Wondering what digital marketing is? You're in the right place! This guide breaks down the basics, so you have everything you need to know.

Here’s a quick look at what we’ll cover:

• What is digital marketing?
• How does digital marketing work?
• Inbound marketing vs. digital marketing: What's the difference?
• Why is digital marketing important?
• Types of digital marketing
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics in digital marketing
• How to create a digital marketing strategy
• Digital marketing FAQs

Let’s get started!

Digital marketing involves promoting a business, product, or service using online channels, electronic devices, and digital technology. Examples includesocial media,pay-per-click (PPC),pay-per-click (PPC),search engine optimization (SEO),and more.

How does digital marketing work?

Now that you know what digital marketing is, let's dive into how it works.

Online marketing works by creating a comprehensive,omni-channelstrategy that aligns with your target audience’s buying journey. This means leveraging multiple channels, such as social, email, and search, to support a unified goal like brand awareness, lead generation, or sales.

Here’s a digital marketing example:

• Goal:Generate leads
• Channels:Search, email, digital advertising
• Strategy:Create a blog post addressing a middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) need. Optimize it for SEO and user experience. Include a downloadable resource that captures email addresses. Follow up with a drip campaign to nurture leads toward conversion.

This example illustrates how businesses can use digital marketing tools to achieve key objectives like lead generation. While digital channels can function independently, their effectiveness is maximized when integrated, which presents a major challenge for marketers.

Inbound marketing vs. digital marketing

Now that you understand digital marketing, let’s explore how it compares to inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is a methodology that employs digital marketing tactics to attract new customers or clients.

Conversely, digital marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all online marketing activities, including inbound marketing.

Why is digital marketing important?

We've touched on what digital marketing is, and now let's discuss why it's crucial.

Here are five key benefits your business can gain by implementing a digital marketing strategy:

1. Cost-effective marketing solutions

One of the most significant benefits of digital marketing is its cost-effectiveness.

Compared to traditional methods, digital marketing is highly affordable. Online advertising, whether on social media, websites, or search engines, allows you to control your budget and bids, unlike traditional media where costs are fixed.

Digital marketing’s flexibility also stands out. Campaigns can run from years to minutes, offering precise targeting and the ability to adjust on the fly. If a PPC campaign isn’t performing, you can pause it immediately, a luxury not available with traditional advertising like billboards.

2. Level playing field

Digital marketing levels the playing field, allowing SMBs to compete with larger brands. Cost-effective tactics like SEO help your business reach its target audience without requiring a massive budget.

Large corporations have resources that SMBs often lack, such as prime real estate, extensive sales teams, and elaborate sponsorships.

With digital marketing, your small business can stand out just as much as a large corporation. A Facebook Page for a Fortune 100 company looks the same as a Facebook Page for a five-person startup.

This equal footing enables your business to surpass larger competitors and connect directly with your market.

Digital marketing strategies like SEO offer affordable ways to get your products or services in front of potential customers without worrying about competing with larger budgets.

3. Advanced targeting and personalization

A major advantage of digital marketing is its ability to offer advanced targeting and personalization options.

Incorporating digital marketing into your business strategy opens up numerous targeting and personalization opportunities that traditional marketing cannot match.

For example, with an online marketing campaign, you can target based on:

• Age
• Location
• Interests
• Marital status
• Hobbies
• Device
• And more

These targeting options enhance the cost-effectiveness of digital marketing. For instance, by using location and device targeting in a PPC campaign, you can focus your ads on users most likely to convert, like those near your physical store.

Digital marketing also allows for personalized content tailored to:

• Name
• Interests
• Purchase history

Personalizing content, whether through emails or websites, can significantly improve marketing outcomes. An email recommending products based on past purchases can lead to repeat sales and word-of-mouth referrals.

4. Accurate campaign tracking and measurement

Digital marketing solves a critical issue of traditional marketing — tracking.

With traditional methods, it’s challenging to determine if a customer found your business via a billboard, radio ad, or newspaper. This lack of tracking makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of your marketing.

In contrast, digital marketing allows for precise tracking and measurement.

Tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Ads make monitoring your strategy straightforward. Google Analytics, for instance, lets you track website traffic, user behavior, and conversions. Google Ads provides a comprehensive view of your PPC campaigns.

Moreover, programs like Google Data Studio can compile your data into easy-to-read, shareable reports, helping you analyze and present your marketing performance.

