Digital Marketing, what is it and how does it work

Digital marketing is one of the most exciting and effective ways to promote and grow a business. Instead of relying on traditional marketing methods, such as print ads and television advertising, digital marketing takes advantage of technology to reach specific online audiences.
Escrito por
Javier Domínguez
Fecha de Publicación
11/17/2024

Digital Marketing refers to the strategy and set of actions to promote and advertise products, services or brands using digital media and online channels. In contrast to traditional marketing, which is based on channels such as television, radio or print media, digital marketing takes advantage of digital platforms and technologies to reach the target audience more precisely and effectively in the virtual environment.

Digital Marketing encompasses a wide range of activities and approaches, ranging from website creation and social media management to search engine optimization, online advertising, email marketing, content generation and more. The essence of digital marketing lies in establishing a significant and relevant online presence, interacting with the public in a more direct and personalized way, and measuring results in detail to continuously adjust and improve strategies.

Why is Digital Marketing important?

Digital marketing allows you to adapt and adjust your marketing strategies to reach specific segments of your audience, even targeting individual customers. Instead of targeting massive, indistinct and generalized audiences, you can focus your efforts on reaching those demographics and niches that show a greater interest in your messages.

Customer information is of great importance because it gives you the possibility to divide your audiences and create content specially designed for each one. In addition to the data you collect directly, you can also make use of information from other sources.

After obtaining this data, it is possible to create highly specific audiences and develop personalized marketing campaigns for each one. Then, it is possible to further refine these campaigns according to the expressed interests or online behaviors of each user. In this way, each customer will perceive that they are receiving a message that is unique and relevant to them.

Digital marketing is important because it helps (but is not limited to) the following points:

Global Reach

The digital world eliminates geographical barriers, allowing companies to reach audiences around the world relatively easily. This is essential for expanding a brand's reach and reaching wider markets.

Precise Segmentation

Digital marketing allows you to target specific audiences based on demographics, online behaviors, interests, and more. This means that companies can reach the right people at the right time, increasing the efficiency of their marketing efforts.

Measurement and Analytics

One of the greatest advantages of digital marketing is its ability to measure and analyze the performance of strategies in real time. This allows businesses to track metrics such as website traffic, conversion rate, return on investment (ROI), and more. This information allows strategies to be continuously adjusted and optimized for better results.

Direct Interaction

Digital platforms allow direct and real-time interaction with customers. Social media, online chats, and emails facilitate two-way communication, encouraging strong relationship building and audience engagement.

Personalization and Relevance

Digital marketing allows you to create personalized content and offers for different segments of the audience. This improves the customer experience and increases the chances of conversion by presenting specific solutions for individual needs.

Cost-Effectiveness

Compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing is often more affordable. Small and medium-sized businesses can reach relevant audiences with tighter budgets.

Flexibility and Adaptability

Digital marketing strategies can be quickly adjusted based on results and changing market trends. This allows companies to be agile and respond to changing consumer demands.

Data Generation

Every online interaction leaves a data trail. This data can be analyzed to better understand customer behavior, preferences and trends, which in turn guides business decisions.

What are the objectives of Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing objectives may vary depending on the company, industry, and specific circumstances, but they can generally be grouped into several main categories. For example...

Increase Visibility and Brand Recognition

One of the fundamental objectives is to make more people aware of your brand, products or services. This involves increasing your online presence so that you can be discovered by a wider audience.

Through a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, our agency seeks to expand its online presence and increase its brand recognition. By creating relevant and attractive content on our social networks - mainly on LinkedIn -, the optimization of our website for search engines and the implementation of targeted advertising campaigns, we seek to ensure that our name and value proposition reach a wider audience and establish themselves as a reliable option in the market.

Generate Qualified Website Traffic

Attracting relevant, quality traffic to your website is a crucial objective. The more specific traffic you receive, the better your chances of converting. We use digital marketing strategies to attract highly relevant traffic to our website. By creating educational and valuable content in the form of blogs, infographics and videos, we address the specific questions and needs of our audience. At the same time, we implement SEO tactics to increase our visibility in search results and we use paid ads on platforms such as Google Ads and social networks to target users who demonstrate a genuine interest in our products and services. In this way, we ensure that the traffic that comes to our website is comprised of people who are more likely to become leads and, eventually, satisfied customers.

Generate Leads and Conversions

Digital marketing seeks to convert visitors into leads (potential customers) and, ultimately, into real customers. These objectives may include obtaining subscriptions, downloading content, account registrations, purchases, and so on.

Our approach to digital marketing focuses on converting visitors into valuable leads and, ultimately, into customers. Through subscription forms strategically located on our website and content previously researched for high consumption, we capture the contact information of those interested in our services. We use personalized email campaigns to nourish these leads with relevant content and guide them through the sales funnel. In addition, we implement effective call-to-actions and optimized landing pages to promote direct conversions, such as making purchases or requesting product demonstrations. This approach allows us to create strong relationships with our potential customers and increase our conversion rates significantly.

