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What Is Digital Marketing?

• How It Works

Types of Digital Marketing Channels

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• Marketing Essentials

What Is Digital Marketing? Types and Examples

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Digital marketing is the use of websites, apps, mobile devices, social media , search engines, and other digital means to promote and sell products and services.

Digital marketing involves many of the same principles as traditional marketing and is often considered an additional way for companies to approach consumers and understand their behavior. Companies often combine traditional and digital marketing techniques in their strategies. But digital marketing also comes with its own set of challenges. Digital marketing started to become popular with the widespread adoption of the internet in the 1990s.

Key Takeaways

• Digital marketing promotes products and services through channels such as websites, mobile devices, and social media platforms.
• Digital marketers have a number of tools to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.
• One of the biggest challenges digital marketers face is how to set themselves apart in a world that is oversaturated with digital ads and other distractions.

Investopedia / Mira Norian

How Digital Marketing Works

Marketing encompasses a wide range of techniques and media that companies can use to promote their products and services to potential consumers and improve their market share . To be successful, it requires a combination of advertising and sales savvy. Professional marketers take on these tasks either internally at individual companies or externally at marketing firms that may serve many different clients.

Companies once focused on marketing through print, television, and radio because that was all they had. Although those options still exist, the internet gave companies another way to reach consumers and gave rise to digital marketing.

The new technologies and trends forced companies to change their marketing strategies and rethink their budgets. Email became a popular marketing tool in the early days of digital marketing. Then the focus shifted to search engines like Netscape, which allowed businesses to tag and keyword items to get themselves noticed. The development of social platforms like Facebook made it possible for companies to track user data and deliver their messages to very specific audiences.

Smartphones and other portable devices now make it easier for companies to market their products and services to consumers wherever those consumers happen to be. A 2022 Pew Research Center study found that 76% of American adults had made online purchases using their phones.

Digital marketing can be interactive, unlike traditional print or television advertising.

Digital marketing channels have evolved since the 1990s and continue to do so. Here are eight of the most common channels in use today.

Website Marketing

Companies often use their own website as the centerpiece of their digital marketing activities. The most effective websites represent the brand and its products and services in a clear and memorable way. A website today must be fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising enables marketers to reach audiences on news and other websites and digital platforms through paid ads. Marketers can set up PPC campaigns on Google , Bing, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, and Facebook and show their ads to people searching terms related to their products or services.

These campaigns can segment users based on their demographic characteristics (such as age or gender), or their particular interests or location. The most widely used services for PPC are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Content Marketing

The goal of content marketing is to reach potential customers through the use of written, visual, or video content that interests them . That content is usually published on a website and then promoted through social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, or even pay-per-click campaigns. Content marketing attempts to be more subtle than advertising, and the product or service the sponsor is attempting to market may or may not be conspicuously highlighted.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels, though many people associate it with spam and treat such messages accordingly. Many digital marketers use their other digital marketing channels to collect names for their email lists. Then, through email marketing, they try to turn those leads into customers.

Social Media Marketing

The primary goals of a social media marketing campaign are to build brand awareness and establish trust. As you go deeper into social media marketing, you can use it to obtain leads and as a direct marketing or sales channel. Promoted posts and tweets are two examples of social media marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing, and the digital world has given it new life. In affiliate marketing, companies and individual "influencers" promote another company's products and get a commission every time a sale is made or a fresh lead is added to their list. Many well-known companies, including Amazon, have affiliate programs that pay out millions of dollars to affiliates that help sell their products.

Video Marketing

A lot of internet users turn to sites like YouTube before making a buying decision, to learn how to do something, to read a review, or just to relax. Marketers can use any of several video marketing platforms, including Facebook Videos, Instagram, and TikTok, to run a video marketing campaign. Companies find the most success with video by integrating it with SEO, content marketing, and broader social media marketing campaigns.

Text Messaging

Companies also use text messages (formally known as SMS, or short message service) to send information about their latest products and promotions. Nonprofit organizations and political candidates also use texting to promote themselves and solicit donations. Today many marketing campaigns make it possible for consumers to make a payment or donation via a simple text message.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in Digital Marketing

Digital marketers use key performance indicators (KPIs) just like traditional marketers. KPIs let them measure the long-term performance of their marketing initiatives and compare those to their competitors' efforts.

The following are some of the most common KPIs that marketers can use to gauge how well they're doing:

• Click-through rate : This KPI is commonly used to measure the effectiveness of online advertising, by counting the number of people who clicked on a particular ad as a percentage of all the people who might have seen it.
• Conversion rate :   The conversion rate goes even further than the click-through rate to compare the percentage of people who took some desired action, such as making a purchase, to the total audience that a particular ad or promotion reached.
• Social media traffic :   This tracks how many people interact with a company's social media profiles. It includes likes, follows, views, shares, and/or other measurable actions.
• Website traffic : This metric tracks how many people visit a company's website during a given time period. Among other uses, it can help companies judge how effective their marketing efforts are at driving consumers to their site.

Digital Marketing Challenges

The digital world poses special challenges for marketers. For example, digital channels proliferate rapidly, and marketers have to keep up on them and figure out how to use them effectively. Marketers can also find it challenging to analyze and make productive use of the huge amount of data they can capture through these platforms.

Perhaps most important, consumers are increasingly inundated with digital ads and other distractions, making it more and more difficult to capture their attention.

What Is a Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing agency is a company that deals exclusively in marketing to consumers or businesses through digital channels. This includes creating and launching campaigns for clients through social media, pay-per-click advertising, videos, and custom websites, among other means.

What Is SEO in Digital Marketing?