5. Continuous campaign performance feedback

Incorporating digital marketing into your business strategy provides ongoing feedback on your campaigns, whether it's SEO or PPC.

For example, if you launch a PPC campaign and notice a drop in conversions after excluding mobile devices, this immediate feedback allows you to quickly revert the change and restore your campaign’s performance.

Even long-term strategies like SEO offer continuous insights.

You can assess the success of your keyword strategy by analyzing website traffic and conversion rates, revealing additional areas for improvement, such as site design and content quality.

With its many advantages, digital marketing is a valuable asset for your business.

Types of digital marketing

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Content marketing
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Social media advertising
• Video marketing
• Web design and development

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is a digital marketing strategy that enhances your visibility or ranking in search results related to your business and audience.

By implementing SEO, companies can boost their visibility in search results on platforms like Google. A higher search ranking can lead to increased website traffic, leads, and sales. Considering that93% of online experiencesbegin with a search engine, SEO is essential.

To improve your ranking, focus on both on-page SEO and off-page SEO. These strategies help make your site more appealing and credible to search engines and users alike.

Several SEO techniques can help boost your rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs), including:

• Auditing your website’s SEO
• Conducting keyword research
• Creating high-quality content
• Making your site mobile-friendly
• Building backlinks
• And more

SEO is one of the most recommended digital marketing strategies. It drives long-term revenue without the continuous costs associated with other tactics likesocial media advertising.

2. Content marketing

Content marketing involves creating and sharing original, valuable content to attract and engage your audience. This content, which can range from blog posts to videos, is often optimized for search, shared on social media, and promoted to maximize its reach.

Content marketing offers a cost-effective, long-term strategy for reaching, nurturing, and converting your target audience while supporting your SEO efforts.

By producing high-quality content, your business can generate 54% more leads and appeal to 70% of consumers who prefer to learn about companies through blog posts, guides, and articles.

Content marketing allows you to get creative with different content types, including:

• Blogs
• Articles
• Guides
• Infographics
• Videos
• Podcasts

To create content that resonates with your audience and ranks well in search results, include relevant keywords and ensure your content provides value by addressing your audience’s questions and needs.

3. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

PPC advertising is a digital marketing tactic that promotes your business, products, or services across search engines, websites, and apps. PPC operates on a pay-per-click model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, which can be text, image, or video.

Over 60% of SMBs use PPC because it’s a quick and effective way to generate leads and sales. PPC allows you to create highly targeted campaigns that reach ready-to-buy users, offering an average ROI of $2 for every $1 spent.

The most common form of PPC advertising occurs on search engines like Google, where ads appear at the top and bottom of search results pages, identified by the “sponsored” label above the title.

With a high Ad Rank, Quality Score, and winning bid, your ad can secure a top position in the SERPs.

4. Social media marketing

Social media marketing uses platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote your business, engage your audience, and provide customer support. Typical activities include sharing content, responding to comments, and promoting posts.

Nearly 75% of consumers use social media when making purchase decisions, making it a crucial digital marketing strategy.

Social media marketing helps businesses build a loyal following, engage with their audience, and ultimately boost sales and customer retention.

You can use several social media platforms to connect with your audience, including:

• Facebook
• TikTok
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn

5. Email marketing

Email marketing focuses on generating and nurturing leads through various types of emails, including product promotions, company announcements, and helpful articles.

Email marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies. On average, businesses earn $44 for every $1 spent on email marketing, proving its value as a lead nurturing tool.

Email marketing complements strategies like content and video marketing.

You can send different types of emails to your leads and customers, including:

• Newsletters
• Email drip campaigns
• Abandoned cart emails
• Lead nurturing emails

You can use A/B testing to find the most engaging subject lines and content types for your subscribers.

Email marketing also enables you to segment your audience based on their interests, ensuring they receive relevant content.

6. Social media advertising

Social media advertising promotes your business, products, services, or social media pages on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Ads can include text, images, videos, and more.

As social media algorithms reduce the visibility of organic business posts, social media advertising is becoming increasingly essential.

With social media ads, your business can reach its target audience, grow its online presence, and drive sales and leads.

Most platforms offer advanced audience targeting options to ensure your ads reach those most likely to convert. For example, you can target users based on:

• Age
• Location
• Job title
• And more

7. Video marketing

Video marketing uses videos to attract, engage, educate, and persuade users. Businesses can utilize videos on their website and video hosting sites like YouTube. Videos can range from product demos to testimonials to how-tos.

