What are the digital marketing channels?
The place to start when talking about digital marketing is the variety of digital channels available. There are seven main digital marketing channels you can use to drive traffic, engage prospects and convert.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC)
- Social Media Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
Be aware, that while these are the most common digital marketing channels, the evolving digital landscape means that there could be more than these. Use our channel performance tracker if you’re looking for a simple way to monitor those you use in one place. So, let’s dive in and find out more about each channel.
SEO marketing or website marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a huge role in digital marketing. After all, it determines how and where your content, product or service gets found online.
But what is SEO in digital marketing? SEO consists of many elements, and knowing what they are and how they work is key to understanding SEO’s importance. The elements to include in your marketing are:
- Keywords – Non-branded and branded keywords with high search rates and low competition
- Local SEO – Locally focused content (directories) and keywords
- Off-page SEO – External and third-party backlinks
- Content – Keywords and internal links peppered through content
- Search engine marketing – Paid marketing campaigns e.g. Google Ads, PPC, etc.It’s crucial to include these SEO elements in your digital marketing strategy to increase visibility for your site and drive traffic.
PPC Advertising
You may have heard the term PPC many times, but do you know what it means? It stands for Pay-Per-Click and is a targeted way of advertising online in which you pay for each click from an ad to your website or landing page.
As your PPC campaign directs prospects to your website or landing page, ensure those pages are optimized in advance. You also need to select a bidding strategy, research keywords, and set a budget.
This comprehensive PPC guide explains everything you need to know if you’re just getting started. You can also use our handy PPC for eCommerce tracker to keep an eye on the budget and targets for your paid campaigns.
Content Marketing
The term content marketing makes this part of digital marketing self-explanatory, but it’s an area that can be difficult to get right. It’s easy to create tons of content to distribute online, but the key is creating great digital content that performs.
Content marketing encompasses a wide range of formats such as video, blogs, emails, webinars, social media posts, and eBooks which can be used at all stages of the sales funnel. The benefits of content marketing done well are increased web traffic, a spike in subscribers, boosted sales, and loyal customers.
If you want to hear more about content marketing, check out our TeamTalk video.
Influencer Marketing or Sponsored Content
came into the spotlight a few years ago and it’s now an important part of the digital marketing landscape. In a nutshell, it’s when a brand collaborates with an influencer, celebrity or industry leader on social media to endorse or sponsor a product or service.
The statistics speak for themselves as to how powerful it can be, with nearly half of consumers depending on influencers for recommendations. The real benefit of an influencer is when the collaboration makes sense to an audience.
Take Travis Scott and McDonald’s. Through a collaboration known as #cactusjack, the rapper created a limited edition menu of choice for the fast-food giant alongside selling merchandise such as hoodies and t-shirts.
You probably don’t have the budget for a celebrity of that level, but micro-influencers can be a great way to promote your brand without a huge budget. Influencer marketing also includes native advertising (sponsored content/advertorial) or online PR, so bear that in mind when devising your influencer marketing strategy and use this toolkit to keep track of your influencers so you know how appropriate they are to your brand and audience.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing has been around for decades, but many marketers are still unsure how to take advantage of it. What is affiliate marketing? Basically, it’s when a company endorses another company’s products and gets paid for a click, lead or sale (depending on the deal arranged).
It works as a cycle by tracking the affiliate link, so it can be tied back to a sale that’s then credited to the affiliate. Amazon uses this tactic regularly to drive customers to its products through third-party sites, to great effect.
How do you do digital marketing?
If you’re interested in having a career in digital marketing, there are many roles out there to choose from. The first step is usually becoming a digital marketer. In this role, you will be responsible for generating leads and building brand awareness using a variety of digital marketing channels.
When it comes to advancing your career, the key thing is to think about where your interests lie. Are you more about being an all-rounder who deals with many marketing activities, or do you want to specialize in a specific area?
To help you figure that out, we’ll look at the different digital marketing roles.
1. Do content marketing
Content marketing is an important part of digital marketing. It’s how your audience sees your brand and engages. There’s no such thing as a typical day as there are so many content requirements in a business/ Let’s look at what a content marketer does.
- Written content – This includes blogs, emails and website copy
- Video content – As a format that drives high engagement, videos are key across organic and paid channels
- Social media – Driving traffic and leads can be done successfully through content posted on social media networks
- Gated content – This type of content drives leads as users need to provide their information to get it. Examples include eBooks or whitepapers
A key part of this role is also creating an editorial or content calendar and schedule so you’re constantly creating original content. You will also need to analyze data to see what content is working and what’s not.
2. Manage social media
Social media is crucial for any business as billions of people across the globe log in to use one or more social platforms each day. This is where social media management comes in as a lot of work is required to update and share content on platforms, whether it’s Twitter or Instagram, Facebook or TikTok.
Being a core way to drive engagement, there are a lot of skills required to manage social media networks. These include content creation or dissemination, analytics, research, strategy development, SEO, and customer service.
If you’re interested in becoming a Social Media Manager just check out our eBook.
3. Manage SEO activities
For your brand and content to get found, you need to use SEO. Using the right keywords means that your content will be seen by the right people and drive your content up the rankings on search engines.
But what does an SEO Manager do? There are many key tasks when you manage SEO:
- Website, social media, and content optimization
- Website content management
- Keyword research
- Negotiating backlinks
- Strategy
- Campaign organization and planning
- Website monitoring and user analysis
If SEO is where your interest lies, get yourself familiar with the lingo with our A to Z of SEO.
4. Do PPC campaigns
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaigns are used by B2B and B2B brands to generate leads. A PPC specialist is a core part of any marketing team so let’s look at what a PPC specialist does on a daily basis.
- Design landing pages – There’s no point in putting effort into PPC ads that drive people to an irrelevant and badly designed landing page. A PPC specialist knows what makes a good landing page that converts.
- Research keywords – Just like an SEO specialist, keywords are crucial in PPC. It’s the job of a PPC specialist to research the right keywords and integrate them into campaigns.
- Algorithm watcher – Search engines like Google often tweak and update their algorithms and it’s crucial to account for those changes to ensure your PPC ads are seen.
5. Do search engine marketing
As we mentioned before, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is about optimizing your paid campaigns. But what does an SEM Specialist do to achieve this?
There are a few skills required to manage SEM such as data analysis, writing, SEO, A/B testing, and strategy. These all feed into driving an understanding of search engines and rankings.
Ultimately, this role is about getting all paid campaigns in front of the right people on the right channels.