Improve Interaction and Engagement

Encouraging audience participation and engagement on your digital platforms, such as social networks, through comments, likes, shares and comments, can increase brand loyalty and recognition. By creating engaging and relevant content on our social networks, we encourage the participation of our followers through surveys, questions and challenges. In addition, we actively respond to comments and direct messages, creating an environment of genuine dialogue. In addition, we organize interactive contests and sweepstakes that engage our community and increase the excitement around our brand. Through these actions, we seek to create an active and engaged online community, where our followers not only feel heard, but also emotionally connected to our brand.

Building an Online Community

Creating an online community of engaged followers can strengthen brand loyalty and encourage the exchange of ideas and experiences among community members.

Search Engine Positioning (SEO)

Improving your website's ranking in search results from Google and other search engines can increase visibility and attract organic traffic. By optimizing relevant keywords in our content, improving the structure and speed of our website, and creating quality links, we seek to ensure that our site is considered relevant and valuable by search engines. In addition, we generate high-quality and authoritative content in our field, which not only increases our chances of appearing in the first search results, but also establishes our brand as a reliable source of information in the market. As a result, we increased organic traffic to our site and created a stronger and more competitive online presence.

For example, if you search Google for words such as “Digital Marketing for Startups” “SEO Experts” “Google Ads Experts” “SEO for SMEs” and more, you'll see that SEOTopSecret is in the top three organic places.

Increase Online Sales

If your business has an online store, one of your main goals could be to increase sales through online transactions. By creating an intuitive and attractive online shopping experience, optimizing website navigation and simplifying the payment process, e-commerce players can eliminate obstacles for potential customers. In addition, remarketing strategies and personalized emails can be a great initiative to remind customers of their abandoned products in the cart and to offer special incentives.

Customer Education and Awareness

Often, digital marketing is used to educate customers about products or services, highlighting their unique benefits and features. Our digital marketing strategy focuses on educating and making our clients aware of the benefits and added value of our services. By creating educational content in Form of blogs, webinars and explanatory videos, we seek to address the most common questions and challenges faced by our customers. In addition, we take advantage of social media and email to share useful tips, case studies and real examples that illustrate how our services can solve specific problems. Through this initiative, we not only provide valuable information, but we also establish our industry expertise and reinforce trust in our brand as a trusted and valuable resource for our customers.

Customer Retention and Loyalty

Retaining existing customers and fostering long-term loyalty is critical. Digital marketing can help keep customers engaged and satisfied. In an e-commerce business, customer retention and loyalty is essential for long-term success. To achieve this, various digital marketing strategies are implemented. These include the creation of loyalty programs in which customers earn rewards for repeat purchases, which motivates them to return and continue shopping. In addition, post-purchase emails are sent that provide additional information about the products purchased and offer exclusive discounts for future purchases. Abandoned cart reminders are also used to encourage customers to complete their purchases. In addition, special offers and promotions are offered to existing customers, showing them their business value. By maintaining active communication and providing a personalized and rewarding shopping experience, we seek not only to retain customers, but also to strengthen their loyalty and transform them into online brand promoters.

This may be possible through the implementation of a customer data platform or CDP, we invite you to read our article on CDP (Customer Data Platforms).

Analysis and Continuous Improvement

Obtaining data and metrics from digital marketing can help you evaluate the performance of your strategies and make informed decisions to constantly improve.

Digital Marketing, what is it and how does it work
Marketing team planning a digital strategy

Types of Digital Marketing

Content Marketing

Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and retain a specific audience. Recommended tool: Canva

Social Media Marketing

This type focuses on promoting your brand and products on social media platforms. Recommended tool: Hootsuite.

Email Marketing

It involves sending promotional and content emails to your subscriber list. Recommended tool: Mailchimp.

Influencer Marketing

It consists of collaborating with online influencers to promote your products or services. Recommended tool: AspireIQ.

Online Advertising (PPC)

It involves creating paid ads on platforms such as Google Ads to drive traffic to your website. Recommended tool: Google Ads.

Affiliate Marketing

In this approach, affiliate partners promote your products and receive a commission for the sales generated. Recommended tool: ShareASale.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

It involves improving your website to rank higher in organic search results. Recommended tool: SEMrush

Audiovisual Content Marketing

This type is based on the creation and distribution of visual and multimedia content, such as videos and live streams. Recommended tool: YouTube

Messaging Marketing

It includes the use of messaging applications such as WhatsApp or Messenger to interact with customers in a more personalized way. Recommended tool: ManyChat.

Automation Marketing

It involves the use of software to automate repetitive tasks such as sending emails, tracking, and audience segmentation. Recommended tool: Ortto

Digital Marketing Statistics

Marketing statistics are a valuable tool for measuring the performance of a campaign and evaluating its impact on the market. According to a recent study, 60% of marketers consider metrics and analysis to be the most important elements to measure the success of a campaign. In addition, 82% of companies that exceed their growth objectives have a clear strategy for measuring results in their marketing plan. The following figures show that marketing statistics are not only useful, but are essential for making informed decisions and achieving positive results in the business world...

