Digital marketing is now a serious player in the business game, walking proudly amongst all other advertising channels and methods. It has come a long way since its birth about a decade ago – first something unbelievable and quite inconceivable, now it’s a huge and indispensable part of our daily life (even when we don’t know it). It still manages to arise numerous legends and myths about its existence – some underestimate it greatly and put no value upon it, others worship it and pronounce it the next “God” amongst us. The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle. Still, not everyone has to know digital marketing in details and inside and out. If you, however, want to have a successful business and career online, you must know at least the basics of it. In this piece you will find exactly that – vital, important information that will help you learn the basic concepts and techniques when it comes to digital marketing. Whether you have an online business and are looking to develop it, or you are an user who is wondering where did all these shoes ads come from, there are some things you must know.

Let’s start at the beginning. What exactly is digital marketing? It is a type of marketing that uses digital communication channels with a purpose of promoting a product or a service. Its main goal is reaching and connecting just people who (might) have interest at the thing you are offering/selling as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Digital marketing must be (and is) a bridge between the business and its clients/users not only offering them products/services but also facilitating the communication between them. So, what’s important to know about digital marketing?

1. Digital marketing needs a long and detailed planning

If you think the work of digital marketing experts consists of creating pages in the blue social media, then adding some pictures on your website and subsequently publishing them plus let’s say 5 more banners or texts, well, you are so in the wrong. Here’s what is actually the case and what we mean by detailed planning. A digital marketing expert:

• Decides which social media networks to use and are most suitable in the case. Then throws in some planning for their continuous support and publishing schedule;
• Has a clear idea which is the target audience and how to reach them swiftly and efficiently in the vast internet space;
• Knows the best way to attract the audience’s attention;
• Knows at what times users are the most active;
• What images attract the eyes of online users and give the best results;
• Has a clear view of the ad’s purpose and the fact it must be tailored to the needs of the particular business and its audience;
• Knows how to distinguish the business from everyone else.

All this and a lot other details and techniques we won’t bother with at this very moment. When it comes to long-term planning, as is the case with traditional/offline marketing, digital marketing doesn’t immediately deliver great results. An effective and successful marketing campaign needs time, persistence and attention to details.

2. Digital marketing also costs money

There is hardly anyone who has not heard the phrase “There is no free lunch”. Well, in the digital realm apply the same rules as in real life. Creating a good advertisement and positive profile is becoming more and more expensive. That is because of the social network’s continuous increase of advertising prices If just two years ago you could create an amazing ad with small insignificant budget, now you most definitely wouldn’t be able to do that. To make the matter clearer, it’s time for an example:

To advertise your business offline, you’ll probably need front door ads, glowing neon signs, flyers and so on. , and flyers. What is to do? One printing company will take care of your vinyls, another will make the neon ads, a third one will design and print the flyers, and finally, someone will have to distribute all the promotional brochures.

Now imagine going through the same only online. The difference is all this will happen at the same place. And that is if you find a good digital agency with experienced team. A graphic designer will create your logo and banners, a marketing expert will take care of your social media accounts. Third person will analyze both your performance and the ones of your competitors and will draw up a plan how to distinguish your company from all the others. The promoters you were going to pay to are in fact the social media channels and will offer you much more too.

3. Digital marketing is like the crown of a tree

If you are wondering what exactly do we mean, we’ll clear it up for you right now. Imagine that the stem of the said tree is marketing itself, and its branches are social networks, search engines, ads, content, emails, designs, and so on. The industry is extremely vast and complex and listing all its branches would take a long time. However, you now know what the main and most important branches are. So, if digital marketing is the roots and stem of the tree, all the information, communication and advertising channels and methods are its branches and leaves. And every business decides whether to use one or more, or every one of them.

4. Online marketing is extremely flexible

If you’ve come to the impression that online marketing is just really expensive, don’t rush with drawing such conclusions. Actually, digital marketing costs just as much you are willing to spend. If you have a bigger budget this month – great, that’s what it’s gonna cost you. But if by any reason you decide to not set aside so much money for the next time period, don’t worry – no one is going to charge you extra or punish you for that. You yourself decide how much exactly you are going to spend, and that includes not only money but also time and resources. Of course, to a great extent results are bound to the investment thrown in at the beginning but there are cases where that’s not entirely true. This is one of the benefits digital marketing offers – it is possible to achieve great results with smaller budget. It might not happen often but with the specific skills, catching the right wave and moment and, of course, a lot of luck on the side, you can do it.

