What Is Digital Marketing? Here’s What The Future Of Marketing Looks Like!

The Definition of Digital Marketing

So, what is digital marketing?

Digital marketing, also referred to as Internet marketing or online marketing, refers to the marketing efforts that happen on the Internet.

You can also refer to digital marketing as the internet marketing communication messages that can be accessed through electronic devices like phones, tablets, and computers.

Businesses leverage digital marketing strategies like SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, mobile apps, or targeted ads to promote their products or services.

It doesn’t matter what digital marketing strategy you choose. If you do it right, it can get your brand, products, and services in front of your target audience. An effective digital marketing strategy can also enhance your visibility, conversations, and click-throughs.

Now that you know what digital marketing is, let’s find out why it’s important.

Why Does Digital Marketing Matter?

Whether you’ve been in business for a day or a decade, there’s one thing almost all business owners can’t predict about their operations: their interaction and reach with the target audience.

It doesn’t matter if you have quality analytic tools to check your interaction, if you can’t get your message across to the right people at the right time. And since most businesses can’t afford to advertise during prime time, they often have to settle for mediocre ads.

So, how exactly has digital marketing changed the tide?

You Go Where People Are

More people are spending time on their phones than ten years ago, and that number is bound to increase over the next few years.

There are currently over 7.7 billion internet users across the globe. That’s a huge market waiting to be tapped.

Digital marketing allows you to use daily searches and social media along with other channels to go where people are. Your customers are online and if you do want more eyeballs viewing your business or its products, go where they are make more sense.

If they can’t find you because you lack a digital presence, you’ll always risk having your competitors get those leads.

Your Competitors Are Already Using Digital Marketing

Another reason why digital marketing matters is because your competitors are already doing it.

They’ve already taken advantage of SEO and social media marketing and run paid ads to reach out to new leads. It might not sound like a big deal, but it is, as new leads mean more customers for them and less for you.

You’ll eventually end up closing your business for lack of profits.

If you want to compete with others, you’ll have to do what your competitors are doing. Digital marketing allows you to put your hat in the ringer and compete on a level playing field with other businesses in your niche.

And if you do it the right way, you might even surpass your competition.

Great Return on Investment

When people hear the words digital marketing, all most small business owners think about is the cost of these services.

People rarely think of the end result, which is the return on investment. In fact, several stats have shown that the average ROI on digital marketing is 122%. When you compare that to traditional marketing, the numbers are much lower.

Also, since digital marketing allows you to track the progress of every strategy you use, it gets really easy to determine what exactly works.

Let’s look at some statistics that show how most digital marketing strategies perform in terms of return on investment.

1. Email marketing has an ROI of 3,600%, which is an average of $44 for every $1 spent on email marketing campaigns.
2. SEO has an average ROI of 27.01%.
3. YouTube advertising has an ROI of 8.9%.

Putting it simply, the more your target audience views your brand or ads online, the higher your conversion rate might be. And eventually, that will give you a great ROI.

You Can Reach Your Target Audience

While traditional marketing did the job when it came to advertising, it still lacked the personal touch most businesses were looking for.

Digital marketing has made it possible for small businesses and large corporations alike to reach their target audience. They can market their products or services directly to the people who need them.

The more precise the target audience is, the easier it gets to craft digital marketing campaigns.

Let’s say a company’s target audience is women between 20 and 40 who love working out. You want these women to buy your gym wear.

The easiest way to reach them might be via social media. With social media marketing, you can easily plug in those parameters and create a social media ad campaign that suits them.

This way, you can kill two birds with one stone: reach your target audience and establish your brand.

You Can Monitor Your Campaigns

One great benefit of digital marketing is that it comes with specific metrics that make it easy to monitor campaigns.

When you invest thousands of dollars and time into any campaign, you’d want to know if it’s working.

Digital marketing makes it easy to track your campaign’s progress, which is completely different from running a traditional TV ad.

With any digital marketing strategy, you can track metrics such as shares, clicks, comments, conversions, likes, and more. You can also set up other tools to help you monitor specific metrics for every campaign you create.