Search engine optimization (SEO) describes a variety of techniques that companies use in an effort to increase traffic to their website and raise its position in search results. The higher a site appears on the search results page, the more likely consumers are to see it and potentially click to visit it.

What Is Internet Marketing?

Technically, internet marketing is marketing that takes place solely on the internet. As such, it is a subset of digital marketing, which can use many different kinds of digital platforms, including the internet, to reach its desired audience.

How Can You Become a Digital Marketer?

Digital marketers need strong writing and social media skills, along with a good understanding of data analytics. A bachelor's degree is required for most digital marketing positions. You might also want to take digital marketing courses or participate in a digital "boot camp." In addition, completing an internship while in school can be useful. A master's degree in digital marketing may be useful but is not considered essential.

What Skills Are Needed in Digital Marketing?

Strong communication skills are essential if a marketer is going to be successful in telling a company or product's story to potential customers. Data analytics skills are also important for understanding how well a marketing campaign is performing and where it might be improved. Finally, social media skills are another must.

What Is Implicit Bias in Digital Marketing?

Implicit bias, also known as unconscious bias, refers to messages that unintentionally convey negative stereotypes or derogatory attitudes toward certain groups. In recent years it has come in for particular notice in the fields of advertising and marketing. In digital marketing it may manifest itself in something as simple as the choice of stock photos for a marketing campaign. For instance, without even thinking about it, companies may use images of only heterosexual White individuals while excluding Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, along with those of different body types and abilities. While digital marketers often use supposedly unbiased algorithms to help craft their campaigns, those algorithms are created by human beings who may bring their own unconscious biases to them.

The ways in which people consume media in the 21st century have caused marketers to put increased, and sometimes exclusive, emphasis on digital platforms for their campaigns. While digital marketing uses many of the same techniques as traditional marketing through print, television, and radio, it also has its own set of tools that marketers need to master in order to succeed.

Pew Research Center. " For Shopping, Phones Are Common and Influencers Have Become a Factor – Especially for Young Adults ."

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. " How to Become an Advertising, Promotions, or Marketing Manager ."

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What is Digital Marketing?

With the explosion of digital technology, including the widespread use of computers and smartphones, businesses began to experiment with new marketing tactics—which is the origin of digital marketing.

Learn How Digital Marketing Efforts Drive Business Success in the Modern World

Marketing is the practice of identifying and satisfying customer needs. This is a particularly important task in the business context, as successful marketing efforts can drive leads and conversions. Even though marketing has deep roots in business history and culture, digital marketing is a relatively new practice.

It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic. Jeff Eisenberg

Fast forward to the present and digital marketing is as important , if not more so, than traditional marketing methods. Depending on the business there is a growing divide between traditional and digital marketing, while others have found novel ways of bringing the two closer together . Regardless of the approach, it is vital for businesses to plan and execute a viable digital marketing strategy . 

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What Are the Basics of Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing refers to any marketing methods conducted through electronic devices which utilize some form of a computer, including online marketing efforts conducted on the internet. In the process of conducting digital marketing, a business might leverage websites, search engines, blogs, social media, video, email and similar channels to reach customers.

Unlike traditional marketing—which is static and often referred to as “one-way” communication—digital marketing is an ever-changing, dynamic process . Stated otherwise, customers cannot interact with business through a billboard or print ad, whereas digital marketing provides an avenue for two-way communication between a business and its actual or prospective customers. 

These days, screen time is at an all-time high for many people. Digital marketing takes advantage of this reality, promoting business products and services across the internet. In this way, businesses ensure that their marketing efforts are more likely to reach customers, by targeting them where they spend most of their time. 

From startups to enterprise businesses, a multifaceted digital marketing approach can lead to significant commercial benefits. Successful digital marketing strategy generally involves a combination of various methods, including online advertising, search engine optimization and marketing, social media marketing and management and content creation, among others. 

Are There Different Ways to Conduct Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a broad term that encompasses many different channels for promoting business interests to prospective customers. Depending on the business needs and goals, there are countless ways to conduct digital marketing . It is not a cookie-cutter exercise. 

That being said, there are several common methods for conducting digital marketing , including:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — SEO is the practice of improving ranking within major search engines to increase online traffic. 
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — SEM leverages paid online advertising to increase website visibility within search engines. SEM is often used in conjunction with SEO. 
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) — PPC is an online method for advertising where a business only pays for its ads when a person clicks on them. 
• Social Media Marketing (SMM) — SMM is the practice of using social media channels to promote business products or services. The use of social media influencers, often referred to as influencer marketing, is prevalent in SMM. 
• Email Marketing — Email marketing enables businesses to send branded, promotional content directly to prospective customers via email. The use of automated newsletters is common in this context. 
• Affiliate Marketing — Affiliate marketing is a performance-based exercise that enables revenue sharing and pay-per-sale (PPS) compensation within a common network. 
• Content Marketing — Content marketing refers to the publishing and distribution of text, video or audio materials to customers online. Blogs, videos and podcasts are common ways for businesses to engage in content marketing.  
• Native Advertising — Native advertising involves blending marketing materials into a medium, making the underlying message and marketing purposes equally important. Sponsored content, in which one business posts its own content on a different website, is a common method of native advertising. 

There are numerous ways to execute a digital marketing strategy. For most businesses, successful inbound marketing involves the use and application of multiple digital marketing methods. 

What Benefits Can I Achieve Through Digital Marketing?

Given the diversity of digital marketing methods, there is a similarly diverse set of benefits available for digitally savvy benefits. On an overarching level, digital marketing enables businesses to reach customers during everyday activities, such as scanning social media, reading online articles, watching videos, etc. When customers are exposed to marketing in this type of natural and regular manner, it can yield a variety of commercial benefits. 

