When we talk about how fast everything is changing in today's economy one aspect always comes to mind and that is how fast people are adopting online marketing, with this every other business is setting up its virtual stores. There are about 4.9 billion global internet users as of 2021, a 400 million jump from 2020 and this will keep on increasing in 2023.

While taking the business online there are many steps that one should keep in mind and that's when digital marketing comes into the picture.

Digital Marketing also known as online marketing, basically means all the marketing activities that are done online. In Digital Marketing, there is an online campaign that is visible on devices in the form of online video, display ads, search engine marketing, paid social ads and social media posts, every interaction is an opportunity. With a proper digital marketing strategy, there are many platforms where you can promote your business and attract more customers.

There are a few guidelines you should follow to be in the market;

1. Define your Audience, that means thinking through the buyer's persona, which can be B2B or B2C.

   • B2B Digital Marketing

     If you are focusing on Business-to-Business then you are most likely to focus on online leads so that in the end someone can speak to your salesperson. You are more focused on the companies, the available roles, and the marketing of the product or services to other businesses or organizations.

   • B2C Digital Marketing

     If you are focusing on Business-to-customer then you are most likely to attract people to your website, social media page etc so that you can have them as your customer

2. Be present, almost 62.6 percent of people are using the internet worldwide. In other words, nearly two out of every three people worldwide are active internet users with an average of 7 hours per day but the question is How to reach them all over the world? And the simple answer is by knowing their activity, and where on the internet they spend most of their time like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc, your business have to be present there through ads, social media posts, specific content and using the targeting tools that are available at every major platform.

3. Taking the right steps, right from the start till the end it's all about how you are portraying your business online and if the step you are taking is working towards the success of your business it can be done through;

   • Blogs, Using the right keywords, social publicity.

   • Promotion on social media through content creators, and influencers.

   • Feedback from potential customers.

   • Closing the deal.

4. Monitoring, knowing what is working for you and what's not through analyzing the performance of your website, Social media, ads and many more; knowing how many people are clicking on the ads available, the time that is spent on your site, how much of scrolling is there all this will help you to take the best step that is required for your virtual business.

Why Digital Marketing is important?

• You can engage with audiences at every stage, it's important to interact with customers as early as possible it will help boost your chances to push the lead through the sales funnel. Using digital marketing allows you to accomplish that from start to finish and at every point in between.

• It’s easier to adapt and change, the market change rapidly and with that businesses have to adapt to the changes and present there self accordingly with digital marketing it's much easier to know what is in demand and you can adjust your supply according to it.

• Focus on potential customers, if you choose magazines, tv ads, or billboards you will have limited control over who sees it and the control you would have is like a shot in the dark but Digital marketing allows you to identify and target a highly-specific audience with personalized and high-converting marketing messages.

• Better Reach, digital marketing is all about reaching the right people at the right time, and for that, you should have an engaging online store or website that is updated as per the customer's need.

• Competing with bigger brands, and analyzing what your competitors are doing is the key to digital marketing, this will keep you updated and you can keep up with big brands like amazon, audible, mantra and many others.

  For instance, you might use keywords to create high-quality content that ranks on search engines. Search engines don’t care which brand is the biggest, it cares about which keywords are used and will prioritize content according to the one that resonates best with target audiences.

• Cost-effective and much faster, with digital marketing you can track day-to-day how your campaigns are performing and which channels are providing the desired ROI and which are not, but with the traditional methods, you can't do that no matter if it's working or not you have to pay for the advertisements.

• Analyzing is much easier, one of the best about digital marketing you can analyze your growth rate through various tools available like Google search console, Google Analytics, Ads manager, etc. that pull in data and help gauge the performance of search engine campaigns among different audiences.

  Types of Digital Marketing

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO), this process is ranking your business or website at a higher position in Google search results, it is done by researching the keywords and phrases people are searching on the web for information, thereby increasing the amount of organic traffic your website receives.

  • Search Engine Marketing (SEM), work SEM is the same as SEO but the main difference is, in SEM marketers research words and phrases consumers are using to search for information online, and use those terms in their content; this is a paid process.

  • Social Media Marketing, promotes your website or business through social media by generating traffic, generating leads and increasing brand awareness, you can do this by connecting with creators and influencers and creating a campaign. The major platform is Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.

  • Pay Per Click (PPC), paid advertisements and promoted search engine results. PPC drives traffic to your website by paying a marketing agent every time your ad is clicked. This advertisement can be that are visible at the top or side of a website even the advertisement you see before a youtube video is PPC.

  • Affiliate Marketing, is when you pay a commission to someone for promoting your product or service on their website. You have to interact with industry experts or influencers so you can offer them a collaboration so that they promote your product or service through posts, stories, websites etc.

  • Marketing Analytics, is useful to track how well the campaign of your business or service is working through this you can know how many times they click on a link, how much time they spend on a web page, how often they open emails, and much more.

  • Email Marketing, you can use this as a way to connect with customers directly and give them information about what's new, discounts, events and you can direct customers toward your website.

  • Content Marketing, through this you can generate brand awareness, traffic growth, lead generation, and customers. The main tools in content marketing are Blog posts, ebooks whitepapers, infographics, and audio and visual content.

    In conclusion, digital marketing is an important aspect of any business in today's fast-changing economy. With a proper digital marketing strategy, businesses can attract more customers and increase their online presence. Digital marketing includes a wide range of activities such as online video, display ads, search engine marketing, paid social ads and social media posts. Businesses need to define their audience and be present on the platforms where their audience spends most of their time. Additionally, it is important to monitor and analyze the performance of digital marketing campaigns and make adjustments as needed. Overall, digital marketing provides businesses with cost-effective and fast ways to reach their target audience and compete with bigger brands.