What Is Digital Marketing? Everything You Need to Know

More than 67% of the world’s population uses the internet to find information and connect with friends over social media.¹ Since the internet plays such a major role in society, it only makes sense that marketers rely on it to reach customers. Digital marketing allows marketers to use digital tools to connect with customers via search engines, email, social media and other digital channels.²

Digital marketing is a spin-off of traditional marketing efforts. In traditional marketing, companies use print media, television, and the radio to connect with their audience.² However, digital marketing emerged as the internet gained steam in the 1990s and early 2000s.³ Today’s brands rely on digital marketing channels to promote their products and services. This article explains the basics of digital marketing, its benefits and the career opportunities it presents.

Digital marketing strategy includes several components to connect with a brand’s audience.

Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques aim to increase a website’s organic traffic by improving its rankings on the search engines.⁴ The higher a site’s rankings, the more likely it is that people will see it and click on its links. Digital marketers use various tools, including on-page and off-page optimization, to facilitate strong rankings.⁴

Digital marketers create content, such as blogs, whitepapers, videos, and email copy, to attract customers’ interest. Content can inform customers on topics that are relevant to the brand or encourage them to take a specific action, such as buying something.⁵

Some brands use social media to promote products and services. Social media marketing involves posting on social media platforms to engage followers and increase brand awareness.⁶

Email marketing uses email to connect with customers and promote products and services. Customers sign up to receive a company’s email marketing messages, which may include exclusive discounts, informative content or brand updates.⁷

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising allows marketers to place their ads and content in prominent places, such as the top of the search engine results pages. Companies pay a small fee whenever a user clicks on the link.⁸

In affiliate marketing, third parties promote a brand’s products or services to their fans in exchange for a share of any revenue generated. Affiliate marketers reach their audience through various platforms, including their own websites, their social media accounts and email.⁹

Brands sometimes partner with social media influencers to advertise products and services. A social media influencer typically has a sizable audience that mirrors the company’s target audience.¹⁰ In exchange for promoting the brand to their followers, an influencer may receive a fee.

Digital marketers use analytics and data to assess their digital marketing campaigns’ performance. Analytics track customer engagement, conversions and website clicks to evaluate each digital marketing strategy’s return on investment and other critical insights.¹¹

Digital marketers rely on various tools and platforms to manage their marketing campaigns. 

SEO tools help optimize content and websites for search engine rankings. These tools include keyword research and content ideation platforms such as Clearscope, Surfer and BuzzSumo.¹²

A content management system (CMS) allows digital marketers to add content to the internet without writing their own code. WordPress, Squarespace and Wix are a few examples of CMS platforms.¹³

With the assistance of social media management tools, brands can visualize and schedule future posts and monitor their social media marketing performance.¹⁴ A few tools digital marketers may use include Hootsuite, Buffer and Loomly.

Email marketing software provides a platform for sending marketing emails to clients. It typically includes features to manage your subscriber list, create emails, and monitor engagement.¹⁵ Some examples include Constant Contact, Mailchimp and GetResponse.

Analytics tools help digital marketers understand how clients interact with their marketing campaigns.¹⁶ They help track engagement, conversions and ROI.¹⁶ Some popular analytics tools include Google Analytics 4, Ahrefs and HubSpot.

Digital marketing offers several advantages to the brands that use it.

With effective digital marketing strategy, the size of your audience is unlimited. You can reach people worldwide through any digital platform, including the internet, email and social media.¹⁷ An expanded reach offers more opportunities for customer engagement.

Digital marketing is budget-friendly. With a small outlay, you can design and scale an effective campaign. Some digital marketing techniques, like SEO, require little monetary spending and tend to generate increasing returns over time.¹⁷

It’s possible to target highly specific audiences through digital marketing.¹⁷ You can rely on data from previous campaigns to further refine your targeting strategies.

Digital marketing offers a wealth of data to monitor your campaigns’ performance. Marketers may track website clicks, email open rates, social media shares and other metrics to assess their performance.¹⁷

Since there are so many ways to reach customers using digital marketing, many brands frequently tweak their campaigns. Some brands repurpose their content for different platforms, which helps extend its longevity.¹⁷

Digital marketing offers many career options. Entry-level jobs include digital marketing analyst, content strategist, SEO specialist, copywriter and email marketing specialist.¹⁸ As digital marketing professionals gain experience and continue their education, they may take on managerial roles.¹⁸

The need for digital marketers is expected to grow by 6% through 2032, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).¹⁹

As digital marketing continues to evolve, new trends will emerge. Some examples include the following:

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning: Technology advancements may save digital marketers time in developing content and defining their target audience²⁰
• Voice search optimization: Optimizing content to accommodate voice search queries will become essential²¹
• Personalization and customer experience: Providing highly personalized advertising content will grow in importance²¹
• Video marketing: Brands may rely more on videos to advertise products and services

Digital marketing offers a world of opportunities for brands to connect with customers and grow their audience. Digital marketers who understand digital technologies and how to embrace these strategies will find many career opportunities available to them.

If you’re a marketer, digital marketer, or newer to this space and interested in learning how an Online Master of Science in Marketing degree from William & Mary can teach you the fundamentals of digital marketing and expand your career prospects, schedule a call with an admissions outreach advisor.