Growing up, I had every intent on a career in science. I didn’t consider marketing or sales as a profession of choice and knew nothing about business. I admit, I am probably one of many who believed that marketing was only responsible for print material, the “pretty” brochures. Now, when I hear others define it as such, my heart slightly cringes. Fortunately, I learned early on in my career how marketing is defined across various channels and its role as part of a business strategy. As a digital marketer, it’s always fun for me to help explain to my peers what exactly is digital marketing and why it’s important.
Digital marketing is a way for companies to advertise their products and services through online channels, and it is only one of several channels that a marketing department is responsible for. Others include events, demand generation, social, distribution, partner, etc. Some of these channels could branch out to their own specific sub-channels and tactics, and digital marketing is a great example of this.
Here are the different types of digital marketing channels I’ve come across—all of which can produce big results for your business:
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Email Marketing
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Paid Media/Ads/PPC
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Online PR
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SEO
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SEM
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Social Media
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Multimedia
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Web
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Online Retargeting
People often don’t realize that the customer-facing online assets they see to attend events, purchase items that have recently launched, or learn about a company’s current offerings are all part of a company’s digital marketing strategy. An email highlighting the new Avengers movie at a local theater, the social media post that led to items purchased online, ads seen on a website to attend an event, online news articles, the first answer that appears after using web search engine, the copy on a product page, a viral social media video, the video itself, an interactive banner on a company’s website, an ad reappearing frequently on pages a person visits, are tactics related to digital marketing. These digital assets were most likely designed, led, and executed by a digital marketing team.
Here are just some of the ways our superheroes market across different digital channels:
Digital marketing is a channel that took me several years to fully comprehend. I learned about it through conversations with peers, guidance from leaders and individual experience with projects I managed. What makes digital marketing useful in a business strategy is that it happens online, where tactics are measured by specific metrics—like the number of clicks, impressions, and revenue. For most marketers, return on investment (ROI) has to be top of mind, and this is why companies in virtually every industry have a strong focus on digital marketing across a variety of channels.
