What is Digital Marketing? Types, Examples, Funnels & Benefits

The digital world is like a crowded marketplace where everyone is trying to grab the attention of their potential customers, and with the right strategy, you won’t just blend in with everyone – you’ll stand out.

The world has moved online, and so have your potential customers.

But what is online marketing?

You’re in the right place if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by terms like SEO, PPC, or social media algorithms. Digital marketing, aka online marketing, might sound complicated, but it’s not as complex as it seems from its technicality.

Once you understand the basics, it’s like unlocking a treasure chest of opportunities for your business.

And with the proper knowledge and digital marketing tools, you can put your business in front of the people who need what you’re offering.

And the best part? You can measure if your business is reaching the right people and what the ways of reaching them are. So you don’t have to take any more guesses.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know what online marketing is, aka Digital marketing, and how to use it effectively to grow your online presence.

So, let’s get started!

What is Digital Marketing?

What is Digital marketing all about?

Digital marketing is any form of online marketing with the help of the internet’s tools and platforms; it is also known as online marketing in simple words.

It’s everything from the emails you see in your inbox to the ads on your Instagram feed. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing lets businesses connect with their audience where they spend most of their time – on the internet.

But what is digital marketing, in simple words?

It’s using digital channels like search engines, social media, email, and websites to promote a product or service. Digital marketing is the way any online business connects with its potential customers.

Whether running a small blog or a large eCommerce site, digital marketing helps you attract new customers, engage with them, and ultimately drive more sales while taking care of your existing customers through smooth operation.

Why digital marketing is special: It’s targeted. With it, you can focus on reaching people most likely to be interested in whatever you offer based on their behaviours, interests, and demographics. You will learn how digital marketing works below.

Think about the last time you Googled something or saw an ad while scrolling through Instagram. That’s digital marketing at work!

The Importance of Digital Marketing

You may wonder what digital marketing means and why it is important. Because it lets you have head-to-toe competition with your competitors, even globally.

Whether you’re an online startup like Aadme or a large e-commerce corporation like Amazon, you can reach a massive audience without a huge budget.

Whether you’re trying to promote a local business or expand your global reach, digital marketing allows easy access to your business for your potential customers.

Here are a few stats given by popular websites:

• Over 5 billion people are using the internet today. (Statista, 2024)
• Search engines drive 53% of all website traffic. (BrightEdge, 2024)
• Companies that blog get 97% more links to their websites. (HubSpot)

The numbers are not optional in today’s era with the help of digital marketing. Remember: If you’re not showing up where your customers are, your competitors will.

Here are the main reasons why digital marketing is important:

• Cost-Effective:
  Digital marketing allows businesses to target specific audiences, meaning you can reach the right people without wasting resources. Unlike traditional advertising, digital marketing can fit into any budget.
  
• Measurable Results:
  One of the most significant advantages of digital marketing is that you can measure your success in real time. Tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights give you detailed information on your campaigns’ performance.
  
• Builds Trust:
  With digital marketing, you can directly engage with your audience through email, social media, and personalized ads. You can build strong relationships with customers that build trust and loyalty to the brand.

Statistics to consider

• 79% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by a brand’s online presence.
• 82% of consumers consult their phones before making an in-store purchase.

Types of Digital Marketing

Different types of digital marketing exist for different purposes; considering which one is best for you might be tough for others. Choose wisely. So, we are explaining it below:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is about getting your website to appear on the first page of search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The more SEO optimized your website is, the more chances it has to appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) whenever people search relevant keywords for your business. 

Good SEO increases organic (unpaid) traffic to your website. 

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing promotes your business through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In today’s fast-paced world, social media is a powerful way to connect with customers, build your brand, and drive traffic to your website.

All these desired results can be achieved by applying the right strategies with the help of social media marketing. Social media marketing is a great way to build your brand beyond a website. 

Email Marketing

Email marketing is the most successful and cost-effective form of digital marketing. It lets you have access to and build relationships directly with the customers without any other platform or SEO practices involved.

