If you are wondering what digital\n marketing is\u2026 it\u2019s is advertising delivered through digital channels. \nChannels such as social media, mobile applications, email, web \napplications, search engines, websites, or any new digital channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or a simpler version\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital marketing is any form of marketing products or services that involves electronic devices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s\n the reason it has been around for decades (because electronics have) \nand why it doesn\u2019t necessarily have anything to do with content \nmarketing, Google ads, social media or retargeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Digital marketing can be done both online and offline.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And, both kinds matter for a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember billboards<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I do.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As\n a young kid in California, my experiences from the back seat of our car\n mostly alternated between: \u201cMom, when are we there?\u201d and \u201cUh, look, \nMcDonalds, can we go?\u201d, whenever one of those 10 foot billboards popped \nup on the side of the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing up with Indian parents, the answer to both of those would, most times, be the same: \u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, big brands would even start a billboard war, like this one between Audi and BMW, which got quite a few laughs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, a ton of my clients still spent hundreds of millions of dollars on billboard advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately or fortunately, it\u2019s dead.<\/strong>Just\n think of it this way, Google and Facebook generate more revenue than \nany traditional media company because they control more eyeballs. That\u2019s\n why digital marketing matters, it is where the attention is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason why billboards, like the ones above, die, is perfectly illustrated in a single picture of a Volvo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because, frankly, the future of driving will look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not a single passenger will spend their time looking at the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do me a favor, the next time you drive and are giving a friend a ride, take a peek at the passenger seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just for a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even now, chances are they\u2019ll be looking at their phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heck, in a world where 9% of all drivers are on the phone<\/a> one way or the other (texting or calling), at any given moment during daylight hours<\/strong>, how can we think billboards have a future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If not even the driver is looking at the road any more, who\u2019s supposed to see those advertisements?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, that\u2019s not even considering self-driving cars, on which both Apple and Google are working (you know it\u2019s going to happen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elon Musk suggests that they\u2019ll be here around 2020<\/a>. That\u2019s in only a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\n means you don\u2019t have much time to figure out this digital marketing \nstuff before you can power down your old school printing press and close\n up shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The share of people spending more time using electronic devices is only going up from here.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With Americans spending 11+ hours on electronic devices, every single day<\/a>, there\u2019s not much left. That is, until we spend ALL of our time in the digital world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, while yes, online marketing is the reason that 25 year olds can now sit in their living room and earn 2 million dollars a year playing video games<\/a>, offline marketing still has its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take a helicopter and circle around to get an overview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2 main pillars of digital marketing are online marketing and offline marketing<\/strong>.\n That said, since I\u2019ll talk about online marketing in a separate guide, \nI\u2019ll only mention the different areas of online marketing here, for the \nsake of completeness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 7 big categories of online marketing are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unbounce created a great infographic that sums up all kinds of online marketing in one neat chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The beginner\u2019s guide to online marketing, on Quick Sprout<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n is a great place to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, that said, what other digital marketing is there? There\u2019s plenty, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the 4 big categories of digital offline marketing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First, there\u2019s what I call enhanced offline marketing. <\/strong>This is a form of marketing that is entirely offline, but enhanced with electronic devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For\n example, if your restaurant uses iPads for your customers to create \ntheir orders on, then the offline experience of say, eating Thai food, \nis enhanced with this electronic device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People have been using digital media to enhance their marketing for decades (you\u2019ve only forgotten in what ways, as you\u2019ll see).<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Image source: San Diego Tribune<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, there\u2019s radio marketing<\/strong>. The next time you hear an annoying, over-enthusiastic car dealer shout every word of his or her commercial, thank Mr. Marconi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, we can\u2019t forget television marketing<\/strong>.\n TV ads have been around for more than half a century (and since 1953 \nalso in color, nationwide \u2013 Yes, there was a time before color TV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the biggest and fastest growing area of offline marketing, with admittedly also a lot of flops, busts and failures: phone marketing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s look at the 4 areas in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the difference between a billboard somewhere in the desert of Arizona and a billboard in New York City\u2019s Times Square?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The size? The product?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 letters: LED. Light emitting diodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the billboards in Times Square are electronic!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Image source: Adweek<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why?\n Because in the desert of Arizona, no one\u2019s competing with you for \npeople\u2019s attention. If you have a billboard at all, you win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, in Times Square, attention is probably more valuable than anywhere else in the world. Over 330,000 people cross through it each day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to be distracted, there\u2019s buses, taxis, promoters shouting and then, of course, the electronic billboards.