Whether you have a fully established business or a startup, digital marketing is no longer optional: it has become essential. In 2024, there were around 5.5 billion internet users in the entire world, showing the need for a digital presence.
Digital marketing provides all the necessary tools to create this online presence and connect with your intended audience.
Do you want to get a competitive edge in this era of the internet? In this guide, we break down what is digital marketing, how it works, its important types, and how it helps brands grow in the modern marketplace.
30-Second Summary
Digital marketing has become an integral skill to master for online presence and boosting your ranking. In this detailed blog, we explore what is digital marketing and how it is different from traditional and inbound marketing.
Learn about its benefits, different types, how it works, its role in the customer journey, metrics you need to track, taking services from a digital marketing agency, and the future of this evolving field.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing, sometimes called internet marketing or online marketing, includes all the marketing efforts that take place on the internet. Brands use different channels, such as search engines, websites, email, and social media, to engage with their prospective and current customer base.
Businesses promote their products and services through these channels to increase brand awareness, improve traffic, and achieve marketing goals.
In short, the digital marketing definition is using online tools and platforms to promote or sell services or products.
Why Digital Marketing Matters
Previously, businesses used to promote their services or products using traditional practices like billboards, radio, magazines, and newspapers. Now, the same businesses can connect with a global audience who use the internet through digital channels.
Moreover, analysts predict that global digital advertising spending will reach $870 billion by 2027. This staggering statistic shows the importance of investing in online marketing.
Digital Marketing Benefits
Below are some of the benefits of digital marketing.
Valuable Data
Digital marketing gives you access to understand your customers, analytics about their buying cycles, and what services or products they want. You can use this data to see what works and create a data-driven strategy.
Cost Efficiency
Digital marketing is more budget-friendly than traditional marketing methods like running ads on TV, in magazines, or on billboards. Even with platforms like pay-per-click (PPC), you only pay when someone clicks on the ad. Online marketing also has a high ROI.
Measurable Results
Digital marketing has a number of analytics opportunities. You can see the visits to your website, track conversions, and much more. These results give you plenty of insights about how to grow your business online efficiently.
Wide Reach
Unlike conventional marketing, digital marketing allows businesses to reach a global audience. As you are promoting your brand online, every user in the entire world who uses the internet can see and engage with it. By 2028, the number of internet users will reach 6 billion.
Easy Personalization
Businesses learn a lot about their ideal customer base through digital marketing campaigns. It makes personalizing the campaigns much easier. You can segment customers on the basis of their demographics and customize messages for every segment.
Greater Engagement
Businesses can use a combination of different online marketing channels to advertise their products or services and build brand loyalty. You can create a blog to show your expertise and engage your audience. As per HubSpot, 56% of people say they purchased from a business after reading a blog.
Difference between Digital and Traditional marketing
The goal of both marketing types is to promote products or services. However, the difference lies in how they reach the target audience.
| Aspect | Traditional Marketing | Digital Marketing |
| Channels | Print, TV, Radio, Billboards | Search engines, Social media, Email, Websites |
| Cost | Usually expensive | Often cost-effective |
| Reach | Limited and local | Global |
| Tracking | Difficult to measure | Easily measurable |
| Interaction | One-way | Two-way engagement |
Types of Digital Marketing
Below is a quick rundown of the most common types of digital marketing.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO refers to optimizing your content to make it rank on search engine pages. Through it, you can increase organic or free traffic to your website, blog, or infographic.
The different ways to approach SEO include the following.
On-Page SEO: This SEO type focuses on the content present “on the page” of your website. It requires keyword research and answering questions your audience is asking to rank high on search engines.
Off-Page SEO: This type focuses on “off the page” activity that impacts the ranking of your website. Off-page SEO deals with backlinking. The number of publishers that link with you and their authority determine your ranking.
Technical SEO: This type covers all the backend elements of your website, such as structured data, compressed images, and CSS file optimization. These elements increase the loading speed of your website, which is important in the eyes of search engines.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social media marketing includes promoting your business and content on different social channels for lead generation, engaging the audience, and building brand awareness.