Digital marketing is defined by using numerous digital tactics and channels to connect with customers where they spend much of their time: online. Hubspot

More specifically, digital marketing can help businesses achieve any or all of the following benefits:

• Global Reach — Unlike traditional methods, digital marketing is not necessarily bound to a specific geographic area. The internet is available to customers across the globe. This allows businesses to market and sell to customers who live in a different state or country, removing many traditional barriers to entry.
• Low Cost of Entry — To achieve the global reach of digital marketing through traditional channels, there would be a serious price tag attached. On the other hand, certain aspects of digital marketing can be achieved with a small investment of time and resources. For example, even small or startup businesses can create a website, manage social media and publish blogs without breaking the bank. 
• Measurable ROI — In order to maximize profits, businesses must carefully evaluate return on investment (ROI). With traditional marketing, ROI can be difficult, sometimes impossible, to measure. On the other hand, digital marketing provides real-time visibility into the effectiveness of each campaign, enabling business leaders to make well-informed decisions to drive revenue and increase profit. 
• Improved Targeting — Digital marketing allows businesses to target very specific demographics of potential customers. By engaging customers in a particular geography, industry or social channel, businesses have a much better chance of reaching their target demographic.
• Dynamic Adaptability — Digital marketing strategies are extremely malleable and flexible, enabling businesses to adjust course when needed. Unlike long-term, traditional marketing campaigns, businesses can adjust their digital efforts on the fly, enabling quick pivots when necessary to realize commercial opportunity.
• Immediate Connection — Before making a purchase, modern customers generally conduct online research and evaluate reviews. The first step in this process typically starts with a search engine. In this way, businesses with developed SEO, SEM and PPC strategies can connect immediately with customers.
• Relationship Building — The rise of social media has turned it into a dominant communications platform for many customer demographics. Furthermore, customers increasingly want to interact with businesses on their terms and on their preferred platform. As a result, businesses that engage in effective SMM practices can build longtime and loyal relationships with current and prospective customers.

Overall, businesses of every shape and size can achieve powerful benefits through effective use of digital marketing methods. Furthermore, the cost of digital marketing can be tailored to each specific business, stripping many barriers to entry of traditional methods. With so many benefits available for just about any budget, it makes sense why so many businesses are succeeding with digital marketing efforts.

How Much Will Digital Marketing Cost My Business?

The simple answer is that there is a digital marketing strategy for every budget . The flexibility of digital marketing strategies yields benefits for just about every size of business, from small to large. With such a wide range of methods and strategies, it is not possible to provide a one-size-fits-all price tag for digital marketing.

Instead, it is helpful to examine the digital marketing spend for different levels of business, as small companies will spend less than larger ones. For example:

• Basic Digital Marketing — Startups and small businesses do not generally have a large budget available for digital marketing. These businesses focus on low-cost methods, typically leveraging websites, blogs and social media to drive revenue at a low price point. The cost for basic digital marketing can be several hundred dollars per month. 
• Intermediate Digital Marketing — Medium-sized businesses tend to have established revenue streams and the capability to spend more on digital marketing. This is where SEO, SEM, PPC and email marketing start to become prevalent. The cost for intermediate digital marketing can be several thousand dollars per month.
• Advanced Digital Marketing — Large or enterprise businesses will use digital marketing in a comprehensive and often global manner. These businesses tend to have developed strategies across most digital marketing channels. These businesses often spend substantial resources developing a digital marketing strategy across many available channels. The cost for advanced digital marketing can be tens of thousands of dollars per month.

As demonstrated above, the cost of digital marketing varies greatly based on business size, revenue and goals. Smaller companies will often start with a basic strategy and develop intermediate or advanced methods down the road. Ultimately, it is possible for just about every business to create and implement a digital marketing strategy that meets their needs and budget. 

How Do I Create and Implement a Digital Marketing Strategy?

The process for creating and implementing a digital marketing strategy involves many steps and required considerations. In this context, it is critical to devote time and resources to planning and creation. Information, analytics and research collected while planning and creating can have a tremendous impact during implementation. 

Digital Marketing Strategy

Top 7 Benefits of a Digital Marketing Strategy

You already know why marketing is important for your business, and digital is an essential component of your overall marketing strategy. Here’s what you need to get started.

Digital Marketing Strategy: What You Need to Know

A strong digital marketing strategy is crucial to organizational success in today’s business landscape. Companies thriving in the digital world typically allocate significant resources to the development of digital marketing strategies. In the process, organizations reach customers across various digital and social platforms, driving positive revenue gains, improved conversion rates and engage with their customers. […]

Build Your Digital Marketing Strategy [Step-by-Step Guide]

Most of our consumption of content today exists online. Because of this, companies have had to shift to digital marketing in order to get the word out about their products and services. However, you cannot simply make content for online platforms and hope for the best. You need to build a digital marketing strategy to […]

It is true that every business has unique needs and goals. Correspondingly, the creation and implementation of a digital marketing strategy will change from business to business. But in common practice, many businesses employ a similar process for creating and implementing a digital marketing strategy, as outlined below. 

• Identify Marketing Goals — The first step in this process involves identifying specific goals, such as driving sales, generating leads, building brand recognition or increasing subscribers. 
• Solidify Sales Process — To maximize the benefits of digital marketing, it is necessary to understand the digital sales process and exactly how customers will make digital purchases.
• Isolate Target Customers — Creating a strong target demographic with refined buyer personas helps isolate the ideal customers to purchase business goods or services. 
• Choose Marketing Channels — Armed with target demographic and buyer personas, it is important to identify the best digital marketing channels to reach those ideal customers. 
• Set Clear Benchmarks — In order to evaluate a digital marketing strategy, it is advisable to establish clear benchmarks for success and measure progress along the way. 
• Make Necessary Adjustments — After creating and implementing a digital marketing strategy, it is important to monitor progress toward goals and adjust as needed. 

