digital marketing digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies mainly on the internet but also including mobile phones display advertising and any other digital medium digital marketings development since the 1990s and 2000s has changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing digital marketing campaigns are becoming more prevalent and efficient digital marketing methods such as search engine optimization seo search engine marketing sem content marketing influencer marketing content automation campaign marketing datadriven marketing in essence this extension to noninternet channels helps to differentiate digital marketing from online marketing another catchall term for the marketing methods mentioned above which strictly occur online history the development of digital marketing is inseparable from technology development one of the key points in the start of was in 1971 where ray tomlinson sent the very first email and his technology set the platform to allow people to send and receive files through different machines however the more recognisable period as being the start of digital marketing is 1990 as this was where the archie search engine was created as an index for ftp sites in the 1980s the storage capacity of computer was already big enough to store huge volumes of customer information companies started choosing online techniques such as database marketing rather than limited list broker this kind of databases allowed companies to track customers information more effectively thus transforming the relationship between buyer and seller however the manual process was not so efficient in the 1990s the term digital marketing was first coined in the 2000s with more and more internet users and the birth of iphone customers started searching products and making decisions about their needs online first instead of consulting a salesperson which created a new problem for the marketing department of a company in addition a survey in 2000 in the united kingdom found that most retailers had not registered their own domain addressthese problems made marketers find the digital ways for market development in 2007 the concept of marketing automation was raised to solve the problem above marketing automation helped companies segment customers launch multichannel marketing campaigns and provide personalized information for customers however the speed of its adaptability to consumer devices was not fast enough digital marketing became more sophisticated in the 2000s and the 2010s when with the development of social media in the 2000s such as linkedin facebook youtube and twitter consumers became highly dependent on digital electronics in daily lives therefore they expected a seamless user experience across different channels for searching products information the change of customer behavior improved the diversification of marketing technology digital marketing is also referred to as online marketing internet marketing or web marketing the term digital marketing has grown in popularity over time in the usa online marketing is still a popular term in italy digital marketing is referred to as web marketing worldwide digital marketing has become the most common term especially after the year 2013 digital media growth was estimated at 45 trillion online ads served annually with digital media spend at 48 growth in 2010 new nonlinear marketing approach in order to engage customers retailers must shift from a linear marketing approach of oneway communication to a value exchange model of mutual dialogue and benefitsharing between provider and consumer the nielsen global connected commerce survey conducted interviews in 26 countries to observe how consumers are using the internet to make shopping decisions in stores and online online shoppers are increasingly looking to purchase internationally with over 50 in the study who purchased online in the last six months stating they bought from an overseas retailer using an omnichannel strategy is becoming increasingly important for enterprises who must adapt to the changing expectations of consumers who want evermore sophisticated offerings throughout the purchasing journey retailers are increasingly focusing on their online presence including online shops that operate alongside existing storebased outlets the endless aisle within the retail space can lead consumers to purchase products online that fit their needs while retailers do not have to carry the inventory within the physical location of the store solely internetbased retailers are also entering the market some are establishing corresponding storebased outlets to provide personal services professional help and tangible experiences with their products an omnichannel approach not only benefits consumers but also benefits business bottom line research suggests that customers spend more than double when purchasing through an omnichannel retailer as opposed to a singlechannel retailer and are often more loyal this could be due to the ease of purchase and the wider availability of products customers are often researching online and then buying in stores and also browsing in stores and then searching for other options online online customer research into products is particularly popular for higherpriced items as well as consumable goods like groceries and makeup consumers are increasingly using the internet to look up product information compare prices and search for deals and promotions use in the digital era there are a number of ways brands can use digital marketing to benefit their marketing efforts the use of digital marketing in the digital era not only allows for brands to market their products and services but also allows for online customer support through 247 services to make customers feel supported and valued the use of social media interaction allows brands to receive both positive and negative feedback from their customers as well as determining what media platforms work well for them as such digital marketing has become an increased advantage for brands and businesses it is now common for consumers to post feedback online through social media sources blogs and websites on their experience with a product or brand it has become increasingly popular for businesses to use and encourage these conversations through their social media channels to have direct contact with the customers and manage the feedback they receive appropriately word of mouth communications and peertopeer dialogue often have a greater effect on customers since they are not sent directly from the company and are therefore not planned customers are more likely to trust other customers experiences examples can be that social media users share food products and meal experiences highlighting certain brands and franchises this was noted in a study on instagram where researchers observed that adolescent