The term digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels to market products and services in order to reach consumers. This type of marketing involves the use of websites, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other similar channels. Digital marketing became popular with the advent of the internet in the 1990s.
Digital marketing involves some of the same principles as traditional marketing and is often considered a new way for companies to approach consumers and understand their behavior. Companies often combine traditional and digital marketing techniques in their strategies. But it comes with its own set of challenges, including implicit bias.
How Digital Marketing Works
Marketing refers to activities that a company uses to promote its products and services and improve its market share. It requires a combination of advertising savvy, sales, and the ability to deliver goods to end-users if it’s going to be successful. Professionals, known as marketers, take on these tasks either internally (for companies) or externally with marketing firms.
Corporations traditionally focused on marketing through print, television, and radio. Although these options still exist, the internet led to a shift in the way companies reach consumers. That’s where digital marketing came into play. This form of marketing involves the use of websites, social media, search engines, and apps—anything that incorporates marketing with customer feedback or a two-way interaction between the company and its customers.
Increased technology and newer trends forced companies to change their marketing strategies. Email became a popular marketing tool in the early days of digital marketing. That focus shifted to search engines like Netscape, which allowed businesses to tag and keyword stuff to get themselves noticed. The development of sites like Facebook made it possible for companies to track data to cater to consumer trends.
Smartphones and other digital devices now make it easier for companies to market themselves and their products and services to consumers. Studies show that people prefer using their phones to go online. So it should come as no surprise that 70% of individuals make buying decisions (usually on their phones) before they actually hit the purchase button.
Sources and Receivers
Advertisers are commonly referred to as sources, while members of the targeted ads are the receivers. Sources frequently target highly specific, well-defined receivers like McDonald’s did with shift workers and travelers.
The company used digital ads because it knew these people made up a large segment of its late-night business. McDonald’s encouraged them to download the Restaurant Finder app, targeting them with ads placed at automated teller machines (ATMs), gas stations, and websites that its customers commonly frequented.
Types of Digital Marketing Channels
Digital marketing channels have evolved and continue to do so. The following are eight of the most common avenues that companies can take to boost their marketing efforts. Keep in mind that some companies may use multiple channels in their efforts.
Website Marketing
A website is the centerpiece of all digital marketing activities. It is a very powerful channel on its own, but it’s also the medium needed to execute a variety of online marketing campaigns. A website should represent a brand, product, and service in a clear and memorable way. It should be fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising enables marketers to reach Internet users on a number of digital platforms through paid ads. Marketers can set up PPC campaigns on Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook and show their ads to people searching for terms related to the products or services.
These campaigns can segment users based on their demographic characteristics (such as by age or gender), or even target their particular interests or location. The most popular platforms are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Content Marketing
The goal of content marketing is to reach potential customers through the use of content. Content is usually published on a website and then promoted through social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, or even pay-per-click campaigns. The tools of content marketing include blogs, ebooks, online courses, infographics, podcasts, and webinars.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels. Many people confuse email marketing with spam email messages, but that’s not what email marketing is all about. This type of marketing allows companies to get in touch with potential customers and anyone interested in their brands.
Many digital marketers use all other digital marketing channels to add leads to their email lists and then, through email marketing, they create customer acquisition funnels to turn those leads into customers.
Social Media Marketing
The primary goal of a social media marketing campaign is brand awareness and establishing social trust. As you go deeper into social media marketing, you can use it to get leads or even as a direct marketing or sales channel. Promoted posts and tweets are two examples of social media marketing.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing, and the internet has brought new life to this old standby. With affiliate marketing, influencers promote other people’s products and get a commission every time a sale is made or a lead is introduced. Many well-known companies like Amazon have affiliate programs that pay out millions of dollars per month to websites that sell their products.
Video Marketing
YouTube is one of the most popular search engines in the world. A lot of users are turning to YouTube before making a buying decision, to learn something, read a review, or just relax.
There are several video marketing platforms, including Facebook Videos, Instagram, and even TikTok to use to run a video marketing campaign. Companies find the most success with video by integrating it with SEO, content marketing, and broader social media marketing campaigns.
SMS Messaging
Companies and nonprofit organizations also use SMS or text messages to send information about their latest promotions or give opportunities to willing customers. Political candidates running for office also use SMS message campaigns to spread positive information about their own platforms. As technology has advanced, many text-to-give campaigns also allow customers to directly pay or give via a simple text message.
What is PPC (Pay-Per-Click)?
So, what’s PPC? Pay-per-click (PPC) is an online advertising model which allows companies to pay for their ads each time a user clicks on them. This type of marketing is based on keywords and search engine optimization, making it an effective way to reach potential customers who are looking for your products or services.
PPC campaigns involve bidding on keywords that you want to appear in the search engine results when someone types them in. The more competitive the keyword is, the higher the price you will have to pay for each click. It’s important to be strategic when choosing keywords and bids, as this will ultimately determine the success of your PPC campaign.