You can also use different tools to connect all platforms in one place. In this way, scheduling and managing content for multiple channels and tracking their analytics become easier.
The platforms you can use for SMM are
- X
- Snapchat
According to marketers, the most ROI was generated through Facebook, followed by Instagram in 2024.
Content Marketing
In this type of digital marketing, you create content to grow traffic, build brand awareness, and generate leads. You can use the following channels for an effective content marketing strategy.
Blogs: Publishing articles on your website showcases your expertise and boosts organic traffic. It also gives you an opportunity to convert visitors into proper leads.
E-books and whitepapers: You can further educate the website visitors through long-form content, like e-books and whitepapers.
Infographics: Sometimes, visual content helps more. Through infographics, you can help visitors visualize a concept you want to educate them about.
Audio and visual content: Generating content in the form of audio or video is excellent to broaden your potential audience.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
PPC generates traffic to your website by paying a publisher every time an individual clicks on your ad. One of the most common types is Google Ads, where you pay to get top ad slots.
Other common PPC types include the following.
Ads on Facebook: You can pay to customize an image, a video, or a slideshow, which Facebook publishes to the newsfeeds of people who match your brand’s audience.
Ads on X: Users can pay to place posts or profile badges on the news feeds of a specific audience. The goal can be website traffic, tweet engagement, app downloads, or more followers.
Sponsored Messaging on LinkedIn: You can send messages directly to users based on their background and industry.
Affiliate Marketing
This is a performance-based advertisement. You get commissions when you promote someone else’s services or products.
Different affiliate marketing channels include
- Video ads through the YouTube Partner Program.
- Affiliate links on your blogs and websites.
- Affiliate links from your social media accounts.
Email Marketing
Emails are used to communicate with your audience. You can promote content, events, and discounts, and direct people to your company’s website.
The emails you send in a campaign are
- Promotions to loyalty program members.
- Follow-up emails to users who downloaded something from your website.
- Welcome emails to new customers.
- Blog subscription newsletters.
- Tips or other topics to nurture customers.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is ads that blend naturally with the format of your website instead of standing out like pop-ups or banners. These ads are content-led and get featured with other non-paid content.
For instance, Buzzfeed ads come under native advertising. Users also consider social media advertising, like on Facebook and Instagram, as native.
Marketing Automation
Marketing automation uses software to automate different marketing tasks. Many marketers can automate their basic marketing operations, which they otherwise do manually.
You can automate the following tasks.
- Email newsletters
- Social media post scheduling
- Campaign reporting and tracking
- Lead-nurturing workflows
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a method to attract, engage, and delight your clientele at every stage of their buyer’s journey. You can use a combination of all digital marketing tactics to create a successful customer experience.
Online PR
Online PR allows you to earn online coverage with different content-based websites. It is similar to traditional PR but in an online space. You can use the following channels to increase your PR efforts.
Reporter outreach through social platforms: You can engage with reporters and journalists on X to get media opportunities for your business.
Responding to online reviews about your company: Engaging with comments about your business, whether positive or negative, helps humanize your brand and protect its reputation.
Responding to comments on your blog or website: Responding to people who are reading your content is an excellent way to strike a productive conversation around your industry.
Sponsored Content
With sponsored content, you can pay another company or person to promote content that discusses your brand. Some common types of sponsored marketing are influencer marketing, blog posts, and articles highlighting your products or services.
Influencer Marketing
While influencer marketing is a type of sponsored content, the sudden rise of content creators and influencers has made it popular enough to discuss it separately.
In this marketing, a brand collaborates (or sponsors) with an influencer to publish videos and posts on social media, highlighting its products. According to marketers, Facebook and Instagram deliver the most ROI through influencer marketing.
Another trend is to collaborate with small-scale or niche influencers who have fewer than 100K followers. Marketers show most success with these influencers because they have tight-knit communities and trust from their followers.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM is a combination of SEO and paid advertising. In Search Engine Marketing, you can increase your website traffic by putting ads on search engines.
