Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Archimedes

Digital marketing techniques are a lever, and fulcrum, big enough to move the world.

Online marketing comprises a set of tools and skills that can be used by any size enterprise. These tools can be leveraged for any business and are especially helpful if you are running a small entrepreneurial startup.

The bigger your aspirations and the more limited your resources, the more digital marketing helps.

The skills you need to connect with your customers online are the same regardless of the size of your enterprise. The difference is in the scale of the campaigns.

Digital marketing relies on time tested methods of customer engagement, such as the 4Ps, AIDA, and STP.

Online there are more refined capabilities for targeting customers and measuring the effectiveness of your messaging.

Digital marketing is about creating messaging, getting it in front of your target audience, measuring the effectiveness in terms of conversions or sales, and revising and optimizing your campaigns based on the feedback.

Digital marketing activities include: evaluating your website with analytics and SEO, creating text and display ads, social media and video marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and mobile marketing.

Online Marketing Fundamentals

We don’t “go online” anymore. We live online.

Online marketing encompasses the promotion of your business online using a variety of ever-expanding and evolving channels. These channels include Search, social media, video, email, and display ads.

Consumers today live across these channels on their computers, tablets, and smartphones. Online marketing focuses on being there at the right moment, with the right message, to capture the right customer.

Access to the Internet has transformed our lives. It has changed the way we buy and use products and services. It also has completely changed how we consume content and media, whether for information, news, or entertainment.

With the Internet on mobile devices, that experience is available and accessed anytime and anywhere. This environment places the customer in the driver’s seat relative to the buying process.

Potential customers have immediate access to the resources to conduct research, compare alternatives, share their experience, and ask their friends for advice and recommendations.

All these actions happen continuously and simultaneously. Marketing techniques have radically changed to adapt to this new world. What was once standard operating procedures are now marginalized and obsolete as online continues to become dominant.

Print media continues to struggle, and people are abandoning cable TV for streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and a host of new contenders.

We have migrated from ownership to access models for movies, games, music, and software. We don’t have shelves of DVDs, VHS cassettes, or CDs; we stream Pandora or Netflix. And we use SaaS providers (Software as a Service) for our applications.

Streaming music, audiobooks, and Podcasts are alternatives to the radio. Google Search and Maps have replaced the Yellow Pages. And Yelp allows the consumer can see reviews and even pictures of the business.

Even as we walk, our attention is on our screen, and we miss advertisements in the shop windows and next to the bus stops. In physical stores, shoppers are using their phones to scan barcodes and compare prices. We are chasing deals and deciding whether it’s cheaper and more convenient to buy online.

Your business and offerings need to stand out in this noisy environment of online and mobile channels. With so many touch-points and a multitude of channels, online marketing can feel overwhelming.

But it is freeing to be creative and engage customers across so many potential platforms. All you need is a contextual framework in which to operate.

Digital Marketing Landscape

Let’s take a look at the history of digital advertising and then review the current landscape.

Digital advertising began in the 1990s. Display banners started appearing at the bottom of the screen for customers of online service providers of the time like Prodigy.

These early display ads were like print ads. They were static and lacked interaction.

Google launched AdWords in 2000, and the rest of digital marketing fell into place. The digital advertising landscape has since evolved to include social media, video advertisements, and content marketing. Many support businesses cater to improving ads, tracking ads, and serving ads.

Then there was a radical and rapid shift from desktop to Mobile. In July 2007, Apple introduced the smartphone, and its adoption was dizzyingly rapid. By 2010, Mobile became a dominant platform. Spending on Mobile advertising has been almost doubling each year since.

The adoption of digital media continues to increase, and people spend more extended periods online. Digital channel activity is rising, and with it, the allure and impact of digital marketing. In 2000 it would have been challenging to promote yourself online effectively, and now, it’s foolish not to.

Some companies focus exclusively on digital channels to capitalize on engagement with customers. More companies will likely follow suit as traditional media and advertising become less relevant to consumers.

We’ve witnessed some incredible shifts in how people respond to online marketing, consume content, and make purchasing decisions.

Search is the number one tool used when making a purchasing decision. We now research to figure out what products and services are best in class, and we read reviews and compare prices.

Before reading further, take a minute to guess what the top three search engines are.

The top three search engines are Google, YouTube, and Amazon. You probably guessed the first one, but the second two are less intuitive but have massive audiences and search activity.

Search is the top decision-making tool for purchasing not just for average consumers but also for sophisticated business decision-makers.

A website’s visibility in search engines is the most valuable online real estate. Searchers are an ideal target audience because they are expressing intent in your niche.

The dominance of Search is why Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is so critically important. Paid Search is also an essential piece of digital marketing and advertising. Google AdWords is king in paid Search.

Advertisers purchase access to Keywords in an auction format. The top payers, along with Google’s algorithm for ad relevancy, are shown to searchers at the top of the list or in their search sidebar.

Email was the original digital marketing format, and a quality email list is still the most valuable digital marketing asset. Your email list, along with your website, is the marketing property you own.

They are so important because they are not vulnerable to the changes in platforms like Facebook and Twitter. That independence from platforms makes your email list and website very valuable.

Everything has to be mobile-friendly. Half of all emails are opened on mobile devices. The landscape is continually evolving.

Along with mobile email, the digital market place demands a mobile compatible website. Most website templates are now dynamic and sense whether the viewer is on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. These are called responsive and adaptive websites.

All websites need to be adaptive and responsive and Mobile compatible.

There have been dramatic developments in marketing automation. Applications like automated bidding for keywords, automatic re-marketing to people who have visited your site or abandoned a cart, and even populating bespoke advertisements based on what a user was searching for.

Automation is a significant component of email campaigns. MailChimp and other email services have powerful automation tools available to create email sequences that will send to your list or onboard new subscribers.

Social media engagement is essential for many brands. Facebook’s reach is unparalleled worldwide. But always be aware that social media platforms can change the rules of the game and upend much of your hard work.

Content marketing is effective because of the engagement and trust it develops. Creating relevant, well-crafted content for targeted audiences generates significant Return On Investment (ROI). Users report engaging content as being one of the top reasons they follow a brand.

Content marketing is reforming. Consumers now demand more authenticity and genuine value of information in the content they consume. They are wary of sensational headlines, click-bait and may be responding less effectively to previously standard techniques such as the top 10 lists (listicles).

The online marketing landscape is continually evolving. As new tools and trends emerge, test them out and see how they perform for your brand and products.

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