The results you get make it easy to fix and adapt your campaign with strategies that work.

It’s Faster and More Efficient

The last point on why digital marketing matters is that digital marketing is faster and more efficient.

Even if your budget is a little tight, you can always get the ball rolling. There’s a digital marketing strategy that you can start with, even if your resources or money are a little tight.

For instance, you can improve your brand’s presence by having a social media profile or increasing your post frequency.

That’s completely different from traditional marketing methods. Let’s face it: if you don’t have sufficient funds with traditional marketing, it’s going to be an uphill task trying to make your brand or business known.

Now that you know why digital marketing matters, let’s take a look at the strategies and types of digital marketing.

Types and Strategies of Digital Marketing

Creating the right digital marketing strategy for your business or clients starts by understanding the different strategies and types of digital marketing that yield results.

But these strategies are split into two: Online and Off-line digital marketing strategies.

Let’s start with the online digital marketing types and strategies of digital marketing.

Online Marketing

This type of digital marketing strategy is one that’s solely done online. They include:

Social Media Marketing

This is probably one of the most popular types and strategies of digital marketing. With over 308 million people on most social media channels in the US. alone, I get its appeal.

And hey, let’s not forget, from Gen Z to the baby boomers, everyone’s in on the social media action. So, it’s the perfect place for businesses to show off their stuff and get noticed by the right people.

But here’s the tricky part: even though social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok look easy, using it for marketing is a whole different story. It’s like trying to play a video game without knowing the controls!

It’s so easy to get it wrong despite your digital marketing efforts, especially if you don’t know how to navigate social media marketing.

So, instead of guessing your way through, why not learn the ropes? That’s where the Digital Rental Method comes in.

With the Digital Rental Method, you’ll master the art of creating ads that’ll make even the most scroll-happy thumbs pause for a closer look. ,

It’s all about learning the ropes, honing your skills, and unleashing the power of social media marketing like a digital boss.

Search Engine Marketing

So, you’ve probably heard of SEO, right? No, it’s not some mysterious acronym for “Sneaky Elves Online” or “Secret Eggplant Overlords” — though that would be quite the revelation.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, the Jedi way of making your website show up on Google without having to bribe them with cookies.

Search engine marketing is the process of optimizing websites so search engines like Google can rank websites higher on the search pages. It’s all about making Google think your site is the coolest kid on the block, so it pushes you to the top of its search results.

And guess what? Unlike those flashy ads you see popping up everywhere, SEO marketing relies solely on organic traffic. No paid promotions here.

Now, when I say organic traffic, I’m not talking about free-range chickens.

Nope, I’m talking about real people finding your website through good old-fashioned unpaid searches. There are approximately 8.5 billion searches on Google every day.

That number in itself presents a massive opportunity for business owners to market their products or services on Google’s search engine results pages.

But here’s the catch: SEO isn’t a quick fix; it takes time, but the results are worth it. You’ll also need an expert in this area to help you achieve the right results.

But if you’re feeling adventurous and want to DIY your way to SEO glory, there’s always the option to learn the ropes yourself using the Digital Rental Method.

With the Digital Rental Method, you can learn from gurus who’ve been in the industry for a long time. You’ll also know how to keep up with industry changes, which is key to success in SEO.

So, whether you’re a beginner or a pro, SEO is all about making your website shine, and the right SEO marketing techniques allow you to do that.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-per-click advertising simply means what its name implies: paying for every click you receive based on your ads.

It’s like the meter running on your ad’s popularity. Every time someone gives that ad of yours a tap, cha-ching! You’re footing the bill

Sounds simple, right? There’s a lot that goes into creating the right ad.

You see, crafting the perfect ad isn’t just about slapping together a snazzy slogan and tossing it out into the digital abyss. Oh no, my friend, there’s a whole science behind it.

You need to know copywriting and what content best appeals to your target audience.

Let’s talk expenses, shall we? Setting up shop in the world of PPC means reaching for your wallet every time you hit that “create ad” button. Depending on where you’re placing those ads, you might have to dig deeper into money you already don’t have.

Now, when it comes to the big leagues of PPC, Google Ads is the MVP.