With 90% of users saying video helps them make a purchase decision, video marketing is a powerful tool for businesses.

Video marketing captures attention and guides users from the top of the funnel to the bottom.

You can also integrate video into other strategies, like email and content marketing.

8. Web design and development

Web design and development refer to the creation of your website's front-end and back-end.

While web design focuses on aesthetics, web development ensures functionality, usability, and speed. Both are critical to your digital marketing success.

Your website’s design and development lay the foundation for your digital marketing strategy. A well-designed, functional, and mobile-friendly site enhances the effectiveness of your SEO, PPC, and other marketing efforts.

Make sure your website reflects your brand to increase brand awareness and make your company instantly recognizable through consistent color schemes and fonts.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics in digital marketing

In digital marketing, you can measure various metrics, including:

• Website traffic:The number of visitors to your website.
• Traffic source:The origin of your website traffic, such as search engines, social media, or paid ads.
• Pageviews:The total views of your web pages.
• Bounce rate:The percentage of visitors who leave your site without interacting with it or visiting another page.
• Time on page:The amount of time visitors spend on a page.
• Click-through rate (CTR):The percentage of users who click on your link after seeing it.
• Conversion rate:The percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.
• Open rate:The percentage of recipients who open your email.
• Follows:The number of users who follow your social media account.
• Shares:The number of times your post is shared by users.
• Return on investment (ROI):The total revenue generated by your digital marketing strategy after subtracting costs.

How to create a digital marketing strategy

Understanding digital marketing basics includes learning how to create an online marketing strategy.

Even if you plan to outsource to a digital marketing agency, it’s beneficial to know how your strategy works.

Here’s how to create your digital marketing strategy:

• Define your digital marketing goals
• Choose your digital marketing channels
• Set your digital marketing budget
• Develop your digital marketing strategy
• Launch your digital marketing strategy
• Monitor your digital marketing campaigns
• Make improvements to your digital marketing campaigns
• Measure your digital marketing ROI

1. Define your digital marketing goals

Before creating content or launching campaigns, define your goals.

What do you want to achieve with digital marketing? Do you want more leads from a PPC campaign or higher-quality website traffic?

Consider your overall business goals too.

For example, if your goal is to increase social media followers, align this with your business’s goal of driving more sales by building a strategy that grows an active online following on Facebook.

Ensure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

For example, you might set the following S.M.A.R.T. goals:

• Grow Facebook followers by 500 in six months
• Achieve an 8% website conversion rate within 12 months
• Generate 35 qualified leads with PPC by January 1, 2023

If you work with a digital marketing agency, they can help you set S.M.A.R.T. goals. However, it’s beneficial to approach them with clear ideas of what you want to achieve, such as increased sales, higher lead quality, or more website traffic.

2. Choose your digital marketing channels

In addition to setting goals, you need to decide which digital marketing channels to use. An omni-channel approach, utilizing multiple channels, is often most effective because it reaches your audience through various touchpoints.

Some of the most valuable digital marketing channels include:

• SEO
• Content marketing
• Email marketing
• Social media
• PPC

These strategies help you achieve a variety of goals, from increasing website traffic and brand awareness to boosting lead generation and sales. Additionally, tactics like SEO and PPC complement each other well.

3. Set your digital marketing budget

After defining your goals and selecting your channels, it’s time to set your budget.

Most SMBs spend $2500 to $12,000 per month on digital marketing, but your budget may vary depending on your company, strategy, and resources. The key is to establish a realistic budget.

Setting an unrealistic budget, such as opting for cheap SEO at $100 a month, often results in poor performance and wasted resources. Instead, take the time to research and plan a budget that will effectively support your strategy.

Take the time to research your costs and strategy so you can receive a realistic marketing budget.

4. Develop your digital marketing strategy

Now, start building your strategy.

Consider your target audience and how to reach them using your chosen techniques, while also accomplishing your goals. How will you allocate your budget across different tactics?

You’ll also need to assign tasks and deadlines.

If you’re working with a team, outline the tasks, assign them, and set deadlines. A marketing calendar can help you stay organized and track your progress.

This step is crucial, so don’t skip it!

5. Launch your digital marketing strategy

After planning your strategy, it’s time to launch it.