When a lead searches for a product or service related to yours, your business comes at the top. The two common SEM ads are Bing Ads and Google Ads.
Instant Messaging Marketing
Reaching your audience through mobile marketing is excellent, even for those who have not offered their phone number. You can SMS directly to a mobile phone or opt for Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
In this way, you can let your audience know about flash sales, new products, and the status of their orders.
Omnichannel Digital Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing, sticking to only one channel is not ideal for getting desired results. You need to use multiple channels to attract your intended audience.
Omnichannel marketing involves using multiple channels for digital marketing and creating a seamless experience across all of them.
For instance, a person finds you through a Google ad and visits your social media account. Then they sign up for your email mailing list. Now, if this experience from one channel to another is smooth, there is a high chance that they will buy from your business.
Digital marketers who use three or more channels see a 287% higher purchase rate. Start by identifying your customers and the platforms they use, then optimize those channels to provide a flawless experience.
How Digital Marketing Works
Digital marketing is a big field, covering multiple functions, from email marketing to website creation. There are four essential stages in a digital marketing strategy.
Strategic Planning
Digital marketers start by defining clear goals, such as generating more leads or growing website traffic. Then, they move to research and analysis to learn about the behaviors and preferences of their audience.
This approach allows them to understand what steps to take to connect with their intended clients and achieve their marketing goals.
Channel Activation
In this stage, digital marketers start creating and sharing content, including videos, blogs, social media posts, and ad copy to engage the audience.
This content is distributed strategically across different channels, such as search engines, email marketing lists, social platforms, and paid advertising networks.
Performance Monitoring
Marketers use different analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, social media insights, and other dashboards, that track the performance of the campaign in real-time.
Digital marketing experts analyze metrics like click-through rates, engagement rates, and website traffic to see what is performing effectively and what needs improvement.
Conversion Rate Optimization
This final stage is dedicated to continuous improvement. Marketers use all the insights they have gathered from analyzing data to refine their campaigns.
They try different tests, adjust targeting, and tweak other elements of the campaign to get better results and achieve more conversions.
This entire process of planning, optimizing, and improving is known as digital campaign management.
Inbound Marketing vs Digital Marketing
People confuse Inbound marketing and digital marketing, and for good reason. Both use similar tools (email and content) and have the same goal, i.e, to attract people and turn them into loyal customers.
However, these two are different, which is summed up in the table below.
| Aspect | Digital Marketing | Inbound Marketing |
| Focus | Uses online channels to promote products or services | Focuses on attracting and engaging customers through valuable content |
| Approach | Tool-driven; starts with the channel (social media, email, ads, etc.). | Goal-driven; begins with the objective, then selects the best tools to achieve it |
| Strategy | May use multiple platforms or focus on one | Takes a holistic view of the entire buyer’s journey |
| Example | Launching social media campaigns or email marketing campaigns | Creating SEO-optimized blogs and website landing pages to engage and convert individuals |
| Purpose | Turn prospective clients into loyal customers through digital channels | Builds long-term relationships by providing helpful and relevant content |
| Relationship Between the Two | Executes the marketing tactics | Provides structure and strategy for digital marketing efforts |
Digital Marketing in Customer Journey
Digital marketing is important for guiding the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase engagement.
Let’s see how multiple digital marketing channels come together through the eyes of a customer.
Awareness
Let’s say a customer is trying to find the ideal moisturizer for oily skin. They type “best moisturizer for oily skin” in search engines and see a brand at the top of search results due to the company’s SEM marketing. They click on it with curiosity.
Consideration
They land on the website where they come across helpful skincare content created by the marketing team. They browse through product images, descriptions, reviews, and blog posts about choosing the right products for every skin type. They keep browsing and comparing different options.
Decision
At this stage, the customer is impressed but still not ready to make a purchase. They sign up for the email newsletter to stay updated on any new products. When they browse the web for the next few days, they keep seeing ads from the same brand.
