As a digital marketing company in South Carolina, our entire focus, obviously, is on digital marketing. Why is digital marketing so important? Simple. It is the fastest growing force in the current marketing arena, it will be the future of marketing and digital marketing is poised to replace advertising as we know it.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the method of promoting a brand, a product, or a service through one or more forms of electronic media such as the Internet, mobile instant messaging, wireless text messaging, podcasts, online radio channels, digital television, digital billboards and mobile applications. Digital marketing allows businesses to analyze their marketing campaigns in real-time to determine what works and what needs to be adjusted.

There will be some that will mourn the loss of tradition forms of advertising – newspapers, television ads, radio ads, magazines – the “newer” generation (those that have grown up with the internet, mobile phones, WiFi, etc.) have embraced digital marketing as the future of marketing.

Digital communication and marketing are faster, streamlined, easily adaptable, so it is no surprise that society has moved into the digital age. Digital marketing offers a symbiotic relationship between the marketers and the consumers – they need each other to exist.

Digital marketing includes:

  • Websites and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content
  • Website banner ads
  • Online video
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
  • Email marketing
  • Social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
  • Mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc.)
  • Blogs

Why Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is shockingly more affordable than traditional marketing methods. An email or social media campaign, for example, can market to consumers for pennies on the dollar of the cost of a TV or radio print advertisement and has the potential to reach a wider audience.

Can Market Research Improve Digital Marketing?

By learning the language of consumers and mimicking it in advertisements, companies will be able to speak to their audience in a way that connects, somewhat akin to vernacular. Because of digital marketing, chances increase exponentially that potential customers will browse a webpage, inviting an introduction. The language of consumers makes it possible to uncover trends and common activities that can then be integrated into their digital marketing efforts.

Market research uses tools help businesses gather information about their audience. Software applications and services are available to help market research teams search and monitor mentions of their brand, keywords and phrases, and even gather this information on rival companies. Research and digital marketing work together as one of the best ways to monitor, collect, analyze and interpret target markets and adjust strategies as necessary.  Additionally, any “adjustment” or “tweak” can now be done in real-time.  Adjustments can be made as soon as the data is delivered without shutting down the campaign to reassess.

The digital age is here and digital marketing is being used more and more and those businesses that fail to adapt to the new marketing climate will either need to fish or cut bait. Let Charleston DigitalCoast Marketing help you fish.