An effective digital marketing strategy must take into account the individual needs and goals of the business in question. Accordingly, a digital marketing strategy that works for a small “mom-and-pop” store is likely inappropriate for a global brand. The good news is that digital marketing offers a wide range of methods, channels and strategies. So, businesses of just about any size and in just about any industry can leverage digital marketing to great effect. 

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Published: 18 June 2024 Contributors: Molly Hayes, Amanda Downie

Digital marketing refers to the use of digital technologies and platforms to promote products, services or concepts to potential customers. It encompasses a wide range of marketing techniques that are intended to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads and increase customer conversion rates. 

Digital marketing, sometimes referred to as online marketing, is often the first point of contact in the customer experience . It uses various strategies and tools to reach and engage targeted audiences or organizations through the internet and electronic devices. These digital marketing channels include, but are not limited to:

• Social media channels
• Mobile apps
• Online advertising
• Augmented reality  (AR) and virtual reality (VR)
• Search engines
• SMS text messages

While specific practices might look slightly different depending on an organization’s model, both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) companies rely heavily on digital marketing.

Generally, B2B commerce involves a longer decision-making process and might involve a broader team of stakeholders. B2C commerce, by contrast, tends to be more personal and its consumers more impulsive. Nonetheless, Gartner has estimated that by 2025, 80% of commerce between businesses will take place digitally  (link resides outside ibm.com). Given this, digital marketing is essential for lead generation and customer retention for B2B organizations.

Since its emergence in the 1990s  as an outgrowth of a growing ecommerce landscape, digital marketing has changed the way brands advertise across channels and what consumers expect from those brands. In the modern digital landscape, big data analytics tools are typically used to accurately and efficiently identify potential audiences.

Concurrently, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) , machine learning  (ML) and associated technologies have transformed the digital marketing landscape, paving the way for more advanced personalization practices and intelligent digital marketing campaigns. Today, businesses use marketing automations , AI-assisted virtual agents and generative content products to attract customers and nurture potential leads.

Register now: Personalization at scale

The evolution of digital marketing is closely interwoven with the development of the internet and online technologies. Where traditional marketing relied heavily on individual salespeople, mass advertising practices like billboards and tactics like cold calling, digital marketing efforts have matured to center around personalization and customer convenience.

In the early days of the internet, digital marketing pioneers like AT&T created the first clickable digital ads 1 . As search engines proliferated through the mid- to late-1990s, businesses began optimizing their web pages to gain visibility and drive traffic to their websites. These were the first instances of search engine optimization (SEO) .

In the 2000s, social media platforms became a crucial tool for real-time advertising, generating opportunities for further interactivity and collaboration between individuals and brands. Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) was founded in 2000, introducing a pay-per-click (PPC) model that allowed businesses to bid on keywords, only paying when their ads were clicked.

With the mass adoption of smartphones, mobile marketing became essential, offering opportunities for more targeted advertising and consumer engagement. This was accompanied by a new frontier in big data as organizations gained the ability to analyze large swaths of data to create personalized advertising campaigns.

Concurrently, in the 2010s, programmatic advertising enabled automated, real-time bidding on advertising, increasing the efficiency and precision of online ads. During this period, more sophisticated social media channels enabled marketing campaigns like influencer marketing and eventually, live social marketing on platforms like TikTok.

Today, digital marketing is omnipresent. Rather than focusing on a single channel of communication such as social media or email marketing, large organizations tend to be active across dozens of integrated channels concurrently. Technological advancements such as AI, advanced sentiment analysis, interactive content and voice search-enabled smart devices have been infused into existing digital marketing practices to create a complex and dynamic modern marketing ecosystem.

There are many forms of digital marketing; typically, an organization engages in several forms concurrently, crafting cohesive messaging that’s tailored-made for each channel or campaign. Organizations also combine digital marketing strategies into hybrid marketing plans.

For instance, a digital content marketing campaign might take advantage of SEO practices and solicit customer feedback on social media channels. This is to help ensure that its material is relevant and more likely to be viewed.

Search engine optimization is a digital strategy in which an organization optimizes webpages to rank as highly as possible in a search engine results page (SERP). The goal of an SEO strategy is to increase the quantity and quality of organic (unpaid) traffic to a website from search engines. This involves researching keywords specific to a search term and relevant to consumers, and then using techniques involving headings, titles, backlinks and metadata to help the content rank highly.

Search engine marketing is similar to SEO in that it aims to increase the number of internet users who come across a piece of content when using a search engine. However, unlike SEO it is a form of paid advertising. Google Ads, which allows organizations to buy search results based on keywords and displays them at the top of a page in a designated advertising module, is a prominent example of SEM.

With a content marketing strategy, an organization creates relevant content distinct from an advertisement. Such as a white paper, podcast, infographic or blog—to attract a specific audience, encourage engagement and build trust. With content marketing, a company can promote brand awareness, establish thought leaders and industry experts from its employees and remain top-of-mind when consumers are looking to buy.

Social media marketing uses various social networks—for example TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn—to promote an organization’s outlook and engage followers.

Typically, successful social media marketing campaigns do more than advertise goods and services. With an effective social media strategy, a brand can remain in ongoing conversations with its followers. It can also stay on top of trends in real-time and analyze performance metrics to build trust and continuously optimize its customer-facing practices.

When the term 'mobile marketing' was first in use, this referred to marketing conducted over a mobile device using simple text messaging. Since the advent of smartphones, mobile marketing refers to more than basic text messages.

