What is Digital Marketing?

As a marketer, you hear the term digital marketing passed around quite frequently, and if you're new to marketing or simply learning about the industry for personal reasons, you may not know exactly what that term entails. Well, I am here to explain it to you!

Digital marketing is much more than social media marketing - a discrepancy that might be unclear at first. According to Laurel Cook, a marketing expert, "digital marketing can be defined as an umbrella term that refers to the marketing of goods or services using digital media, such as email, websites, search engines, social, and mobile media platforms."

In other words, any type of marketing effort that utilizes a digital platform, whether that be on a computer, tablet, phone, etc., can be considered digital marketing. Even the ads you see along the sides of webpages, or the advertised websites at the top of a google search can be considered digital marketing. With this definition, it is easy to see how digital marketing expands beyond the boundaries of social media, although social media is still an important aspect of it.

Why is digital marketing so important?

After learning a little bit about what digital marketing is, you might find yourself wondering, why is it so important that I know what is up with this form of media? Well, in recent years digital media has surpassed traditional media - a trend that is expected to continue. On top of that, with the COVID-19 pandemic still limiting our ability to socialize, social media usage has increased A LOT.

What is the benefit of digital marketing?

As discussed briefly in another Digital Marketing Series blog post, data is a huge advantage of digital media. Marketers can very easily track how long a post is viewed, if a link is clicked, if a message is opened, and more. The list goes on and on, and from this data, marketers know just about everything about you. With the plethora of information supplied from digital marketing, brands can break down their target market beyond basic demographics. They can then use this data to create a very detailed persona that represents their target audience. Brands can use this persona to create targeted messages that their audience will respond to, therefore improving their strategy.

Additionally, most digital marketing techniques allow marketers to reach their audience very effectively. As stated above, there are large numbers of people accessing digital media. Oftentimes, these people access the media on a daily basis. Digital marketing platforms allow marketers to target consumers that match the profile of their target audience members. This is a huge advantage digital marketing holds to traditional media, such as print, where the message can be less targeted.

While there are so many more advantages to digital marketing, I do not have time to go into detail about each one. As I suggest to any marketer, make sure you do your research! Digital platforms like Google, YouTube, and Social Media sites are gold mines of information about anything and for everyone. Get in, and start digging!

Source: Laurel Cook, Ph.D., Associate Professor at WVU, link to her website http://www.laurel-cook.com/