instagram users posted images of foodrelated experiences within their social networks providing free advertising for the products it is increasingly advantageous for companies to use social media platforms to connect with their customers and create these dialogues and discussions the potential reach of social media is indicated by the fact that in 2015 each month the facebook app had more than 126 million average unique users and youtube had over 97 million average unique users brand awareness ease of access a key objective is engaging digital marketing customers and allowing them to interact with the brand through servicing and delivery of digital media information is easy to access at a fast rate through the use of digital communications users with access to the internet can use many digital mediums such as facebook youtube forums and email etc through digital communications it creates a multicommunication channel where information can be quickly exchanged around the world by anyone without any regard to whom they are competitive advantage by using internet platforms businesses can create competitive advantage through various means to reach the maximum potential of digital marketing firms use social media as its main tool to create a channel of information through this a business can create a system in which they are able to pinpoint behavioral patterns of clients and feedback on their needs effectiveness brand awareness has been proven to work with more effectiveness in countries that are high in uncertainty avoidance also these countries that have uncertainty avoidance social media marketing works effectively yet brands must be careful not to be excessive on the use of this type of marketing as well as solely relying on it as it may have implications that could negatively harness their image brands that represent themselves in an anthropomorphizing manner are more likely to succeed in situations where a brand is marketing to this demographic since social media use can enhance the knowledge of the brand and thus decrease the uncertainty it is possible that people with high uncertainty avoidance such as the french will particularly appreciate the high social media interaction with an anthropomorphized brand moreover digital platform provides an ease to the brand and its customers to interact directly and exchange their motives virtually latest developments and strategies one of the major changes that occurred in traditional marketing was the emergence of digital marketing patrutiu baltes loredana 2015 this led to the reinvention of marketing strategies in order to adapt to this major change in traditional marketing patrutiu baltes loredana 2015 as digital marketing is dependent on technology which is everevolving and fastchanging the same features should be expected from digital marketing developments and strategies this portion is an attempt to qualify or segregate the notable highlights existing and being used as of press time segmentation more focus has been placed on segmentation within digital marketing in order to target specific markets in both businesstobusiness and businesstoconsumer sectors influencer marketing important nodes are identified within related communities known as influencers this is becoming an important concept in digital targeting it is possible to reach influencers via paid advertising such as facebook advertising or google adwords campaigns or through sophisticated scrm social customer relationship management software such as sap c4c microsoft dynamics sage crm and salesforce crm many universities now focus at masters level on engagement strategies for influencers to summarize pull digital marketing is characterized by consumers actively seeking marketing content while push digital marketing occurs when marketers send messages without that content being actively sought by the recipients online behavioural advertising is the practice of collecting information about a users online activity over time on a particular device and across different unrelated websites in order to deliver advertisements tailored to that users interests and preferences collaborative environment a collaborative environment can be set up between the organization the technology service provider and the digital agencies to optimize effort resource sharing reusability and communications additionally organizations are inviting their customers to help them better understand how to service them this source of data is called user generated content much of this is acquired via company websites where the organization invites people to share ideas that are then evaluated by other users of the site the most popular ideas are evaluated and implemented in some form using this method of acquiring data and developing new products can foster the organizations relationship with their customer as well as spawn ideas that would otherwise be overlooked ugc is lowcost advertising as it is directly from the consumers and can save advertising costs for the organisation datadriven advertising users generate a lot of data in every step they take on the path of customer journey and brands can now use that data to activate their known audience with datadriven programmatic media buying without exposing customers privacy users data can be collected from digital channels eg when customer visits a website reads an email or launches and interact with brands mobile app brands can also collect data from real world customer interactions such as brick and mortar stores visits and from crm and sales engines datasets also known as peoplebased marketing or addressable media datadriven advertising is empowering brands to find their loyal customers in their audience and deliver in real time a much more personal communication highly relevant to each customers moment and actions an important consideration today while deciding on a strategy is that the digital tools have democratized the promotional landscape 5 remarketing remarketing plays a major role in digital marketing this tactic allows marketers to publish targeted ads in front of an interest category or a defined audience generally called searchers in web speak they have either searched for particular products or services or visited a website for some purpose 6 game advertising game ads are advertisements that exist within computer or video games one of the most common examples of ingame advertising is billboards appearing in sports games ingame ads also might appear as brandname products like guns cars or clothing that exist as gaming status symbols the new digital era has enabled brands to selectively target their customers that may potentially be interested in their brand or based on previous browsing interests businesses can now use social media to select the age range location gender and interests of whom they would like their targeted post to be seen