Today, mobile marketing engages potential customers across myriad digital platforms. It includes sophisticated SMS and MMS communications, the use of apps and app push notifications, and mobile-only promos and commerce opportunities. While simpler than other forms of digital marketing, it is considered highly effective as a marketing channel that can reach consumers in a way they are accustomed to communicating every day. 

PPC advertising is a form of digital marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time a consumer interacts with an ad. These ads can be video advertisements, ads displayed in a search engine, or embedded content on a social media platform. As this form of marketing is paid rather than organic, organizations typically closely track metrics such as the click-through-rate to help ensure that PPC advertising is meeting key performance indicators (KPIs).

Though one of the most enduring forms of digital marketing, email marketing has significantly evolved since the first organizations sent messages to consumers advertising a set of goods or services. Today, email marketing, assisted by automation and generative AI, can create personalized content for individual customers based on their preferences and purchase histories.

Common types of email marketing campaigns include postpurchase follow-ups and reminders after a customer has abandoned an item in a shopping cart. Content marketing strategies might also be deployed over email, encouraging customers to sign up for an email newsletter or listen to the latest episode of a podcast.

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where organizations reward partners, or affiliates, for driving traffic or sales through their promotional efforts. Typically, an organization recruits an affiliate with an established platform to promote their business to a relevant audience. Using a unique code or URL, the organization can track how many conversions resulted from the partnership, paying the affiliate a rate based on how many items were sold. 

Influencer marketing is similar to affiliate marketing, but rather than engaging in a profit-sharing agreement based on conversions, an influencer is typically paid a flat fee. An influencer might craft a sponsored post to promote a singular good or service. They might also post a paid product review on a platform such as TikTok, or continue an ongoing relationship with an organization as a brand ambassador.

Typically, organizations engaging with influencers research extensively to help ensure the individual advertising their goods has a following that significantly overlaps with their target audience. 

In chatbot marketing , automated computer programs interact with potential customers. They can be integrated into nearly any website, social media platform or mobile app, turning any point of contact into a marketing platform. They can also be deployed over text message to reach a customer wherever they are most engaged.

Chatbots are programmed to answer commonly asked questions and provide information about a product or service. They can also provide personalized recommendations based on previous conversations with a potential consumer, engaging a lead and ushering them through the moment of conversion. While still effective, these basic chatbots are rapidly being replaced by more high-functioning AI-powered virtual assistants . 

Conversational AI powers marketing technologies similar to chatbots, but that are able to understand more complex queries and learn over time.

These virtual agent technologies (VAT) combine natural language processing, intelligent search and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to deliver highly personalized experiences and facilitate higher conversion rates. These technologies can be deployed to enhance sales funnels and improve lead generation, typically by qualifying leads and completing transactions in a retail environment.

Some potential use cases for these technologies include:

• Virtual assistants suggesting personalized packages, such as travel arrangements that include airfare and hotel, based on consumer criteria
• Lead-generation chatbots that engage website visitors in real-time, explain the value of a product in natural language or help customers find a specific product based on their questions 

As in other aspects of the customer experience, over time digital marketing has embraced personalization. Generative AI—artificial intelligence that can create high-quality original content—has had a significant impact on digital marketing.

Using generative AI, organizations can now rapidly create specific messages to resonate with a singular audience. This might include using AI to write website copy, email newsletters or engage in other forms of content creation.

Algorithms are also used to surface particular goods and services an individual might be interested in purchasing, or recommend customized products based on a natural language search.

By intelligently creating personalized messaging for consumers, organizations can generate leads and engage potential customers more efficiently and in a more cost-effective way. 

Digital marketing automation allows organizations to manage routine tasks across channels by using software.

Some of these tasks include the A/B testing of content marketing headlines, automatically sending follow-up emails to leads, or collect and analyze website metrics.

Using machine learning, marketing departments can also automate such formerly time-consuming processes as SEO keyword research or the bidding process central to pay-per-click advertising. Digital marketing historically involved some routine tasks, such as collating audience data or sending reminder messages. Automation has been instrumental in freeing up digital marketing teams to focus on more valuable and creative work.

Marketing automation software also improves lead generation tasks and drives positive customer experiences. 

In recent years, digital marketing campaigns have relied heavily on audience segmentation, a practice in which organizations identify subgroups within a target audience.

This allows businesses to develop marketing plans tailored to highly specific demographics. Using predictive analytics , businesses can merge audience data with third-party datasets to model and forecast consumer behavior, allowing them to more accurately advertise to potential customers.

AI has the capacity to enhance both these practices , more effectively analyzing consumer information to group customers into precise categories and make data-driven models of future behavior. 

Digital marketers use various technologies to run, analyze and optimize digital marketing campaigns. These tools enable marketers to reach their target audiences effectively, measure campaign performance and enhance customer engagement. Commonly used tools include:

Marketing automation platforms use software and technology to manage routine marketing processes and tasks across multiple channels. These platforms can automate repetitive tasks such as publishing social media posts and sending emails to consumers. Examples include Marketo and Watson Campaign Automation .

CRM systems such as HubSpot and Salesforce help organizations manage interactions with potential customers by organizing customer data, tracking points of contact, and automating key follow-up processes. 

SEO tools—for example, Google Search Console—perform site audits, provide keyword research and analyze competitors to help marketers optimize their websites to rank higher in search engine results. 

CMS tools allow organizations to create, manage and publish digital content—typically without extensive technical knowledge. Examples include Adobe Experience Manager and WordPress. 

Analytics tools track and analyze website and campaign performance—such as traffic to a page or conversion rates—to provide actionable insights into user behavior and marketing effectiveness. Examples include Mixpanel and Adobe Analytics.