But one platform that’s quite popular with PPC ads is Google Ads. Most businesses that use SEO marketing prefer to advertise on Google. Businesses flock to Google like moths to a flame, mainly because it’s the holy grail of SEO marketing.

Google paid ads to appear above the organic search results. This positioning helps businesses drive more traffic to their sites, which is a much-added advantage.

It, however, isn’t the only kid on the block; there are platforms like Bing or even social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.

Email Marketing

We can’t talk about digital marketing without mentioning email marketing. According to recent stats, most businesses earn an average of $32 for every $1 they spend on email marketing. Retail and ecommerce stores have been known to make at least $45 on average.

But for you to get this kind of return, you need to have an effective email marketing strategy. You’ll also need to learn how to grow and nurture your email list, as that’s the key to success with email marketing.

However, that isn’t as easy as it sounds, as there are several skills email marketers employ to ensure they get the results they desire. One crucial tool marketers use is email marketing software.

With this tool and their skill, they can effortlessly update the email database and handle new subscribers and unsubscribers for you.

Content Marketing

Almost all forms of digital marketing heavily rely on content marketing to engage customers and attract prospective customers.

So, what exactly is content marketing? Content marketing is when you share helpful or interesting content online, such as blogs, videos, or podcasts, to get people interested in what you have to offer.

Unlike most of the ad material we are all used to, content marketing isn’t blatantly promotional material. It instead employs subtle tactics to educate, influence, or inform a particular target audience.

Digital marketers also use content marketing strategies to establish authority on a particular matter. They can also use them to create a buzz about their clients’ brands, products, or services.

But here’s the thing: making good content isn’t easy. It takes practice and skills, my friend—skills that can’t be honed overnight, especially if you have no idea where to start.

Rather than fly blind, hoping your content hits the mark, why not learn how to write copy that sells like hotcakes?

I’m talking about signing up for a course that will teach you how to write copy that actually sells. That’s the Digital Rental Method.

With the Digital Rental Method, you’ll learn the magic of words and how to use them to rope in those customers. Plus you’ll also get to learn how to tie all that up into other digital marketing strategies as well.

Affiliate Marketing

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Affiliate marketing? Isn’t that like trying to sell ice to Eskimos?”

But hey, hear me out. It might not sound like your typical digital marketing gig, but trust me, it’s got a seat at the digital marketing table.

For those looking to reach a wider audience, affiliate marketing might be the way to go. Unlike most digital marketing strategies, affiliate marketing allows you to promote products or services using a link.

So, you receive a commission every time you or someone else makes a sale using that link. But to make money, you’ll have to promote those links via website content, YouTube, mailing lists, and other suitable marketing platforms.

While affiliate marketing sounds like a great digital marketing strategy, it has many downsides compared to most strategies.

For one, there’s more to it than just slapping links on different content marketing platforms. You’ve gotta be a jack-of-all-trades.

You’ll need to be great at:

• Copy and conversion
• Product prospecting. Knowing where to dig for the right merchandise that’ll have customers whipping out their wallets faster than you can say “add to cart.”
• Ad management. You’ve gotta know which ads are popping off and which are fizzling out.
• SEO

Anyone who’s been in the digital marketing game for a while knows that learning all of these skills takes time.

And for you to be the best, you’ll need to also have experience. But most of the people who opt into affiliate marketing aren’t experts in any of the above skills. So, making money is going to be an uphill task.

Now that you know everything there is about online digital marketing strategies, let’s look at offline strategies.

Offline Digital Marketing Types and Strategies

Offline digital marketing strategies are performed away from the internet. However, they still require devices like smartphones, TV, or radio to work.

The common offline digital marketing strategies include:

Mobile Marketing

One of the most popular offline digital marketing strategies is mobile marketing. With over 310 million people in the U.S. glued to their smartphones, it’s no surprise that mobile marketing is a big deal.

But what’s different about mobile marketing is that everything is conducted via SMS. Stats have shown that texts have a conversion rate of up to 45%, depending on the industry. This is one reason why mobile marketing is considered an effective digital marketing strategy.

