Essentials of Marketing

Digital Marketing:
Marketing is core of any business as the basic purpose of marketing is to reach customers,
identify their needs and deliver them a product or a service that satisfies their need. A quick
and efficient way of reaching customer is digital marketing. Digital marketing means using
internet, mobile phone, social media, search engines and different hand held devices in order
to reach customers. It is being consider as a revolutionary innovation in marketing industry as it
has completely unique and different from traditional way of approaching customers. Through
digital marketing one can keep record of the trends of his customers and can effectively analyze
the buying behavior of the customer, which will
ultimately play a vital role in developing customer
insight. Digital marketing is a deep and broad field which
comprises of every aspect in marketing, for example
attracting new customers through social media, content
marketing, emails and etc. Before we move on, you must
know that digital marketing isn’t internet marketing
there is a visible difference in both of them. Internet
marketing can only be done from internet but digital
marketing is done by internet as well as different
handheld devices or any other digital platform.

How Digital Marketing works:

Digital marketing focuses on a specific segment of market with a two way communication
medium. In digital marketing the advertisers are called source whereas members of these
specific segments are called receivers. Receivers should be well-defined so the source can
target them easily. Two perks can be enjoyed from this strategy which are, firstly when one
digital platform will focus on one specific segment of customer it will led us to understand
better the needs of customers and carter them effectively. Digital marketing is highly interactive
businesses can receive immediate feedback from customers which helps in evaluating customer
satisfaction and business can overcome loopholes if any. Nestle launched Nesvita in Pakistan,
and they primarily focus on women with calcium deficiency through their advertisement and
casted Mahira Khan in their advertise to encourage women to buy their product. On the other
hand, some company casted some sportsmen in advertisement of Milo to encourage young and
energetic customers to buy it. The results are in front everyone both products of nestle are
successful because of digital marketing and targeting right customers.
Digital Marketing Strategies:

As discussed digital marketing aims to generate traffic on the website, spread brand awareness
globally and transform your leads into loyal customers. So now dive a bit deeper and have a
look at seven major digital marketing strategies and their pros and cons.

 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) :

The website of your business must represent your brand, product or service in a clear
and memorable way because it is a centerpiece in digital marketing. But it is nothing
without an effective online marketing campaign or a SEO. Let’s imagine you as a
customer, when we search for any desired product on Google search engine we usually
find desired product or service on first or second page. That’s is the point where SEO
comes into play he analyzes, reviews and implement changes to websites so that they
can get optimized to search engines and drag maximum traffic to the website.
 Pay Per Click (PPC):
PPC advertising enables marketer to reach potential customers and leads through
different digital platforms, these advertising campaigns can be run on different websites
like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and many other frequently used
digital platforms. It works like this, if a marketer sets up PPC campaign on Google or any
other digital platform when a customer search for a product or service, it will show
them your ads. The most commonly used form of PPC is Facebook ads and Google ads.
 Content Marketing:
Content marketing holds a paramount rank in digital marketing. You might be making
best products or maybe your SEO is working effectively but if you don’t bring content
marketing to your campaign then your hunt will be incomplete. Basically content
marketing answers the most common question from consumer side that WHY SHOULD I
BUY FROM YOU? Yeah! It convinces the customer and fosters his purchasing decision
through different videos, blogs, podcasts, eBooks, testimonials, info graphics and
webinars. This content is developed and then promoted through social media, SEO, PPC
and other campaigns .The goal of content marketing is to reach maximum number of
customers with content.
 Email Marketing:
Email marketing is another effective way of promoting your brand, and it is one of the
most commonly used digital marketing strategies. Let me tell you this isn’t the spam
messages in your email. Email marketing is done to communicate the message to
potential as well as existing customers. Email marketing is done with a lot of research
marketer analyze the customer data analytics and then form a list of leads whom they
attract through emails.
  Social Media Marketing:
Social media is the most used medium of communication in this era. Social media
marketing is all about interacting with customer through different social media sites
such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. The ultimate goal of social media
marketing is to create brand awareness and build a strong social trust. As we go more
deep in social media marketing there is a high probability of getting in touch with more
and more leads around the world.
 Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing and when internet wasn’t
that common, it was the most preferred digital marketing but due to its cost
effectiveness it is still used by many digital world giants such as amazon. In affiliate
marketing influencers promote products of different vendors and charge commission on
every sale made or a lead is introduced.
 Video Marketing:
Today YouTube is the largest video sharing platform of the world and it is the second
biggest search engine. Many people are moving towards YouTube to look for their
desired products and to enhance their buying decisions by reviewing the product. Many
companies are using YouTube, Instagram, Telegram, and Tiktok for running their video
marketing campaign on such websites. Video marketing is most efficient when
integrated with SEO, content marketing and social media marketing campaigns.

Digital Marketing Opportunities and Challenges

There are numerous opportunities that one digital marketer can seek in this industry. First of
all, he can go beyond from geographical barriers and can market his products or services
globally. Ultimately digital marketing grants access to broader and vast markets.

It is highly cost effective and time effective, by spending zero to minimum cost and just few
hours a week a marketer can get desired results, Moreover the upcoming era is all about AI so if
we integrate marketing strategies with AI it will be highly beneficial for both business and
customers.

Digital marketing challenges are increasing rapidly for all the marketers. The digital channels are
facing a quick and rapid growth. Digital marketers know that how to overcome such disruptions
and how can they use these channels productively but still the massive challenge every
marketer face in this is grabbing the attention of the receiver because competitors advertises
are also continuously presented to receiver.
Analyzing such large masses of data is another challenge for the digital marketers. When it
comes to analyzing another key parameter that digital marketer analyze is the consumer
behavior which requires an approach based on marketing having proficient understanding of
consumer behavior and consumer journey through different websites.

Conclusion:

Digital marketing basically means to run your marketing campaign through different social and
digital platform. Digital marketing targets specific segments of customers and analyze their
needs and deliver them value. Marketers can get live feedback from customers which are highly
helpful in evaluating marketing plans. There are seven tools that are used in digital marketing:

1. SEO.
2. PPC.
3. Content Marketing
4. Email Marketing
5. Social Media Marketing
6. Affiliate Marketing
7. Video Marketing.

Lastly, we looked upon opportunities and challenges of digital marketing industry, which were
Getting a Global market, Time and Cost Efficient whereas the challenges were Hard to grab
attention of receivers and challenging to analyze large masses of data and consumer behavior.