Digital Marketing Guide for Beginners: Simple & Extensive

Quick Questions

Are you a business owner, marketing executive, or student looking to understand what is Digital Marketing?

Do you know some of the essential digital touchpoints and how you can amplify them for performance?

Have you looked at Digital Marketing Guides, references, and research only to be confused by their scale?

Introduction

If you want to understand Digital Marketing in the most straightforward manner possible, congratulations, you have come to the right place. 

In simple terms, Digital Marketing involves marketing and selling a range of products and services with a presence on any digital platform. Some of them are websites on search engines, profiles on social media platforms, email marketing campaigns, or app-based promotions and sales. 

In this article, we speak to leading experts and ask them to help us create a simple guide for digital marketing. 

Digital Marketing: How does it work?

Let us begin with a common scenario- 

‘Imagine you are in the plumbing business. You must reach new customers, promote your business, and generate more sales and revenues. You can create a business website for your plumbing services, use social media to promote your business and run ads on search engines so that people can click and come to your website. 

In the past few years, the avenues for consumers seeking information, purchasing, or opting for services have changed remarkably. Every time we need something, we use Google, and the search results it throws up inform our decisions. 

The same is true for social media platforms. You keep browsing and following your favorite brands. They post a new product on their social media feed. You click on the link and are redirected to the brand’s eCommerce site, which lets you make the purchase. 

In a nutshell, digital marketing allows a brand to be present in front of its target audiences on a digital platform where they are present. The key to a successful digital marketing strategy is to communicate and engage with your potential target audiences.

What are the 6 Main Touchpoints of Digital Marketing?

In this section, we are going to list the six significant touchpoints or digital platforms that form the core of a brand’s digital marketing efforts- 

1. Website

For a brand, a business website replicates its physical brick-and-mortar store, except it is open 24×7. Every brand needs a business website to build credibility, promote its products and services, have contact information, and reach out to its target audiences. Having a business website is the foundation of an excellent digital marketing strategy. A landing page can also work and it is quite debatable whether you need a website or a landing page. 1st of all, a landing page is a single page that includes everything like your product information, clientele, testimonials, CTAs, and an enticing lead capture form. Now, the question arises: should I create a website or a landing page? I want to conclude my answer: If you have short-term goals and want to quickly push your product or service to your target audience, then a landing page and a website are the best options at any time.

Is it possible to create a website or landing page without any coding skills or technical knowledge?

Ideally, you could do that with open-source content management systems like WordPress and Magento. Unbounce could be an excellent option for a landing page for people without a clue about coding or front-end languages. These content management systems will allow you to create enticing websites for different businesses with their drag-and-drop options. You can also learn using these tools from Udemy and YouTube without spending a dime.

Is it compulsory to be a website developer to learn digital marketing?

Not at all, You could be a great marketer without developing a website. You could learn both, and that’s possible, but if you focus on one thing, you will be an expert in that area. Focusing on two different things could be suitable for some folks, but it’s not worth it for a long time. If you want to be an expert, focus on one area and dig deeper to become a master one day.

2. Social Media

No other platform has increased in scope, prominence, and membership more than social media platforms have. With more than four billion active users, brands cannot ignore social media. A presence on social media pages allows brands to promote themselves in front of target audiences.

It also enables direct communication, query answering, branding and sales. With a staggering 4.8 billion users worldwide, social media has become an omnipresent force, shaping how individuals connect, share, and engage in the digital era.

How can I use Social Media Channels?

You can use Social Media with ADs and the Organic approach. ADs are simply giving money to social media channels and they would present your content to your target audience. It is not rocket science and doesn’t need long-term efforts.

It’s just spending money on my honey.

Jokes apart! All you need to set up is a money budget and you are good to go.

How can I use the Organic Social Media Approach?

To get started, follow these 4 steps and stay consistent for a more extended period. I am sure you will achieve your goals.

1) Optimise your channels: Create your profile by providing relevant information about your business, product, or service. A good display picture, an enticing banner, and a link to your website can earn you a plus point.

2) Content Sourcing/Scheduling: Stay consistent with the content schedule; don’t skip a day or a weekend. Content can be in data and information, statistics, infographics, videos, and GIFs. Many tools, like Hootsuite and Buffer, would let you schedule content in advance. Try their FREE version as well.

I recommend checking out some of the best Hootsuite alternatives, such as Recurpost and Social Bee.

3) Engage with the audience: If someone is commenting on your content, don’t miss a chance to send a reply back. The ultimate goal is to keep talking to the audience and invite them to your website.

4) Follower Management: You have to follow the people who will be interested in consuming your content and be your customer. You can find them by simply inspecting your competitors and seeing who these leads are.

What are the best social media platforms to start with?