How Does Pay Per Click Work?
Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns work by targeting users who are likely to be interested in your product or service. For example, if you own a clothing store and have a PPC campaign running on Google Ads, you will be targeting users who are searching for clothing-related keywords.
When someone clicks on your ad, they will be directed to your website, and you will pay a certain amount for the click. The cost of each click depends on the keyword’s competitiveness and how much you’re willing to bid for it.
PPC involves several ad platforms but the most often used are Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads. Each platform has its own set of rules and guidelines to follow when it comes to setting up campaigns, so make sure you read them carefully before launching your campaign. The main formats are:
- Display Ads
- Search Ads
- Shopping Ads
- Gmail Ads
- Video Ads
Because of the window to a large group of potential customers and several ways to set up and keep the campaign running, many brands kick off their PPC pay-per-click marketing campaigns on Google Ads.
Irrespective of the platform and ad format you choose, PPC runs in about the same way. Here is what the process involves:
- Join the platform and set up an advertising account.
- Construct persuasive ads (and optimize your targeting by adding relevant keywords to maximize the efficiency of your campaigns).
- Determine the maximum cost you can comfortably pay for each click.
- At this stage, your ad goes up for bid against other advertisers who are competing over the same keywords.
- The auction system decides which ad will be displayed first and foremost.
- You will need to pay a fee for every click your advertisement receives.
As you can see, it is a straightforward process that doesn’t change much, irrespective of the platform you use to run your digital marketing PPC campaign.
How Pay-Per-Click Ads Auctions Work
As soon as a user performs a search, there’s an ad auction that decides factors like;
- Is an ad account qualified for the auction?
- How expensive a click will be for each of the advertisers whose advertisements are displayed?
- The arrangement of ads on result pages, affecting their visibility and reach.
There are several influencers involved in the process. The first is the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) that the advertiser locked into their PPC account for a particular keyword or ad group. This is the highest amount he is willing to pay for a click. Although it is not what he will actually pay.
The second factor is the search engine’s Quality Score (QS). This metric is based on factors like; the relevance of ad copy and landing page, past performance, etc. The higher your QS score, the less you will have to pay for each click, as Google rewards advertisers who are actively engaged in optimizing their campaigns.
Finally, the placement of an ad on the displayed results is decided by the ad rank. Max CPC x Quality Score gives you the Ad Rank.
While Google’s system involves the combination of many parameters to decide who will win the auction and get their ad displayed prominently on the SERP, the above formula is the basic structure of a PPC auction. The higher your Ad Rank, the better position your ad will be placed in and thus, it will have a greater chance of being seen by many people.
What Factors Decide How Much an Advertiser Pays For a Click?
While Ad Rank is the major deciding factor for the amount an advertiser will pay for a click, there are other influencers as well. To put it in a simple way,
CPC = Ad Rank of the advertiser / Quality Score + $0.01
What Are The Benefits of PPC?
Are you wondering if PPC is the right choice for your business? Here are some of the benefits it offers.
You Have Total Control Over How Much You Pay And When The Ads Run
With PPC you can turn your ads on and off whenever you like. You can decide to run your campaign only when you need fresh leads or want to introduce a new product to the market. You can also switch off your ads when your hands are full. However, to ensure you stand tall above your competition, you need to be continuously engaged in optimizing your campaigns. You can also set up the maximum bid-per-click to ensure that your campaigns don’t burn a hole in your pocket.
You Can Start Getting Clicks in a Matter of Hours
After you create an account and run your ad, you should get approval within a few hours. After that, you will start seeing clicks almost immediately. You can even measure the performance of your ads on an hourly basis to ensure you get the best results for the amount you pay.
You only need to be qualified to be on the auction and to have a high enough bid. This is why many marketers prefer PPC to other digital marketing channels like SEO. It gives them the freedom to control their budget while ensuring they get quick results.
You Can Target Your Audience Precisely
Unlike organic traffic, PPC gives you access to highly targeted audiences which translates into more clicks and conversions.
Pay-per-click marketing campaigns are excellent for small businesses as you can target customers who would best benefit from your services or products. You can also tailor your ads based on geographical location and demographics. For example, if you are a local business that caters to a specific location, you can set your ads so they are only seen in that area. This helps make sure that you don’t spend money on clicks from people who wouldn’t benefit from your services.
You can also tailor your bids according to the time of day and the device they are using. This ensures that you get the most out of your money and target the right people at the right time. To reap these benefits, you first need to know your clients and how they do their searches.
You Have Different Types of Ads to Choose From
Whether you own a small business or a big enterprise, with Google Adwords you have access to different types of ads, such as text ads, display ads, video ads, etc. This helps ensure that your message reaches the right people at the right time in the most effective way possible.
You can use shopping ads to promote your eCommerce store or go after those who have abandoned baskets using remarketing ads. PPC gives you access to many types of ad formats. You need to take advantage of them to make sure that you get the best possible ROI from your PPC efforts.
