Digital Marketing for Complete Beginners

 

Introduction

Today, Digital marketing is an integral part of any successful business. It allows companies to connect with potential customers and build a loyal following. It generates leads and sales. But how does digital marketing work, and why does it matter so much?

One of the most exciting aspects of modern marketing is the ability to reach an audience on a global scale. Today, companies can not only advertise on a national level, but they can also advertise internationally to potential customers all over the world. This opens up brand new opportunities for companies to market to a global audience.

Here, we are going to give you a sweet overview on what digital marketing is, what is the different between digital marketing and traditional marketing, some types of digital marketing and how you can make money with digital marketing.

What is Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is also called online marketing. It refers to all marketing efforts that take place on the Internet. Companies use digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with their current and potential customers. This includes communication via text or multimedia messages. Simply put, digital marketing is the methods and techniques used to promote products and services online using mobile phones, laptops, the Internet, and more. As the other marketing (traditional marketing), the main goal is to attract your audience and generate leads. This can range from things like automated email marketing initiatives to content selection for your site’s blog.

Digital Vs Traditional            Marketing

There are two main types of marketing: digital marketing and traditional marketing. But what’s the difference? Digital marketing makes use of digital channels such as social media, emails and websites as tools for communication. Traditional on the other hand makes use of traditional channels, like prints, billboards, etc.

The major difference between digital and traditional marketing is how the audience gets in touch with your marketing message. While digital marketing uses digital media, such as social media or websites, the other uses traditional media like magazines and newspapers.

When deciding on which marketing strategy is best for your business, consider where your audience get their information from and use that to make your decision. It’s not necessarily true that one is just better than the other because they serve different purposes The bottom line is that you need a complete understanding of your business and your audience in order to choose a better strategy.

Why learn Digital Marketing?

Recent technological innovations and their adoption by businesses have transformed the way we communicate and receive information. And with the advent of  more affordable smartphones, most people now get their information directly from the internet.

 As the economy becomes more digital, it’s clear that digital marketing is here to stay as a career option. If you’re interested in learning more about this field and why studying digital marketing could be fruitful, continue reading. Why must you learn Digital Marketing?

• High Demand

Learning digital marketing can be a good decision due to the demand for professionals trained in digital marketing. According to a report, the scope of a digital marketing career will be worth trillion by 2025 . Even more, according to Payscale ,the average salary for a Digital Marketing Manager is R293,407. The report also found that there is a significant gap between supply and demand for digital marketers. Demand was around 59%, but supply was only 19%. That means companies are dying to hire digital marketers. And learning a sought-after skill never hurts. It just means that after learning such a sought-after skill, you can get better-paying jobs with more confidence.

• Cost Effective

Learning digital marketing in 2022 is great because it doesn’t only reduce advertising costs but also offers a higher Return on Investment (ROI). Traditional marketing methods are definitely effective, but they certainly don’t come cheap. The entire process of printing, distributing and paying for offline advertising space is very expensive right now.

Having a digital presence is profitable and requires far less money to promote a product than, say, TV ads or billboards.

• Easy To Start a Career

Starting a career in digital marketing was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Do you Need a Marketing Degree? The short answer is NO! You can learn the basics of digital marketing through an online course, short classes, video tutorial or in-depth blogs. These will help you put everything into practice and build a strong, results-oriented portfolio.

Not only that, you can even work as a freelance consultant or freelancer after you’re done learning digital marketing online. You can get a lot of hands-on experience just by using social media or running your own blog and adding it to your portfolio.

• Get Better Pay

Would you like to increase your salary? Learn digital marketing. As mentioned earlier, there is a huge demand for digital marketing professionals. Due to high demand, the pay for roles in digital marketing is also high.

 You can get better positions in an organization because of your experience, which can help you improve your salary. Digital Marketing Managers earn around Ghc4000-7000 per month. This is based on your experience and how well you can give results.

• Extensive Specialty Choices

One of the top reasons to learn digital marketing is that the field offers you a lot of variety when it comes to the tasks you will perform at work. There are several aspects related to digital marketing such as SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC and content marketing just to name a few.

 You can start learning digital marketing by specializing in one of the above techniques and gain extensive experience in that area before moving on to the other if the job requires it. To be perfectly honest, SEO, Facebook Ads and Content Marketing are one of the most popular techniques related to digital marketing, both for brands and aspiring marketers.

 There are many job opportunities in digital marketing, and if any, they will only increase in the years to come. Therefore, making the decision to learn digital marketing in 2022 can become a pivotal point in your career.

 If you are interested in learning digital marketing online through a combination of hands-on learning and video content alongside other course material, we recommend getting in touch with our teams of experts.

Different types of digital marketing

As digital platforms become more integrated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people increasingly use digital devices instead of visiting physical stores, there are many types of digital marketing you can use to increase engagement and reach with your audience. Leveraging multiple digital marketing channels can help you create a comprehensive strategy that yields the best results.

