Digital Marketing for Dummies: The Ultimate Guide

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Looking for new ways to expand your business? Digital marketing may be your gateway to international markets and a global audience.

But how do you leverage the power of the internet to grow your business? With tons of different methods and technical terms like SEO, SEM, and CPC digital marketing may seem daunting.

In reality, digital marketing boils down to a few golden rules. Check out this digital marketing for dummies guide to find out!

Digital Marketing 101

In simple terms, any marketing effort a business does online is considered digital marketing. Online marketing covers a broad range of practices, including:

  • Paid advertisements
  • Inbound marketing
  • Permission marketing
  • Email campaigns
  • Social media marketing
  • Relationship marketing

Every digital marketing practice is measurable. This means that you can see what’s working and what’s not in real-time. This kind of efficiency is impossible in conventional marketing, unless you are a large corporation.

Today, companies of all sizes and scopes can track the performance of their digital marketing efforts and make adjustments on the fly. This means more bang for your marketing bucks.

Digital Marketing and Your Marketing Budget

Digital marketing is inexpensive and brutally efficient. Physical billboards and TV spots cost thousands of dollars on a monthly basis. On the other hand, digital advertisements and social media campaigns can reach more people than any single billboard at a fraction of the cost.

This effectiveness and cost-efficiency have sprung a whole new industry that focuses on digital marketing services. Google’s main stream of revenue is its online ads, and every other major platform is offering paid ads today.

Beyond Paid Ads

Paid ads are just one of the many facets of digital marketing. Perhaps the most revolutionary approach to marketing today is inbound marketing.

In simple terms, inbound marketing involves attracting customers through engaging content. Consumers who find this content useful will share it with their friends, which generates traffic for the company that created it.

The same holds true for online reviews, which are a huge part of organic marketing in today’s ultra-competitive markets. If your products are getting more reviews on Amazon, they will generate more sales. You can’t buy reviews, as this is both illegal and immoral.

Instead, you offer value and encourage your customers to share their thoughts about your company and your offerings online. This costs very little and has the potential to reach tens of thousands of new customers.

Finally, digital marketing may be global in scope, but it can elevate your local marketing efforts as well. If you learn how to get more Google reviews, your company will be more visible when people search for local maps.

Beyond Digital Marketing for Dummies

With our digital marketing for dummies guide, you’ve scratched the surface of what your business can achieve online. If you want to make your website work for you, you’ve come to the right place.

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Jared Bauman

Jared Bauman is the Co-Founder of 201 Creative, and is a 20+ year entrepreneur who has started and sold several companies. He is the host of the popular Niche Pursuits podcast and a contributing author to Search Engine Land.