Digital direct marketing (DDM) has taken over the marketing world. Digital marketing is a form of marketing that utilizes digital technologies, such as the Internet, social media, mobile devices, display advertising, and more, in order to promote products or brands to an audience.
The term direct marketing can be defined as the process of marketing without sales agents, or without sales promotion or advertising to reach the target customer. Direct marketing is used when a product is sold without a sales agent or advertising campaign. Research shows that customers who receive marketing messages in the absence of sales intervention are 1.57 times more likely to purchase than customers who receive only sales messages. As a marketer, the idea behind direct marketing is to attract more customers and increase brand awareness. However, direct marketing can also include business promotions, sales commissions, gift cards and direct mail marketing among other forms.
Digital direct marketing is where companies will target a potential customer with digital ads via email, online or mobile platforms. By promoting their products or services through various marketing platforms, companies are able to reach out to a targeted audience through digital means. The digital advertising landscape can be quite complex. That being said, it is essential for companies to consider a few things when it comes to digital marketing: * Know your audience * Research your target market * Implement a marketing strategy * Be consistent * Learn and use social media * Follow all local and state laws Because of the variety of platforms available to digital marketing, it can be easy to overlook certain platforms, especially if you are just getting started.
The email marketing campaign is perhaps the most popular type of digital direct marketing. You can send personalized messages directly to individuals who sign up to receive them on a list. Email is especially popular because you can build your lists at a low cost. You can sign up for a list that includes all kinds of demographics, such as age, gender, location, and interests. A huge benefit of email marketing is that you can target your marketing with higher accuracy. Because you only need an email address for your email marketing, you can target marketing at a far greater reach. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) SEM is very similar to email marketing. You can send personalized messages to individuals who sign up to receive them on a list. There are three major forms of DDM:
* Email marketing
* Search engine marketing
* Social media marketing
Email marketing is a tried-and-true method of growing and maintaining a brand. And you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see why. Email marketing is personal, persistent, cost-effective, highly automated, and customer-centric. But don’t be fooled by the word “personal.” It does not require emotional bonds or reliance on human resources, and it is totally focused on sales and revenue. You can use email to market any product or service, not just a service or product you offer. Google for Business, Yahoo! Mail, and AOL Mail are not the only choices when it comes to email marketing. Yahoo! Mail offers both a paid and a free option, while Google Mail offers both paid and free options. Your email content should be personalized to each of your recipients.
Search engine marketing can be the most basic of digital marketing. Your company’s website or other digital asset is searchable and visible to many consumers who are online searching for information about your company. Therefore, your company website becomes a source of information. Search engine marketing is also the oldest form of digital marketing because it is not new. It was first popularized by Microsoft in the 1990s. However, it became more popular in the 2000s with the development of newer search engines like Google and Bing.
With the growth of social media, the word “social” in the term “social media” is out of date. Today, the word “social” means “interactive.” With social media, people share or post about their lives or interests using “feedback loops” in which users make comments, favourite, or rate others’ content. This type of communication occurs both privately and in public. But social media also is a marketer‘s dream. You can reach an existing customer group based on who they are, where they are and how they choose to interact with you by using a Facebook ad. Using social media allows companies to build a following with potential customers, build their brand recognition and interact with them on their own terms.
Now, let’s look at the most common forms of digital marketing. Digital marketing encompasses many forms and technologies, such as email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, and more. There are some digital marketing tools and tactics that we haven’t discussed today, such as text messages and various online coupons, but this has been quite a large topic of conversation. In the meantime, you can check out some helpful blog posts on direct digital marketing.