History
We can consider that digital marketing emerged with the spread of the commercial Internet. Marketing schemes have generally always adapted to each medium. At the same time, new forms of marketing have developed with new online communication channels, such as social networks. A rough classification of the stages of development of online marketing can be based on the names Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. With Web 1.0, newsletters and SEO marketing have specially developed, while in the context of Web 2.0, we have mainly seen social network marketing or blog marketing take an increasingly important place. Today, the subforms of content or recommendation marketing play an important role. In the realm of advertising reservation automation, programmatic marketing has become an important field that relies on big data and machine learning.
Benefits of Online Marketing
Compared to traditional television, radio, or print
advertising, online marketing generally has the advantage that success can be
better measured. In addition, campaigns can be analyzed very precisely. Thanks
to the increasingly large data sets generated with the help of web analysis
tools, it is also possible to draw ever more precise conclusions about user
behavior.
Whether online marketing is in fact always cheaper than print or television advertising depends on the scope of the campaign involved. In fact, online forms of advertising have the potential to go "viral". This means that with a little financial and material effort it is possible to achieve high reach or turnover. In principle, reach is another advantage of online advertising over traditional marketing. A website can potentially reach customers all over the world if it is optimized and designed accordingly. A television commercial or a print advertisement in a magazine or newspaper does not get this media coverage.
Forms of online marketing
There are different forms of online marketing that
don't always have to be done independently, but rather overlap with the other.
Often the sub-disciplines complement each other.
Social media marketing
In social media marketing, platforms such as
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are used to increase awareness of a brand,
business, or product. The goal of social media marketing is also to increase the
reach of information about a business. Often, this type of marketing is also
used as part of a content marketing strategy. In the context of marketing
measures aimed specifically at customer relationship management, social media
channels can also be used. In addition to increasing natural reach, ads can
also be delivered on social media via posts, in order to reach a target group
even more effectively.
SEO Marketing
Search Engine Marketing (also: SEO Marketing or
SEM) encompasses all marketing measures relating to search engines with the aim
of achieving the highest ranking possible. A distinction is made between paid
advertising directly by search engines (SEA) and search engine optimization
(SEO).
For search engine advertising, a separate area is available in the search results marked as advertising. In addition to the natural search results, these ads are also subject to internal ranking, with the difference that they are paid (paid search results). SEO optimization encompasses a multitude of possibilities to optimize the SEO of a website.
Email Marketing
Email marketing involves any contact by email with
existing and potential customers. Through the regular sending of newsletters,
the company connects with the customer. In addition, mailing operations can
also remind customers of a certain campaign or company news. The other
advantages of this form of online marketing are the low costs, as well as the
fast transfer of information. The long-term goals of email marketing are
developing market share, nurturing the image of the company, nurturing customer
relations, and increasing sales. Given the aversion of people to this sending of what could sometimes be called spam, newsletters should be enriched with
useful information and accompanied by discreet advertising. Thus, the
newsletter has a less intrusive effect and the user can be prevented from
unsubscribing from the mailing list.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing describes an affiliate program
in which cooperation between a merchant and the owner of a website (also called
a publisher) is established. The foreign site is used for promotional purposes,
on which advertising banners or links to online shops are built. According to
the agreement between the partners, the website operator receives a commission
for its intervention and the transmission of interested persons. The commission
is determined either by the duration of the advertisement, by the acquisition
of new customers, or by the receipt of new orders. Affiliate marketing is an
inexpensive alternative to banner ad marketing, which is usually relatively
expensive.
Advertising banners
Banners can be graphics of different versions and
formats. They are displayed as advertising tools on websites, search engines, and web portals. They are made up of a link so that when a potential customer
clicks on the banner, they are taken directly to the site of the company that
originated the advertisement. The goals of this type of display marketing are reach and market penetration. However, this form of advertising is associated
with the greatest losses in online marketing efforts, which is why banner ads
are often only one small aspect of an overall advertising campaign. To increase
the success of this form of advertising, banner ads are usually used for
retargeting operations.
Content Marketing
Content marketing established itself during the 2010s as an essential mix in online marketing. This form of marketing aims to
raise awareness of a product or brand through the dissemination of high-quality
content, such as images, texts, or videos. In general, content marketing is not
aggressive and has a rather indirect effect. Content marketing is closely
related to storytelling.
Referral Marketing
Recommendation marketing follows the principle of
advice or recommendations that are made on the web. This form of online
marketing aims to increase brand or product awareness through consumer advice
or reviews. Social networks play a big role in this.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a method already used in
public relations and has recently found its place in the digital marketing
industry. It's similar to referral marketing because it's also about advice,
advice. But in this case, we appeal to influential people, such as bloggers or
celebrities who recommend a brand or a product, for example by testing a
product on the web and giving their opinion.
Performance marketing
This form of marketing is a part of online marketing
that is heavily based on the success of optimization measures. By using
analyzes and programs that are based on machine learning, performance marketing
aims at the permanent and continuous generation of revenue. Performance
marketing is often used in conjunction with affiliate marketing.
Programmatic Marketing
Programmatic marketing is the automatic delivery of
advertising content to a pre-defined target group. The availability of a valid
database is an important prerequisite for successful programmatic marketing.
Only in this way can campaigns be managed in a way that is suitable for the
target group. The great advantage of this type of marketing is usually the low
delivery loss and associated cost savings.