What Is Digital Marketing, And How Do I Get Started?

In today’s day and age, marketing your content on social media and online has become integral to every company’s functioning. Your sales and profits depend on your online marketing strategies to a large extent. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people are taking digital marketing training online. Hundreds of online courses are providing digital marketing training through their websites and servers. The Google digital marketing course is one such example. Here, we will learn more about digital marketing and how to get started in the field.

What is digital marketing?

The concept of digital marketing is straightforward. Any form of online marketing and advertising comes under the ambit of digital marketing. Social media marketing, blogging, clickbait advertisements etc. are some of the most common digital marketing forms. It involves selling a product or service in minimum words and space. However, the ad or title or heading should be attractive enough to woo the potential consumer to click on your service and hopefully becomes a customer. 

What are digital marketing assets?

Several tools are available online, which can act as digital marketing assets. Some of these tools include –

1. Websites or blogs
2. Logos, trademarks, acronyms
3. Online products
4. Original video and photo content
5. Written content
6. Reviews by customers
7. Social media handles

This list is not rigid in any sense. With developing technology and innovative ideas, people are continually creating new and different forms of digital marketing. Advertising through famous brand ambassadors is also becoming a trend. Promoting your service or products on platforms like YouTube is also gaining traction.

What are the different types of strategies for digital marketing?

Some of the most popular digital marketing strategies are –

1. Paid search advertising – entails portraying paid ads on google, yahoo, Bing and other such platforms to accumulate more views and actions on your website and lure in potential customers.
2. Search engine optimisation – includes ranking pages, blogs, and titles to improve your organic ranking on streaming platforms and search engines.
3. Paid social media advertising – encompasses displaying your ads on social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. A subset of this method is paying influencers famous on these platforms and advertising your products through them. 
4. Social media marketing can also expand their business on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram to broaden their audience. Millennials and Gen Z kids are more likely to access your products and services through these social media platforms. 
5. Email marketing – is the veteran when it comes to digital marketing. Approaching potential customers by sending them offers and discounts through emails is one of the most reliable and efficient digital marketing ways. 

How do I get started?

There are numerous ways to undertake digital marketing campaigns. Some of the most important decisions to make when you start digital marketing are – 

1. Return on interest – You need to determine how much you are spending on online marketing and how much you are getting in return. If you are spending more on digital marketing, than the revenue you are receiving, you might need to rethink your online strategy. 
2. Know your audience – You must know your target audience before undertaking digital marketing strategies. Your campaign would be designed according to the audience you are targeting. Online advertisements targeting children would be very different in approach than ads which are targeting older adults.  
3. Worth of your customers – If you are engaged in a business-to-business industry, then this point is crucial for you. You have to divide your time and effort between different companies according to the companies’ remuneration. If you are not generating any income by advertising to a particular company, you should divert your marketing to other potential buyers.
4. How much do you intend to earn – You have to set a standard value of your target sales per month. If your current digital advertising strategies do not yield the desired amount of revenue, you again need to rethink your online marketing strategy.  

Where to learn?

There are a plethora of websites providing digital marketing training online. One factor you should look at before taking online courses is the digital marketing course cost. To gain a fundamental understanding of the concept, you do not need to spend a large amount of money on the course. Google digital marketing course is a free online course on the topic of digital marketing available online.