Programming
Programming

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is a form of business done online through various online platforms. Many of us have in one way or the other practiced digital marketing by advertising shoes, or phones on your Facebook profile, but digital marketing as a whole goes beyond that. The internet has taken the order of the day, which in turn has changed the narratives of so many things, marketing inclusive, hence the need to promote your business over the Internet. 

In this article we will be looking into different channels through which digital marketing operates 

Various types/channels of digital marketing

Like we have discussed earlier, digital marketing goes beyond just going to your Facebook or Instagram handles to advertise your products, there are other several ways through which digital marketing can be run and you have to understand how each works. Let’s check some of them below 

  • Email marketing 
  • Social Media marketing 
  • Affiliate marketing 
  • Video marketing 
  • Content marketing 

Email marketing 

When you open your mail, you get some mail from people you do not even know, telling you about their programs, books, online class, right?? That’s email marketing. Email marketing has proven to be one of the best channels to operate digital marketing as it creates awareness of your brands, products and services to potential customers and it lets you communicate with your customers without the need for a third party . Even if you ignore the first time, you will be tempted to check them out and see what they have to offer. If you want to start email marketing, there are some softwares made available for you to send out thousands of email messages to prospective customers that’d create awareness of your business. 

Also, email marketing can be in various forms depending on what you are rendering at the given time. Examples like newsletters emails, transactional emails, welcome emails, promotional emails, etc. Email marketing is easy to use because of its low cost of running and very flexible. 

Social Media marketing 

The world social media refers to an online platform where people interact and connect with one another. There are various forms of these platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. So, carrying out your marketing business on these platforms is what we call social media marketing. A wide range of customers are easily reached using these platforms and it gives ways for interaction with you and your customers with instant feedback on your products and services. To run an effective social media marketing, you have to constantly engage your subscribers and prospective customers and put out good contents that always make your customers come back for more. 

Affiliate marketing 

Affiliate marketing is a form of business scheme where a company hires an intermediary or a third party to help promote and sell their products and services. The third party gets paid through commission on sales they make. The third party (affiliate) helps promote the products by running ads on his blogs, uploading videos relating to the products or putting up good contents about the products. There few places where you can enjoy affiliate marketing programs like  JvzooAmazon, e.t.c.

In affiliate marketing, online products and services(ebooks, video contents, pdf) are always easier to come by than physical products which will usually make it easy for you to get more sales. 

 

Video marketing 

Video marketing is a form of marketing where you use videos to advertise and promote your products and services on your websites. In fact, it is one of the best tools to use to promote one’s business because it gives proof of your products and services. When uploading your video contents, let it center on your products and services rather than sales, tell its usefulness, why people should go for you products. Make your videos very short and concise, short and straight to the message. Within 10-15 seconds people should be able to have a grasp of what your trying to pass across. 

Content marketing 

Content marketing is a digital marketing channel that is used to engage and interact and create awareness of your products and services by sharing relevant and important articles or information. 

The content you are creating could be in any form ;written articles, audios, podcasts, blogs, etc. If you want to venture into content marketing, you need to:

  • Have a specific audience 
  • Understand their needs 
  • Give out good reasons why they should try out your products and services and why it’s the best for them 
  • Distribution (buying and selling process 

 

Trying out the above plans over and over again guarantees you become a good content manager. 

Skills required to be a professional Digital Marketing 

There are skills you must have, if you want to be a great digital marketer and in this article, we are going to try out some of the best skills to possess if you want to be an excellent digital marketer. 

  • Writing and communication skills 
  • SEO 
  • SRM 
  • CRM
  • Persistency 

writing and communication skills 

Every piece of content begins with writing. Whatever marketing strategy you intend to start, begins with writing and communication, so you should have a way of communicating with your audience and potential customers in a way both of you will understand, straight to the point explanations of your products and services in plain and simple language comprehensively.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO

SEO refers to the way you approach your market-sphere. How you interact with every other factor that sums up your whole business. This is the center of focus of your business. It is when you do this perfectly well you gain more visibility. Like I said earlier, your approach to the market-sphere put together is what the SEO entails. Let’s break them down one after the other 

  • Writing ability 
  • Social skills 
  • Good  thinking ability 
  • Adaptability 
  • Zeal

Writing ability

Like I have discussed earlier about writing and communication skills, you have to be able to communicate plainly with your customers and a very straightforward to the point message about your services, what you can offer and their delivery method, etc. 

Social skills 

Your social skills refer to the way you interact. How well do you mix in and out with people? Most of the best business plans and layouts happen in meetings, gatherings, social and official meetings. Don’t be a boring and creepy person. 

Good thinking ability/problem solving 

A good thinking ability should be able to always ask questions of why and how. 

A good digital person should be able to  check available data and see where and how to correct deficiencies and manipulate data. 

Adaptability

Every good digital marketer should be able to thrive under threats to downsides of business. A good digital should be flexible and be able to adjust under any circumstances. 

Zeal

Anything we do, something must actually keep us going, there must be a driving force that will keep us grounded in it. Digital marketing, apart from being a business forum, actually creates room for learning. Because there are always new ways and approaches to it everyday. As the Internet and technology evolve, so is the digital marketing aspect of it. So when you have the motive to always try and learn something new that’d keep you going, you will always have the passion and Zeal to go further. 

Suppliers relationship management (SRM

SRM is a process that helps you checkmate your suppliers that help you deliver your products to your customers. As we have discussed in one of our articles, your suppliers are one of the channels that grow your business. So, it is important you develop a way of evaluating them on a regular basis. It helps you determine what each of your suppliers contribute and add to the growth of your business. 

Customers relationship management (CRM

The goal of every marketer is to run a smooth and effective business. And to do this, one of the things you must have is to have your customers trust, understand their needs and services so as to be able to serve them better. One thing to master in CRM is that focus should be on your customers needs, desires and shares and not on your products. It is even an effective tool too in getting new potential customers and also keeps you in touch with the existing customers. 

 

Persistency 

Practice makes perfect so they say. When you continuously do digital marketing, you become an expert within a very short time. So keep doing it,and keep learning new approaches to fully understand everything about digital marketing. 

Conclusion

As technology and the Internet is evolving, so is the marketing strategy. Almost everybody has access to the Internet and it has shifted the way people run their business, many people now have moved their business online, hence the need to fully understand everything about digital marketing. It is easier to run than the traditional marketing run decades ago. 

 

Pamilerin Ajala

Pamilerin Adetunji Ajala is a competent content writer with vast knowledge in content management, web development and graphics design. He studied Computer Engineering at Federal Polytechnic, Ede.

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