AI and machine learning are increasingly used as part of an effective digital marketing strategy to enhance personalization, predict user behavior, and automate routine digital marketing tasks. Tools such as  IBM watsonx™ Assistant help organizations create conversational AI platforms. 

An effective digital marketing strategy can dramatically increase conversions, generate new leads, and facilitate enduring customer relationships. Some of the benefits of digital marketing include:

Digital marketing tends to provide a greater return on investment, largely due to its lower cost and precise targeting in comparison to traditional forms of marketing.

Digital marketing tactics both use and generate vast amounts of data, which allows organizations to track campaign performance in detail and make informed decisions. 

Advanced targeting and audience analytics allows digital marketers to advertise to granular populations with specific demographics, interests and behaviors, helping ensure efforts reach exactly the most relevant audiences. 

Digital marketing allows small businesses or local companies to reach a global audience, expanding market potential. 

Digital marketing facilitates direct, conversational interaction with consumers through social media, reviews and personalized communication, deepening the relationships between consumers and a brand. 

A digital campaign can be rapidly modified and optimized based on performance data, current market conditions or unforeseen variables. This can look like a quick ramp-up with easier scalability, or earlier testing and faster learning in order to gauge the effectiveness of a particular campaign. The agility of digital marketing allows teams to better adapt or flex to current demands.

Digital marketing can involve communicating with consumers over 20 or 30 campaigns , each delivered to different audiences across multiple digital marketing channels. Transparent and open communication is required to coordinate between departments and help ensure that messaging remains both cohesive and specific to an individual platform and audience. 

The digital media landscape is crowded, and consumers make split-second choices about where to turn their attention. In the vast ecosystem of digital marketing departments, many organizations retain social media managers and other professionals with specialized digital marketing skills. Successful organizations stand out by providing the most relevant and unique experiences possible for potential customers and leads.  

Particularly in the age of AI and other rapid innovations—for example, augmented realty (AR) and voice search—digital marketing works most effectively with constant iteration and agile teams. Marketing managers and organizations at large might find themselves pivoting quickly to respond to new consumer tendencies or emerging platforms.

Today’s digital marketing landscape traffics in vast troves of data —both consumer data and third-party data. Evolving regulations and shifting practices might dictate how this information can be gathered and stored, requiring careful attention to compliance. Also, consumers in this era are more fluent with digital data practices than ever before, and organizations need to do more to earn and keep customer trust.

The powerful IBM® chatbot marketing software uses AI to help marketers improve customer experiences, boost lead generation, and drive commerce with fast, personalized customer support.

Working at the intersection of strategy, design and technology, IBM Consulting® helps the world’s most influential companies create better experiences, products and services that reinvent their relationships with customers and employees.

Together, IBM and Adobe deliver trusted, AI-powered experiences that delight customers across every digital touchpoint. Our experts help you use our partner's technology to create tailored solutions specific to your business—making every interaction personal.

A bundled technology and services offering that enables marketers to deliver brand-compliant content through foundation models and customized UI that seamlessly integrates with ISV marketing tools and platforms.

To help CEOs stay on top of the fast-shifting changes, the IBM Institute for Business Value released a series of targeted, research-backed guides to generative AI. Read part four, on customer and employee experience.

See watsonx Assistant in action on Lendyr Bank's fictional website by trying a series of guided tours.

Explore how generative AI supercharges creativity and productivity in an ever-expanding world of content.

Infusing generative AI into the content supply chain enables companies to produce more personalized content faster and more efficiently. Explore what has historically stopped them from delivering content with generative AI.

IBM becomes data driven and client-first when IBM Consulting uses Adobe Experience Cloud to optimize people, processes and technology platforms.

To help the US Open stay on the cutting edge of customer experience, IBM Consulting worked closely with the USTA to develop generative AI models that transform tennis data into insights and original content.

Build an AI strategy for your business on one collaborative AI and data platform—IBM watsonx. Train, validate, tune and deploy AI models to help you scale and accelerate the impact of AI with trusted data across your business.

1  “ The first-ever banner ad: Why did it work so well? ” (link resides outside ibm.com), The Guardian, 12 December 2013.

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Home » Digital Marketing » What is Digital Marketing

What is Digital Marketing? – Features, Tools Importance, & More

Marketing is all about connecting your brand with your audience by being in the right place at the right time. Every company is taking their business digital or at least promoting their business on various social media channels as it offers high growth potential. 

Did you know that there are about 5 billion global internet users as of 2022, which is a 400 million jump from 2021? About 89% of internet users go online at least once a day, and 31% are online almost all the time. This means that every time a person is using their phone, they are away from the offline world of marketing and exploring the digital world of marketing. Today, let’s learn about digital marketing, its types, its fundamentals, and more.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is also known as online marketing. It refers to the use of digital channels to market products and services in order to reach consumers. This type of marketing involves the use of websites, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other similar channels.

According to Google, about 88 percent of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a related store in the next week. Let’s understand the fundamentals of digital marketing with an example – 

For a minute, try to recall the last important purchase you made. It can be something big like a home or something small like hiring a plumber, or maybe you changed the lunch suppliers at your office.

Regardless of what it was, you probably began by searching the Internet to learn more about the available options, the businesses that provide the exact product or service you needed, and how much it would cost. Your ultimate buying decision was then based on the reviews you read, the friends and family you consulted, and the solutions, features, and pricing you researched.

The important thing to note is that all of this was done online. In today’s world, most purchasing decisions begin online. This means an online presence is absolutely necessary, regardless of what you sell. So, how do you create a presence online?

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Evolution of Digital Marketing

The advent of digital marketing can be traced back to the 1990s. Since then, it has evolved into one of the most popular marketing fields. Let us discuss the timeline of this evolution.