QR Codes

What are QR codes? These are barcodes that take people to web pages or an app. All you need to access these web pages is a mobile scanner, and you get immediate access to the web or app a company is trying to promote.

QR codes are a great way for brands to promote their services, deliver ads, or direct users to their pages.

You can also incorporate AI to transform your QR codes into functional artwork, almost like what Coca-Cola did with its recent campaign.

Now that you have a general idea of what digital marketing is and what strategies you need, the next step is finding out how to build your own strategy.

Five Steps to Build Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Despite there being a variety of strategies to choose from, deciding on what to settle for can be a challenge, even for some experienced digital marketers.

Here are five key steps to keep in mind when building a digital marketing strategy.

1. Understand and Research Your Target Audience

The first step of building a successful digital marketing strategy starts with understanding and researching your target audience.

So, let’s start by understanding what a target audience is. A target audience is a group of customers or consumers characterized by behavior and specific demographics.

Typically, you’d classify a target audience using certain data points.

• Age
• Purchasing power
• Location
• Gender
• Education

Understanding these data points helps your campaigns reach the right people, especially ones who can relate to your products, services, or brand.

But it’s important to note that there’s a huge difference between a target audience and a target market. Unlike a target audience, a target market targets a broad group of people interested in your products and services.

Let’s say you’re looking for marketers aged 27 to 35 years; that’s your target market. But you can narrow that market down to get your target market. It could be “marketers living in London aged 27 to 35.”

Understanding the difference between the two is crucial if you want your campaigns to have great results. But here are a few other differences between a target market and a target audience.

With your target audience in place, it’s time to do the research, as it helps you completely narrow down the dynamics of your target audience.

For this, you can ask yourself questions like:

• Who are your competitors?
• What content marketing strategies work best for your target market?
• Are you in a mainstream industry?
• Is your target audience well-established?

To get the answers to these questions, you can look at:

Your Facebook insights

If your business or client has a Facebook account, you can determine their target audience using the insights provided. Facebook gives every page a vast set of insights at no cost at all.

These insights allow you to see who and where your target audience is from. This information is available in your insights dashboard tab. Here’s an example of how Facebook will showcase this information data.

Other areas Facebook focuses on are integrating and interacting with other social media platforms, like X(formerly Twitter)

Use your Google Analytics to learn about your customers

Google analytics is the perfect platform to use to obtain information on your target audience. With Google Analytics, you get to see who visits your website and their interests.

Everything is broken down into different sections, such as gender, location, and age. These sections are all clearly detailed on the dashboard, which would look something like this.

Notice how specific the dashboard breakdown is and how the data is represented. Google Analytics is a great tool for getting the right insights into who’s visiting your website.

2. Set Digital Marketing Goals

With your target audience looked in, the next step of a successful digital marketing campaign is setting goals.

You need to ask yourself, what exactly do you want to accomplish with your digital marketing campaigns? Sounds simple, right?

Well, it isn’t, as you do need to develop clear and specific goals. That means delving into the specifics of every campaign and ensuring every goal you set is SMART.

For instance, acquiring more views on your Facebook ad isn’t smart. The problem with such goals is that it makes it quite hard to measure your progress.

But generating 10% more visitors to your website traffic using a Facebook ad for three months is a smart goal. Specific goals help you outline how exactly you’d like to go about the campaign.

It also allows you to set parameters and the right budget for every digital marketing campaign you take on.

3. Develop Your Marketing Strategy

Now that I’ve covered the basics, it’s time to develop a digital marketing strategy. This means determining which digital marketing channels work best for your campaign.

It can also be pretty intimidating, especially if you don’t know what strategy works best for your goals. I also understand the fear that comes with investing in digital channels that might not work.

But you can minimize your risk by investing in small,hyper-focused campaigns and tracking their effectiveness.

For instance, if your digital marketing channel is paid social media ads, you can set up a small hyper-focused campaign. With the data you obtain, you can then chat a way forward with your campaigns.

The best part about small hyper-focused campaigns is that you can understand what resonates with your target audience. With this knowledge you can then proceed to create a successful marketing campaign.

