Digital marketing is a form of marketing in which you use online and interactive channels. Online marketing is a part of digital marketing. The goal of digital marketing is to maintain a dialogue with your visitors, leads and end customers, while the goal of online marketing is to increase traffic to your website. There are a large number of digital marketing channels and concepts with which you can turn your visitors into customers. And not just any customers, but loyal customers . Digital marketing therefore goes a step further than online marketing. You can see it as online marketing including conversion optimization and that means that you as a company get the most out of your website. You attract customers to your pages and there you involve them in your business, persuade them to take an action and enter into a long-term relationship. Here you can read in 3 minutes about digital marketing, its value and the channels through which it is carried out.
Online marketing vs digital marketing
The best way to explain what digital marketing is exactly is to contrast it with online marketing . The two are often confused with each other, but they are very different. Online marketing is promoting your product or service through online channels, i.e. the internet. Digital marketing uses all digital channels to participate, so the internet, but also SMS, radio, Digital Out Of Home and SMS. There are few contemporary marketing channels that do not fall under digital marketing. Advertising via leaflets, an advertisement in the customer or a poster are examples of this. These methods are classified as traditional marketing. More and more companies are turning to digital marketing and traditional marketing is becoming a thing of the past.
The benefits of digital marketing
Apart from the fact that digital marketing offers many possibilities, there are a number of advantages over traditional marketing and even online marketing that cannot be ignored:
- Digital marketing is relatively cheap.
- You have a wide reach with digital marketing and choose exactly the channel that suits your target group.
- Digital marketing not only brings you visitors, but also conversions.
- The results of digital marketing are immediately visible, measurable in detail and can be adjusted in the meantime.
- With digital marketing you get the unique opportunity to enter into a dialogue with your visitors. It is a marketing method that promotes mutual communication and thus yields loyal customers.
What do you achieve with it?
There are several objectives that you can fulfill with digital marketing. One of these is building and strengthening brand awareness and brand identity . You also use it to attract new customers and ensure that they remain customers. These loyal customers ultimately offer you a unique experience that leaves you with a file of loyal followers.
Digital marketing channels
With digital marketing, there are few limitations. Any channel that is digital can be used for this. These are all online marketing channels, such as e-mail, social media, remarketing, SEA and SEO, but also screens in shops, chat bots, Bluetooth, interactive television, an information pole, virtual reality and GPS. Because there are so many channels at your disposal, customers will also expect more and more. To make sense of this, first look at the phases your visitors go through before they become your customer and at the channels that connect to it.
The customer journey
Random internet users go through certain stages before they become your customer. This is also known as the customer journey, or the customer journey . There are several ways this journey is defined. An example is reach, lead generation, lead nurturing, conversion and ultimately a loyal customer. Different digital marketing channels can also be assigned to these stages. The list below is an example of this. It can and must be completed in different ways and therefore differs per company or institution.
- Reach : website, social media, SEO, SEA, television.
- Become a lead : content marketing, Conversion Rate Optimization, SMS.
- Lead maintenance : email marketing, remarketing, video marketing.
- Convert : Conversion Rate Optimization, email marketing.
- Become a loyal customer : app, email marketing, social media marketing, SMS, direct mail.
The role of paid, owned and earned media
A good way to start with digital marketing is therefore to write down your customer journey and to add the digital marketing tools per phase. And this list of tools is long, because all advertising that is not done on paper is digital advertising. Another way to look at this is to divide the channels into groups .
1. Paid media
Paid media are channels that you do not own and that you have to pay to use. SEA runs through a paid channel, as well as advertising on television and radio and advertising via other websites (TikTok, Bol.com, Amazon, LinkedIn, etc.). These are just a few examples. The paid media is where you attract unknown internet users and where they become leads. They see your ad, respond to it and end up with you.
2. Owned media
Your website is the greatest example of your owned digital media. Displays in your office that show you messages also fall into this, both as a mobile app if you have one. Your leads often end up on your owned media via the paid media and that’s how you build customers.
3. Earned media
Earned media are media channels where you have to earn a spot. Social media is a good example of this. The more popular your Facebook page, the more customers you bring in, but you have to do something for that. This also includes a blog or forum. Customers who end up at the earned media come from either the owned media or the paid media. With paid media you attract leads, with owned media you turn them into customers and with earned media you turn those customers into fans.
