Are you new to digital marketing?
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Thu, Sep 30, 2010
The basic principles of marketing will always be the same regardless of the name on tin. It is all about knowing who your customers and your competitors are. For every type of marketing you still need to define your target segments and be clear on your message priorities and positioning. But when it comes to digital marketing that is where the similarities ends. Digital marketing is not just another marketing channel. Digital marketing requires a new approach to marketing and a further understanding of your customer behaviour.
Digital marketing is different as it includes a wide variety of channels which share important characteristics distinguishing them from traditional channels. These can be outlined as follows:
The duration of digital marketing can outstretch that of traditional marketing. Once you take your marketing digital, your online resources can be permanent rather than campaign-limited.
Digital marketing is built on the view that people find you and not that you push them in. To succeed with digital marketing you need to pull people to your online content rather than push content to them. The days of building a website and waiting for people to find you are long gone. Chances are you might actually need some guidance on promotion using search engine marketing and online click-through advertising if you are to take on digital marketing.
Our favourite part about digital marketing is that everything is measurable. With digital marketing one thing you’ll not be short of with digital is metrics. In fact the trick can be knowing which metrics are important to you and your marketing strategy.
The flip side about digital marketing is the control. Now your online visitors can chose when to initiate contact, how long and which pages they visit and when to move on. But more than likely digital marketing also provides for dialogue with customers and among customers. This can be an opportunity to engage, understand and serve your customers as individuals.
The end result is that most companies need a new approach for digital marketing. If you are new to digital marketing and what to find out more, read HubSpot’s report on Return on Effort from Digital Marketing.