What Is Digital Marketing?

Here’s What You Need to Know

Digital marketing is one of the most talked-about topics in business today – but what does it actually mean?

Is it just Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)? This is often what the general public thinks it is. In reality, it’s much more than that. In the broadest sense, digital marketing is any marketing done online. This can include:

• Search Engine Marketing (e.g. remarketing to visitors who have been to your website)
• Search Engine Optimisation (the biggest search engine being Google, but there are also Bing, Yahoo, and others)
• Website conversion optimisation (ensuring that the visitors to your website convert to sales or leads)
• Google advertising, including Google Search Ads, Google My Business (now Google Business Profile), and Google Shopping
• Social media, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and WeChat. Within social media itself, this expands again into communicating to your ‘owned followers,’ paid advertising to reach a wider audience, community management (e.g. Facebook or WeChat groups), and even customer service functions such as those in Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat

It can also refer to:

• Emails or e-newsletters (did you know that this is still one of the most effective marketing methods?)
• Digital platforms, e.g. marketing on Amazon, eBay, Taobao, and Lazada. These platforms are highly sophisticated with their own algorithms and rules on how to appear in search results.
• App Store and within-app marketing
• Content placement or advertising with digital publishers such as Stuff and NZ Herald

Phew! So many ‘tentacles’! The good news is, digital marketing is very measurable, and especially with backend access to data such as in Google Analytics, keyword volumes, and more, there are a lot of insights waiting to be tapped. Find out more about our digital marketing practices for businesses.

Is Digital Marketing the Best Marketing Approach?

The most effective approach to marketing does not lie within digital marketing alone. Say what?! Yes, even as technology has tipped marketing on its head, the best approach still comes back to the classic and well-proven methodology of ‘big picture’ marketing – starting with insights and findings, then strategy and planning. From there, more often than not, digital channels will be part of the plan. Digital marketing really only comes into play when going through the customer journey and selecting the right channels and touch points to reach your target audience. It’s still as relevant today as it was decades ago to have the right marketing strategy, message, creative, and plan.

We’ve seen too many businesses starting off dabbling in digital marketing and wasting a lot of resources that don’t produce the desired results. For example, there’s much hype around Facebook and Instagram, which is important in its own right, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for every brand. Or spending up large on Google Search Ads without measuring the return on investment, while the cost of ads only keeps increasing.

Here’s an e-commerce digital marketing case study that shows an approach to digital marketing.

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