To help you determine which digital marketing strategies are best for your business, here are five of the most common types of digital marketing:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You’ve probably heard of the term SEO, but maybe you weren’t sure what it means. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the act of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. Although there are a few search engines, the most popular is Google. An effective SEO strategy follows specific guidelines and best practices that ensure a website ranks on the first page of search engine results.

 An effective SEO campaign addresses three key elements: your website, Google, and your audience. Google then ranks your website when a search query is entered that matches your focus keyword. You may be wondering how Google does this. When Google bots rank your website, they take into account the structure and content of the website. They then compare your content to related searches and keywords to determine how relevant your content is to those questions. Google also checks for quality links pointing to your site: the links tell Google that other people value your content and that you are a trustworthy source of information. Multiple quality links pointing to your website increase your chances of ranking higher on Google. Not all links are good for SEO: links from high-ranking sites like news organizations and professional bodies are what Google considers good signs.

 The more time visitors spend on your website, the better your chances for SEO. Therefore, posting unique and creative content with a high word count (2000+) will help boost your site’s ranking.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing articles, videos, podcasts, and other relevant media. Content marketing is an important aspect of marketing today. Many marketers around the world are turning to content marketing. When you think about it, what better way to build brand loyalty within a community than with the almighty “content marketing”?  This approach establishes the experience, drives brand awareness, and keeps Why is content marketing important? Content marketing is important because it answers your audience’s questions and helps you build trust, build relationships, improve conversions, and generate leads.

Social Media marketing

Compared to other channels such as television, print and screen advertising, even online, social media adds a new dimension of engagement and interaction. Instead of just messaging to a mass audience, you can actually interact with your customers and hear what they have to say. Let’s take a look at some social media marketing statistics that prove its power:

• As of January 2022, there are 3.96 billion total social media users across all platforms.
• The average person bounces between seven different social networks per month.
• The amount of time adults use social media across all platforms is now higher than ever — 95 minutes per day.

Email Marketing

Simply put, email marketing is the use of email as part of your marketing efforts to promote a company’s products and services and encourage customer loyalty. Email may seem old-fashioned in a world where everyone uses instant messaging or Snapchat, but email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing tools. Part of the reasons why emails have become such a popular marketing tool for businesses is that they force the user to take some sort of action; An email stays in the inbox until it’s read, deleted, or archived. Email marketing can help you build a relationship with your audience while driving traffic to your blog, social media, or anywhere else you choose to visit. You can even segment your email and target users based on demographics, so you only send people the messages they want to see most.

Digital or “Paid” Advertising

Paid ads or digital advertising refers to any strategy associated with generating traffic to your website through paid digital channel. Depending on where the audience is most concentrated, here are some examples of paid advertising:

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
• Facebook Ads
• Twitter Ads
• LinkedIn Ads
• …and more.

Another great advantage of digital advertising is the possibility of remarketing. With remarketing, you can successfully convert store buyers into customers by showing them ads after they leave your website.

Can you make money with Digital Marketing?

Gone are the days when making money was only possible through traditional working methods. Now people are making thousands of dollars from their homes every month. All you need are some relevant skills, a laptop and a good internet connection. Well, now you must be wondering how to earn money with digital marketing. Let’s go:

1. Content Writing

Content is the foundation of all digital marketing campaigns and strategies and cannot really be scaled without it. Therefore, there is great potential for making money by selling content creation services.

 There are various formats of content commonly used in digital marketing strategies. Some of the most popular are– articles, blog posts, social media posts etc.

 Almost every company needs an in-house or remote content creation service for the brand to work. Therefore, you can easily make money by learning the specific skills you need to create content. These skills include:

1. Excellent writing skills
2. Keyword research skills
3. Analytical skills
4. On-page SEO skills

If you plan to work as a professional content writer, a college degree in marketing, communications, or journalism will be of a great advantage over others. There are also several free and paid courses available that provide hands-on training in content creation.

2. YouTube Advertising Partner platform

If you’re looking for a way to make videos and make money from them, create a YouTube channel and become an affiliate. The process of making money on YouTube is simple, and it requires some effort, but it’s worth the effort as the number of viewers grows after a while.

Channels can be created based on your expertise, from painting tips to complex technical tutorials. Whatever you do, keep in mind that you have elements of creativity and innovation that will help you stand out from the competition.

Before becoming a YouTube affiliate, make sure you meet the following requirements:

• Thoroughly review all YouTube monetization policies.
• Must meet 4000 hours of public viewing time criteria in the last 12 months
• Channel requires at least 1000 subscribers
•  Your AdSense account should be linked to it
•  Check if the YouTube Partner Program is available in your country

3. Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money from digital marketing. You can make money by referring to the sales of other companies’ products.

 The process of making money from affiliate marketing is very simple. All you have to do is find the product you want to promote, create a relevant website, and drive traffic from potential customers of your affiliate products.