I’d say start building a presence on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. You need to stay active on forums like Reddit and Quora. Since Facebook’s organic reach is very minimal you can start building a community group on Facebook. I’d create a group rather than a FB page. You can also build a presence on other social media channels like TikTok, Pinterest and so on. Just make sure if they make sense and are relevant to your business model.

Tip: Always use Hashtags, but don’t exceed the limits. For example, while tweeting, do not use more than 2 hashtags, 7 on Instagram and 4 on LinkedIn. 

A PRO TIP: If you are a new business with 1-3 staff strength and want to explore social media as well. You should do it, but remember you can’t focus on all channels. The best practice is to start building a presence on a few channels, and once you have a good presence, then put your leg on other channels. This tip is not for you if you have a big team. Go Ahead with multiple channels.

3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is one of the most important aspects of Digital Marketing. It is a long-term effort that helps businesses rank higher in search results. There are two types of search results: Search results via ads, aka Pay-per-Click (PPC), and Organic search results (SEO). Both are good, but achieving organic results is far better than paying search engines.

You can start SEO by doing On-Page Optimisation and Off-Page Optimisation.

What is On-page optimization, and what are the best practices?

Let’s start with the basics. Google offers webmasters specific guidelines and suggestions to ensure their sites are user-friendly.

On-page SEO is like a Checklist of Guidelines that informs webmasters about what works best and what doesn’t. This is why it is vital to revisit your On-Page metrics occasionally to see if they align perfectly with Google’s guidelines. 

If your On-Page SEO is not optimized, Google will not show your web pages to audiences in its search lists. Sounds interesting, right?

Check out my recent blog on 6 BEST ON-PAGE SEO TECHNIQUES IN 2022

What is Off-page optimization, and what are the best practices?

Off-page optimization means optimizing the website technically. Now you must be wondering, I don’t have any technical knowledge, and how can I do it? The answer is straightforward: Technical SEO should mostly be looked at by the developers and not the marketers. As I said, focus on one thing. If you want to become an SEO expert, you need to leave these tasks for the developers, but you can also learn them online. 

Learning Link Building

Link building is a critical aspect of SEO that involves acquiring backlinks from other websites. Backlinks are links from external sites that point to your website. They are a key factor in determining a website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines.

The significance of backlinks lies in their role as endorsements from other websites. High-quality backlinks signal to search engines that your website is valuable and trustworthy. This can lead to higher search engine rankings and increased traffic.

You can learn link-building to strengthen your SEO strategy and boost your website’s visibility by exploring proven techniques and methods.

Effective link-building strategies include creating high-quality, shareable content that naturally attracts links. Outreach efforts like contacting industry influencers and bloggers can also help acquire backlinks. Additionally, tools like Ahrefs and Moz can assist in finding and analyzing backlink opportunities.

The vital part of off-page SEO is LINK BUILDING, which a developer should not focus on. Link building is a vast topic, and I have written a brief article explaining the best practices.

Here you go:
WHAT IS LINK BUILDING? A SIMPLE AND EXTENSIVE GUIDE FOR EVERYONE
ETHICAL LINK BUILDING STRATEGIES
WHY LINK BUILDING IS IMPORTANT IN 2024

I did SEO for 2 months, but I didn’t get the results.

Oh yeah, that’s a good observation! My answer is that I did a workout (gymming) for two months, and I didn’t look good. I hope you got the answer. If not, SEO should be a long-term goal, and it will surely take your time and effort. You will see results when staying consistent. Looking good is not that easy.

A PRO TIP: Check out a complete SEO question-and-answer guide

4. Emails

Even though email marketing is one of the older digital marketing techniques, it continues to deliver the highest ROIs. Maintaining contact, conveying information, and seeking feedback through email can help promote, market, and sell products and services cost-effectively. Businesses should always follow a strong email marketing strategy. To enhance email security, consider implementing an SPF checker in your email strategy for authentication and better results.

5. Paid Advertising

In addition to the above organic digital marketing processes, brands should also invest in paid advertising on search engines and social media. Google AdWords and social platform ads can help give timely boosts, especially if you are running holiday and festival campaigns. You can set the targeting and ensure your brand is only shown to your target audiences. 

6. Content Marketing

Brands should realize they compete with thousands of similar brands vying for the same target audiences. This means that any content the brand produces should be of high quality. Content Marketing involves using the website’s blogs and other strategies like Guest Posting, Blogger Outreach, and others to push and publicize branded content on digital platforms. 

The Final Word

Transitioning from purely offline platforms to online or digital marketing is needed. The COVID-19 Pandemic has accelerated this transition, making it necessary for brands to start using search engines and social media to improve marketing and sales. 

Digital Marketing has several benefits. Most notably, it allows brands and businesses to be present in front of target audiences when people are looking for similar products or services. It also effectively shortens the sales process and the buyer’s journey. 

Experts state that digital marketing allows businesses to deliver in the most 360-degree manner possible. It helps in branding, engagement, credibility building, exposure, visibility, and sales!