Discover what digital marketing is and how it can transform your business.
Digital marketing is a component of marketing that uses the Internet and digital devices such as computers, mobile phones, etc. to promote products and services. It has significantly changed how brands and businesses use technology for marketing since the 1990s. With the pervasiveness of digital platforms in everyday life, and as people increasingly use digital devices instead of going to physical stores, digital marketing campaigns have become widespread, using combinations of tools such as search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, banner ads, in-app advertising, and more.
Digital marketing also covers non-internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callbacks and ringtones. The expansion to non-internet channels distinguishes digital marketing from online marketing.
Consumers often research products through online channels before making a purchase. For example, Think with Google reports that 48% of consumers start researching search engines, 33% look for branded websites and 26% search on mobile apps. One-third of consumers in the markets surveyed say they now do more research before buying to find the best deals (48%), make sure it's of good quality (47%) and make sure their needs are met (45%). 60% of consumers in the markets studied do six or more things before deciding to buy a brand or product that is new to them, including comparing prices of similar brands or products:
Data from "Think with Google. Retail Guide 2024: Connect with customers throughout their increasingly complex journeys. Elizabeth Wang / March 2024."
While today's digital marketing is focused on digital platforms, traditional marketing mediums such as print advertising, direct marketing and television advertising still have a great deal of importance in the marketplace.
The main digital marketing tools include:
Among the platforms widely used for digital marketing are the most popular websites and applications in terms of the number of views, such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and others. Emails and mobile app ads are also very effective.
Data from "Digital 2024: Global Overview Report. Simon Kemp / January 2024."
Each of these tools and platforms has its characteristics and can be used to achieve different marketing goals, from increasing brand awareness to attracting new customers and increasing sales.
Digital marketing promotion strategies can be varied and use different tools.
SEO, or search engine optimisation, involves a set of practices to optimise websites to achieve higher traffic quantity and quality.
SEM, or search engine marketing, helps to increase traffic to a website through paid advertisements.
SMM, or social media marketing, focuses on creating content and advertising on social media to promote a brand and engage an audience.
Content marketing helps to engage audiences through useful and informative content, while PPC marketing is an online advertising model in which advertisers pay every time their advert is clicked.
Other digital marketing strategies can include email marketing, which allows you to keep in touch with customers through emails and newsletters; influencer marketing, where influencers promote a product or service to their audiences; and automation marketing, which uses various systems and programs to automate marketing processes.
Each of these strategies has its advantages and can be effective in different situations. It is important to develop integrated marketing campaigns that combine different tools and approaches to achieve the best results. Choosing the right strategy depends on your business goals, the characteristics of your target audience, and the specifics of your product or service.
For performance analysis, digital marketing uses a variety of metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) to help measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. These metrics include audience reach, click-through rate, conversion rate, brand loyalty, and return on investment (ROI).
One of HubSpot's dashboards, for example.
Many companies use CRM systems such as HubSpot to make it easy to work with data from different platforms. This allows marketers not only to view all reporting on one convenient dashboard but also to effectively manage different digital marketing channels from one centralised location. As a result, they can respond more quickly to changes in market trends and improve their promotion strategies to achieve the best results. Analysing data from various sources becomes much easier and more efficient with CRM systems, allowing you to focus on strategic business development and improving the effectiveness of your marketing activities.
If you're interested in learning more about how HubSpot can help your business grow and reduce your marketing department's workload, book a free 15-minute consultation with Velainn. We'll be happy to help.
Innovations in technology and strategies promise an exciting future for digital marketing. The trends that will shape the development of digital marketing are expected to include the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, personalised marketing, video marketing and marketing process automation.
According to HubSpot's Marketing State and Trends Report 2024, the main digital marketing trends in 2024 are:
The development of mobile marketing will be especially important in the future, as more and more people prefer to use mobile devices to access the Internet. This trend requires brands and marketers to constantly adapt to changing technological conditions and changes in consumer behaviour. Understanding and leveraging these technological innovations will help increase the effectiveness of marketing strategies and achieve more tangible results in the digital sphere.
Illustrations: HubSpot, Storyset, Velainn, Canva, Datareportal