Table of Contents
The internet is the greatest source of information in written history.
Today, it’s also the most accessible communication network available.
Naturally, a vast majority of us spend our free time on the internet.
And for a consumer-driven world, it’s only natural that businesses use the internet to market themselves.
This is digital marketing.
It’s a general term for just about any form of marketing that is done on the internet.
Digital Marketing Channels
As marketers, we refer to a marketing channel as a type of platform that can be used for marketing purposes.
For digital marketing, this includes:
- social media
- search engines
- email & SMS
There are different nuances between these channels, so they are generally used at different levels of the marketing funnel.
The Funnel
The marketing funnel is a term used to describe the stages of the customer journey, based on brand awareness and intent.
The funnel can be broken down into three parts:
- Top of Funnel, often shortened to “TOFU”
Also referred to as cold leads, these are people with a potential problem that could be solved by your product, but they’d require more information before making any investments. - Middle of Funnel, or MOFU
These are warm leads who are aware of their problem, and are considering different brands for a solution. - Bottom of Funnel, or BOFU
At the bottom of the funnel are hot leads who are ready to make a buying decision, but need a little nudge to buy it from you.
Social media is great for reaching new people to generate brand awareness, so it sits at the top of the funnel.
Search engine marketing and optimization helps to make yourself visible on search results, targeting those at the middle of the funnel who are actively researching solutions.
People at the bottom of the funnel are ready to make a decision, all you need to do is deliver an offer with urgency so they take that first step with you. This is commonly done with an entry offer through email marketing.
Methods of Marketing Online
In addition to the different channels in digital marketing there are also different ways you can market something online, such as media buying, content marketing and affiliate/influencer marketing.
Media buying is the act of buying ad space on different media. Some digital marketing examples include:
- Social media ads like Meta, Pinterest, Twitter/X
- YouTube video ads
- Google and Bing sponsored search results
Online content marketing refers to creating large volumes of content such as blog posts or YouTube videos, distributed onto social media.
Affiliate and influencer marketing is when content creators endorse a product on behalf of a brand, or promote the product to their audience on their own marketing channels.
Advantages
The two biggest advantages to digital marketing are that it’s easy to pick up and very accessible.
Although it takes experience to be a great marketer, it’s a relatively easy to learn digital marketing because it isn’t particularly difficult.
It may take some time to learn how to use different channels and apps, but there are so many of YouTube videos and blogs that can teach you everything about digital marketing for free!
Digital marketing is also very accessible; at the touch of a button (and with a little luck) you could potentially reach millions from anywhere in the world.
Disadvantages
By now digital marketing might sound attractive, but it definitely has some weaknesses.
It’s a highly saturated and competitive market. Because the internet connects people on global scale, you can expect to compete with people around the world for an audience.
Speaking of audiences, it takes quite some time and consistency to build yours. This would mean daily content creation, a distribution strategy to your social platforms, and curating this content over time.
To make matters worse, platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Google are constantly updating their algorithms.
For example, the landscape of SEO (search engine optimization) today focuses more on content quality, page loading speed and topical authority, whereas 10 years ago it was more about backlink building, on-page SEO and domain authority.
As marketers, this makes our organic reach very unpredictable; there is a constant need to keep up with industry trends.
Summary Notes
Common digital marketing channels include:
- social media
- search engines
- email lists
On these channels, you can market something through:
- media buying
- content creation
- influencer or affiliate marketing
Main advantages of digital marketing are:
- very accessible
- leverage the viral nature of the internet
- easy to learn; plenty of free resources (like our website!)
Disadvantages include:
- highly competitive
- very saturated
- time consuming
- algorithms are unpredictable