Introduction

Any marketing that uses electronic devices to convey promotional messaging and measure its impact. In practice, digital marketing typically refers to marketing campaigns that appear on a computer, phone, tablet, or other device. It can take many forms, including online video, display ads, and social media posts.

Meaning of digital marketing

Digital Marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media.

Example: Advertising mediums that might be used as part of the digital marketing strategy of a business could include promotional efforts made via the Internet, social media, mobile phones and electronic billboards, as well as via digital and television and radio channels.

Digital Marketing is the online marketing, using internet to generate responses from the relevant target audience. This could involve elements of email marketing, SEO (search engine optimisation), PPC (pay per click), online advertising, affiliate marketing, text messaging and blogging.

Definitions of digital marketing

According to Kotler and Armstrong, “Digital marketing is a form of direct marketing which links consumers with sellers electronically using interactive technologies like emails, websites, online forums and newsgroups, interactive television, mobile communications etc”.

According to Bains, "Digital marketing facilitates many-to-many communications due to its high level of connectivity and is usually executed to promote products or services in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner".

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel.

Essentially, if a marketing campaign involves digital communication, it's digital marketing.

History of digital marketing

The term 'digital marketing' was first used in the 1990s. In the 2000s and the 2010s, digital marketing became more sophisticated as an effective way to create a relationship with the consumer that has depth and relevance. Digital marketing itself has roots to the mid-1980s when the SoftAd Group, now ChannelNet, developed advertising campaigns for several major automobile companies. Wherein, people would send in render reply cards found in magazines and receive in return floppy disks that contained multimedia content promoting various cars and offering free test drives.

The rapid evolution of digital media has created new opportunities and avenues for advertising and marketing. Fueled by the proliferation of devices to access digital media, leading to the exponential growth of digital advertising. In 2012 and 2013 statistics showed digital marketing remained a growing field. Digital media growth is estimated at 4.5 trillion online ads served annually with digital media 48% growth in 2010. An increasing portion of advertising stems from businesses employing Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) to tailor advertising for Internet users. Though an innovative resource, OBA raises concern with regards to consumer privacy and data protection. Digital marketing is often referred to as 'online marketing', 'internet marketing' or 'web marketing'. The term 'digital marketing' has grown in popularity over time, particularly in certain countries. In the USA 'online marketing' is still prevalent, in Italy is referred as 'web marketing' but in the UK and worldwide, 'digital marketing' has become the most common term, especially after the year 2013.

The digital age began with the Internet and the Web 1.0 platforms of the early 1990's. This was a rather static world in which users could get the information they desired but could not be shared on the web. There was no such thing as interaction, as the only activity was reading of content. In 1993, we saw the entrance of the first clickable banner ad and by the next year, Hotwired, had begun to purchase huge numbers of banner ads. It was the first step towards new digital age.

The Birth of Google

New technology began to make its entrance into the digital marketplace after about 1994 and in 1998. Blogger came soon after Google in 1999. About this time social networking sites began to be birthed and Blackberry had launched their own mobile email program. MySpace was one of the first social sites to arrive on the social scene and Facebook followed on. It did not take too long for companies to realize that these presented them with some excellent opportunities and soon these social sites became new way for businesses to communicate directly with consumers. Businesses began searching for new ways to implement web marketing strategies so that they could capitalize on the new digital platforms.

It did not take long for Google to start expanding and improving their internet search engine. Savvy marketers soon learned how to implement search engine optimization strategies in order to improve the ranking of their sites. Google also added options like AdWords and AdSense to marketing potential. It wasn't long until Google figured out how to analyze content that was entered in a query in order to target users with ads relevant to their interests. Google was not actually the first ones to incorporate targeted ads, but they did help develop algorithms which helped search results become prioritized.

The “Cookie"

Advertising networks soon began to develop ways that they could capitalize on some of these new developments and the “cookie” came on the scene. The first cookie was actually developed in an attempt to analyze user's browsing habits. Since its inception it has evolved into a useful part of the e-commerce sector and allows marketers and businesses to collect literal user data. Amazon uses this method for targeting its audiences and offering them products based on previous searches. It has a huge impact on the digital marketing world.

Enter the Web 2.0

The Web 1.0 slowly evolved into the Web 2.0. In this new digital world, audiences were no longer passively taking in information; but instead, the internet became a sort of super highway where users could directly interact with both other users and businesses. The Web 2.0 became a social world at last. In the early 2000's, numerous networks and social platforms were developed which allowed users to connect and interact. By 2004 began to rise and capture market sites like WordPress, LinkedIn and finally Facebook. It was not long before social media became a thriving entity more sites like Digg, Skype, Flickr and Gmail all made their appearance. By the end of 2004, internet advertising in the US alone brought in around $2.9 billion and by 2005, YouTube had entered the playing field and now there are more than 3 billion hours spent watching YouTube videos each and every month. During 2007, iPhone began to change the web another time and everything began to shift to cater to the mobile user. By 2010, mobile marketing alone brought in approximately $650 million.

