What is Digital Marketing?

• 

Digital Marketing concepts were first introduced in the 1990’s when answering your landline meant sacrificing your internet connection. During this time, digital marketing was mainly focused about advertising to customers (Ghotbifar, 2017). In 1999, the world was introduced to WiFi (*Hallelujah*), with it the birth of the social media era swiftly ensued, and the days of PC4PC enamoured the lives of teenagers globally. This new age of internet saw to digital marketing being transformed from an advertising-oriented strategy into a concept that creates consumer experience and encourages active engagement across platforms (Brosnan, 2012).

The significantly increasing use of technology in business has resulted in digital marketing becoming an essential tool for businesses to maintain a competitive position in the market.

The 5 S’s of Internet Marketing

There are five elements of digital marketing that firms should focus on to ensure they are reaching their marketing objectives. These are sell, serve, speak, save and sizzle. A fundamental part of marketing is to increase a firm’s sales, companies can increase their sales by opting to sell online, this includes “direct online sales and sales generated offline through influence from online channels (Chaffey & Smith 2012)”. To put simply you do not want to be investing funds into digital marketing activities without making a return on that investment.

Secondly, we have serve. Customer services on digital platforms must be efficient and effective, providing additional benefits for customers as well as inform customers through online dialogue and feedback on new products and product developments. You want your customers to feel as though your products add that extra bit of sparkle that competitors lack.

Next, we have speak. It is important to get close to your consumer, this can be achieved through keeping an open dialogue and engaging with customers as well as conducting surveys and market research to gather deeper knowledge about your audience. Find out what your customers want and give it to them, if they have concerns make sure you’re the first point of contact to resolve the issue!

Traditional advertising costs can be minimised through applying digital marketing strategies, this is where “save” comes in to play. Costs resulting from labour, printing and postage can be minimised through “online email communications, sales and service transactions”.

Sizzle refers to how the brand can extend itself through its online presence. This can be done through creating memorable experiences, providing new and original content as well as new propositions for customers. Positive experiences will help create a loyal brand community and increase your sizzle.

So there you have it! The basics of digital marketing, stay tuned for my next blog post discussing eBay.

Bibliography

Brosnan, F. (2012). Business intelligence: What works where in B2B digital marketing. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice , 14 (2), 154-159.

Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016). Digital Marketing. p.11.Harlow: Pearson.

Chaffey, D & Smith, PR. (2012) Emarketing Excellence, Planning and optimising your digital marketing, 4^th edn, Taylor & Francis

Ghotbifar, F. (2017). Identifying and assessing the factors affecting skill gap in digital marketing in communication industry companies. Independent Journal of Management & Production , 8 (1), 001-014.