Types of Digital Marketing (with Pros & Cons of Each)

0.1- Intro

Digital marketing efforts are a company’s primary priority. Consumers who want to make educated purchases regularly investigate businesses and products online. Selling your products and services online with digital marketing is the most remarkable approach to reaching your target market. First, define “digital marketing” before discussing its different ways.

Internet-connected or not, “digital marketing agency” refers to promotional operations employing electronic devices. Digital marketing includes radio and TV ads; other ways may work better. Digital marketing is essential for corporate competitiveness. A website or other digital presence may attract many people to your business.

1- How and when should various forms of advertising be used?

The stage of your company determines the best digital marketing strategy. SEM, social media, and affiliate/influencer marketing may help new firms reach new audiences rapidly.

After building your audience, concentrate on quality content and brand loyalty via email marketing. Write this material with Kelowna SEO in mind to keep your website getting organic traffic. Simpleton’s Digital Marketing Training may improve your digital marketing approach. This tool gives you all the information you need to create the best approach.

2- Types of Digital Marketing

2.1- Content marketing

Instead of just broadcasting an advertisement, “content marketing” entails creating and distributing material (text, images, and multimedia) that is of value to the target audience. In business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, “content” may refer to social media updates, blog articles, and entertaining videos; in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, it may refer more often to white papers or reports, webinars, and informative films.

Pros

• In contrast to paying to send your message to a cold audience, this method focuses on luring people to you and your business.
• All other forms of digital marketing agency—SEO, social media, email, etc.—rely on content, which is very adaptable and can help you establish your brand while educating, entertaining, and inspiring your audience.

Cons

• There’s a lot of noise online because everyone now realizes the value of content and produces vast quantities of blog articles, movies, and everything else they can think of.
• Consistent, high-quality content that serves your consumers’ requirements exemplifies your brand, and advances your company’s goals is essential for success.

2.2- Search Engine Marketing

SEM fills in where SEO leaves off, primarily emphasizing increasing your website’s visibility in Google’s search results via paid advertising. Using SEM, you may pay to display your ads on a user’s search engine results page (SERP). Google AdWords is, without a doubt, the most popular sponsored search platform. Bing and Yahoo are two more alternatives for advertising on search engines.

To have your keyword or phrase-generated ad appear in many positions on a search engine results page (SERP), the search engine will charge you a flat sum. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a good example of search engine optimization. Pay-per-click advertising is a kind of digital marketing in which a company pays a fee each time one of its ads is clicked on a search engine results page (SERP).

SEM, or search engine optimization, maximizes your website’s exposure and traffic via organic and sponsored search engine results. Indeed, it would not be incorrect to call SEO organic SEM and PPC paid SEM.

Due to its widespread acceptance, PPC has also been embraced by social media giants like Facebook. These specific advertisements appear in the feeds of those most likely to become customers. This is more evidence of the interconnected nature of the several subfields that make up digital marketing.

Pay-per-click advertising is one of the easiest ways to gain focused traffic to your website. PPC is an investment in increased visibility in search engine results pages on mobile devices and traditional computers.

As the product or service vendor, the PPC marketer, the landing page, and the end user, or customer, you are all participants in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Pros

• If you’re ready to shell out the cash, PPC can swiftly get you to the top of search results.
• To put it simply, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Cons

• Targeting widely used search terms may drive up costs.
• Many consumers doubt the authenticity of advertisements and instead rely on organic outcomes.

2.3- Social Media Marketing

Ads on social media are among the most recent examples of digital marketing, but they are also among the most successful. The enhanced internet visibility and consumer base that this generates for firms is well documented. It’s a great approach to get to know your customers and potential customers better and communicate with them.

The information you get from this exchange may be used to further your offerings and your relationship with customers. For this reason, it should form an integral element of your company’s digital marketing plan.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. are just few of the many social media platforms used by businesses to reach and interact with their customers. They also utilize these platforms to distribute industry-related material like blog articles and interesting anecdotes.

A successful social media strategy depends on the creation and promotion of high-quality content in a smart and targeted way. As part of your digital marketing strategy, you should conduct audience research, select the social media platform best suited for your industry, select your key performance indicators (KPIs), develop a detailed plan with room for improvement and adaptation, create and publish high-quality content, and monitor the response to your posts.

Pros

• As more and more people see, comment on, and share your work, your efforts will swiftly pay off.
• Advertisements on Facebook and Instagram let you zero in on certain subsets of users to reach the appropriate individuals with your message.

Cons

• Challenges exist while using social media. Every so often, the algorithm is updated. In addition, several new types of information are added on a regular basis.
• Despite appearances, regularly and effectively posting on social media requires careful preparation and a substantial time investment.

2.4- Influencer Marketing

As a relatively recent development in the realm of digital advertising, influencer marketing may be seen of as a natural progression from traditional social media advertising. It comprises companies and organizations capitalizing on the wide reach and prominent online profiles of various influencers and social media celebrities to spread the word about their wares.

Because your target market places more trust in the opinions of these individuals, it benefits your business when they endorse your brand, goods, or services.

