Digital Marketing Channels - Coursework Example

Digital Marketing Channels With the growth of digital marketing as an alternative to the traditional marketing approach, a number of channels have been developed that have enhanced the presence of companies online. These include the use of search engine optimization, the pay per click among other channels that have been developed to improve either the presence of an organization’s digital website or the description of its products (Panda 60). Different marketing approaches are available for online marketers including the use of mails, videos, social media tools and search marketing such as search engine optimization and the pay per click. In email digital marketing, the organization in question reaches out to the target market through email communication which are meant to provide particulars of the product and the benefits to the consumers. In video marketing such as YouTube, a video description of the product just like in traditional marketing is uploaded for the entire online users. Social media marketing involves the use of Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn to reach out to the digital population and introduce the products to them. LinkedIn acts as a professional networking site that not only provides an opportunity for employer and employee to interact but also to the buyers and sellers. Search engine optimization is a marketing approach adopted by organizations with online presence to improve their rating within different search engines. Properly optimized sites are highly visible in the internet and this makes it easy for visitors to access such sites and acquire the information intended by the organization (Changhyun 265). A site that is ranked highly based on the search engine results is frequently visited and this influenced by the level of the contents in the site and the stream of visitors. With the development of internet marketing, the adoption of SEO as a technique has allowed marketers to act based on the behavior of internet users and designing their information in line with such behaviors. As a result, the keywords that are regularly typed into the search engines by internet users are optimized in the information presented on the website and this increases the rating of the same (Panda 60). Different approaches exist that have been adopted for the process of optimizing websites and this influences the success of the site and the frequency of the visitors. For example, most SEO professionals edit the content of the website by adding keyword and catchy phrases that are frequently searched by internet users. Other sites can however be optimized by improving the content of the HTML and increasing its performance in different search engines and sites. The use of backlinks as a way of promoting sites has also gained prominence in the world of digital marketing today as companies work towards increasing the visitor’s stream into their sites thus improving its online rating. This approach has the advantage of increasing the internet exposure of an organization and thus knowledge of its products before the targeted market. It is also affordable way of reaching out to the target market, as various approaches are cheaply available for sites managers to use. However, optimizing an engine increases the level of spam as the traffic increases and this causes uncalled for leads, which will increase the cost of operations as compared to averagely visited site (Panda 60). Pay per click is the second online advertising approach that has gained prominence among organizations and involves the adoption of a number of methods to direct traffic to a specific website. In this situation, the publisher gains by charging the publishers whose contents attract the online users through the pay per click model. Pay per click is also designed as SEO and involves the use of keywords that are preferably used by online visitors to increase traffic to the same site. The cost for using pay per click for the advertisers is fixed and this explains its preference in the area of online marketing among organizations (Ryan & Jones 24). Advantages of digital marketing The increased use of digital forums as a way of marketing as compared to the traditional approaches has been associated with the advantages it provides to the users. With digital marketing, the playground is leveled and all businesses, irrespective of their size, market capitalization or government support can perform equally. This provides an opportunity for emerging businesses to increase their presence in the market despite the tough competition. As opposed to traditional advertising approaches where big multinationals control the airtime on national televisions and advertising channels, digital marketing is only influenced by the approach adopted by the marketer (Wind and Mahajan 50). The overall cost of advertising using this approach is relatively lower as compared to other traditional approaches and this increases its preference among emerging businesses. The cost of digital advertising is only affected by the level of contents that are required and the surcharges by the web developer. Traditional advertising methods can only be measured based on the level of increase in the sales in a given year. This can be falsely pegged on the marketing approaches despite the fact that other factors can also increase the sales apart from the advertising approaches. With digital marketing however, the response and the results of the initiatives can be measured real time based on the online response of the clients and the high number of positive reviews received (Wind and Mahajan 50). The level of exposure with digital marketing is also high as compared to other approaches that have been traditionally used, as the number of online visitors remains high in the country. Once a key is optimized, any search that has the key will increase the traffic into the website and this increases the likelihood that the product advertised will reach the target market. Digital advertising can also go viral due to the current web 2.0 features which allow online contents to be shared in different social media sites such as Facebook and twitter (Fulgoni 372). Differences between traditional and digital marketing approaches Traditional and digital marketing approaches differ considerably and this explains the current preference for the later among organizations across the world. While traditional advertising is one way, digital advertising provides a two-way communication medium in which the advertiser can interact with the target market and get the feedback concerning the product (Ryan & Jones 24). Digital marketing is also a closed system of reaching the market while the traditional is closed and involves the communication from the business only. Traditional advertising is opaque and does not provide room for consumers to improve their knowledge about the product while digital marketing is transparent and more involving. Digital marketing is a one on one marketing approach where one client is approached and attracted at a time. This differs from the traditional approach in which the mass is targeted and communication is generalized to meet the needs of the entire market without consideration for the variation in the tastes and preferences (Wind and Mahajan 50). Due to the scrutiny that digital advertising is exposed to the contents are more authentic and actual as the clients can rebuff polished information as presented in the traditional approaches. In digital advertising, the main participants or the channel of passing the information are the users of the sites. However, traditional approaches use celebrities and actors to influence the buying habits of the general population. The communication in digital marketing is also unstructured, which makes it more informal as compared to the structured approach adopted in traditional advertising. Based on this comparison, it is evident that traditional approach is more reliant on the lack of information of the target market. However, digital advertising appreciates the level of enlighten of the target market and thus presents information to attract and not lure the customers. Works cited Changhyun, Kwon. "Single-Period Balancing Of Pay-Per-Click And Pay-Per-View Online Display Advertisements." Journal of Revenue & Pricing Management 10.3 (2011): 261-270. Fulgoni, Gian. "Big Data: Friend or Foe of Digital Advertising? Five Ways Marketers Should Use Digital Big Data to Their Advantage." Journal Of Advertising Research 53.4 (2013): 372-376.  Panda, Tapan K. "Search Engine Marketing: Does the Knowledge Discovery Process Help Online Retailers?" I UP Journal of Knowledge Management 11.3 (2013): 56-66. Ryan, Damian & Jones Calvin. Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging digital generation. Kogan page, Philadelphia. 200. Print. Wind, Jerry and Mahajan, Vijay. Digital marketing. Emerging issues in management, 1(2002), 44-54. Print. Read More