With the prevalence of the Internet in today’s world, honing your digital marketing skills can provide a great customer experience and help you reach business goals. More marketing teams are seeking professionals with extensive knowledge and skills in operating digital technologies and tools. This is why you should learn digital marketing best practices.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for marketing managers stands at 10 percent. This means there will be 316,800 open job opportunities in the sector between 2020 and 2030. We curated this guide to help you master digital marketing best practices, guidelines, and resources for your marketing career.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is a branch of marketing that is based on the Internet and digital technologies. It can be conducted through mobile phones, computers, or other digital platforms. Often, digital marketing is referred to as Internet marketing. Professionals rely on digital marketing to reach a broad audience for their products or services.
There are several digital marketing avenues. The most popular avenues are paid-per-click advertisements, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), affiliate marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing. You can become a digital marketer with digital marketing bootcamps, online classes, or vocational training.
Marketing Concepts You Need to Understand for Digital Marketing Best Practices
Before you take a deep dive into digital marketing, there are a few concepts that you must understand about marketing. These concepts will give you the proper foundation to master digital marketing best practices. Find out more below.
- Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of improving the visibility of your website on a search engine like Google. The higher your website ranks on search engines, the more likely your customers are to visit your site. This will lead to a broader customer base and consequently higher returns.
- Search Engine Marketing. SEM is another form of digital marketing that helps increase the visibility of websites on a search engine. It is also known as pay-per-click or paid searches. Companies pay to submit ads to the search engines and receive money each time visitors click. Learning SEM is great for digital marketers.
- Search Marketing. This is a strategy that aims to increase the visibility of a website on a search engine. Search marketing may feature an SEO or SEM strategy. It can also involve content marketing and blog posts.
- Content Management System. This is a system built to ease the process of publishing content on a website. Blogger and WordPress are among the most popular content management systems. You can build your website, manage content, and oversee stats on these platforms.
- Customer Segmentation. Often referred to as market segmentation, this is the process of dividing customers based on particular criteria. Customer segmentation helps businesses group customers based on interests, needs, and budget. This allows them to maximize their profits and increase ROI and conversion rates.
Common Marketing Challenges That Digital Marketing Guidelines Can Address
Before learning digital marketing best practices, you should learn about five common challenges that digital marketing guidelines can help solve. Below, we have curated a list of issues that digital marketing has helped solve in the marketing industry. Find out how your expertise fits in the current marketing arena below.
Brand Awareness
Digital marketing ensures businesses can build their brand extensively. They can leverage their social media accounts, blog posts, and articles to increase the visibility of their business’s products or services. Unlike traditional marketing methods, which limit the advertisement to a particular area, digital marketing opens companies up to customers across the globe.
Customer Reach
Digital marketing platforms offer a more targeted reach compared to traditional forms of marketing. The digital platforms allow business owners to market their products or services specifically to interested parties. A website will rely on specific algorithms to showcase your products to parties who are most likely to buy the product, thereby increasing your sales.
Cost
Marketing departments require sound financial backing to reach their audience. This is especially the case when it comes to traditional marketing. Well-established companies invest millions in native advertising campaigns. This can be a challenge for a startup or small business.
To reduce the cost, small businesses and startups can leverage the existing digital platforms to increase brand awareness by building a solid online presence You can use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram to help your brand get noticed by a wide audience. You can also use an email marketing provider to send emails to clients on your mailing list.
Measurability
Traditional marketing often offers statistics weeks after a marketing campaign. Today, professionals behind digital marketing can ascertain projections instantly through tools available online. Google Analytics and Google Adwords manager are the most popular digital marketing tools available. They help measure the objectives of a particular website or blog post.
Engagement
Traditional forms of marketing lack the level of engagement digital marketing provides. With narrow margins separating businesses selling the same products or services, having a digital marketing platform will significantly impact ROI. A digital marketing plan will help you maintain loyal customers and get positive reviews.
To remain competitive, businesses must adopt new and effective digital marketing strategies. Through digital marketing platforms, new and current customers will engage more with your business. Internet marketing strategies are the best way to improve engagement.
Top 10 Digital Marketing Best Practices and Guidelines
Learn the top 10 digital marketing best practices to boost your digital marketing career. These best practices will help polish your digital marketing skills and grasp the attention of top hiring managers. Find out which practices you need to improve to reach the industry standard below.
Identify Your Target Audience
Before you start your digital marketing campaign, you should establish ideal customers. Proper customer segmentation is key to avoiding wasting resources. You can start by pinpointing your overall objective. Once you identify your target audience, you will be able to curate a relevant and effective message.
Establish Relevance
Before publishing any content, it’s important to establish relevance. The most important aspect of content creation is to provide value to consumers. Digital marketers conduct robust research to ensure they produce impactful information. This information can be shared on blogs, webinars, or even articles.