Scope of Digital Marketing

1. Evolution Of Internet

In the year 1995 VSNL introduced public internet access in India. By the end of 2000, only 0.5% of the population has internet facilities. But at the end of 2016, the figure climbed to 28% with 373 million people who are using the internet. As we see the generation of network connectivity is upgraded from 2G to 4G or 5G and there is a scope of high bandwidth data, advanced multimedia applications to increase mobile and Wi-Fi traffic. According to the report which is generated by Visual Networking Index(VNI) the expected usage of the internet will climb to 59% with 829 million people towards the accessibility.

2. Smartphones

When it comes to mobile phones initially they were launched in 1990’s with a small display and number pad. The only purpose is to make a call or send messages. But, due to the drastic change in the technology, the smartphones came into the market with full-screen display and completely with touch and with a lot of features.

3. Mobile Apps

For each and everything, we depend on mobile. So, most of the software companies are coming up with mobile apps. To book a movie ticket we depend on the mobile app, to book a car we depend on an app, to order food we depend on the mobile app. Due to the huge competition in the market for mobile apps, even the government bodies are coming up with apps to provide good services to the citizens.

Digital Marketing is in booming stage and a lot of startup companies are depending on it not only in India but all over the world. The main objective of digital marketing campaigns is to make the sales and to create brand awareness among the audience. Even our Prime Minister has been actively promoting the idea of Digital India and even his campaign gained a massive response.

As we see most of the companies are busy running their operations and they cannot invest quality time in understanding the behavior of the audience. Now, digital marketers will come into existence. The main objective is to reduce the cost of advertising and increase return on investment.

1. Target the right audience based on the market and geography group.

2. These professionals identify the audience behavior on digital channels and prioritize the key performance indicators(KPI).

Let us discuss a few facts about digital marketing:

1. New to the digital era

2. Easy to learn and implement

3. Flexible

4. Fast reach

5. Job opportunities

6. ROI

7. Results are measured

1. New to the digital era

Earlier people used to spend a lot of time on newspaper, television and radio to get the latest updates about what is happening around the world. But nowadays the internet has completely changed the lifestyle of human beings for each and everything we are depending on the internet. Slowly, we are shifting from traditional to digital media.

2. Easy to learn and implement

Yes..! what you have read is right. The digital marketing course is easy to learn and implement. First, a person should have patience and passion to learn and the ability to think out of the box. But, initially no one can do wonders; as you gain experience you will be an asset to the organization based on your skills.

3. Flexible

As the complete tasks are done using the internet one can work from anywhere. But, most of the companies won’t provide access to it because as digital marketing is in the booming stage. One has to have a good laptop and internet connection to do the work. As we see most of the tasks are done in a digital way. For example: to pay electricity bill; to book train or flight tickets; to order food; to book a cab; to book movie tickets; everything is done online. So by this, we can say that we are entering into a digital world.

4. Fast Reach

Earlier the only way to get the latest news or updates which are happening around the world are radio, newspaper and television. Today’s scenario is completely different when something is posted on social media it is going viral because most of the people got used to it.

5. Job opportunities

As we observe the demand for digital marketing is increasing and at the same time even the job opportunities also increasing. To promote any software product or service these days even software companies are hiring a separate team for digital marketing. This shows that how much impact it is going to show in the market and to sustain from the competition.

6. ROI

In olden days most of the companies used to spend a huge amount on traditional marketing i.e newspapers or TV ads. But when digital marketing came into play the companies are investing less amount on marketing and at the same time, the return is more when compared to traditional marketing. So, even top brands are switching from traditional to digital.

7. Results are measured

In every platform(SEO, SEM, SMO, SMM and Email Marketing) of digital marketing the results are measured without waiting for a long time. With the help of a variety of tools the campaigns can be measured i.e from were the lead or conversions happened.

So, by considering the above eight parameters we can say that there is a lot of scope for digital marketing all over the world.

Inbound marketing versus digital marketing

Digital marketing and inbound marketing are easily confused, and for good reason. Digital marketing uses many of the same tools as inbound marketing—email and online content, to name a few. Both exist to capture the attention of prospects through the buyer’s journey and turn them into customers. But the two approaches take different views of the relationship between the tool and the goal.

Digital marketing considers how each individual tool can convert prospects. A brand's digital marketing strategy may use multiple platforms or focus all of its efforts on one platform.

Inbound marketing is a holistic concept. It considers the goal first, then looks at the available tools to determine which will effectively reach target customers, and then at which stage of the sales funnel that should happen.

The most important thing to remember about digital marketing and inbound marketing is that as a marketing professional, you don’t have to choose between the two. In fact, they work best together. Inbound marketing provides structure and purpose for effective digital marketing efforts, making sure that each digital marketing channel works toward a goal.