What is Digital Marketing?

The average person spends 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day. Let’s mull over that for a minute. Assuming they’re getting their recommended 8 hours of sleep, that’s a sizeable chunk of their day where businesses can target potential customers through digital marketing.

But what is digital marketing? 

It’s arguably the most important form of marketing of our time.

Digital Marketing Explained

Digital marketing is the umbrella term we use to describe all marketing activities (e.g., email, social media, SEO) carried out through digital devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, and mobile phones).

It’s worth noting that not all digital marketing channels require an internet connection. For example, digital billboards, like the ones you see on bus shelters and in airports, are not always reliant on the internet. But for the most part, when we hear the term ‘digital marketing’, we think of devices that are. For the purposes of this article—and because we’re a digital marketing agency that specialises in internet-based marketing—we’re going to use ‘digital marketing’ to refer specifically to online marketing channels, such as social media, search engines, email and websites.

Unlike traditional marketing (static billboards, newspapers, TV adverts), digital marketing is dynamic, adaptable and highly personalised. Think about that online clothing store you were browsing recently—how did they manage to show you ads on a completely different website? And why did that same jumper you lingered on seem to follow you around?

Digital marketing is a constant fight for your attention, striving to turn potential customers into loyal fans.

Core Elements of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing success depends on four basic pillars that create a strong online presence. These elements work together, and you must optimise them to achieve real results.

Website optimisation

Your website is your business’s digital storefront. Research shows that 48% of people consider website design the main factor in judging business credibility. A well-optimised website can boost organic traffic and leads while reducing customer acquisition costs.

Website optimisation covers technical SEO, mobile responsiveness and user experience. About 42% of visitors will leave a website that doesn’t work well—it’s something we’ve all done! Businesses should focus on page loading speeds to fix this issue. Even a one-second improvement in load time can increase conversions by 2%.

Content strategy

Content strategy is the foundation of digital marketing efforts. A strong content strategy requires careful planning, creation, publication, and content management that aligns with business goals.

The secret to a working content strategy is knowing what your audience needs and creating content that meets specific business goals. The strategy should focus on effective management and streamlined operations, ensuring a clear process from idea generation to editorial review and content production.

Social media presence

Modern businesses can’t ignore social media. These platforms offer amazing ways to reach target audiences, opening direct channels to interact with customers and build your brand. 

Brands that respond to social media questions see real benefits. In fact, 73% of users will move to competitors if brands are not actively using social media channels.

Email campaigns

Email marketing helps nurture customer relationships and drive conversions. Personalisation is vital to making it work. About 70% of marketers invest in content marketing through email campaigns.

The best email campaigns focus on quality rather than frequency. Testing different elements, such as subject lines and send times, can substantially boost engagement rates. Data shows that Tuesday and Thursday emails typically get better engagement.

Building Your Digital Marketing Foundation

Successful digital marketing starts with a clear direction and deep audience insights. Smart marketers know that careful planning and strategic groundwork work better than jumping straight into tactics.

Setting clear goals

Marketing objectives are the heart of any digital strategy. While many businesses enter digital marketing, only 17% clearly define their strategies. A specific set of goals is vital to measuring success and optimising resources.

The SMART framework offers the best way to set digital marketing goals:

• Specific: Define clear objectives and their scope
• Measurable: Identify KPIs to track progress
• Achievable: Set realistic targets within capabilities
• Relevant: Line up with overall business objectives
• Time-bound: Set clear deadlines for achievement

Your goals should support your overall business objectives and transform them into applicable metrics.

Understanding your audience

Your target audience’s deep knowledge drives digital marketing success. Research shows that 68% of consumers expect customised experiences. Yet, only 42% of marketers know their audience’s demographic information.

A detailed audience profile needs three key types of data:

• Demographic Data: Age, gender, occupation and lifestyle interests give valuable explanations to make implicit assumptions about customer priorities.
• Customer Behaviour: Purchase history, email marketing engagement rates and website interaction patterns can help optimise future marketing efforts.
• Consumer Motivations: The most important purchase decision drivers are convenience, value, and status. Market research and focus groups are the best ways to gather this data.

