Every day the number of Internet users is increasing globally. According to the latest report on the subject, while there were 4,021 million Internet users (53% of the world’s population), last June the figure reached 4,388 million (57% of the population).

This significant penetration, added to the explosion of social networks and technological development in general, has increased the importance of digital marketing as an effective marketing model, positioning it as a priority for companies wishing to increase their reach and presence on the web.

In order to succeed in digital marketing, you must first know the basics that will allow you to better understand the strategies you must adopt.

In this article we will learn what digital marketing is, its importance, its characteristics, the benefits of digital marketing for your organization and some examples of digital marketing applied successfully.

What is digital marketing?

To carry out brand communication or to promote the trade of a product or service using digital media with a dedicated strategy specially studied to boost the results and impact of our commercial actions on the Internet is what we define as digital marketing.

Online marketing brings with it new communicational attributes, digital KPIs linked to web services that not only capture user data, the interactions they make when viewing, clicking or visiting a site, but also allow us to know in detail, and then lead to interest and monitoring metrics, what our customers and users are looking for, like or show real purchase interest.

Digital marketing employs various digital tactics and channels to connect online with the target audience, such as email marketing, pay-per-click advertising (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing and social media marketing.

You can do digital marketing with very reduced budgets, achieving niche reach. In addition, it is scalable, allowing the growth of both the company and the online marketing project.

Most people research and buy online. In fact, figures compiled, indicate that by 2021, global retail e-commerce will reach sales in excess of $4.5 trillion, and 47% of shoppers saw 3-5 pieces of content before committing to a sales rep.

Characteristics of digital marketing

In order to understand more deeply what digital marketing is, it is important that you also know the specific characteristics of digital marketing that differentiate it from traditional or offline advertising. Take note:

• Personalization: The modern consumer has access to colossal volumes of information, which allows him to have control over his purchase path and, in a certain way, disdain intrusive and misaligned advertising. In fact, statistics compiled by Omnicore indicate that 40% of mobile users say they will spend more money on a business if they receive a personalized coupon.
• Digital marketing, through data tracking and marketing automation software, enables the delivery of offers and content to the Internet user according to their searches and needs. That way, you have a better chance of increasing the conversion rate. Hence the importance of process automation in a digital strategy.
• Massive and wide scope: it is one of the best characteristics of digital marketing. On the web, as we pointed out earlier, millions of people are present, so your marketing actions have the possibility of reaching a wide audience, even crossing borders and especially now that the Internet threatens to overtake television as the most consumed means of communication.
• High segmentation: digital marketing allows you to take advantage of data to reach highly segmented target audiences, directing your campaigns according to geographical areas, age data, gender and key aspects such as tastes, interests and browsing history. This, added to the great reach it has, translates into much more defined investments.
• Economic: its cost-benefit ratio is quite good compared to traditional advertising tools such as television commercials. In the specific case of Inbound Marketing, a fundamental methodology within digital marketing, it can be six times cheaper than direct marketing. Of course, to obtain this benefit you must know how to plan and execute the strategies.
• Measurement: the best thing about digital marketing is that it allows the monitoring and measurement of actions and results. Unmatched advantage over traditional advertising. Think, for example, in the ads published in newspapers, can you never know how many people actually saw your ads? In online campaigns you can easily have this data.
• Bidirectional: the Internet democratizes access to information and communication. Digital marketing is built on this premise, enabling new spaces and channels that give rise to interaction between brand and consumer, leaving behind the old one-way model.
• Experimentation: measuring results allows you to try out different actions and tactics, while adjusting them in real time to optimize results.

These features lead to digital marketing benefits that you should take advantage of to increase the profitability of your budget. Added to this, there is the possibility of generating more engagement or interaction, and increase income.

Examples of global digital marketing

It’s worth knowing some examples of digital marketing so you can go deeper into the concept. By doing so you open the door to a world of marketing actions that you can execute in online channels.

It’s all a matter of taking from them what best suits the budget, needs and particular characteristics of your business, and adapting it to your strategies and campaigns which, of course, must have their own dose of creativity.