Digital Marketing Made Simple: A

Step-by-Step Guide
Digital marketing.  Just another one of those new, fancy buzzwords you should
use to sound smart in meetings or is it the real deal?
Maybe a better question is: what is digital marketing?
This digital marketing guide will show you what’s what.
First popularized as a term in the early 2000’s, digital marketing has actually
been around much longer.
Like, WAY longer.  About 100 years longer, to be exact.
Here’s a pic of the first digital marketer in history:

(Image source: Wikipedia)
His name: Guglielmo Marconi.
What? Marconi?
Yup. In 1896 he was the first human to demonstrate a, “public transmission of
wireless signals.”
This dude invented the radio.
Shortly after his little demonstration in England, morse signals were
transmitted across open water.
And, while it would take another 10 years for the radio to reach the general
public, it sure didn’t take the creators long to realize they could use it to sell
stuff.
The first live broadcast was from an opera performance at the Met and guess
what people did after it?
They bought show tickets!
Digital marketing strategy was born.
I bet you’re surprised. I didn’t mention smartphones, apps, Facebook ads or
blogs at all.
That’s because digital marketing has nothing to do with the internet.
Definition
If you are wondering what digital marketing is… it’s is advertising
delivered through digital channels. Channels such as social media,
mobile applications, email, web applications, search engines, websites,
or any new digital channel.

Or a simpler version…
Digital marketing is any form of marketing products or services that
involves electronic devices.
That’s the reason it has been around for decades (because electronics have)
and why it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with content marketing,
Google ads, social media or retargeting.
Digital marketing can be done both online and offline.
And, both kinds matter for a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.
Why digital marketing matters
Remember billboards?
I do.
As a young kid in California, my experiences from the back seat of our car
mostly alternated between: “Mom, when are we there?” and “Uh, look,
McDonalds, can we go?”, whenever one of those 10 foot billboards popped up
on the side of the road.
Growing up with Indian parents, the answer to both of those would, most
times, be the same: “Not yet.”
Sometimes, big brands would even start a billboard war, like this one between
Audi and BMW, which got quite a few laughs:
(Image source: BMW blog)
In 2015, a ton of my clients still spent hundreds of millions of dollars on
billboard advertising.
Unfortunately or fortunately, it’s dead.
Just think of it this way, Google and Facebook generate more revenue
than any traditional media company because they control more
eyeballs. That’s why digital marketing matters, it is where the attention
is.
The reason why billboards, like the ones above, die, is perfectly illustrated in a
single picture of a Volvo.
Because, frankly, the future of driving will look like this:
(Image source: Dullonet)
Not a single passenger will spend their time looking at the road.
Do me a favor, the next time you drive and are giving a friend a ride, take a
peek at the passenger seat.
Just for a second.
Even now, chances are they’ll be looking at their phone.
Heck, in a world where 9% of all drivers are on the phone one way or the other
(texting or calling), at any given moment during daylight hours, how can we
think billboards have a future?
If not even the driver is looking at the road any more, who’s supposed to see
those advertisements?
And, that’s not even considering self-driving cars, on which both Apple and
Google are working (you know it’s going to happen).