As a marketer, there’s a good chance you’ve had your CEO or internal stakeholders stop by your office and request a digital marketing campaign. But what is digital marketing, why is it so high in demand, and how do you start integrating it into your marketing strategy?

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a type of marketing, that’s delivered through digital or online channels, such as search engines (Google, Bing, etc.), email, websites, social media, and mobile apps.

Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing 

Before we go further, let’s clarify the difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing since the line between them can be blurry. Inbound marketing, also commonly known as content marketing, focuses more on educating and entertaining your audience, which can result in brand awareness and a loyal following.

Inbound marketing example: Eco-Friendly lawn care tips blog post. Outbound marketing example: Lawn Care Services paid search ad

On the other hand, the primary purpose of outbound marketing, most often advertising, is to drive a specific action, typically sales (or donations, in the case of non-profits). Another difference is that outbound marketing typically involves paid placement, whereas inbound marketing opportunities are often low-cost or no-cost. 

For example, a real estate agent might use inbound/content marketing to stay top-of-mind with potential buyers and sellers by sending a monthly educational email newsletter and blogging about home maintenance and renovation tips. On the other hand, they could use outbound marketing to run a paid search campaign and social media ads to target people looking for a local agent. 

 

When it comes to digital marketing, there are a handful of moving parts. Below are some common digital marketing terms you should know and placement options that will help you run a successful digital marketing campaign. Toward the end of the post, you’ll find steps that’ll help you figure out where to start with digital marketing.

Digital Campaigns: Strategy-Focused KPIs

Before eagerly launching a new campaign, knowing your goals and which key performance indicators (KPIs) are most important to reaching those goals should be your first step. The KPIs you want to focus on may impact how you set up your campaigns and what you optimize for.

Your KPIs will look different depending on the platform or type of content you share, but analyzing relevant results is a crucial step in any successful digital marketing strategy. There are a few Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are often analyzed for digital campaigns:

 

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Click-Thru-Rate (CTR): The ratio of clicks on an ad compared to the number of impressions. This is one of the most popular KPIs for tracking engagement, especially when your campaign first launches.

 

Icon of cartoon people sitting on and in front of a video recorder icon

View-Thru-Rate (VTR): The number of completed views of a skippable ad compared to the number of initial impressions. Your goal may not be to optimize a campaign to improve VTR; you may want people to click through from your video instead.

 *Tip: For video campaigns, determine at the start whether clicks or views are most important.

 

An icon of a cartoon woman next to a shopping bag with web page content displayed on it

Conversion Rate (CVR): The percentage of ad viewers who took your desired action compared to the number of impressions. A conversion can be any trackable item, from newsletter signups and form submissions to purchases and rewards signups.

 

An icon of three hands holding three mobile devices with bubbles above, one with a shopping cart, one with a speaker, and one with a thumbs up

Engagement Rate: A measure of how many users engaged with your content (clicked, reacted, interacted with, etc.) compared to the total available audience.

 

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Cost-Per-Click (CPC), Cost-Per-Mille (CPM), and Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA): For paid content, the average cost to obtain your objective. Your average CPC tells you about how much you pay for a click on your content. CPM is equivalent to the cost per 1,000 impressions. Lastly, your CPA tells you your average cost per acquisition. This is a good representation of how much it costs to acquire a new customer. On some platforms, CPA may stand for cost-per-action.

Choosing Your Target Audience

Your audience is made up of segments of niche audiences that can be targeted through third-party vendors, search and online behavior, cookie-based insights, IP address targeting, and more. The audience profile may be any combination of:

  • Demographic: age, family status, household income, etc.
  • Geographic: based on country, state, city, zip code, or region
  • First-party: a list of users you’ve defined as part of your audience
  • Behavioral: online browsing history, purchases, or search terms
    • Interest: targeting audiences interested in a topic
    • Intent: targeting audiences in-market for a product or service

Digital Advertising Placements

Icons representing different ad placements - display, in-stream video, connected TV, paid search, social media, and native
  • Display: Banner ads and animated gifs that appear on websites, such as news sites, blogs, etc.
  • In-stream Video: Video ads, usually around 15 seconds, that run on a website before or during a video and are often paired with a companion banner ad.
  • Connected TV (CTV): Video placements that mirror traditional TV commercials and appear on streaming services that contain ads. Unlike traditional cable TV, you can target ads toward the user watching the program along with the content itself.
  • Paid Search: Text-based ads that appear on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). Advertisers compete to have their ads appear, and the cost is incurred when the ad is clicked.
  • Native: Native combines elements of display and paid search to seamlessly integrate paid content into the surrounding organic content. This gives it a natural feel as opposed to a loud callout. It typically requires text headlines and companion banners, allowing the website to use any combination of the assets you provide.