  • In 2023, global spending on digital advertising is expected to reach $389 billion. (Statesman)
  • Blog posts are an effective way to content marketing, since companies that publish 16 or more posts per month get 3.5 times more traffic and 4.5 times more leads than companies that publish less than 4 posts per month. (Hubspot)
  • According to a Google study, 76% of people who search for something close to them on a smartphone visit a company within a day. (Think with Google)
  • Email remains an effective digital marketing tool, as email has an average ROI (return on investment) of $42 for every dollar spent. (DMA)
  • Video is increasingly important in digital marketing. According to a Hubspot study, 85% of companies use video as a marketing tool, and 99% of those that already do so plan to continue using it in the future. In addition, video on landing pages can increase conversions by up to 80%. (Hubspot)

Digital Marketing Success Stories

A success story in digital marketing could be that of Airbnb, a company that revolutionized the way people search for and book accommodations around the world. Airbnb has implemented a series of highly effective digital marketing strategies that have allowed it to grow rapidly and become one of the most valuable companies in the world.

One of Airbnb's key strategies has been its focus on user experience. The company has invested a lot in designing a platform that is easy to use and provides a seamless booking experience for users. In addition, they have created a committed community of hosts and guests who share their experiences on social media and recommend the platform to their friends and family.

Another successful strategy for Airbnb has been its focus on personalization. The company uses data and algorithms to provide personalized and high-quality hosting recommendations to its users. This way, they ensure that users find the right property for their specific needs and preferences.

In addition, Airbnb has used a variety of digital marketing channels to reach its audience, including online advertising, SEO, content marketing and social media. The company has also been very effective in managing public relations and has taken advantage of cultural events and relevant news to promote its brand.

In short, Airbnb's success in digital marketing is due to a combination of key factors, including its focus on user experience, personalization, and a comprehensive and effective digital marketing strategy.

Here is a list with more success stories in Digital Marketing

  • Amazon: The e-commerce company is a leader in digital marketing. His focus on data analysis and personalizing the customer's shopping experience has been fundamental to its success.
  • Nike: Nike has used digital marketing to create a stronger and more connected brand with its customers, with innovative digital advertising campaigns and creative approaches to its social networks.
  • Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola has used digital marketing to increase its reach and reach new audiences, with a content marketing strategy and an active presence on social networks.
  • GoPro: The sports camera brand has used digital marketing to create a strong presence on social networks and in user-generated content, through the creation of impressive videos and photos.
  • Dropbox: Dropbox has used digital marketing to reach its target audience by creating educational and valuable content for its users, and through online advertising and website optimization.
  • Hubspot: The marketing software company has used inbound marketing and content marketing to create a loyal and committed customer base, with an active presence on social networks and in the creation of educational resources.
  • Spotify: Spotify has used digital marketing to reach new audiences and promote its brand, through online advertising and the creation of personalized content based on the tastes and preferences of its users.
  • Uber: Uber has used digital marketing to reach new customers and promote its brand through online advertising and the creation of emotional content that connects with its target audience.
  • Dollar Shave Club: The subscription company for personal care products has used digital marketing to create a strong and authentic presence on social media and online advertising, through its creative approach and irreverent tone.

Digital Marketing Metrics

Digital marketing is measured through a series of metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that vary according to the specific objectives and strategies of each campaign or marketing action. Here are some of the most common metrics in digital marketing:

Website traffic

This metric measures the number of visits a website receives. It can be broken down by traffic source, such as organic search, direct traffic, or external referrals.

Bounce rate

This metric measures the percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing just one page. A high bounce rate may indicate that the site is not meeting the needs of users.

Conversions

Conversions are the number of users who complete a specific action on the website, such as filling out a form or making a purchase. This metric is used to evaluate the success of a specific campaign or strategy.

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

The CPA measures the average cost of acquiring a new customer or lead. It's calculated by dividing the total cost of the campaign by the number of conversions.

Return on investment (ROI)

ROI measures the success of a digital marketing campaign in terms of revenue generated relative to the total cost of the campaign. It is calculated by dividing the revenue generated by the campaign by the total cost of the campaign.

Engagement

Engagement measures the participation and interaction of users on social networks or on the website, such as “likes”, comments, shares and other actions.

Click-through rate (CTR)

The CTR measures the percentage of users who click on an ad or a specific link in relation to the total number of impressions or views.

Cost per click (CPC)

The CPC measures the average cost of each click on a specific ad.

Time on the website

This metric measures the average time a user spends on the website, which can be an indicator of the quality of the content and the user experience.

Number of followers

This metric measures the number of followers or subscribers on social networks or other digital channels, and can be an indicator of the reach and influence of a brand or company online.

It is important to keep in mind that the metrics and KPIs that are measured in digital marketing must be aligned with the business objectives and specific marketing strategies of each company.

In conclusion, digital marketing is a powerful tool for companies of all sizes and sectors. Thanks to its diverse techniques and strategies, it is possible to reach a wider audience and generate measurable and quantifiable results. During my career in digital marketing, I have had the opportunity to work with companies from different industries and I have witnessed how digital marketing can make a difference in the growth and success of a business. While technology and trends can change rapidly, one thing is certain: digital marketing will continue to be an essential part of the business plan of any company seeking to grow and stand out in an increasingly competitive market.

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