Advertising and marketing are no longer confined to television, radio, billboards, and print media. Thanks to the Internet and mobile devices, traditional advertising and marketing have a newfound platform. Digital marketing is the new buzz word in the marketing and advertising domain these days. The Financial Times Lexicon defines digital marketing as follows: “The marketing of products or services using digital channels to reach consumers.”

With digital marketing, businesses (product-based as well as services-based) can now get closer to their customer base. Whether you are an online business or a local land-based business, you can get a better understanding of your target audience if you know how to use digital marketing tactics effectively.

The main elements of digital marketing : Digital marketing is an all-encompassing term for a lot of things; these include search engine optimization, email marketing, social media marketing, mobile applications, and pay-per-click advertisements. Each of these aspects of digital marketing requires different skillsets. Depending on their size and reach, a business can use any one or all the disciplines of digital marketing.

Mobile-friendly marketing : Since digital marketing is majorly driven by the internet and mobile devices, it is essential to have marketing strategies and advertisements designed to be mobile-friendly. Mobile devices have now become the primary medium of discovery for potential consumers. Websites, blogs, media content and so on has now to be created to be easily viewed on mobile devices. Having desktop sites alone will not be much helpful for businesses. The sites will have to be optimized for mobile devices as well.

Utilize micro-moments : Micro-moments are those when potential consumers land up in a business’s website/blog/social media page while they are looking for something, or want to learn about something new, or want to discover something, or watch a media, or want to buy something. Impulse shopping is one of the most popular techniques of cashing in on micro-moments. A business needs to have an online platform to connect with consumers instantly when they need to, from anywhere or any device.

Quality and substantial content : Content marketing is how you use search engine optimization. In the initial days of digital marketing, brands would get away with creating short bursts of content or blog posts that would be 200 to 350 words long. However, such short content will no longer cut it. Consumers want to learn and discover things through in-depth and substantial content. This has made it necessary to create content that is long-form based, well-researched, and also easy to absorb and quick to read.

Effective audience engagement : You know your brand has arrived on social media platforms when your target audience starts to engage your brand, products, and services in their online conversations. How you react to appreciations, criticisms, and complains and continue to engage your audience will go a long way in turning your brand’s followers into loyal consumers.