• The Beginning: 90s Era

In the early 1990s, Archie, the first search engine came into being followed by search engine optimization (SEO). In 1994, the first clickable web ad banners were launched. It was in 1997 that a social media site-like website was launched. By 1998, we had Google and Yahoo’s web search engine. 

• Millennial Era

Several new sites launched in the 2000s, such as LinkedIn (2002), Myspace (2003), WordPress (2003), and Facebook (2004). This is also the time when mobile text messaging marketing is becoming popular. 

• The Mobile Era

The era saw an increase in marketing and sales activities with Amazon being a pioneer in the e-commerce industry. Further, the mobile app culture expanded, giving a push to digital media marketing. Apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp became popular during this time. 

• Present Scenario

Today, the majority of the activities happen through digital media. There is a rise in influencers and bloggers who have become an integral part of the digital marketing space. With the digital advertising industry already valued at around $200 billion, it is expected to grow even more in the future.

Types of Digital Marketing

Here is a list of different types of digital marketing to help you get started.

1. SEO – Search engine optimization , or SEO, is technically a marketing tool rather than a form of marketing in itself. It is basically used to optimize your website so it appears on the first page when someone searches for a product or service that you offer. It can also help convert organic traffic into potential leads using different types of SEO techniques. Here is a quick abbreviation to remember the main process of SEO – R.O.C.K.E.T.

R – Research

O – Optimization

C – Content with good quality

K – Keywords

E – Earn the social media support

T – Test the website

Also, learn the importance of SEO in digital marketing.

2. Social Media Marketing – In simple terms, social media marketing means creating awareness about your brand by engaging with people through your online social business handles. 

3. Email Marketing – The concept of email marketing is simple, you send promotional emails to your audience and hope that your prospect clicks on them to buy your products or services. It is the process of sending commercial messages like discounts, sale alerts, new product launches, etc. in the form of emails to your customers to get their attention. There are three types of email marketing : email newsletters, transactional emails, and behavioral emails.

4. Pay-Per-Click Advertising – In Pay-Per-Click, or PPC, brands pay a fee when someone clicks on their digital ads. This enables brands to pay for only those ads that actually bring in some traction or revenue for the business. Otherwise, brands have to pay high rates for ads that people might not even see or click. 

5. Content Marketing – Content marketing refers to the creation and sharing of quality content online. It focuses on producing relevant and informative content for the brand’s target audience. It includes blog posts, e-books, newsletters, video or audio transcripts, whitepapers, infographics, etc.

6. Affiliates – Affiliate marketing lets you make money by promoting another person’s business. For instance, Amazon’s affiliate marketing program is one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing programs. In this, creators, publishers, and bloggers sign up to have Amazon products and services shared on their websites or apps, and in return, receive compensation for the sales their sites generate.

7. Native Advertising – Native advertising is digital marketing in disguise. Its goal is to blend in with its surrounding content so that it’s less obvious as advertising. For example, Twitter hashtags, Instagram and Snapchat story filters, etc.

8. Influencer Marketing – Like affiliate marketing, influencer marketing relies on working with an influencer (an individual with a large following), such as a celebrity, industry expert, or content creator, in exchange for exposure.

9. Marketing Automation – Marketing automation uses software to power digital marketing campaigns, improving the efficiency and relevance of advertising.

10. Mobile Marketing – Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that allows you to engage with your target audience on their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This can be via SMS and MMS messages, social media notifications, mobile app alerts, and more.

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

It is safe to say that digital marketing can work for any business regardless of the industry or what the company sells. This is because digital marketing involves building buyer personas to identify your audience’s needs and creating valuable online content. This, however, does not mean that the same digital marketing strategy will work for all businesses. Here’s how different businesses mold digital marketing strategies to their advantage.

• B2B Digital Marketing –

Just like in traditional marketing, the first thing you need to do is define your goals for digital marketing. In the case of business-to-business (B2B), digital marketing is done to generate online leads with the end goal of a prospective customer talking to a salesperson. 

• B2C Digital Marketing –

If you are running a business-to-consumer (B2C) company, your digital marketing efforts will be spent on creating awareness and encouraging people to visit your website. Here, they will convert from prospective leads to customers without ever needing to talk to a salesperson. 

In B2C business, you are less likely to focus on ‘leads’ in their traditional sense and more likely to build an accelerated buyer’s journey from when someone lands on your website to when they make a purchase.

Now that we understand a little more about the meaning of digital marketing and the fundamentals of digital marketing for various businesses, let’s look at the various features of digital marketing.

Features of Digital Marketing

Now let’s discuss about what are some features that make digital marketing widely popular.

Flexibility – Digital marketing can be done in various ways. These include email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, banner ads, etc. It completely depends on the user and their needs.

Affordability – The methods of digital marketing are reasonable as compared to other methods of marketing. The expenses of advertisements are also low in digital marketing. 

Expansion – Digital marketing attracts customers who mostly shop online. Your products and services can be advertised through paid campaigns, which will help you drive relevant traffic to your website quickly.

Interactivity – Digital marketing allows you to receive reviews, comments, and feedback from the customer. This will help you gain customer trust and bring transparency.

Tracking – It tracks the most successful campaign. So, it makes it easy for people to focus on the area which is bringing more traffic to the site and enhancing the efforts over there. It also gives you insight on communication. Rework can be done if the techniques are not beneficial. 

Explore the top 9 benefits digital marketing for business .

Importance of Digital Marketing

Let’s discuss the importance of digital marketing in business building.

1. Affordability

Digital marketing is much more affordable than other forms of marketing. It spends less amount of money on advertisements and sponsorships. 

2. High Reach

Digital marketing has an astonishingly high reach, which can help brands reach a global audience quickly.

