Digital marketing

Websites

Websites play a major role in digital marketing, often found at the core of a brand's existence, with other digital channels (including those listed below) acting as traffic generators, ultimately bringing people back to a brand's website for further information or conversion.

SEO

Also known as "search engine optimisation"; the process of optimising a website so that it appears more favourably within a search engine.

SEO requires a significant amount of effort to set up and maintain, but when done properly, can really drive organic website traffic.

SEO looks at areas such as meta data, on-page content, page speed, and linking—both internal and external (referred to as 'backlinking').

Email marketing

Email marketing is a great way to engage existing and prospective customers. It involves the creation of email communications, which are sent on an ad-hoc basis (i.e., to promote a sale or product launch) or through to the development of sophisticated automated email nurture workflows, which aim to take a contact through a series of emails - from awareness through to decision. 

Email marketing is a great way to keep people updated on the goings on of your business or organisation. However, it's important not to send too many emails - and to use segmentation and personalisation where possible. The more segmented you can be, the greater the chance of engagement and the reduced likelihood that your audience will unsubscribe.

PPC

Advertising to prospect audiences through a pay-per-click model, meaning that you pay per engagement, rather than simply impressions. PPC is typically referred to as search engine advertising - i.e., Google (Google Ads) or Bing (Microsoft Ads).

PPC ads typically take one of the following formats:

• Text-based ads, which are find when you search for a specific topic. These ads are reactive, displayed as a search is carried out.
• Display ads - in the form of text, image and a combination of both, which are used to proactively target a segment of people.
• Video - through the likes of YouTube, or used within a display targeting ad campaign.

Paid social

Similar to PPC, paid social advertising also works on a pay-per-click basis. Paid social advertising is a more recent times opportunity, and has its own name as a result.

Paid social, like PPC ads (noted above) are a proactive advertising method, targeting a specific segment. One of the great things about paid social advertising is the targeting available. For example, LinkedIn ads support the ue of targeting specific job titles or companies.

Affiliates

Affiliate marketing is the notion of utilising a community of people to propel your message. Affiliates are typically incentivised by a % of the sale as a way to encourage them to promote a brand or product range.