The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is one of those things that is defined by anyone and everyone who uses it. Everyone has their own understanding of what marketing online is. One of the best definitions we have found comes from Neil Patel, a crazy successful digital marketing entrepreneur who has some incredible, user-friendly tips on how to delve into this exciting world.

Neil defines digital marketing as “Digital marketing is any form of marketing products or services that involves electronic devices.” He adds, “Digital marketing can be done both online and offline and both kinds matter for a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.”

You’re probably sitting there and thinking to yourself: Surely this isn’t accurate – why does Neil say that digital marketing can happen online as well as offline? Doesn’t digital marketing just happen online? Yes, this type of marketing happens predominantly online but offline means can be used to amplify the message. For example, if an online digital marketing campaign for a new product takes place an offline campaign to spread the message further, and get new markets, could be undertaken.

Some of the online digital marketing categories include SEO, content marketing, social media, email marketing and pay-per-click advertising. Some of the offline digital marketing categories include enhanced offline marketing, radio marketing, TV and telemarketing.

Why does digital marketing matter?

Digital marketing matters because we spend most of our lives online today. We sit in front of screens most of the day, and so are your clients. Therefore, you need to speak to people where they are at, which is online.

Digital marketing helps your clients to find you, notice you, get leads and turn those leads into sales. It helps create interest and awareness of your brand through videos, SEO and social media. It helps your customers to go from considering buying from you to making the sale through your website, email, and content marketing.

Your best digital marketing tools

1. Your website is arguably your best marketing asset. According to Blue Corona, “48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business.” Your website is your property online. It’s where you can put your content and don’t lose ownership of it. This makes it a valuable place for you as you are able to do what you want in this space according to your business needs.
2. Search engine marketing is how people find your website, so your SEO and content marketing needs to be on point to increase your ranking, increase organic traffic and eventually your sales:

• Search Engine Optimisation is about getting into your customer’s head. It’s about looking at who your customer is and making a prediction as to what they will be searching for when they want to find a product like yours.

To carry SEO out effectively, you will need to insert the keywords that they will be searching for into your website copy in as natural a way as possible.

• ‘Content marketing’ is defined as communicating your company or organisation’s message through various pieces of content. Although content marketing is most commonly thought about in terms of blogs and articles for PR purposes, pieces of content can also extend to videos, infographics and podcasts.

The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

There are a number of fundamentals of digital marketing that you need to master if you want to be able to reap the benefits of online marketing for your business. These are, for example:

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): SEO is all about correctly predicting what your customers will search for when looking for a company such as yours.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing is about using long-form content – such as eBooks and blog articles – to get your company’s messaging across. “However,” says Lia Marus: expert copywriter, content marketer as well as owner of LM Language Services, “many people make the mistake of thinking that content marketing is just about using written content in order to market your company. Yes, written content does play a huge part in content marketing however, material such as infographics, podcasts and videos play a very significant part in this type of digital marketing.”
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: With PPC advertising you effectively buy your place on the first page of Google for certain keywords. PPC can’t replace SEO because as soon as your put a stop to your PPC campaign you will lose your prime spot on the first page of Google.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Become an expert in digital marketing with the Digital School of Marketing’s Digital Marketing Course. After completing this course, you will be an SEO expert, social media marketing aficionado and an all-round digital marketer extraordinaire. If you are ready to learn digital marketing and propel yourself in the fastest-growing career of the century, then this course is just for you!

Alternatively, if content marketing is more up your alley, DSM’s Digital Copywriting and Content Marketing Course will teach you everything that you need to know about how to use content to portray your brand’s story in the best possible way. For more information about this and our other digital marketing courses, please visit our website.