Rely on Data
Data-driven digital campaigns can be effective in increasing profitability. It’s important to acquire the correct user details. A slight change in the email address, phone number, or social media handle can easily affect the impact of your campaign. You can always rely on third-party companies to provide you with standard and current information.
Incorporate Chatbots
Using chatbots on your websites can help drive potential customers into loyal clients. The chatbots are the first level of interaction new clients have with your business. They have the ability to simulate a conversation between prospects and salespeople. Chatbots are also one of the best artificial intelligence projects for beginners.
Use Content Marketing
You need to have a sound content marketing strategy. Marketing content through the right digital channels at the right time can positively impact your business. Proper content marketing will lead to increased sales and profitability, so best practices include creating a calendar and identifying your goals.
Leverage SEO
You should consider improving your website’s ranking on Google or Bing by using SEO tactics. SEO/SEM strategies include in-depth research, search algorithms, and content placement strategies. You can choose to learn more about SEO with an SEO bootcamp or simply look into hiring an SEO expert.
Incorporate Voice Search Assistants
Voice search is becoming more prevalent across the globe. With this increase in voice search use, incorporating a voice search assistant will significantly increase your sales. This will make your company seem more high-tech and impress customers and clients.
Personalize Your Marketing
It’s important to ensure your content makes your visitor feel important. Personalized content significantly improves customer engagement and, consequently, sales. You can use artificial intelligence and machine learning to target your customers’ needs.
Try Video Marketing
Many social media channels today value video ads for marketing as opposed to other forms of marketing. Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are excellent platforms for video marketing. You can rely on influencer marketing to add to your online marketing strategy arsenal as well.
Use Omnichannel Marketing
This type of marketing involves marketing across different digital marketing avenues. Multichannel marketing is an excellent way to increase brand awareness and keep a consistent brand message. Omnichannel marketing will help increase engagement, order value, customer retention, and purchase frequency.
How to Learn Digital Marketing Best Practices
If you want to learn digital marketing best practices, you must keep an open mind. Often, interested professionals enroll in bootcamps, vocational training, trade schools, four-year degrees, or online courses to master best practices. There are also students who go through apprenticeship programs to gain hands-on experience.
Can a Bootcamp Help You Learn Digital Marketing Best Practices?
Yes, there are several digital marketing bootcamps that can help you learn digital marketing best practices. These platforms employ expert digital marketers as instructors to instill world-class knowledge and practices on bootcamp students. These bootcamps also provide mentors and career coaches that add to the student’s body of knowledge.
In addition, digital marketing bootcamps curate curriculums reflecting the current need of the industry. This means that students will learn relevant and industry-worthy practices. The curriculum is regularly updated to align the industry needs with the education program. Bootcamps also issue projects at the end of the program.
"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"
Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot
Best Courses and Training Programs to Learn Digital Marketing Best Practices
| Provider | Course | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Udemy | Digital Marketing Strategy Bundle | $14.99 |
| Coursera | Digital Media and Marketing Strategies | Free |
| edX | Digital Marketing Strategy | Free |
| Udacity | Digital Marketing Nanodegree | $399 per month |
| LinkedIn Learning | Become a Digital Marketing Specialist | Free |
Should You Learn Digital Marketing Best Practices?
Yes, you should learn digital marketing best practices. With the prevalence of businesses online, you will need more than basic knowledge of digital marketing to impact a business or company. If you have already graduated from a four-year college, vocational training program, trade school, or bootcamp, you should seek to polish your skills in digital marketing.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary of a digital marketer annually is $54,672. However, this salary is subject to education, experience, skill level, and location. If you want to increase your salary potential or help your small business thrive, you should consider learning in-demand skills and practices.
Digital Marketing Best Practices and Guidelines FAQ
What are the seven types of digital marketing?
The seven types of digital marketing include search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media advertising, content marketing, email campaigns, and mobile marketing.
What are the four Ps of digital marketing?
The four Ps of digital marketing are price, product, promotion, and place. These four Ps have been the gold standard for personalized products or services in marketing for decades.
Can learning digital marketing best practices lead to a well-paying job?
Yes, learning digital marketing best practices can lead to a well-paying job. Often, recruiters choose professionals with extensive knowledge and experience in digital marketing to fill vacant positions. They look for job seekers with a fitting edge in the field who can handle the job duties of a digital marketer seamlessly.
What are the prerequisites to learn digital marketing?
To learn digital marketing, you only need an open mind and a commitment to studying. Anyone can learn digital marketing, from small business owners to search engine optimization specialists. If you want to increase your skill level or improve your business projections, you should consider mastering digital marketing.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
