building relationships with customers.

Digital marketing - What is it and why is it important?

Although the term digital marketing is most often associated with the online channel, it is important to remember that it also includes other digital media and channels. Examples of such channels include:

• text messaging,
• TV,
• mobile apps,
• radio,
• electronic billboards.

The reasons for the ever-increasing popularity and importance of digital marketing are many. The speed of access to data, as well as the ease of verification and the low cost of this form of activity can be singled out as some of them. In addition, we live in a time when the Internet and social media are becoming the main medium of information and opinion-building tools. It is thanks to them that consumers have a much more objective and expanded picture of our brand. This means that they know about our product not only what we ourselves want to tell them, but they also consult experts, friends and other users who actively contribute to the aforementioned channels. That's why today an extremely important aspect of customer outreach and positioning is building brand trust. To this end an extensive and coherent digital marketing system is necessary - commonly offering potential customers a form and content personalized to their needs and expectations.

Areas of action and multifaceted observation

The biggest advantage of digital marketing over traditional marketing is the use of channels and methods that allow instant analysis of a marketing campaign and a clear statement of "what works and what doesn't." The analytics side of digital marketing mainly focuses on monitoring what was viewed, how often, for how long and how it translates into sales. The most popular practices to use for digital marketing are SEO, SEM, content marketing and social media marketing. While the first two mainly focus on staying visible online, the other two focus on publishing content that will interest the target customer and build the company's image.

What are the types of digital marketing?

Some of the most popular and widely used digital marketing practices include:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - is the process of optimizing a website for better positioning in organic search engine results. SEO includes keyword analysis, optimization of the content and structure of the site, link building and adjusting the site to the requirements of search engine algorithms.
• SEM (Search Engine Marketing) - is a marketing strategy that involves the use of paid search engine advertising tools, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo, to increase a website's visibility in search results for specific keywords.
• Content marketing - is a marketing strategy that involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and engage a target audience. The goal of content marketing is to build trust and establish authority among potential customers by providing them with helpful information, insights and solutions to their problems.
• Social media marketing - is a form of digital marketing that uses social media platforms and websites to promote a product, service or brand. SMM involves creating and sharing content on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and others to engage a target audience and drive traffic to a website or online store.
• E-mail marketing - A form of digital marketing that involves sending commercial messages or promotional content to a group of people via email. The main purpose of email marketing is to build relationships with potential and existing customers, promote brand awareness and increase sales.
• Affiliate marketing - is a performance-based marketing strategy in which an affiliate promotes a company's product or service and receives a commission for each sale, lead or action generated through its unique affiliate link.

Digital Marketing System

"DMS" is channel distribution system, which the company uses, usually through SaaS software. It also includes a CMS (content management system) linked to the company's online and social media activities. An example of such software offering DMS services is HubSpot. Regarding online activities DMS focuses on website maintenance and positioning, constituting a "virtual home" for users of a particular product or service.

In social media, the main goal is to build relationships and communicate with customers and try to reach new audiences that other digital marketing channels do not achieve. Despite the many advantages, there are also some factors that pose difficulties for DMS implementation. One of them is the increasing number and diversity of channels and devices for reaching customers. It is important to remember that each target user is active in different channels and uses a different device. They may be characterized by different software, specifications and the way content is displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to adapt often the same message to a range of different forms.

Another aspect is the increasing competition. Digital marketing is a form of relatively inexpensive customer outreach. This means that it is widely available to both large and small businesses. Because of this, it is becoming increasingly difficult to capture the attention of the audience. The last factor is the selection and extraction of the necessary information from the vast amount of data that each user leaves on the web.

Summary