Let’s not forget the convenience and control digital marketing offers. To prove that is a comparison between print and digital advertising. The print ad, once created, can not be changed, edited, and subsequently controlled. If there is an error in the content, you will have no power as to edit it, say and control who sees it and how they react at it. With online ads the case is totally different. If you have decided that you want to change the ad’s banner/content for wanting to try another strategy or seeing an error you missed the last time, you can do it at any time. You just pause the ad, edit it, and the re-run it. That simple. And great, isn’t it?

5. Digital marketing isn’t equal to only Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media. We all know that. But it is not the only one you can promote your business one. Don’t forget about YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Vimeo, Twitter, LinkedIn, SwarmApp, the search engines Google, Yandex, Bing, and so on. To choose to rely on only one of these is not that wise and definitely not a good idea. The most popular strategy includes combining different social media and using them to connect to the specific target group of people they represent. If want to connect with a smaller group of people, a target social media is the best choice. By choosing this too you will connect to not only a lot of people but also to specific groups who might not be large but will be your target users. That is the reason we recommend managing profiles in more than one social media.

Example: If your business is in the travel/tourism industry, you must, of course, have accounts in Facebook, Instagram, Google+, the biggest social media. But you must all find your niche media. In that case, you can use TripAdvisor, TripIt and FoodSPoting (if you have a restaurant.)

6. Digital marketing is not only about advertising

You have, for example, SEO – an extremely important part of any business’ digital strategy. SEO is the process in which you optimize your website to make it more accessible and preferred by Google and other search engines. Why to do that? Weill if your website isn’t optimized, search engines will get confused about what exactly is it – whether it’s a corporate website, or an online store or a part of the deep dark web that would get blocked in regular searches. If that’s the case, in situations where someone is looking for a certain product you offer, Google won’t show your website as a result simply because you haven’t told Google you offer this product and many like it. By optimizing your website you make it accessible, useful and cosy not only for the search engines but also for the users visiting it.

Another part of digital marketing is link building. This is a process where your website gets mentioned by others (the more authoritative, the better). As a result, your website will not only appear more often and in a better position when searched in a search engine but also more people will learn of it. Link building is important because it increases your credibility, positive authority and your reach to (potential) customers.

Other important processes are email marketing and video marketing. They will be a result of more detailed discussion soon but if you want to learn more about them right now, you can do so here:

https://tendrik.com/our-blog/video-marketing/

https://tendrik.com/our-blog/email-marketing-spam-revenue/

7. One marketer is often not enough

There is a famous proverb in Bulgarian – A spring is not made of only one bird. This is applicable here as well. Digital marketing is a field in which in order to achieve great results, you need the support and knowledge of different professionals. You will often need a good graphic designer taking care of your visual content and identity, then a skilled copywriter for your content management, a good developer and that’s just the beginning of it. The only way to handle all this by yourself is to have at least basic knowledge about social network (planning, advertising, and mechanisms), drawing and design, understanding of JavaScript and HTML, are also a good PR and a copywriter, can shoot video and then montage it, and so on. And of course the ability to clone yourself so that you can have enough time for all of these. But even if that’s case you won’t be able to execute and manage all of these at the professional level you need. One, two, maybe there it’s possible, but all of them – highly unlikely.

8. The results are clear and visible

Digital marketing is a subject to extensive analysis. Right now online marketing offers great benefits at the expense of the offline one. The important and extremely useful tools available make collecting really extensive data a child’s play. You can see and analyze who has seen your ad, how they responded to it, how they engaged. You can’t do that in traditional marketing. Placing a billboard, for example, will bring you brand awareness but no additional information about the people’s behaviour. You won’t be able to gather up-to-date information about it.

Okay, now you have the foundation and know some of the most important things when it comes to digital marketing. If you want to learn more about the industry and topic, follow our blog. This is the place where we publish important information about useful tools and strategy, discuss current problems and topics, and share our successful practice through our clients’ projects.