Digital Marketing is everywhere online. Whether we realize it or not. Digital Marketing is an umbrella term for all efforts by marketers to sell products or services using the internet.

Its underlying intent is identical to that of newspaper or TV ads: to sell a product or service and help build brand image.

Then why digital marketing?

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Because the world is increasingly digital. Nearly one in four retail sales in the US takes place digitally today, with this number growing significantly. 

Marketing on a digital platform also yields two substantial advantages to marketers: Targeted reach, which means potential customers can be identified and targeted better by brands. 

And quick measurability, which reveals a campaign’s performance in real-time to inform dynamic course correction.

Although digital marketing has been around since the 1990s, evolution of social media today has vastly widened its scope to sell.

So, what channels are most effective in digital marketing?

1.Email Marketing

Everybody has an email id. And emails are free and easy to send. This makes email marketing an effective medium. Emails are also the oldest form of digital marketing, and offer great convenience to marketers.

Bulk email generators enable marketers to send emails to thousands of people at the click of a button. Think of the newsletter from a brand showcasing a recent collection. 

Or the email that nudges us to buy items in our shopping cart. And the email from a brand you bought many years ago, informing you of their collection this season. This is all email marketing.

Convenience and cost benefits apart, emails are preferred marketing channels because of the measurability they offer. Metrics like Open Rates and Click-Through Rates inform marketers instantly of an email’s reach.

2.Social Media Marketing

Social media like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are versatile marketing channels today. They enable both direct and indirect marketing methods.

Direct marketing is accomplished using ads, promotional offers and endorsements. These may be conducted on a brand’s account, or using affiliates and influencers.

Where social media scores is in its scope for nuanced selling and brand building. A lot of the social media content we consume could be digital marketing in disguise but resonate with readers at an emotional level. 

A key strategy used in social media is influencer marketing. This leverages the popularity of a social media personality to sell a product or service that aligns with their lifestyle.

This can build credibility for a brand, and lead to greater engagement and sale online.

This image was created with the assistance of DALL·E 3

Social media is reflective of consumer buying interests, trends and pain points. This can be used by brands to meet consumer needs better.

Such social media listening also helps understand public perception about the brand and its competitors. This is invaluable intel to enable product/service improvements and course correction in a company’s journey.

3.Search Engine Marketing

Let’s imagine you want to buy shoes, and have been searching options online. You will then notice ads on your Google searches for shoes that meet your criteria.

Even when you aren’t actively looking for them. This is because marketers are able to target you as potential customers and reach out to you with the shoe design you are looking for. 

This is a case of Search Engine Marketing. For any product or service, digital marketers are aware of the keywords that consumers are likely to use.

They then bid with Search Engines for their ads to appear when these keywords are used by consumers, and pay for every time their ad gets clicked.

This is Pay Per Click Advertising, and is highly effective since it taps into high-intent leads or consumers most likely to buy the product. 

Digital campaigns are dynamic, and often change course as per the results. SEM provides quantifiable information to inform such decisions, like the number of clicks for an ad, and number of actual purchases.

4.Content Marketing

Americans spend seven hours and three minutes online every day. That presents tremendous opportunities for marketers to sell us a product — also through text and audiovisual content.

Written content is commonly blogs, websites and publications on a product. Such content uses research and data to inform and entice consumers.

Podcasts, reels, explainer videos and tutorials are audio-visual content that marketers employ in their arsenal. 

Content Marketing is crucial for a Digital marketer because it engages the consumer for longer. Advertisements run the risk of being overlooked or ignored by consumers since their intent is obvious.

Content marketing, on the other hand, is immersive, and can resonate logically and emotionally. This offers better engagement and conversion.

5.Affiliate Marketing

Marketers adopt a performance-based pay model in this channel. This is by employing the services of affiliates who earn a commission for every sale they enable.

Affiliates can be persons with a substantial online presence through their newsletters or blogs.

They can also be companies like retailers, who sell multi-brand merchandise on their website. Rewards for these affiliates are based on the sales volume they accomplish. 

Affiliate Marketing leverages the reach of the affiliates, and improves brand exposure significantly for brands. It is also easily scalable, and has low upfront costs.

For these reasons, small businesses find it useful to include it in their digital marketing strategy.

Most digital marketing efforts today include these channels in their strategy. These do not operate in isolation though.

Marketers craft omnichannel marketing strategies, and often incorporate these channels to build engagement and drive sales. Brand identity, marketing requirement and target demographic determine the channels included in a campaign.