3. Increases the ROI

Digital marketing helps increase the ROI (return on investment). It helps you keep a track of the profits and losses that are generated from various digital marketing campaigns. These reports help companies understand how well their digital campaigns are doing. 

4. Brand Awareness

Digital marketing helps create brand awareness among relevant audiences. 

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy?

To reap the benefit of the time, effort, and money put into marketing a brand, we need to strategize well. Here are some steps to create a digital marketing strategy:

The first step is to research the landscape well. You need to identify and analyze your competitors, the work they are doing in the digital space, and how well they are performing. You also need to know more about your potential customers by studying their demographics, interests, and behavior. Do not forget to evaluate your previous strategies to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated again.

Be clear about what you are aiming for and how you wish to achieve it. Set a larger goal and smaller objectives for easy planning and execution. Decide if you are seeking to increase brand awareness, number of followers, or conversion. 

• Define Target Audience

The brands do not aim toward everyone and anyone but have a specific target audience that they wish to attract through their digital marketing campaign. Creating a buyer persona will help you understand the audience better and identify the target audience for your brand. 

• Build a Content Strategy

Look at your objectives and the target audience and curate a content strategy accordingly. For content-related ideas, you can research your competitors and customers, check Google search suggestions, trending hashtags, etc. You will also need to plan what kind of content will work for your brand and how much content is required. 

• Select Channels and Tactics

You need to select what digital channels you will use for marketing your brand. Select the channel that is likely to give favorable results to you. The tactics that you will use should also be in line with your brand’s image. You do not want to spend time creating a video for a channel where normal posts fare better. 

It is important that you set key performance indicators or metrics for your strategy to analyze its performance. Keep your goal in mind and select these metrics accordingly. For example, if you wish to focus on brand awareness, then your KPIs would be engagement rates and impressions. 

• Incorporate Best Practices

Ensure that you incorporate the best practices in your strategy. The digital marketing field witnesses many changes frequently. To keep your strategy up-to-date, follow the trends and include the ones best fit for your campaign in your strategy. 

• Analyze and Optimize Your Strategy

Once your strategy is in place and your campaign is running, do not forget to analyze it. This practice will give you insights into what is working for you and what is not. Therefore, you can make the necessary adjustments and optimize your strategy for better results.

Traditional Marketing Vs Digital Marketing

Now let’s talk about traditional marketing vs digital marketing and which one you should choose for your business:

Tools of Digital Marketing

The following are the common digital marketing tools .

1. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of the top email marketing tools in the world. It has more than 12 million customers. You can have 2000 subscribers for free on MailChimp and has self-service support to make it easy to find all the answers to your questions.

The HubSpot CRM provides email tracking and notifications, prospect tracking, meeting scheduling, and a live chat option. It is also free of cost.

It is one of the best tools for brainstorming keyword ideas or opportunities. This tool allows you to check any URL’s top organic keywords. It also estimates the traffic a competitor can receive for any given search term and can also identify a site’s top-performing content.

SEMrush tracks the volume of your priority keywords and suggests new keywords for better reach.

5. Screaming Frog

It is an advanced SEO site audit tool. It crawls websites and gives on-page SEO elements. You can review the website’s optimized title tags and meta descriptions and improve SEO drastically with this tool. It diagnoses URL errors in real time. You can crawl up to 500 URLs for free using this tool.

B2B Vs B2C Digital Marketing

The following are the differences between B2B and B2C digital marketing. 

The 5 D’s of Digital Marketing

Here are the 5 D’s of digital marketing.

1. Digital Devices

These are the main assets of the digital services. You can freely access the services available online if you are equipped with digital devices such as television, desktop, laptop and smartphones etc. 

2. Digital Platforms

Digital platforms such as social media applications like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter have broadened the reach of digital marketing at a brisk pace because they have been used daily by the masses. These platforms act as a medium between companies and customers.

3. Digital Media

Digital media or electronic media uses electronic devices for distribution. 

4. Digital Data

 It is a type of electronic representation in a format language that only machines can understand.

5. Digital Technology

It is the electronic tools, devices, systems, and resources that generate and store data or are able to process the data.

Digital Marketing Career Scope

Digital marketing offers a huge career scope. According to the Goldman Sachs report, companies will invest more than $160 billion in digital marketing by the year 2025. Following is a list of jobs you can pursue after completing a digital marketing course –

• Digital Marketer
• SEO Executive
• Google Ads Specialist
• Email Marketing Specialist
• Web Analyst
• Paid Advertising Manager
• Social Media Manager
• Digital Branding Head

Salary in Digital Marketing

Do you know your salary can vary from company to company even if you are in the same location? Yes, it’s true! Check out this digital marketing salary data from Google to understand this better:

• The future in digital marketing is incredible, and so is income.
• The average salary of Google digital marketing Managers in India is ₹ 18.9 Lakhs per year.
• The salary of a digital marketing Manager at Google is between ₹ 4 Lakhs to ₹ 36 Lakhs per year.

Digital marketing makes gathering customer data easy which ultimately helps organizations to easily understand buyer behavior and make accurate forecasting decisions. It is a vast subject that goes beyond the points discussed above. You should learn digital marketing to develop a digital marketing strategy that puts you in all the places where your followers are already hanging out. It is one of the primary focuses of almost any business as it is vital for a company’s growth.

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As the VP of Growth at Internshala, Ferhan has achieved remarkable success, specializing in marketing, B2B sales, and retention strategies. He's been a driving force behind substantial growth in both B2B and B2C sectors, earning recognition as an industry trailblazer. An avid gamer and anime enthusiast, he has a thirst for knowledge and a profound fascination with space and physics.

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