The digital marketing landscape is immense and always changing to encompass and adapt to new marketing strategies. As technology is ever evolving, digital marketing is one of the most important types of marketing for your brand to get stuck into. With so many exciting tools at our fingertips it can be confusing to keep track of the extensive digital marketing terms library.
For instance, are you clued up on your ‘social media marketing’ from your ‘inbound marketing’?
What about ‘inbound marketing’ from ‘content marketing’?
All of these terms fall under the umbrella of ‘digital marketing’.
In this article you can expect to read more about:
- What is digital marketing all about?
- Why is digital marketing so important for your business?
- The nitty gritty terminology of digital marketing
What is Digital Marketing all About?
Digital marketing is marketing through different technologies and digital channels to reach new and existing customers from any device, anywhere in the online world.
It’s a broad term that can include using strategies such as: inbound marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, insight monitoring and so much more.
To put it simply: Digital marketing is how to market your business digitally.
It’s how you can share, promote, post, interact and engage, with everything related to your business’s products and services.
It can be daunting.
There are a multitude of different strategies and tools that your business can use to enhance its brand presence.
But why should your business use digital marketing?
Why is Digital Marketing so Important for Your Business?
Did you know that people spend over 5 hours per day on their mobile phones?
People are constantly consuming information they see online and this is where your business comes in!
Digital marketing allows you to interact with people in real time.
Through digital marketing, you can share content and engage with new and existing customers.
You can enhance your digital brand presence, build brand awareness and industry thought leadership.
This gives your users the chance to easily learn about your business and the products or services you have to offer.
There are many different types of digital marketing and sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of what they all mean.
But don’t worry…
We have outlined a general list of some important digital marketing terminology.
Next time someone tries to woo you with their intelligent digital marketing jargon, touché.
Let’s Get Down to the Nitty Gritty
- Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing is the ultimate approach to pull customers into your business.
This method uses attract, engage, and delight framework to interest your leads.
It will nurture them from the beginning to the end of their customer journey with you, turning them from prospects into customer advocates. Using a variety of digital marketing tools, inbound marketing allows you to attract prospects, engage them and then delight them with your amazing customer service and or products.
For example, you attract a lead through a great piece of content that answers all of the questions they were browsing the internet for.
Next you can engage them by using an offer, also known as a Call-to-Action or CTA which gets your prospects to take an action on your website.
A CTA could be a button or a form for users to input their personal information to download an eBook or sign up for a webinar.
Once you have your prospects information, you can continue to connect with them, and convert them into customers through personalised content.
Maybe you want to send them an email newsletter outlining a great offer on your services, or schedule a follow up call to consult with how you can help their business.
Lastly you convert your customer and delight them with your fabulous customer service and continued nurturing.
With this, your customer can be turned into a brand advocate, meaning they will want to scream and shout about your brand from the rooftops.
Inbound marketing allows you to generate new leads whilst nurturing your existing ones.
What if there was a way to pull customers into your business through an activity that they already do daily, especially when on their phones?
This is where social media comes into play.
- Social Media
Social media describes social content sharing platforms including: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest, just to name a few.
Your business must be present on social media platforms to maximise your outreach and to get people interested in what you have to offer.
Did you know that over 500 million people use Instagram every day?
With social media you can share written and visual content from your business, enhance brand communities, and engage with new and existing followers and customers.
But it’s not just about having social media platforms.
Your social platforms should be filled with eye-catching content to make users click that follow button!
Certain social media platforms also allow you to include an embedded Call-to-Action (CTA).
For example, with Twitter and Facebook you can include links in your posts to lead users to your website, landing page or blog posts.
But first you must create the type of content that they want to view!
- Content Marketing
Content marketing is how you draw users into your business through the content that you produce.
Examples of content can include: blog posts, infographics, images, e-books, and videos.
It is what you produce digitally and share through different digital marketing platforms, including social media and email marketing.
This is your chance to WOW your prospects and customers with your insightful knowledge to keep them coming back to your brand only when they’re after information!
By sharing helpful industry knowledge, your business will become a ‘thought leader’, which means users and other companies will come to you for your expertise.
Let’s bring it back to your Call-to-Action. You can use CTA’s as part of your blog post content in a bid to direct your web traffic to take a desired action.
What is a CTA you may be asking?
- Call-to-action (CTA)
A Call-to-Action or CTA is a snippet of information in your content that directs users to where you want them to go.
This leads users to complete a desired action on a landing page.
It can be a form to fill out, a button which directs people to a landing page downloading an e-book or signing up for a newsletter.
CTA’s are also a great way to gain valuable information about your existing or prospective customers through the information they give you.
Your CTA may have the words: ‘Download your FREE ebook now!’, or ‘Book a Consultation with us’.
Creating a compelling CTA is one of your most valuable digital marketing tools. If you can get prospects to click through and go somewhere this is where you will see the most conversions.
- Landing Pages
Landing pages are the destination your users arrive at once they’ve begun their journey by clicking on your CTA.
A landing page is a separate web page that users can only find through a specific call-to-action which you have put in place.
For example, a landing page may contain a form to fill out to sign up for a newsletter, or to access gated content.
If you’re looking to generate new leads then a good and engaging landing page is essential for winning those leads information.
Your leads provide you with valuable information which you can then track through your customer relationship management tool- if you don’t have one, you need one.
Landing pages are a win-win for your business!
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Knowing your users inside and out is essential to delivering them the right message at the right time!
Customer Relationship Management or CRM is a hub where you can store information on all of your users, including their demographics and customer history with your brand.
When you know your customers you can improve your relationship with them, ultimately allowing more growth for your business.
We’ve defined a basic overview of a few key digital marketing terms but there are many more to differentiate from.
Stay up to date for more digital marketing knowledge!