Email marketing allows businesses to send personalized messages to each individual or group according to their product needs.

It is used to promote products, share news about your business, and offer exclusive deals directly to customers through personalized emails for each set of audiences.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Whenever you see an ad on any platform, it’s through PPC advertising. It’s a model of digital marketing where advertisers pay a fee to the platform each time someone clicks on their ad.

It’s used for various purposes in digital marketing, like increasing website visits, increasing leads, and driving sales directly through advertising. PPC can be handled through a campaign provided by the platform and targeted at a specific set of audiences according to your business from there.

Affiliate Marketing

Promoting other products and getting a small amount of commission every time someone buys their product or service falls under affiliate marketing. It’s the most used in today’s era.

Even big companies like Gadgets 360 do affiliate marketing at scale. You can also use it for your business to start offering affiliate deals to your old customers or influencers. 

Content Marketing

Every piece of content produced, created, built in the form of writing, audio, or video, and promoted through various platforms like blogs, websites, videos, infographics, and podcasts is part of content marketing.

Even entertainment channels or websites are part of content marketing.

Content marketing is a huge marketplace if you’re starting in digital marketing. 

These are the main types of digital marketing, but there is more to know if you’re interested in other digital marketing. They are:

Influencer Marketing:

Promoting your product or services through a public figure, social media influencer, or collaboration with other brands and reaching their audience, as well as influencer marketing. 

Mobile marketing:

Mobile marketing aims to reach mobile audiences and other handheld devices like tablets through SMS and advertising. It mainly targets mobile audiences for easy access to promote your business. 

How Digital Marketing Works

Everyone must be aware of what digital marketing is now and its types. However, not everyone who knows about digital marketing knows how it works or what a digital marketer does.

At its core, digital marketing works by getting your brand in front of the right people at the right time. The key to success is understanding the digital marketing funnel, which divides the customer journey into different stages.

The Digital Marketing Funnel

• Awareness:
  At the start of the funnel, your business goal should be to create awareness of your business or brand through websites or social media. It can be done by building a website and applying the basics of digital marketing, like SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing. It will your audience know about your existence on the internet.

• Consideration:
  When people enter the consideration stage, they scan your business and try to know how it works, what you’re offering, what the reviews say, and what they can achieve through your brand.
  
  They are aware of your brand, but you haven’t decided yet, and they also compare your business to other businesses in your niche. Here, targeting ads at a specific audience, landing pages for generating leads, blog posts, and social media posts are considered by the audience.

• Conversion:
  In this stage, a digital marketer is ready to show them what they can achieve so that the customer can easily convert into a buying customer. It can be done through landing pages, PPC advertising, and a solid call to action.
  
  Driving conversions through visits is the most valuable part of digital marketing. 

• Retention:
  Retention is achieved through email marketing; it’s a way to promote your other relevant services to your existing customers to help them achieve more of what they have done with the previous. You can send them personalized emails to build trust and earn their loyalty.

• Trust Building (Advocacy):
  Nothing can promote your brand more than people; if they love it, they will recommend it to others. It’s the final step to achieve in the funnel of digital marketing. Word-of-mouth is the most vital promotional act for any brand.

Advantages of Digital Marketing Over Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing is not dead yet, but it has its limits, while digital marketing provides you with global reach to use your maximum potential. 

So, why choose digital marketing over traditional methods? Here are a few major reasons:

• Cost-Effective:
  Digital marketing is cheaper than traditional TV, billboard, and print ads.

• Measure Results:
  With digital marketing, you can measure the success of your campaigns in real-time through insights provided by the host or the platforms and with tools like Google Analytics that allow you to see and measure the terms that are working and what’s not for your website.

• Specific Targeting:
  Unlike billboards or other ads, digital marketing lets you target your audience based on their interests, behaviours, and demographics. You can’t track the results from print ads or TV ads. So there is no option for you to know about your audience specificity. 