Snapchat and Instagram are at the center of the Influencer marketing universe. Companies will pay Instagrammers with large followings to promote their goods by sharing images of themselves using the items. Instagram “takeovers” are also common, in which a hired influencer posts as the firm for a certain amount of time (often a day or two).

When an influencer endorses your company, their followers are more likely to follow your page as well so they don’t miss any updates.

Pros

• You receive access to the influencer’s already fan base. So there’s no need to put off constructing your own.
• If you’re able to associate yourself with a well-known figure, you’ll get more loyal fans and buyers.

Cons

• Forming partnerships with influential people isn’t all about forking over a lot of cash. Choose the best influencer for your audience and company, and then work out a genuine method to collaborate with them.
• There is a growing public mistrust of influencers, so be open and honest about any payments made to them for endorsements.

2.5- Email Marketing

Make it easy for people to sign up for your email list when they visit your website or store. If they have given you permission, you may contact them about upcoming promotions, events, or products. Despite its low profile, Lyfe Marketing reports that for every $1 invested in email marketing, an average of $40 is generated in revenue.

Providing value to your audience is the most crucial component of this digital marketing channel. Customers will be more loyal to your brand if you provide them with benefits they can’t get somewhere else.

Pros

• This kind of digital advertising stands out from others in that it is not reliant on the evolution of algorithms.
• If you maintain in regular communication with the people on your email list, they’ll remember you fondly the next time they’re in the market for whatever you sell.

Cons

• Emails are seldom read by customers.
• It’s tough to come up with new value-added features that keep consumers from abandoning their subscriptions.

2.6- Mobile Marketing

According to a Google survey, 27% of internet users across the globe use mobile voice searches. There has been a meteoric surge in the use of mobile devices by consumers. Smartphones are one of the most accessible, quick problem-solving partners everywhere, at any time, which is essential for successful digital marketing.

If a company really wants to connect with its clients, they need to embrace mobile marketing. The marketer must modify all of his PC activities for use on mobile devices. In-app advertising, texting, and social messaging applications are all areas where mobile proficiency is essential. For companies aiming to appeal to a younger demographic, this is crucial.

Pros

• These days, consumers rely on their mobile devices more than their desktop computers. Therefore, mobile marketing aids in reaching them where they spend the most time on the go.
• Geo-fencing and other forms of audience segmentation allow for pinpoint precision.

Cons

• The area is rather modest when compared to computers.
• The clickthrough rate for mobile advertisements is poor.
• Interruptions in conversation from advertisements are often frowned upon.

2.7- Video Marketing

When competing in today’s fast-paced market, short and snappy films are more effective than texts. Video footage, whether live or prerecorded, may be used effectively as a kind of digital marketing. More than two billion individuals use YouTube every month in search of content. It’s a great chance to expand your consumer base, and it’s been shown that video marketing methods boost ROI at every stage of the sales funnel.

Pros

• Making a video may help people feel connected to your cause and broadcast your message far and wide.
• They outshine written or visual media in terms of retention.
• Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are emphasizing video in an effort to increase user interaction and visibility.

Cons

• It’s difficult to get people interested in a few seconds. People scroll through their feeds really rapidly.
• It takes a lot of effort, resources, and expertise to make a professional-quality video.

2.8- Audio Marketing

The dawn of commercial radio, listeners have consistently favored the medium. Some individuals have been frequent radio listeners ever since the 1920s, and they’ve just switched from analogue to digital radio: the internet. Platforms like Spotify have given audio advertising a boost. Podcasts and voice-activated speakers like Google Home and Amazon Alexa expand the scope of audio marketing considerably.

Podcasts are becoming more popular and are drawing listeners away from traditional radio. Many people like them for use in the gym or other mechanical settings. Successful audio marketing requires familiarity with listener behavior. Consider what they may be doing in conjunction with your audios. In this approach, you may turn audio advertising into a substantial revenue generator for your company.

Pros

• Audio marketing, whether via radio or podcasts, is a great way to reach a busy audience since it can be listened to at any time and anywhere.
• Audio material is simpler and less expensive to generate than video.

Cons

• Listeners who are trying to multitask may get distracted and fail to take action.
• There is a high learning curve when it comes to marketing via smart home assistants, which are still in the testing phase.
• Less likely to see a quick profit.

3- How and when should various forms of advertising be used?

The stage of your company determines the best digital marketing strategy. SEM, social media, and affiliate/influencer marketing may help new firms reach new audiences rapidly.

After building your audience, concentrate on quality content and brand loyalty via email marketing. Write this material with SEO in mind to keep your website getting organic traffic. Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Training may improve your digital marketing approach. This tool gives you all the information you need to create the best approach.

4- Conclusion

Choosing the perfect digital marketing approach for your organization may require trial and error. Audience is crucial. Who are you targeting, and where are they getting information?

In-depth, informative material will attract a specialist audience that understands the sector well. One of the best ways to reach young people is via social media. Start marketing on your target audience’s preferred digital marketing channels.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 23, 2020, and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.