Organic Digital Marketing Placements

These are each pretty self-explanatory, but are important for building campaigns that reach your target audience through multiple touch points. 

A mockup of a social media post from a lawn care company linking to a blog

  • Email Marketing: A trustworthy touchpoint where your audience is less likely to be distracted by other content. Emails sent may be product promotions, event notifications, or monthly newsletters sent to prospective or existing customers. Read our tips on ways to improve your email marketing!
  • Social Media Marketing: Let your brand’s personality and voice shine by sharing content and videos that your audience can relate to. Whether you’re a marketing team of one or share responsibility for your brand’s channels, these five steps to social media success will keep your content on-brand while being fun.
  • Website, Content Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Your website is the one place you can 100% control the design. Create engaging visuals and copy that deepens the emotional connection with your target audience. Optimizing your web content to be thorough and helpful will help it reach more users as they search on the web.

For more information on what goes into a content marketing strategy, check out our free content marketing guide.

3 Steps for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

The best way to start is with a clear digital marketing strategy that’s based on your overall marketing goals. To get you started, below is an outline of steps to take and questions you should answer to prepare for your next digital campaign.

1. Define the Basics

Clearly outline the purpose and goal(s) of the campaign.

  • Who is the target audience? Be as descriptive and detailed as possible since you’re able to reach niche audiences with digital.
  • What do you want them to do? Are you happy with them just viewing your ad and building awareness, or should they take a specific action on your website?

2. Outline Your Campaign

Now that you’ve defined your goals and target audience for the campaign, it’s time to determine which digital methods will be utilized. Here are a few considerations for some of the most common digital components.

Paid Search & Display Advertising

Paid search can be a great way to capture traffic from people actively searching for what you offer, and display networks get your ads in front of an audience you define. However, there can be more of a learning curve to be able to create and manage campaigns. If outsourcing campaign management isn’t an option, you’ll want to take the time to go through online training for the advertising platform you use and subscribe to updates so that you’re aware of new features and changes that could impact your campaign.

  • Skills Needed:
    • Copywriting
    • Graphic Design (display ads)
    • Google Ads or other platform education

Tip: Did you know that non-profits can receive up to $10,000 in ad placement from Google each month? Check to see if your organization is eligible.

Video Marketing

Video can have a positive impact on your campaign, but being able to produce a quality video to use in a campaign may require specialized expertise. Talk to your video partner about creating versions of any videos you have done for different placements such as YouTube, social media platforms, and a cut for your website.

  • Skills Needed:
    • Copywriting (Script)
    • Production and Post-production
    • Placement Optimization (YouTube, social media, website, etc.)
Link to source website. 82% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video, and 87% of marketers say video has helped them directly increase sales.

 

Email Marketing

Email is a great way to stay top-of-mind with your audience and let them know of new offerings, sales, upcoming events, and more. It can also be a cost-effective way of reaching an audience that has expressed an interest in your company. You can look at your email performance data to generate lead reports, test headline copy, etc. 

3. Plan for Action

Once you’ve identified what your audience should do, outline how they should do it. Digital campaigns typically direct users to a website, so you’ll want to be mindful about where you send click-thru traffic. A paid search or banner ad may be the only frame of reference someone has for your brand.

If your company sells basic widgets, linking to a product or store page may work well for you. If what your company provides is more complex, however, a unique landing page can help to provide additional information about your brand and your products/services that people may need to convince them to purchase. You may want to pull some information from various parts of your website, such as About, Products/Services, Testimonials/Reviews, and Contact, to build this page.

Make it clear what people are to do next on your website. If a visitor lands on this page from a digital campaign, the next step in their user journey should be obvious, whether it’s a button to purchase, a form to request more information, etc. Tell people what they should do and make it easy for them to do it!

1. Basics: Defined goals and target audience for the campaign. 2. Outline Your Campaign: Identify what your audience should do. 3. Plan for Action: Outline what your audience should do.

Whether you’re considering a full digital campaign or just dipping your toe in the water, there’s a type of digital marketing that can meet practically any goal and budget. So give it a try! With some thoughtful planning and a dash of creativity, digital marketing efforts could make your next campaign your best one yet.

Looking for a partner to help you tackle your next digital campaign? Check out our marketing and content services, or contact us to learn more today!

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