• Direct relation with the audience:
  Whether a Facebook comment or an Instagram DM, digital marketing allows for two-way communication with your audience that builds trust over the years.

How to Get Started with Digital Marketing

Suppose you’re a complete beginner in the field of digital marketing and worrying about how to start a career in digital marketing. In that case, you can apply the steps below and start your career in digital marketing. 

Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners  

Choose a Niche (not just industry type)

Choose an industry first before choosing a niche, and research different niches within the industry. After that, choose the most suitable niche for you and your business.

Learn the Basics of Digital Marketing

Learn the basics of digital marketing through online courses like we offer at AADME Digital Marketing Platform, we also provide certificates, which help you show your work experience. People trust people who have worked in similar niches.

Start a Blog or Build a Portfolio 

Having a website or blog is a must for a newcomer in digital marketing, but if you can’t afford to build a website. You can build your online portfolio to showcase your work, strategies, and experience. 

Focus on one or two platforms at the start 

Don’t overdo things, and try to achieve results on all platforms. Choose a few best platforms or channels for your practice and showcase your work. You can choose SEO, social media marketing, or email marketing at the start. 

Network within your niche

Network with relevant people within your niche or industry and build formal relationships with them to learn from the best. You can do it by joining groups or channels or following the experts in that niche.

They offer something to bring their audience together; join that and build your presence among the people who are already moving towards where you want to reach.

Tools and Resources for Learning Digital Marketing

If you’re serious about learning digital marketing, there are many free and paid tools to learn and practice digital marketing. 

Here, we have given some tools and resources (Free + Paid):

• Aadme Course:
  It offers an affordable digital marketing course for beginners, freelancers, and business owners and an internship and work experience letter. You can check it out here – Aadme 4.5 months Program

• Google Analytics:
  You can track website traffic and user behaviour and check the insights of your audience as their location, interest, or behaviour.
• Google Digital Garage:
  Google offers digital marketing and various certification courses on the Google Digital Garage website. You can find many courses related to digital marketing, SEO, social media marketing, PPC, etc.
• SEMrush:
  SEMrush offers its learning program through its blogs. However, Digital marketers use their tools for keyword research and competitive analysis the most.
• HubSpot Academy:
  Hubspot Academy offers free and paid digital marketing certifications. You can choose which course is more suitable for your digital marketing career.
• Udemy and Coursera:
  If you want to learn from industry experts who have been teaching digital marketing for a while, you can join these two. They both offer affordable online courses on all aspects of digital marketing.
• Blogs:
  Neil Patel’s blog is an industry-leading blog that can help you learn quickly about SEO and other aspect of digital marketing as well.

Conclusion

Digital marketing is not as complicated as it seems; once you understand its basics, you will see how easy it is to implement it in your business or career.

Digital marketing is all about understanding how you can grow your business and launch your career with the help of powerful tools like Google Analytics, Social media, or Email. It helps you reach new audiences and build long-lasting relationships with your existing ones. 

Whether you’re starting, already a small business, or trying to get your business online, this guide has given you all the basics of digital marketing so you can take a few steps confidently.

So, what are you waiting for?

It’s time to get into digital marketing and apply its strategies to your career.

FAQs

Is Digital marketing only for big businesses?

No, digital marketing is for every type of business, whether small or big. Even small businesses get the result early because of their already cost-effective products or services. 

Do I need to be on every social media platform for digital marketing?

No, focus on which platform is suitable for your business or career. And from there, you can easily get your customers. Remember: Quality over quantity. 

What is digital marketing, in simple words?

Digital marketing uses tools like SEO, social media, and email marketing to promote your business online.

What are the types of digital marketing?

Content marketing, SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, and more.

How much can one earn through digital marketing?

There are no such limits to earning if you keep learning the new digital marketing concepts introduced by various platforms occasionally. Be aware of what type of digital marketer you are; you will never be out of work.