With a boom in technology, marketing procedures have evolved and advanced over the past few years. However, this path of evolution was full of ups and downs. With the technical competencies in the world, businesses had to adapt to new marketing strategies.
Since traditional marketing has failed to produce high ROI; therefore, digital marketing has replaced this concept of marketing. Unlike old times when after putting up a billboard, it was impossible to change it. Today, new marketing techniques allow you to modify campaigns frequently.
Most organizations are transforming their printed version of marketing tactics into virtual techniques. While some organizations still follow traditional marketing methods, they have some essence of digital marketing.
Two terms – digital marketing and online marketing are in use these days interchangeably. While they both share points in common, there are some fundamental yet slight differences. Understanding these differences can help you in refining marketing strategies.
Let’s discuss both terms to have a clear picture:
ONLINE MARKETING
Online marketing or internet marketing is a type of marketing that requires the internet to perform. Online marketing needs to have a continuous connection to the internet to work. Its dependability to always have an internet link for marketing operations restricts its coverage. With this limitation, online marketing is the most favorable method for marketing compared to digital marketing.
TYPES OF ONLINE MARKETING
There is a large variety of types of online marketing because of its scope. These types are:
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
How many times do you go to the second page on any search engine against your query? Not frequently, right?
You need to optimize your website for search engines to increase visibility for users who are looking for your business. You can optimize your site ranking through SEO techniques to generate considerable leads through online searches.
On-page SEO comprises factors such as how unique and valuable your content is. The quantity and quality of backlinks on your page comes under off-page SEO elements. You can conduct a comprehensive analysis of backlinks through the SEMrush backlink analytics tool and monitor their relevancy. Additionally, off-page SEO consists of responsiveness and the page speed of your website. User engagement involves the analysis of click-through-rate and bounce rate. These metrics determine the value of the website.
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)
Admit it, driving organic traffic to your site is not that simple! SEM drives traffic to the website by procuring advertisements. SEM is a broad term that includes SEO and PSA (Paid Search advertising).
SEO uses on-page and off-page factors to optimize web pages to rank higher on search engines. At the same time, PSA works on bringing traffic to the webpage by placing advertisements on search engines. The most common method of PSA is Pay per Click (PPC). A powerful tool Google Ads lets you advertise on Google.
EMAIL MARKETING
One more useful type of marketing is email marketing. It allows you to send direct mails to your audience. What is the use of your email marketing campaign if your audience isn’t even reading it? So, you should create some attention-grabbing emails using email marketing tools for your customers. If you don’t want your email to get lost in the pool of hundreds of emails, you should not send unsolicited emails to your audience.
ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE MARKETING
Efficient online marketing helps you achieve greater visibility and authority. Some of the advantages of online marketing are:
- Leads generated through online marketing are less expensive than traditional marketing. The reason is that there is no travel or printing expense.
- Online marketing can provide prompt feedback. Various channels, such as emails, social media comments, online surveys, give customers instant responses.
- In contrast to other marketing platforms, online marketing generates sales with just a click, improving conversion rates.
DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital marketing is the process of promoting a business, brand, or product through digital platforms. It doesn’t matter if these digital mediums use the internet or not for their publicity and advertisement.
A simple example of digital marketing is the downloading of an application to your cell phone. Now you may think this requires the internet for installing. However, you only need the internet to download the app. You can still use the application while being disconnected from the internet. In other words, digital marketing is a broader term that comprises both online and offline channels.
TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING
There are several channels of digital marketing. Below are some of the common types:
- Mobile Advertising
It involves the conveyance of information from a brand to its customers through a text message. Mobile marketing does not require access to the internet. An organization sending a message to its clientele informing about forthcoming events is an example of this marketing type.
- Radio Advertising
Radio is also a digital means of promoting your business and remaining connected to your customer base. You can customize your messages based on the type of audience and convey it at a national or international level.
- Television Advertising
Television advertising is the most common form of marketing for organizations for the last few decades. Marketers are now utilizing their customers’ personal information and new procedures such as addressable ads for marketing their products.
- Display Advertising
The use of brochures on different applications and websites to attract clients is known as display advertising. These flyers occupy a specific part of the website that is put aside for paid marketing purposes. Companies use display advertising to help potential customers get in touch with their services. It creates an opportunity to build an image and get more traffic on the website.
ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL MARKETING
The following are the advantages of digital marketing that can help you grow your business:
- Digital marketing can provide a complete set of data about consumer behavior and their modern tools’ purchasing patterns. In this way, businesses can renew their marketing strategies and make them tailored according to customer needs.
- There are no geographical location constraints in digital marketing. You can host webinars and address large crowds online to advertise your campaigns.
- With the help of digital media, you can consistently create marketing campaigns at a low cost. You can try out different campaigns to check whether they have an appropriate approach.
FINAL WORDS
Now, the question arises, is there any difference between these two types of marketing? The answer is yes; some subtle and indistinct differences do exist. Digital marketing includes online marketing channels plus electronic media. Let’s put it another way; online marketing is a subset of digital marketing. Therefore, it is just a matter of some technicalities. All you need is to get a clear idea about both and decide which one best suits your business needs.