Digital marketing is indeed one of the biggest inventions in the field of advertising and Internet sum up together. Havingdeveloped gradually on the frontiers of global internet, it has today become a well established business, service andpractice, and much more than that. As far as we are reaching the global heights, Digital Marketing is one of its avenues, catering a widespread users from all around the World. The term means to advertise anything, be it product or any service on internet, and other mediums. Itconnotes with several sub topics, as well, such as SEO(Search Engine optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), Social media marketing, e-commerce related marketing, and others. The activity of digital marketing, also involves advertising over mobile phones, and many other Digital mediums. It has today become a very essential practice. Not just globally, India, too has become one of the most important examples where Digital Marketing is well established as a service and practice. Today almost all the developed nations has digital marketing as one of the basis where it has not just flourished and established, but also become a factor of development.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing, in the simplest of definition, means advertising on digital mediums such a internet, which is the most popular medium. E-commerce, Social media marketing, Content marketing etc. are the examples of Digital Marketing. From around half a century, the world of advertising was influenced and rather dominated by offline media, such as Newspapers and Radio. But, as they say, Only change is eternal and permanent, with the changing time, the scenario has changed. Today, more than 60% of the world Population is user of Digital channels. Digital marketing has proved to become a method of a great deal. It has seen several innovations leading to quite positive results, which are beneficial for everyone. An American Internet expert called Digital Marketing “a tool which has strengthened the relationship of a customer with the client”. Digital marketing, as a word may have different connotations, but with similar or same meaning. Like, United States still have ‘online marketing’ a popular and friendly term, similarly in Italy, web marketing is what they call to Digital Marketing. But, all in all, Digital Marketing includes all such systems under it.
History and Development of Digital Marketing
The history of Digital Marketing is in itself fascinating, which is not separate from the technological advancements and developments. It’s history can be traced with the earliest of stages began with he Ray Tomlinson’s email which became practically the first ever electronic mail in the year 1971. This technology allowed people to send and receive messages online, it became a major outbreak in the world of technology. Officially the Digital Marketing boom started developing in 1990swhen Archie Search engine, credited as World first search engine, was created to index the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).Thiswas where it started being recognised. The actual picture of tracking information of customers began when the companies in 1980s started to choose online techniques over the previous broker listing limitations.
The growth and development in the field of Digital Marketing has not been slow, it is neither inseparable to the development and advancement of technology at all. The first clear insight of Digital Marketing came in 1990s when the term DigitalMarketing was coined for the first time. When personal computers were being more popularised, the applications of Customer Relationship Management (also called as CRM) became a very vital marketing part. Competition compelled the vendors to include more of services, which resulted in the tracking of online customer data of huge scale by marketers through electronic CRM after the birth of internet.The first remarkable story is of You Will. It was a campaign which became the first ever clickable banner ad went live in the year 1994.
In 2000s, digital marketing became more developed due to a number of factors.It so happened that internet became more popular and the invention of iPhone made it even more progressive in the arena of people searching for products and stuffs of their use and need online for the first time. This ignored or diminished the role of sales persons which became a major problem of marketing department of companies.The major growth of Digital Marketing is seen in the 2010s and ever since then it is only developed in advancements. Also, the emergence of social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn has given the process new dimensions. Several reports, statistics and even survey take us to the fact that people have been channelizing their interest on digital world, owing to the digital marketing. These sites have become the part of day of day lives of people and digital marketers have well achieved the benefits of the same. Today, digital marketing is a well established marketing system which covers more than 50% population of the world depending upon it.
Major Tools of Digital Marketing
There are several tools of Digital Marketing which have evolved out time after time. Ever since the beginning of very first in the order, the list constitutes all the tools that are part of digital marketing.