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of them are even interactive, showing live feeds of the people on the square or pictures of customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Renting a billboard space on Times Square, for a year<\/a>, will set you back a whopping $1,000,000 to $4,000,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds expensive? Wait until you hear the prices for Super Bowl commercials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What other forms does enhanced offline marketing take?<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you see when you walk into an Apple Store these days?<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Image source: Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n People leaning over iPads, Macbooks and iPhones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have any type of electronic product, any product demo is an important part of your digital marketing strategy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, the next one\u2019s a good one. If you remember this, you can consider yourself an extremely lucky kid:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Image source: Emuparadise<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a demo disc for the original PlayStation<\/a>\u00a0and several of these were handed out with other games or sometimes even magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a demo disc for the original PlayStation<\/a> and several of these were handed out with other games or sometimes even magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\n was the same with PC magazines. Remember when they came with CDs (and \nlater DVDs) and you couldn\u2019t wait to throw them into your disk drive and\n see what samples were on them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A little different than a demo, these are product samples in digital format.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People\n still do this. Think of all the wannabe rappers or rockers in your \nhometown, handing out mix tapes and CDs and now probably USB sticks, to \nget you to listen to their music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alright, time to take a look at the category of digital marketing that\u2019s probably been around the longest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over 100 years have passed since that original first live broadcast of the opera performance at the Met and guess what \u2013 radio is still here<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since\n radio did fairly well in transitioning to the internet, it hasn\u2019t taken\n as big of a hit as TV. And, even old school radio still matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some facts<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, while profits have shrunk, radio isn\u2019t dead. <\/strong>Thanks to Pandora\u2019s 80 million users, there are still about $4 billion in profits made each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, aside from creating a kick ass, creative radio commercial<\/a> that will do well, what else is there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, internet radio made a good move, doing what most podcasts do: advertise at the beginning of shows.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you host a show revolving around a certain topic, like coaching<\/a>, you can plug programs and products in, right before and at the end of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since social media is the marketing darling these days, it should be fairly easy to find a local radio station<\/a>, get on a show, be interviewed or negotiate a deal with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you do, be sure to get some sponsorships<\/a>,\n to make sure that you\u2019re a prime candidate for the station and that \nthey give you the premium slot and the best air time possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In most cases, doing well on radio means being entertaining.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cadillac and Dairy Queen are two brands that come up with solid radio commercials on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can listen to some examples here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Television\n marketing is such a Goliath, it\u2019ll likely never go away. It\u2019s also \neasily the industry where the most money is burned each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ever since Google Video turned into Youtube, the efficiency of TV ads has gone down rapidly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Who wants to watch a crappy MTV show host review a game that they have no clue about, when they can join 40 million subscribers (!) watching PewDiePie<\/a> not only rock video games, but also deliver hilarious comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All, free of charge, of course.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, why are TV commercials nearly worthless, when the average American still watches 4 hours of TV each day<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n They aren\u2019t specific.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n TV ads are unspecific. In a world of search engines, retargeting, social media and email marketing, we are so used to being marketed around products we already care about<\/strong>, that we blatantly ignore everything that\u2019s not remotely relevant to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we can even be bothered to watch a movie on TV, because it\u2019s not yet on Netflix, a company making $5 billion in revenue annually by now<\/a>, then what do we do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We record it and we fast forward through all of the commercials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re used to being in total control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marketers have to be smarter and smoother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TV commercials just hit everyone across the board. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\n could see a hemorrhoid cream commercial, followed by an Oreo ad and a \nburger spot, all while being overweight, diabetic and 22 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such\n a person would be a horrible target to be viewing these ads. But, with\n TV, you never know who you\u2019re going to reach, only how many eyeballs \nyou\u2019ll get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, apart from a few insomniacs who watch infomercials late at night, ensuring that Dr. Ho still sells a few of his de-compression belts<\/a>, is TV advertising dead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is still one type of TV ad worth running, but it\u2019ll cost ya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember I mentioned that renting a billboard in Times Square, for a year, will set you back a million?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 60 second commercial aired during the Super Bowl costs $4.5 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to their cross-pollinating effect, the often viral and memorable commercials still pay for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roughly 10% of all TV commercial-related shares on social media<\/a> come from Super Bowl ads. So do about 8% of all views on Youtube that go to TV commercial videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If\n your commercial makes it to the blacklist (commercials the network \ndecides can\u2019t be shown on TV), the viral effect is usually even \nstronger, like this one, from Carl\u2019s Junior, that caused a lot of noise \nthis year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (damn you, Charlotte McKinney)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Super Bowl commercials have the highest retention rate, as this infographic shows<\/a>. Over half of the participants who were asked remembered the Budweiser \u201cPuppy Love\u201d commercial<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s\n more, these commercials become online assets, generating millions of \nviews over time, such as the famous Star Wars commercial by Volkswagen, \nwhich has generated 62 million views, to date.