4. Audit and Plan

With a digital marketing strategy in place, the next step has got to be audits and planning.

You’ll need to regularly audit and plan for every campaign you choose to take on. For this, you can opt to use analytic tools or focus on the data each campaign you’ve run produced.

For instance, if you went for paid advertising, you can look at the outcome of this strategy. If it didn’t yield the results you’d hoped, you can move on to your next option.

The same goes for content creation. If none of the content you created helped you accomplish the goals you hoped for, audit the results and then plan your next steps.

At least with the right data, it gets easier to know which strategies might work best for your products and services to sell.

5. Strive for Long Term Growth

Most businesses often struggle with long-term growth, even with the right data points. I’m guessing this often stems from the fact that people often view digital marketing efforts as a short-term game.

But what most brands forget is that to achieve the best results from these marketing efforts, you’ll need to be in it for the long term.

While I get that factors like a limited budget, not knowing what problems to fix, or too many data leads could be the problem, understanding the importance of long-term growth is important.

So, strive to keep on improving your marketing efforts, as it will help you achieve the results you desire for your brand or business.

Now that you know how to set up a successful digital marketing strategy, you should know how to become a digital marketer.

How To Become a Digital Marketer

No one was born knowing how to be the best digital marketer. Like any other career, you learn how to get there by building your skills.

But you’ve got to start somewhere. So, here’s everything you need to know on how to become a digital marketer without a degree.

Take a Course

In this internet era, digital marketing is undoubtedly one of the most in-demand skill sets today. Trust me, I get the appeal.

With a substantial growth of US$322.2 Billion, it’s no wonder people want a piece of the pie. But getting your share won’t be possible if you don’t have the required skill set for the industry.

Getting the necessary digital marketing skills starts by enrolling in the best digital marketing courses. One of those courses is the Digital Rental Method.

The Digital Rental Method combines both social media marketing and SEO, the backbone of the digital marketing industry.

With these two skills alone, you can comfortably start your own digital marketing agency. The best part is that you get to create a consistent semi-passive income of $2,000 to $10,000 a month thanks to the Digital Rental Method.

But, if you still want to DIY your way through becoming a digital marketer, there are plenty of free courses available.

However, be ready to have to put in the work and follow through with every other step that comes after that.

Choose Your Area of Interest

The next step of how to become a digital marketer is choosing your area of interest. Depending on the program you go for, you’ll learn skills you can use in any industry.

But specialization makes it a lot easier to make money and grow your skills in that particular industry. If you decide to go for the Digital Rental Method program, you’ll actually learn how to choose the right niche.

The coaches guide you through every step, making it ten times easier than for anyone who’s doing it alone.

Get Hands-On Experience

It’s finally time to put the skills you’ve learned to the test. And to do that, you’ll need to apply them to real-life problems and real-world projects.

But let’s face it: without a killer portfolio, convincing clients you’re the real deal is a tough gig.

So, how do you beef up your portfolio? You could opt for the classic route—an internship—or maybe an entry-level gig in digital marketing.

Or… drumroll, please… you could take the easier route with the Digital Rental Method. With this program, you actually learn how to get paying clients.

And here’s the kicker? You don’t have to wait around for success to find you. Nope! With this program, you’re diving right into the action. No experience? No problem!

Every student gets a fair shot at starting their own digital rental business and making money while building experience in digital marketing.

Networking

The social nature of digital marketing requires networking with other people in the industry. Digital marketing strategies are always evolving.

What works today might not work a month or year from now. That’s where the beauty of networking comes into play.

You learn insider tricks other people are using to help their clients make more money. And trust me, you could use a lot of those in your arsenal.

And what better way to network than with a group of experienced digital marketers? The Digital Rental Method is more than just a program. It does have a community where you can mingle, learn, and maybe even share a virtual high-five or two

You’ll also receive regular updates on the digital marketing industry. And if you run into any trouble with your strategies, the community will certainly help you out.

Keep Learning

Digital marketing is a dynamic field with constantly changing techniques and strategies. The best way to keep up with those changes is to keep learning.

Go for programs that are always updated and join groups that offer updates on the latest news in the industry.

