Principles of digital marketing

Principles of digital marketing can be split in 4 areas: concepts, traditional and digital marketing, 3i principles and digital channels.

 

 

 

Concepts

Let’s reformulate a bit what is digital marketing: it is a use of a digital technology or new media to achieve company’s or individual’s marketing goals.

There are several concepts of digital marketing:

 

Inbound/outbound

The inbound concept (called also a “pull strategy“) provides a relevant and helpful content to attract leads and organically leads to engagement.

The outbound concept (called also a “push strategy“) intends to show the content to a maximum amount of users, to increase chances to reach the audience which might be interested in the product (or service).

 

Types of media

Owned: media which are created and controlled by the owner (website, mobile site, shared content, blog)

Paid: payment is needed to drive traffic to the owned media. It involves as well conversion and lead creation (social media adverts, display ads, paid search, paid influencers)

Earned: it is a free publicity, which is generated by customers/consumers, public relation and influencers, who start to talk about your product or brand (reviews, mentions, shares, reposts, shares)

 

Characteristics of traditional and digital marketing

Traditional marketing: mass media (the way the media is consumed by the audience); passive audiences (the level of investment which is committed to the medium consumed by an audience), one-to-many (message is being developed to a broader audience, unique message), outbound (push tactics in acquiring audience, be seen with scale).

To the traditional marketing belong: direct marketing, print, outdoor, broadcasts TV and radio and “word of mouth” referrals

Digital marketing: individual media (media is consumed individually), active audiences (the audience is able to give a feedback), one-to-one (personalized message to individual consumer, multiple targeted messages), inbound (pull strategy in acquiring audiences, attract with quality content).

The difference between traditional and digital marketing are in:

  • reach: the total number of people who will be exposed to media
  • frequency: how often the audience sees the media
  • engagement: till which level the audience is able to interact with the displayed content
  • relationship: what is the reception and perception of the message; if it is targeted, relevant or/and familiar to the audience
  • method: pull/push strategy – how the customer is led through the sales funnel

 

3i principles

  • initiate: action starts with the customer and the work is carried towards the digital strategy
  • iterate: learning from customer engagement is continuously applied
  • integrate: digital channels and traditional marketing activities are integrated in parallel

It stands as well for:

 

Integration: seamlessly connect across channels

 

Integration is the foundation of successful digital marketing. It involves aligning various digital channels and platforms to deliver a cohesive and consistent brand experience. Businesses need to integrate their website, social media platforms, email marketing, content marketing, and other digital channels to create a unified presence.

Firstly, a responsive and user-friendly website is crucial. It should serve as the hub of digital marketing activities, providing valuable content, clear calls-to-action, and seamless navigation. Integration also extends to social media, where businesses should maintain consistent branding, messaging, and visuals across platforms.

Moreover, integration involves synchronizing marketing efforts with customer relationship management (CRM) systems to capture and leverage customer data effectively. By integrating these systems, businesses can personalize marketing messages, target specific customer segments, and deliver a more tailored and impactful experience.

 

Interaction: engage and build relationships

 

Interaction lies at the heart of digital marketing. It revolves around engaging customers, fostering meaningful relationships, and creating memorable experiences. Businesses must actively listen and respond to customer feedback, questions, and concerns across various digital channels.

Social media platforms provide a powerful avenue for interaction. By actively engaging with customers through comments, direct messages, and personalized responses, businesses can humanize their brand and build trust. Additionally, hosting live events, webinars, or Q&A sessions allows for real-time interaction, creating a sense of community and encouraging active participation.

Furthermore, personalized email marketing campaigns can nurture relationships by providing tailored content and offers based on customer preferences and behaviors. By leveraging marketing automation tools, businesses can automate personalized interactions at scale, ensuring consistent and timely communication.

 

Innovation: embrace emerging technologies

 

Innovation is essential in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing. Businesses must stay abreast of emerging technologies and trends to remain competitive and capture their target audience’s attention.

One crucial aspect of innovation is staying updated with the latest digital marketing tools and platforms. Whether it’s leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for chatbots, using virtual reality (VR) for immersive experiences, or harnessing data analytics for actionable insights, businesses must embrace new technologies to enhance their marketing efforts.

Additionally, content innovation is vital to cut through the digital noise. Video marketing, interactive quizzes, podcasts, and augmented reality (AR) experiences are just a few examples of innovative content formats that capture audience attention and encourage sharing.

Moreover, staying ahead of digital marketing trends and consumer behavior patterns allows businesses to anticipate changes and adapt their strategies accordingly. This includes embracing mobile-first approaches, optimizing for voice search, and exploring new advertising formats like influencer marketing and native advertising.

 

Digital channels

 

There are 7 different digital channels:

  1. Email and automation marketing: used for conversion and loyalty. Customer is being reached directly and at the right time; and is led to the conversion, which usually occurs on the landing page. The objective is to raise interest, convert and retain customers; providing additional value to the service, brand or product.
  2. Paid search (PPC): this channel helps to receive a high value traffic and clicks from the interested audience. The audience searches for a given keyword related to a particular issue; paid search places the brand on the top of the list enabling customers to find the searched product quickly, to buy or take action.
  3. Organic search (SEO): web page optimization for an organic search is a key strategy in digital marketing. It leads to an outcome (either discovery, awareness or conversion) without engaging money. SEO makes the content visible and indexed on Google, and easily searchable to the audience.
  4. Website optimization: contrary to the people’s opinion, website optimization is not SEO. It involves building a customer journey which is easy and smooth; optimizing for speed, responsiveness, navigation, content and conversion process.
  5. Display advertising: online display has great targeting capabilities; audiences can be targeted by interest, gender, age, keywords, type of the community, any many more. Ads displayed to the audience are highly relevant, what brings higher awareness, consideration and traffic.
  6. Content marketing: it is a central point of the inbound strategy. Targeted and well developed content increases brand personality and likability. Reading the content customers discover the brand, its values and experience; can identify themselves with the brand, learn about the products and their capacity to resolve customer’s needs and problems. Content marketing interacts with all the stages of the sales funnel (buyer’s journey); constitutes the focal point of contact and the final destination of marketing tactics. It may trigger a viral response and create a word of mouth; if the content is engaging, surprising or humorous.
  7. Social media marketing: platforms of social media are primary channels for creating awareness and interest, equally through the content and social engagement. Ads can be targeted and re-targeted, depending of the conversion objective. Social media are important channels for the retention’s stage of the buyer’s journey; customer uses them as a primary platform of information and updates from the brand.