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n (will the force be with him?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly, the hype of the Super Bowl commercials is probably more of a remnant from a success period that\u2019s about to fade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The $200 billion that companies still annually spend worldwide<\/a> on TV commercials is hardly justifiable, as every 10th person in the United States has a Netflix account, with more to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TV,\n in the form as we know it, is going to die and will make way for the \nmore custom-tailored experiences we are already getting used to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So,\n if you do plan on doing offline digital marketing, I\u2019d suggest that you\n spend your time and money focusing on a marketing platform or channel \nof the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We still don\u2019t realize this or give it nearly enough credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smartphones are killing it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, over 80% of internet users own a smartphone and, in 2014, we crossed the tipping point where more people are accessing the internet from their phone<\/a> than via a desktop PC or laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mobile marketing is here<\/a>, and, in 2016, the amount spent on mobile ads<\/a> will first exceed the amount spent on desktop ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, there will be as much money spent on mobile ads as there is now spent on TV advertising. How\u2019s that for fast growth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n But,\n before we look at the type of phone marketing that you can do for \nsmartphone users with an internet connection, let\u2019s look at some offline\n ways to market your products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 2 apps that are grossly underestimated, yet they are on every phone, smart or not:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calling and texting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cold calling<\/a> is the act of calling a person with no prior contact and trying to sell them something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While at roughly 3 sales per day<\/a>\n (marketers call 52 people a day, on average, with about 17 calls until \nthey find a buyer), it doesn\u2019t have the scalability of social media or \nemail, it\u2019s still a valid approach to marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\n tactic works, but doesn\u2019t scale very well when selling to end customers\n (B2C) and making contact before trying to sell helps to close the deal \n(especially in B2B, which is all about connections).<\/p>\n\n\n\n What works better is marketing via texting, an \u201capp\u201d that is also available on each and every single phone out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Online or offline, a text message is almost a guaranteed read<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the MMS obviously tanked<\/a>\n after the web became available and mobile data usage costs so little, \ntexts are still a good way to reach people and bring value in 160 \ncharacters or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you should definitely get permission first<\/a>, for example, in the form of having your customers text a certain word to a phone number, there are several providers that offer text marketing at scale<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some examples of how you can leverage text message marketing:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Image source: Tatango<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Special deals, coupons and discounts<\/strong> are a great way for restaurants to get additional customers and turn walk-ins into regulars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can see more examples of successful restaurant text messaging campaigns here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DVD\n rental service, Red Box, pulled off a successful campaign as well. They\n let their customers text DEALS to 727272 in exchange for a gamble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They would receive a random discount on their next rental, between $0.10 and $1.50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over only 10 days, they connected with 400,000 customers and generated over 1.5 million text messages<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using text reminders as customer service<\/strong>\n can also enhance your mobile marketing, like Walmart does. They alert \ncustomers when their prescription is ready for pickup. To date, they\u2019ve \nsent over 1 billion text reminders<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another option is to create a loyalty program,<\/strong> where your customers can trade points collected in an app or when paying via their phone. Only 13% of retailers have one<\/a>, so it\u2019s an option that can help you to stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 98% of all text messages are opened<\/a>, and 90% of them are opened within 3 minutes of arrival, text messages are also a great opportunity to promote a giveaway<\/strong> that you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using a tool, like Heyo<\/a>,\n you can easily create a giveaway that\u2019s optimized for mobile and works \nwell on Facebook and other social media platforms, like this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Facebook<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, there is one area of mobile marketing that you should probably avoid: QR codes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These bar code-like images used to pop up everywhere, a few years ago and while some marketers still swear by them, they\u2019re pretty much dead<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Sample QR code via Wikipedia)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back\n in 2011, only about 6% of mobile phone users in the US had scanned a QR\n code, all year. And, by 2012, 97% of consumers didn\u2019t even know what a\n QR code was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While I can\u2019t\n be 100% sure about why they weren\u2019t the big hit some wanted them to be,\n I suspect it\u2019s because the system was too complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To scan a QR code you\u2019d always have to download a specific app, like Barcoo<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, the corresponding content would open within the app, which was often not optimized for mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Big\n brands also didn\u2019t respect the context of QR codes, putting them in \nvery unfortunate places, like subway stations with no cell reception or \non TV commercials, where they were only visible for a few seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, don\u2019t waste your time with QR codes, your time and money is best spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s\n the scoop on digital marketing. As you can see, the internet is, by \nfar, not the only place for marketers to gather success, even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, no one can afford to miss out on the opportunities of the web and, eventually, every marketer will have to master online marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy digital marketing matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOverview<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEnhanced offline marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nRadio marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
TV marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPhone marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n