Digital Marketing: A History

• Digital marketing promotes a brand, service, or product on the Internet
• It uses online channels and methods to monitor the success of marketing campaigns in real time

Digital Marketing History

• 1990: "Archie," the first search engine, indexed FTP sites
• 1991: Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web (WWW)
• 1994: AT&T created the first clickable web banner ad, which began display advertising, Yahoo! was founded, marking start of search engines
• 1996: Hotmail was launched as web-based email
• 1998: Google revolutionized search engines and online search marketing, MSN and Yahoo! introduced Yahoo! Web Directory
• 2000: The dot-com bubble burst, leaving strong digital infrastructures and companies
• 2002: LinkedIn became a professional networking site for B2B digital marketing
• 2003: WordPress launched, which simplified blogging and content marketing, MySpace rose, marking rise of social networking sites
• 2004: Facebook was founded, targeting college students. It became a major social media marketing platform
• 2005: YouTube introduced video marketing
• 2006: Twitter popularized micro-blogging for marketing
• 2007: The iPhone marked the start of mobile marketing, Programmatic advertising began, using AI for ad placement.
• 2010: Instagram emphasized visual marketing
• 2011: Snapchat popularized ephemeral content, Google introduced Google+ and Google Analytics updates
• 2012: Content marketing strategies included storytelling and SEO
• 2014: Facebook introduced paid ads boost posting, and mobile use outstripped web browsing
• 2016: Live video streaming gained momentum with platforms like Facebook Live, chatbots emerged for customer service and lead generation
• 2018: GDPR emphasized data privacy and ethical digital marketing

2020's Tech

• 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation and e-commerce, with virtual events and webinars essential for business
• 2021: AI-driven tools and predictive analytics enhanced customer experience, and TikTok rose as a dominant platform for short video content marketing.
• 2023: Voice search optimization gained prominence due to smart devices, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) became more prevalent in experiential marketing

5 Steps for Digital Marketing Process

• Researching about the business, target customers, product / service and competition
• Creating digital marketing goals, strategy, plan and digital identities like websites, blog and app
• Promote the primary digital identities through search engines, display networks, e-commerce portals, social media, emails, messaging or affiliate programs
• Analysing the results and understanding where changes must be made between goals and actuals
• Based on the results of analysis, changes are made, also known as finetuning

Step 1: Research

• Collect information to strategize and create a digital marketing campaign
• Information should include business, target customers, the product, and online competition

Step 2: Create

• Create Digital Marketing Objectives and Goals
• Set ultimate goals that can be achieved through their Digital Marketing Campaign
• Create Digital Marketing Strategy, positioning, branding, content and channels strategy
• Create Digital Marketing Plan, a documented plan with detailed Digital Marketing activities and timelines
• Creating Primary Digital Identities, Website, Blog & App (online presence)

Step 3: Promotion

• Begin promoting primary digital identities to attract relevant traffic which leads to conversion
• Options for promotion include search engines, display networks, e-commerce portals, social media, email, messaging and affiliate
• Channels and subchannels are addressed in Digital Marketing Strategy

Step 4: Analyse

• Start monitoring performance thru the channel
• Most important is the analytics of your website / blog / app using Google Analytics
• Four sections include: Audiences, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversion

Step 5: Optimise

• Adjust primary digital identities or digital marketing channels based on analysis of data
• Also referred to as content & design revisions to identities & promotion

Meaning of Online Visibility

• Digital visibility refers to how visible your website is online
• To rank on search engines which ensures business by seen by more potential customers
• SEO strategies with effective marketing campaigns will ensure your website starts to get the attention it deserves
• Attracting more targeted traffic also lead to more conversions and profits

Types of Visibility in Online Marketing

• Social media, websites, links, reviews, landing pages and directories

Types of Digital Marketing

• Email, content, viral, mobile phone, social media, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), affiliate and influencer

Ways To Establish & Maintain Digital Visibility

• Search Engine Optimization including optimize ad/website content
• Blog posts updated constantly, timely, with relevant quality content
• Social network interactions posting ads and content videos
• Customer review postings
• Content consistency

Importance of Digital Visibility

• No visibility, no sales
• Digitalization is advancing strongly
• Processes more analyzable
• Less wastage
• More possibilities

Digital Engagement

• Digital customer engagement is all the way a customer interacts with a business via technology and how they interact with it
• Interactions could include customer in a community forum, Chatbot on social media, customer support team, customer satisfaction survey, social media content and getting support over social messaging, tutorial via help center
• It is important for customer loyalty, to prevent them going to a competitor
• Data is also important so that customer expects knowledgable companies in regards to their profile

Digital Engagement Strategies

• Set a plan and business goals based on data that should be actionable
• Digital Channels need a tailored strategy for different goals, using content
• Use webinars to listen to customer questions
• Paid search is a Google tool to direct users to web pages
• Social Media builds brand loyalty, eye catching content and customer voice
• Live chat with messaging create a personal connection with customers
• Create a customers engagement platform using CRM solution to help you provide valuable insights to help you manage a business

Inbound Marketing

• By creating and distributing content that draws people into your website
• Informative digital content to help solve consumer problems
• Uses social media posts, blogs, reports, webinars, etc. that is measurable
• Includes non-Invasive content, educational, quantifiable metrics and quality qualified leads

Outbound Marketing

• Outbound marketing proactively reach out to consumers to get them interested in a product
• Content displayed in direct mail, magazine ads, billboards and TV.Meant to be passive and written to sell
• Benefit with brand awareness and yields immediate results
• Has a difficult time making outbound marketing appealing and relevant

Types of Marketing Funnels

• Digital marketing funnel is a series of online content channels which a user encounters as they move through different stages in their relationship with a brand
• Also known as a sales funnel. Digital marketing funnel often involves a process of lead nurturing and customer cultivation, and it looks at your entire customer buying journey
• Customers do not simply buy, it take 6 to contacts interactions with potential customers before signing up on your product or service
• A funnel allows you build and sustain a relationship with your prospect and customer throughout their entire customer journey

Customer Buying Journey Includes

• Need Recognition for the product
• Research options that can be used to solve the need
• Evaluate brand to see what other options
• Process the final purchase
• Analyze post-purchases for recurring customers

Funnels Have The Followings

• Content types that depend of the goal at the different stages
• Customer stages from a viewer or visitor to brand advocate

Digital Marketing Tools & Channels

• Normal divided in three sections, TOFU, MOFU and BOFU
• Goal move your customer progressively towards a profitable action like an online purchase
• Leadpages are used for creating landing pages to collect lead info, analytics, website creation, lead capture etc

Top of Funnel (TOFU)

• Known the top of your digital marketing funnel is bulk of visitors
• Searched Engine Optimization (SEO) from a search engine
• Social Media Marketing (SMM) from a post
• Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising from ad

Mid of Funnel (MOFU)

• They provided you contact details

BOFU - Bottom of Funnel

• You need to convert leads to become customers
• An attractive offer hits the sweet spot of a BUY NOW button
• Free Trial
• Online Assessment
• Discount Coupons
• One to one Consultations