With the continued growth of the Internet, digital marketing has come into its own as an aspect of business marketing. Digital marketing can take many forms, including traditional methods such as radio and television. However, creating methods of reaching a wider range of potential customers with online technologies is the current Holy Grail.
Online marketing has now expanded to include content marketing, social media, email, SMS messages, and electronic banner ads. Digital marketing allows agencies to know how campaigns are performing because every aspect of a digital campaign is tracked.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a method of promoting services and products by providing information to consumers. This can take the form of informative articles on magazine-style websites, blog posts, client website content, and white papers.
According to the Pew Research organization, consumers now use the Internet as their first source of information when considering making a purchase or using services. They will conduct Internet searches to gather information from several sources to help them make their decision. As a result, content marketing has become extremely important to disseminate appropriate information to consumers.
It is estimated that corporations devote approximately 20% of their marketing budget to content marketing efforts. Consider that in recent years, large companies such as NBC, Proctor & Gamble, and Johnson & Johnson have begun to spend millions of dollars on content marketing and social media efforts via Facebook and Twitter, in addition to expanding their own site content about products and services.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing isn’t limited simply to the Internet found within a web browser’s borders. It encompasses mobile phone communications, apps on mobile devices, and digital banner ads. The goal of digital marketing is to engage the customer using digital technologies, wherever they may be.
Push Digital Marketing – In push digital marketing, the marketer contacts the potential customer in an attempt to provoke the desired response. Examples of push marketing include display advertising, SMS messages, email campaigns, and newsletter campaigns.
The advantage of push marketing is that it is possible to schedule the delivery of content to subscribers and potential customers. It can be specifically targeted to customers, and content delivery is much more consistent than pull marketing methods.
Pull Digital Marketing – Pull digital marketing depends on the consumer seeking information about products and services. Popular examples of pull marketing include website content, social media and streaming audio and video.
Pull marketing’s advantage is that content can be very extensive, allowing the marketing organization to develop a fuller story and elicit a response.
Digital marketing can be as simple as having informative, interesting content on a website, or as complex as a marketing blitz utilizing display media or social media marketing. Finally, elements of digital marketing should be part of the overall marketing strategy for every business today.
Going to PubCon Vegas? Please attend the panel on Modern Marketing Plan Start To Finish featuring WrightIMC CEO Tony Wright and VP of Solutions, Dan Sturdivant on Wednesday, November 9 at 3:15.