- SEO or Search Engine Marketing is one of the most popular tools of Digital Marketing. It links with search engine results in a way that it helps making the website or webpage visible using the process. Search Engine Optimization is comparatively a newer innovation soothes the search on Internet, which is beneficial for website and customer as well. SEO is not just limited to the keywords-based search, but it also involves news search, image and video search, and academic search also. SEO tactic is a very useful technique that has been beneficial for both websites as well as the audience.
- Social Media Optimization or the SMO is also one of the tools of digital marketing that has soothed the process to a higher extent. SMO primarily helps in creating awareness of a brand, product or service, or any such thing per say, by the principle of popularising the same. Along with the social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging sites, Social Media Optimization includes Social news and bookmark sites and RSS feeds. SMO (Social Media Optimization) & SEO (Search Engine optimization) are somehow similar to watch other, like, they both aims to create or increase web traffic.
- Influencer Marketing is one of the forms of marketing. Here the focus is on a person who can be deemed influential. So the whole marketing revolves around these people since they have influence over customers. This type of marketing is quite popular and is intended to make the business profitable on the basis of influential personalities. It works like, the people themselves act like buyers of the product or good, thus influencing the target customer to buy the same. In this way, influential marketing is a very modern Innovative practice shapes itself in business of a great deal.
- E-commerce is a sector that is full fledged in itself in terms of business and the reach of the same. It simply means the buying and selling of goods and services online through internet. It has become a full-fledged activity where internet works as the sole bridge. Mobile commerce is one of the major aspects of the same arguably the most popular form of electronic commerce regime. Websites such as Flipkart, Amazon, Apple iTunes are several examples that one would be familiar with. Electronic business is the basis which supports the e-commerce.
- E-mail marketing may not be in the central zone as per some people, but it is one of the major tools of Digital Marketing. Email marketing has its own implications. Generally and usually, e-mail marketing infers to a group or groups of people being the target customerof a commercial message. However, every email containing a commercial message or infers the same, comes under electronic mail marketing. One broad difference between email marketing and other tools of digital marketing is that email marketing is used more of for the services than for products or goods.
- Social Media marketing is a very popular and friendly activity which is quite useful when it comes to results. It is also where the nature of customers and the preference of customers can be understood very well as Social Media marketing consists of various methods of the same such as surveys etc. It is basically the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or any such websites catering the social media content comes under social media marketing. Apparently, the popularity of social media marketing is more than any other forms. It contains campaigns which have recently been seen very fruitful for the companies.
Scenario of governments towards it globally
It is very believable fact that the governments too are focusing on Digital Marketing setup one after other. For instance, the government of India started to follow this approach to cater a widespread citizenry the benefits of the system. Also, economic and Internet experts believe that the government have no other option other than supporting the Digital Marketing. In India, the Government of India has adopted a policy of support, promote and encourage of the same.
With the increase in the booming of everything digital, Governments all around the world, has no other option than encouraging the regime. Digital marketing is not just limited to the private sector, in fact, it has huge Government applications to showcase. For example- if any Government wants to advertise it’s achievement, or bring about a change, then it also uses digital marketing as a medium to reach the maximum. Thus Governments have been well versed with the outreach and engagement of Digital Marketing in the current world, this is why it is a supportive move.
Conclusion
Since the base of digital marketing is technology which is never static but keep changing time to time, digital marketing itself has been evolving in a number of terms. Recent developments and strategies of Digital Marketing is an evident proof of it being ever evolving. With a lot of services under one head, Digital Marketing is probably and arguably one of the most popular businesses. More than a business, though, it is a service which all started with an idea. Digital marketing cherishes the idea that led to the changing of World in technological order. Those who have been in digital marketing for long or those who can be considered qualified on the subject believe that the fundamental aspect of digital marketing is planning which is also the first or initial stage. Since it’s authenticity, andperennial nature is decided by customer at large because it is a digital mode, planning is what makes the game. With email marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, Search Engine optimization, Social Media marketing, and others Digital marketing has become a friendly aspect of anybody’s life, surmounting more than 60% people relying on it. Digital marketing opens avenues to understand the product and customer better in the need of both.