by furthermore based on a customers recent search history they can be followed on the internet so they see advertisements from similar brands products and services this allows businesses to target the specific customers that they know and feel will most benefit from their product or service something that had limited capabilities up until the digital era ways to further increase the effectiveness of digital marketing a strategy that is linked into the effectiveness of digital marketing is content marketing it is found that content marketing is highly present in digital marketing and becomes highly successful when content marketing is involved this is due to content marketing making your brand more relevant to the target consumers as well as more visible to the target consumer marketers also find email an effective strategy when it comes to digital marketing as it is another way to build a long term relationship with the consumer listed below are some aspects that need to be considered to have an effective digital media campaign and aspects that help create an effective email system interesting mail titles differentiate one advertisement from the other this separates advertisements from the clutter differentiation is one factor that can make an advertisement successful in digital marketing because consumers are drawn to it and are more likely to view the advertisement establishment of customer exclusivity a list of customers and customers details should be kept on a database for follow up and selected customers can be sent selected offers and promotions of deals related to the customers previous buyer behaviour this is effective in digital marketing as it allows organisations to build up loyalty over email low technical requirements in order to get the full use out of digital marketing it is useful to make you advertising campaigns have low technical requirements this prevents some consumers not being able to understand or view the advertising campaign rewards the lucrative offers would always help in making your digital campaign a success give some reward in the end of the campaign this would definitely invite more engagement and word of mouth publicity ineffective forms of digital marketing this section needs additional citations for verification please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed march 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message digital marketing activity is still growing across the world according to the headline global marketing index a study published in september 2018 found that global outlays on digital marketing tactics are approaching 100 billion why these practices are ineffective and some ways around making these aspects effective are discussed surrounding the following points prioritizing clicks prioritizing clicks refers to display click ads although advantageous by being simple fast and inexpensive rates for display ads in 2016 is only 010 percent in the united states this means one in a thousand click ads are relevant therefore having little effect this displays that marketing companies should not just use click ads to evaluate the effectiveness of display advertisements whiteside 2016 balancing search and display balancing search and display for digital display ads are important marketers tend to look at the last search and attribute all of the effectiveness to this this then disregards other marketing efforts which establish brand value within the consumers mind comscore determined through drawing on data online produced by over one hundred multichannel retailers that digital display marketing poses strengths when compared with or positioned alongside paid search whiteside 2016 understanding mobiles understanding mobile devices is a significant aspect of digital marketing because smartphones and tablets are now responsible for 64 of the time us consumers are online whiteside 2016 crossplatform measurement the number of marketing channels continues to expand as measurement practices are growing in complexity a crossplatform view must be used to unify audience measurement and media planning market researchers need to understand how the omnichannel affects consumers behaviour although when advertisements are on a consumers device this does not get measured significant aspects to crossplatform measurement involves deduplication and understanding that you have reached an incremental level with another platform rather than delivering more impressions against people that have previously been reached whiteside 2016 targeting viewability brand safety and invalid traffic targeting viewability brand safety and invalid traffic all are aspects used by marketers to help advocate digital advertising cookies are a form of digital advertising which are tracking tools within desktop devices causing difficulty with shortcomings including deletion by web browsers the inability to sort between multiple users of a device inaccurate estimates for unique visitors overstating reach understanding frequency problems with ad servers which cannot distinguish between when cookies have been deleted and when consumers have not previously been exposed to an ad due to the inaccuracies influenced by cookies demographics in the target market are low and vary whiteside 2016 channels digital marketing is facilitated by multiple channels as an advertiser ones core objective is to find channels which result in maximum twoway communication and a better overall roi for the brand there are multiple digital marketing channels available namely affiliate marketing affiliate marketing is perceived to not be considered a safe reliable and easy means of marketing through online platform this is due to a lack of reliability in terms of affiliates that can produce the demanded number of new customers as a result of this risk and bad affiliates it leaves the brand prone to exploitation in terms of claiming commission that isnt honestly acquired legal means may offer some protection against this yet there are limitations in recovering any losses or investment despite this affiliate marketing allows the brand to market towards smaller publishers and websites with smaller traffic brands that choose to use this marketing often should beware of such risks involved and look to associate with affiliates in which rules are laid down between the parties involved to assure and minimize the risk involved display advertising as the term infers online display advertisement deals with showcasing promotional messages or ideas to the consumer on the internet this includes a wide range of advertisements like advertising blogs networks interstitial ads contextual data ads on the search engines classified or dynamic advertisement etc the method can target specific audience tuning in from different types of locals to view a particular advertisement the variations can be found as the