Depending on your chosen tactics, this may involve publishing your first blog post, launching an ad campaign, or setting up social media profiles. Remember, digital marketing is ongoing, so your launch is just the beginning.

For ad campaigns, monitor them closely to ensure compliance with the network’s rules and to address any issues quickly.

6. Monitor your digital marketing campaigns

After launching your strategy, monitor the performance of each tactic.

For example, track impressions, clicks, and CTR for social media ads. For SEO, monitor your rankings and website traffic over several months.

A proactive approach to monitoring can help you quickly identify and address issues, optimizing your strategy’s cost-effectiveness.

Look for trends and areas for improvement as you track your campaigns.

7. Make improvements to your digital marketing campaigns

Ongoing monitoring can lead to significant long-term improvements in your digital marketing campaigns. Focus on continuous enhancement.

For instance, if you find that location-based keywords perform well in your SEO strategy, you might emphasize them more. Or, if Facebook ads outperform Instagram ads, you could allocate more budget to Facebook.

Regularly review your strategies and identify areas for improvement.

This proactive approach helps your business stay ahead of competitors who don’t analyze their tactics, leading to more leads, sales, and market share.

8. Measure your digital marketing ROI

Throughout your strategy, measure performance, results, and ROI.

Understanding your strategy’s performance helps you secure more support from leadership, allowing you to scale and increase investment for even better results.

You can calculate digital marketing ROI by subtracting costs from revenue. Remember to consider intangible factors like brand awareness and social media engagement, which may be harder to measure.

Before launching, it can be helpful to estimate the value of these intangible factors, so everyone agrees on their importance and impact.

Digital marketing FAQs

What does a digital marketer do?

A digital marketer develops, implements, manages, and measures a company’s online marketing strategies and campaigns. Many digital marketers specialize in areas like social media, SEO, content marketing, and PPC.

Typically, digital marketers aim to achieve broader business goals, such as increasing revenue, by focusing on smaller objectives like improving website traffic, social media engagement, and conversion rates.

They usually measure the effectiveness of their digital marketing strategy using key performance indicators (KPIs) on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

What does a digital marketing agency do?

A digital marketing agency handles your business’s digital marketing needs by implementing and managing strategies to promote your products and services online, aiming to increase sales and revenue. From managing social media to optimizing web pages, digital marketing agencies can do it all.

How is digital marketing different from traditional marketing?

The difference between traditional and digital marketing is straightforward.

Traditional marketing uses offline channels, while digital marketing uses online channels.

For example, a traditional marketing campaign might use billboards and print ads, whereas a digital campaign might use social media and email.

Recently, the line between traditional and digital marketing has blurred as offline channels incorporate digital elements.

Why does digital marketing matter?

Wondering why digital marketing is important?

For businesses today, digital marketing offers:

• Multiple online marketing strategies
• Cost-effective solutions
• A level playing field
• Advanced targeting and personalization
• Accurate campaign tracking
• Continuous performance feedback

Learn more about the benefits of digital marketing below.

How can my business use digital marketing?

Now that you understand digital marketing, how can your business take advantage of its benefits?

Check out these examples of how your company can leverage digital marketing:

• Build brand awareness with a Facebook ad campaign
• Increase qualified website traffic with content marketing
• Drive purchases and leads with PPC ads
• Improve website conversion rates with CRO tests
• Boost visibility and sales with SEO
• Target competitors and leads with geofencing ads
• Convert high-value leads with account-based marketing
• Encourage repeat purchases with email marketing
• Enhance page speed for higher conversion rates
• Expand reach with strategies on Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, and Target+

These are just 10 examples.

Whether your business is B2B or B2C, digital marketing offers customizable, versatile ways to reach your audience. At Uptle, we specialize in both B2B and B2C digital marketing!

How much does digital marketing cost?

Digital marketing budgets vary. However, SMBs typically spend $2500 to $12,000 per month. Most companies allocate 6.5% to 10% of their revenue to digital marketing.

For example, if your business earns $1 million in revenue, you would set aside $65,000 to $100,000 for digital marketing annually. Your investment may differ based on your company’s needs.

Boost your revenue with a digital marketing strategy from Uptle

Need help launching your digital marketing strategy? Not sure which channels will deliver the best results? Uptle is here to help!

Uptle is a full-service digital marketing agency, specializing in helping businesses like yours achieve higher ROI.

Get in touch with usto learn more about ourdigital marketing services!