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We know the power of the internet and wireless connections are going to the moon. One such strategy to market products or services via the internet is widely known as Digital Marketing. It is a unique method to promote your goods and services 24*7 beyond all regional and access boundaries.
The person who advertises digitally is known as a Digital marketer. They use public relations, social media platforms, websites, print, and email communication, and other such ways to find potential customers for a brand or organization.
Digital Marketing constitutes a variety of strategies and technologies with varied uses and importance. Although it has a broader scope, let’s study the characteristics of digital marketing to understand better.
Characteristics of Digital Marketing
1. Two Way
Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing uses a unidirectional message encouraging the customers to interact with the brand instantaneously. It is a great way to involve the audience in your promotion and advertising process rather than them being a mere recipient. Social users interested in the product form a network of interactions, spreading the word wider and developing a platform of queries and clarification in the form of comments. The new digital marketing era has made it simpler for a brand to advertise multiple products in a single ad through ‘People also bought’ and for customers to save them in their ‘wishlist’ and revisit later.
2. Measurable
One important characteristic of a digital marketing campaign is measurability. The word digital in itself has ‘digit.’ So whether you are putting up a social media ad or inviting clients to an offline event to play around with the installation, you should be able to collect the reach of these ads and responses numerically. The collection of this data is more straightforward in digital marketing and acts as an asset for future marketing purposes. It helps to know which audience you can narrow how, how effective your copy was and which strategy worked well or failed in the past.
3. Targeted
Every digital or online marketing strategy is targeted, meaning it focuses on a specific audience group. The data collected helps the marketers to target specific key demographics. For instance, a vegan cosmetics brand would target a female audience between the ages of 16 to 45, previously known to search for vegan brands and a particular region if the company only delivers in certain areas. It also helps gain numerical of the number of times the ad is viewed and determine the strategy that works well. The aim should be to deliver a meaningful message and enhance user and brand engagement.
4. Personalization
When your digital marketing copy is measurable, you can also track your customer’s shopping habits, frequently viewed products, and preferences. It helps you personalize product suggestions for each customer and recommend related goods or services. You can also send a user personalized, one-time-use discount vouchers based on their ‘Watch list’ or ‘wishlist’, which they cannot share with another. The internet enables you to match the customers’ requirements, making digital marketing budget-friendly and user-friendly.
5. Remarketing
Another significant characteristic and digital marketing tactic is Remarketing. It stems from previous marketing advertisements wherein the company shows ads specifically to those who have visited their page earlier or showed interest. It is mainly used for services or products for which the customer frequently visits the website. Remarketing could be of three types: Audience based, behavioural and contextual. For instance, you might have noticed that you see advertisements from merchants whose products you’ve seen but not bought. It is a great feature to increase brand awareness and traffic drive directing them to the target landing page of your website. Now that you know what to show whom, you could add richer product information and details in the form of frequently answered questions and descriptions.
6. Multi-channel:
A digital marketing strategy needs to be used on multi-channels. Not all of the audience uses all of the platforms, or maybe they act selectively active on some. The goal is to reach the prospective buyer through various modes of online communication. The communication method should be easier and simpler to navigate through. For instance, would your audience want to complete product checkout through a reminder on Instagram or a personalized checkout link sent through email? It engages the prospect with the brand on an ongoing basis and cuts down printing and posting costs. The goal is to make the content accessible and easy to respond to.
Tip: Rather than spending time on all channels, learn the ones that benefit you the most and utilize your time on the chosen one or two platforms to build an engaging empire.
7. Adaptability
Digital marketing demands flexibility and adaptability to the changing technological, customer, and media requirements. The campaign is supposed to adapt to the evolving situations of the target audience. Being a digital marketer could be pretty challenging, although it calls for creative minds to track and match the buyer signals and create an adaptable call-to-action message. Companies need to be flexible as new trends come and go quickly in the fast-changing environment.
Tip: Considering the changing industry needs does not mean you need to forget the true brand ethnicity, which must be maintained while matching the market trend.
Conclusion
It is essential to educate yourself about these characteristics before strategizing a plan for your business, regardless of the size. There is no fixed set of rules to succeed as a digital marketer. Trial, error, and creativity, along with a perfect balance of all its characteristics, are what it asks for.
It would be best if you also remembered that users are the ones having the control. Too many frequent notifications, advertising emails, or annoying text messages would not help the marketing goal and could lead to the customer blocking or ignoring it. So be digital; be smart.
Continue reading the advantages of digital marketing.
Also check, why digital marketing is important for small businesses.