most productive element of this method email marketing email marketing in comparison to other forms of digital marketing is considered cheap it is also a way to rapidly communicate a message such as their value proposition to existing or potential customers yet this channel of communication may be perceived by recipients to be bothersome and irritating especially to new or potential customers therefore the success of email marketing is reliant on the language and visual appeal applied in terms of visual appeal there are indications that using graphicsvisuals that are relevant to the message which is attempting to be sent yet less visual graphics to be applied with initial emails are more effective inturn creating a relatively personal feel to the email in terms of language the style is the main factor in determining how captivating the email is using casual tone invokes a warmer and gentle and inviting feel to the email in comparison to a formal style for combinations its suggested that to maximize effectiveness using no graphicsvisual alongside casual language in contrast using no visual appeal and a formal language style is seen as the least effective method search engine marketing social media marketing the term digital marketing has a number of marketing facets as it supports different channels used in and among these comes the social media when we use social media channels facebook twitter pinterest instagram google etc to market a product or service the strategy is called social media marketing it is a procedure wherein strategies are made and executed to draw in traffic for a website or to gain attention of buyers over the web using different social media platforms social networking game advertising ingame advertising is defined as inclusion of products or brands within a digital game is an important as it results in a more clarity about the brandproduct and creates a larger overall effect online pr video advertising this type of advertising in terms of digitalonline means are advertisements that play on online videos eg youtube videos this type of marketing has seen an increase in popularity over time as well videos that have entertainment value are more likely to be shared yet pleasure is the strongest motivator to pass videos on creating a viral trend from mass amount of a brands advertisement can maximize the outcome of an online video advert whether it be positive or a negative outcome it is important for a firm to reach out to consumers and create a twoway communication model as digital marketing allows consumers to give back feed back to the firm on a community based site or straight directly to the firm via email multichannel communications push and pull message technologies can be used in conjunction selfregulation the icc code has integrated rules that apply to marketing communications using digital interactive media throughout the guidelines there is also an entirely updated section dealing with issues specific to digital interactive media techniques and platforms code selfregulation on use of digital interactive media includes clear and transparent mechanisms to enable consumers to choose not to have their data collected for advertising or marketing purposes clear indication that a social network site is commercial and is under the control or influence of a marketer limits are set so that marketers communicate directly only when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the consumer has an interest in what is being offered respect for the rules and standards of acceptable commercial behavior in social networks and the posting of marketing messages only when the forum or site has clearly indicated its willingness to receive them special attention and protection for children advantages and limitations the whole idea of digital marketing can be a very important aspect in the overall communication between the consumer and the organisation this is due to digital marketing being able to reach vast numbers of potential consumers at one time another advantage of digital marketing is that consumers are exposed to the brand and the product that is being advertised directly to clarify the advertisement is easy to access as well it can be accessed any time any place however with digital marketing there are some setbacks to this type of strategy one major setback that is identified is that digital marketing is highly dependent on the internet this can be considered as a setback because the internet may not be accessible in certain areas or consumers may have poor internet connection as well as digital marketing being highly dependent on the internet is that it is subject to a lot of clutter so it marketers may find it hard to make their advertisements stand out as well as get consumers to start conversations about an organisations brand image or products as digital marketing continues to grow and develop brands take great advantage of using technology and the internet as a successful way to communicate with its clients and allows them to increase the reach of who they can interact with and how they go about doing so there are however disadvantages that are not commonly looked into due to how much a business relies on it it is important for marketers to take into consideration both advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing when considering their marketing strategy and business goals an advantage of digital marketing is that the reach is so large that there are no limitations on the geographical reach it can have this allows companies to become international and expand their customer reach to other countries other than the country it is based or originates from as mentioned earlier technology and the internet allows for 24 hours a day 7 days a week service for customers as well as enabling them to shop online at any hour of that day or night not just when the shops are over and across the whole world this is a huge advantage for retailers to use it and direct customers from the store to its online store it has also opened up an opportunity for companies to only be online based rather than having an outlet or store due to the popularity and capabilities of digital marketing another advantage is that digital marketing is easy to be measured allowing businesses to know the reach that their marketing is making whether the digital marketing is working or not and the amount of activity and conversation that is involved with brands using the internet space to reach their target customers digital marketing has become a beneficial career option as well at present companies are more into hiring individuals familiar in implementing digital marketing strategies and this has led the stream to become a preferred choice amongst individuals inspiring institutes to come up and offer professional courses in digital marketing a disadvantage of digital advertising