If you run an online business, you probably already know how important things like digital marketing are. However, you might miss out on some marketing streams, impacting your profitability and reducing your return on investment.
You might not realize how many different types of digital marketing exist – I mean, most people don’t. To help broaden your understanding, I’ve put together a short list of the main types of digital marketing, which include:
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO involves building your website and performing specific actions that will make you rank better in the search engine results pages for specific keywords. SEO involves numerous actions, including:
- Content optimisation. Usually, most content managers try to include specific keywords or key phrases within their writing to help the search engines understand what it’s about. It’s also essential to ensure that you write well and prioritize quality over quantity.
- Building backlinks. Another major ranking factor is your backlink profile. The basic idea is that if your website has numerous other websites linking to it, it must be an authority in the field, meaning you will rank better.
- Performance optimisation. Similarly, better-performing websites are more accessible and user-friendly and usually rank better.
Ultimately, it’s essential to ensure you understand SEO; otherwise, you will miss out on a crucial digital marketing stream.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Simply put, SMM involves leveraging popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to drive traffic to your website. SMM can be both paid and natural, depending on your needs.
- Paid SMM. This generally involves running ad campaigns on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
- Natural SMM. Alternatively, you might choose to build a strong social media presence and community, which will allow you to drive traffic to your website via your posts.
Ultimately, social media marketing is something that every single online business – and many non-digital businesses – should be doing every day.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Generally, SEM refers to the process of increasing your website’s visibility by paying to appear in the search engine results for specific keywords. The most popular form of SEM is probably Google Ads, but other platforms exist, including Bing Ads.
Email Marketing
Once you’ve built a decent mailing list, email marketing could become one of your most profitable marketing streams. It involves using emails to promote your content or products.
I recommend sending regular marketing emails to your subscribers but ensure you don’t spam them. Similarly, never email people who have asked not to be added to your mailing list, or your reputation could be impacted.
Final Word
Many types of digital marketing are available, and you should use as many of them as possible to promote your business. Along with the options above, you should also consider affiliate marketing, content marketing, and instant messenger marketing.