Remember, good training provides you with the capability to do something better rather than simply learn it. Finding a program that allows you to do exactly that is what makes a huge difference in the trajectory of your career in digital marketing.

How To Make Money With Digital Marketing

You finally have a grasp of the ins and outs of digital marketing, so how exactly do you use this information to make money?

Here’s how to make money with digital marketing.

Partner with a Digital Marketing Agency

There are plenty of digital marketing agencies out there that provide different digital marketing business ideas to clients who are looking for people with skills to help with their workload.

Using the skills you learn from the best email marketing courses, like the Digital Rental Method, you can help them manage their clients.

Some benefits of working with a digital marketing agency include:

1. You can grow your skills
2. You have access to top-tier tools
3. You can keep up with the industry updates and learn new digital marketing strategies you can use for other campaigns.

Start Your Own Agency

If you like being your own boss, you might consider starting your own business someday. But jumping into that without a plan is like trying to skateboard without knowing how to balance—not a great idea!

That’s where choosing the right course comes in. Some courses teach you how to be really good at digital marketing, but they forget to teach you how to start your own business.

This is what makes the Digital Rental Method different. It not only teaches you awesome digital marketing skills but also shows you how to kickstart your very own digital marketing agency.

Now, here’s the coolest part: with their special sales system, you could be making a nice chunk of money every month – anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000! Yep, you heard that right

Now, you might wonder, how much do digital marketers make? On average, it’s about $68,000 a year. Not bad, huh? But compared to what you could make with the Digital Rental Method, suddenly, that “average” salary feels a tad, shall we say, underwhelming.

So, if you do decide to start your own digital marketing agency, go for a course that actually shows you how to do so.

The Future of Digital Marketing

With all the digital marketing techniques businesses are using like influencer marketing, the future of digital marketing is slowly changing.

And with every change comes strategies that, at times, go beyond the mobile devices and marketing campaigns most marketers have handled before. But that also means more opportunities for more digital marketers.

So, what does the future of digital marketing look like? It does involve the following aspects.

AI Technology

It’s impossible to talk about digital marketing without the mention of AI technology. But what does that mean for digital marketing?

For one, AI technology has made it easier to centralize data. Digital marketing relies heavily on usable, accurate data. AI has made it easier for people to organize, gather, analyze, and segment valuable data.

With that data, you can automatically learn and improve.

AI also benefits digital marketing in the following ways:

• Enhanced customer experience
• Cost reduction
• Competitive edge and innovation
• Smart decision making

There are also tools like Chat GPT that help optimize content and outline drafts for content marketing purposes.

If you’re interested in video marketing content, AI tools can also help generate videos. That’s a plus for businesses that don’t have thousands of dollars to shoot commercial videos.

While AI technology does help make digital marketing efficient, it still does have its limits.

What do I mean by that? Marketing, both traditional and digital, relies on emotions—the type that pushes you to buy a product or plucks at your heartstrings. AI can’t do that yet.

It may get there, but for now, working together with AI might be the best option.

Augmented Reality

Aside from AI, Augmented reality is a new emerging trend in digital marketing. In fact, stats show that 61% of shoppers prefer businesses that offer augmented reality over those that don’t.

So, what makes AR this popular?

For one, augmented reality allows businesses to create interactive ads. With such ads, customers can play games, interact with virtual information, and access information.

It enhances brand storytelling, as businesses can bring their brand or products to life. Lastly, digital marketers get access to location-based data, making it easier to structure information based on that information.

An example of Augmented reality is the popular Pokemon Go.

With this game, players could catch pokemon by superimposing creatures in the real world. Huge corporations have also started incorporating these tactics.

One such business is L’Oreal.

And with the increased use of AR, it might become part of digital marketing strategies soon.

Conclusion

You finally have a general idea of what digital marketing entails and why it matters if you want your business to thrive. No matter how limited your budget, there’s always a digital marketing strategy you can try.

Remember, digital marketing is a continuous process. So, strive to make the digital marketing tactics you implement long-term.

And if you’re trying to make money from digital marketing, ensure you go for a course that can help you learn the right strategies.