is the large amount of competing goods and services that are also using the same digital marketing strategies for example when someone searches for a specific product from a specific company online if a similar company uses targeted advertising online then they can appear on the customers home page allowing the customer to look at alternative options for a cheaper price or better quality of the same product or a quicker way of finding what they want online some companies can be portrayed by customers negatively as some consumers lack trust online due to the amount of advertising that appears on websites and social media that can be considered frauds this can affect their image and reputation and make them out to look like a dishonest brand another disadvantage is that even an individual or small group of people can harm image of an established brand for instance dopplegnager is a term that is used to disapprove an image about a certain brand that is spread by antibrand activists bloggers and opinion leaders the word doppelganger is a combination of two german words doppel double and ganger walker thus it means double walker or as in english it is said alter ego generally brand creates images for itself to emotionally appeal to their customers however some would disagree with this image and make alterations to this image and present in funny or cynical way hence distorting the brand image hence creating a doppelganger image blog or content rindfleisch 2016 two other practical limitations can be seen in the case of digital marketing onedigital marketing is useful for specific categories of productsmeaning only consumer goods can be propagated through digital channelsindustrial goods and pharmaceutical products can not be marketed through digital channels secondly digital marketing disseminates only the information to the prospects most of whom do not have the purchasing authoritypower and hence the reflection of digital marketing into real sales volume is skeptical measuring the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns although the ultimate criteria to evaluate any business initiative should be its return on investment or any other financial metrics in general the evaluation criteria and metrics for the digital marketing campaigns can be discussed in more details the criteria and metrics can be classified according to its type and time span regarding the type we can either evaluate these campaigns quantitatively or qualitatively quantitative metrics may include sales volume and revenue increasedecrease while qualitative metrics may include the enhanced brand awareness image and health as well as the relationship with the customers shifting the focus to the time span we may need to measure some interim metrics which give us some insight during the journey itself as well as we need to measure some final metrics at the end of the journey to inform use if the overall initiative was successful or not as an example most of social media metrics and indicators such as likes shares and engagement comments may be classified as interim metrics while the final increasedecrease in sales volume is clearly from the final category the correlation between these categories should exist otherwise a disappointing results may happen at the end in spite of the illusion of success perceived early during the project strategy planning digital marketing planning is a term used in marketing management it describes the first stage of forming a digital marketing strategy for the wider digital marketing system the difference between digital and traditional marketing planning is that it uses digitally based communication tools and technology such as social web mobile scannable surface stages of planning using dr dave chaffeys approach the digital marketing planning dmp has three main stages opportunity strategy and action he suggests that any business looking to implement a successful digital marketing strategy must structure their plan by looking at opportunity strategy and action this generic strategic approach often has phases of situation review goal setting strategy formulation resource allocation and monitoring 1 opportunity to create an effective dmp a business first needs to review the marketplace and set smart specific measurable actionable relevant and timebound objectives companies can scan for marketing and sales opportunities by reviewing their own outreach as well as influencer outreach this means they have competitive advantage because they are able to analyse their comarketers influence and brand associations to cease opportunity the firm should summarize their current customers personas and purchase journey from this they are able to deduce their digital marketing capability this means they need to form a clear picture of where they are currently and how many resources they can allocate for their digital marketing strategy ie labour time etc by summarizing the purchase journey they can also recognise gaps and growth for future marketing opportunities that will either meet objectives or propose new objectives and increase profit 2 strategy to create a planned digital strategy the company must review their digital proposition what you are offering to consumers and communicate it using digital customer targeting techniques so they must define online value proposition ovp this means the company must express clearly what they are offering customers online eg brand positioning the company should also reselect target market segments and personas and define digital targeting approaches after doing this effectively it is important to review the marketing mix for online options the marketing mix comprises the 4ps product price promotion and place 3 action the third and final stage requires the firm to set a budget and management systems these must be measurable touchpoints such as audience reached across all digital platforms furthermore marketers must ensure the budget and management systems are integrating the paid owned and earned media of the company after confirming the digital marketing plan a scheduled format of digital communications eg gantt chart should be encoded throughout the internal operations of the company this ensures that all platforms used fall in line and complement each other for the succeeding stages of digital marketing strategy digital marketing engineer digital marketing system digital marketing channels in the sharing economy distributed presence interactive marketing mobile marketing online advertising pay per click social media marketing visual marketing customer data platform user intent ryan damian jones calvin 2009 understanding digital marketing marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation kogan page isbn0749453893 carter ben brooks gregory catalano frank smith bud 2007 digital marketing for dummies john wiley sons isbn9780470057933 