 Affiliate partnerships have two different practical options. Stand-alone programs should, wherever possible, create accounts directly with product companies and affiliate networks. You can edit multiple partnerships at the same time.

 Blogs are the only major medium for promoting affiliate products, so it’s important to do a thorough keyword research before starting with a particular niche. It helps determine the amount of traffic you can drive.

4. Freelancing

Freelance means being your own boss. It’s up to you to find a way to fill your time with paid work, directly with your clients, as a subcontractor, or through a job board or marketplace. There are dozens of freelancers, and more companies are hiring freelancers more and more.

You can make money by signing up for a platform like Fiverr. Business owners and Local Companies are looking for digital marketing professionals to manage their digital marketing.

Find less competitive gigs on the platform and create compelling gigs. Answer the customer’s question correctly. Your digital marketing skills can now help you make money online.  You can start getting services such as creating and managing Facebook and Instagram posts, managing business pages, and managing their audience. Not only that, you can also provide copywriting and advertising design services.

5. Launch & Sell Your Digital Products

If you want to make good money from digital marketing and put yourself at incredible heights, launching and selling your own digital products may be the best idea.  The best thing about digital products is that they are built once and grow fast. Sell until hype continues. There is no need to procure production on an ongoing basis. It helps to generate some incredible profit margins and you will keep earning on autopilot. There are many digital products that can be launched. Some of them are:

•  eBooks: One of the easiest things to launch among digital products. All you have to do is choose a niche, collect some of the previously published content, and add more to create a boom. 
• Tools: Tools such as Website Analyzer and Keyword Finder are the most popular options. Do a little research and find the best possible option in your digital marketing niche market. When it comes to creating digital marketing tools, the possibilities are endless.

 Instead of building your own, you can buy and edit using sites such as Code Canyon, or hire a developer to edit it for you. Remember that this is a one-time investment.

•  Website Templates: All websites are developed and designers and developers look for web templates to choose from. Therefore, there is a great opportunity to make money by creating great web templates and uploading them to the websites that provide them.
• …and More. The important thing here is to come up with something great.

7. Work as a Digital Marketing Consultant

A great tactic for making money from digital marketing is to provide consulting services. Once you have practical expertise in digital marketing, you can start selling consulting services in similar areas.

Here are some of the best ways to get started with digital marketing consulting:

• Choose a niche; you can’t even be a specialist. It’s also helpful to limit yourself to a niche. It helps you focus on one place and earn the trust of your customers.
• Start a blog about the specified niche. The best way is to write long, unique yet compelling content that can give your readers insight into the topic. Also, do an appropriate keyword search to fully optimize your content.
• Do social media, share small pieces of long-form content between social media platforms. Spread awareness and interact with viewers. This is a great tool for getting information about what potential viewers are looking for, and you can upload content accordingly.

8. Earning with SEO Services

SEO is another important part of digital marketing that cannot be ignored if a company wants to achieve digital success. As you master search engine optimization skills, you can play a variety of roles.

To become a SEO Specialist, you need to learn the basics and deep expertise. When you study, you will come across so many SEO courses online, both paid and free. The ideal way is to lean it by practicing with the best of tools. Also, the ever-evolving nature of SEO requires you to stay up to date.

If you really specialize in Search Engine Optimization, getting a job is very easy. Applying for a freelance or full-time job, or even developing your own website to sell SEO services are some examples.

9. Selling Online Courses

If you think that you have the ability to create content and share your knowledge and skills in the easiest way, you should definitely create a course. What you need to remember when you are creating an online course:

There are several ways to give you the opportunity to sell your course online and then make money. You can muse of platforms like Udemy, Coursera, Allison, SkillShare, etc. for selling courses online.

The biggest advantage of selling courses online is that you make money on autopilot

 Digital Marketing is a broad discipline. You may come across hundreds of ways to make money from digital marketing. However, the important thing is to decide which one best suits your interests.

Either Content, SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media, or anything else, you certainly have the greatest opportunity to make money online. All you have to do is thoroughly research each of the possible options and find the one that works best for you. Train yourself in this niche, focus on key strategies, put into practice what you’ve learned, and stay abreast of innovation. The more you focus on learning, the more you can grow in that particular niche and ultimately make the most money.

Conclusion

Digital marketing should be one of the main focal points of the overall marketing strategy of almost every company. This is an effective way to attract customers to your brand without spending a lot of resources. But to be successful, you need to understand what you are doing by setting clear goals, choosing the right channels, and measuring the results. Add healthy creativity on top of that. If you want to make more money but don’t have the time to do it yourself, a digital marketing agency can help. Digital marketing agencies are made up of experts with years of experience in content creation, websites optimization for search, paid advertising campaigns, and more… Tedmark Digital Agency’s team helps you get started with digital marketing and helps you evaluate existing campaigns. Contact us today for our free consultation.