There is no doubt that a ton of hype exists around digital
marketing. With regard to marketing strategies, it is the “way of the future”
and with over $100 billion ad dollars put towards it last year alone, it’s easy
to see why everyone wants a part of it. But digital marketing is more than just
a 100 billion dollar industry; it’s a fundamental change in the way advertising
and marketing plans are created, executed, and converted.
So What Is Digital
Marketing Anyways?
Business Dictionary summarizes it well. They say, digital
marketing is “the promotion of products or brands via one
or more forms of electronic
media. For example, advertising
mediums that might be used as part of the digital marketing strategy of
a business could
include promotional efforts made via the Internet, social media, mobile phones and electronic billboards,
as well as via digital and television and radio channels.”
So Why All The
Confusion?
Have you ever played “telephone”, the game where one
statement gets whispered to a string of people? Eventually the message gets
confused, added to, and changed along the way.
In some regard, the same thing has happened with digital marketing. With
so many people talking about it, information gets distorted, built upon and
sometimes is flat out false.
5 Common Misconceptions About Digital Marketing
1.)
Digital Marketing Is Social Media- One
thing that drives me crazy is when people use digital marketing and social
media interchangeably. Let’s make one thing clear; social media is a form of
digital marketing. Period.
2.)
Digital Marketing Should Be A Separate
Strategy- NO! Digital marketing should be a seamless continuation of a
company’s overall marketing plan. Just as a company creates a message that they
convey on TV, in magazines, billboards etc, that same message should be present
when sending out tweets, posting blogs, or placing display ads. The client
doesn’t distinguish marketing efforts; they associate content with the brand
regardless of where they saw it. Key take-away: keep everything consistent.
3.)
Digital Marketing Is For Large Budgets Only-
Actually, digital marketing can be the most cost effective way to advertise.
Online display ads are typically sold at a rate that is 3 times lower than
their print ad counterparts. When
looking at TV ads, the national average cost per 30 second spot ranges from
$35,000- $2 million. With digital advertising, a business can have a
professional video created for a few thousand dollars and then distribute it
pro bono with social media and other digital outlets or pay a low CPM cost for
video pre-roll or other types of paid video promotion.
4.)
Digital Marketing Is Hard To Track – Aside
from the obvious, that any banner ads running on the internet (like IAB
standard ads or other display ads) are trackable through cookies, other forms
of digital advertising, like social media posts and content creation are now
nearly just as trackable. Because of platforms like google analytics or
facebook’s built in analytics panel, digital content has become remarkably easy
to track. There are even tons of apps like Birst, Yellowfin, Bime, Tableau
Software and countless others that report on and track data for you. So when
taken as a whole, I would argue that digital marketing is the most targeted and
trackable form of marketing available.
5.)
Digital Marketing Only Targets A Young
Audience- According to a recent ETC study, over half of all seniors already
use the internet. As our world continues
to become more digital (bills, medical records, communication, news) more and
more seniors will migrate to the online space. What this means is that
businesses targeting seniors will have just as much success with digital
marketing as businesses targeting a younger crowd. What it comes down to, is
not avoiding digital marketing altogether, but understanding where in the digital space to send your
message.
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