This is called remarketing or retargeting, where a customer sees targeted ads after they visited the website or engaged with its content. These ads are set by the company’s paid advertising team.
After some days, the customer gets a personalized email with a discount code for their first-time purchase.
Purchase
With the discount code, the customer finally makes their first purchase. After receiving the moisturizer, they are so happy with the results that they take a picture of the product and post a positive review about it.
The social media team of the company likes and comments on their review.
Loyalty
Even after buying, the customer keeps getting helpful skincare tips, invitations to different events, and sneak peeks of upcoming products. This approach creates a sense of connectedness, and the customer will stick with your company, buying products in the future as well.
This shows how a well-planned digital marketing strategy guides a customer from awareness to loyalty, turning one-time buyers into lifelong clients.
Metrics for Digital Marketing
Numbers often show the success of a digital marketing campaign. Some common KPIs include:
Click-through Rates (CTR): Click-through rates represent how many times people click on an ad or link compared to how many times it was shown. It is important to understand how appealing your content is to the audience.
Website Traffic: The number of people who visit your website is also crucial for its success. While traffic is not the end goal, it gives insights into the visibility and online presence of your brand.
Conversion Rates: A conversion is a desired action a user takes on your website, like making a purchase. Conversion rates tell how many people have taken these actions, showing if the website is effectively achieving its goals.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): CPA measures the cost of getting a new client through digital marketing efforts. This helps marketers evaluate their spending.
Return on ad spend (ROAS): ROAS shows how much money you earned compared to how much you spent on the ads. It helps marketers understand their campaign’s scalability and profitability.
Partnering with a Digital Marketing Agency
Although digital marketing is rewarding, you can face many challenges, such as a lack of time and resources, no prior knowledge of social media, and confusion about marketing strategy.
If you need extra support, you should opt for digital marketing services from an agency. An agency can:
- Provide you with the deep expertise and knowledge of a digital marketing consultant.
- Help you scale effortlessly.
- Give access to enterprise tools.
AI and Digital Marketing
We all know that AI is here to stay, and it assists marketers in many tasks. There are numerous ways AI can help digital marketers; however, the top 4 use cases are as follows.
- Using generative AI for content creation.
- Using generative AI to learn Excel, debug SQL code, etc.
- Using generative AI for data analysis and data reporting.
- Using generative AI for research, finding data sets, and summarizing articles.
This is why around 71.27% marketers say that AI has had a significant impact on their marketing roles.
The Future of Digital Marketing
The marketing landscape is constantly changing. The evolution of different digital platforms, AI-powered tools, and advanced analytics is redefining what successful strategies look like.
The majority of marketers have adapted to this change by building new skills to get more opportunities in the field.
Particularly, the integration of AI has changed the field significantly, as we discussed above. As more businesses rely on these advancements, digital marketers who keep learning will become more important.
In a Nutshell
Digital marketing has changed how businesses sell, grow, and communicate with their customers. From search engine optimization to content creation, it combines creativity and marketing analytics to deliver measurable success.
This guide comprehensively discusses what is digital marketing. Whether you are a beginner or a business ready to expand, learning fundamentals will help you thrive in the cutthroat market.
Ready to dive into the transforming digital world? Visit The Digital Advice for the latest updates.
FAQs
What is the difference between Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing?
Traditional marketing uses offline methods like TV, radio, and print ads, while digital marketing uses online methods like social media, websites, and email.
How is Digital Marketing Beneficial for Small Businesses?
Digital marketing for small businesses helps them reach more people and build brand awareness affordably. Small businesses can even compete with established brands using online presence and SEO.
What Skills do I need for a career in Digital Marketing?
You need skills in content creation, email marketing, SEO, PPC, data analysis, and social media management. You also need soft skills like creativity, communication, and analytical thinking.
How can I start Learning Digital Marketing for Free?
You can take free courses on Google Digital Garage, HubSpot Academy, and Coursera. Start by managing social media pages, creating blogs, and learning about Google Ads.