Audience targeting leads to precise ad placement and better ROI. Proper segmentation can increase revenue by up to 760%. This allows businesses to offer customised experiences and adapt to changing customer needs.

Understanding your audience has benefits beyond immediate sales. McKinsey research shows that word of mouth influences 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions. Building strong relationships with your target audience creates long-term success.

Enhancing Your Visibility Through SEO and Paid Ads

To ensure your digital marketing efforts reach the right audience, it’s crucial that you complement your content strategy with SEO and paid advertising. Both play a pivotal role in improving online visibility and driving traffic to your site. While SEO helps your website rank organically in search results, paid ads offer an immediate boost by targeting specific demographics. Together, they create a powerful strategy to expand your digital presence and enhance conversions.

Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing combines organic and paid strategies to boost search result visibility. On Google, paid search ads generate 3x more leads than traditional marketing.

Businesses that implement SEO strategies see 97% more links to their websites. Paid search provides instant visibility, and 40% of businesses say PPC (pay per click) campaigns drive their success.

Paid advertising

Paid advertising gives instant visibility across multiple platforms. Studies show paid advertisements deliver a 200% ROI. This flexible approach lets businesses target specific demographics and interests effectively.

Display and video advertising prove highly effective. Videos help 93% of consumers make buying decisions. In 2023, programmatic advertising spending in Australia stood at approximately $18.4 billion. This is expected to increase to roughly $23.6 billion by 2028.

Digital Marketing Tools and Technologies

Digital businesses now depend on advanced digital tools to run and improve their marketing strategies. The right technology stack gives marketers the ability to automate tasks, analyse data and create personalised experiences that scale well.

Essential software

Every digital marketing toolkit needs simple software solutions to start. Google Analytics leads the pack with 90% of marketers using it to track performance. This free tool gives a complete view of website traffic, user behaviour and conversion patterns.

Automation platforms

Marketing automation platforms simplify repetitive tasks and build better customer relationships. HubSpot, a top solution, offers plans from $45.87 to $76.45 monthly. It excels at email automation, lead scoring, and campaign management.

ActiveCampaign starts at $22.93 monthly and puts email marketing automation first. It offers features for audience grouping and personal messaging. Small-to-medium-sized businesses can get advanced automation features at a good price.

Analytics tools

Advanced platforms go beyond simple analytics to show how your marketing activities are performing. Pardot, by Salesforce, offers detailed analytics at $1,911.24 per month. Its Smart Reporting Engine automatically sorts customers into targeted lists for personalised promotions.

Adobe Analytics stands out with its Analysis Workspace feature. Through an accessible drag-and-drop interface, marketers can quickly analyse campaigns. Users can also create custom reports and visuals to see how campaigns perform immediately.

CRM systems

CRM systems are the core of digital marketing operations. Salesforce leads the market with extensive marketing features built into its CRM platform. Businesses can track customer interactions across channels and send automated personal messages.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has strong CRM features, starting at $2,599.28 per month for new customers. Its integration with other Microsoft products creates a smooth system for managing customer relationships and marketing campaigns.

Zoho CRM, with its simple features and built-in Google Ads integration, is a great option for small businesses and starts at $21.41 per user per month. Marketers can track ad campaign results right in the CRM interface.

Modern CRM systems do more than just manage contacts. These platforms started as sales tools but they now have advanced marketing features like:

• Campaign automation and tracking
• Lead scoring and qualification
• Customer journey mapping
• Social media monitoring
• Email marketing integration

The Future of Digital Marketing

Automation and AI

Digital marketing is always changing. It has to, in order to keep up with the latest technology and, therefore, ways to reach potential customers. Some of the ways digital marketing is changing include the rise of automation and AI.

• Automation: It’s not just digital marketing that’s reaping the benefits of automation. Many companies are now automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks, which is giving leaders and employees more time to focus on driving success. Some ways in which digital marketing can be automated include scheduling social media posts and emails in advance, using chatbots to respond to customer enquiries and adjusting ad bidding with Google Ads.

• AI: Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek can be used to quickly create long-form content (e.g., blogs, emails) and short-form copy (e.g., ad copy, taglines). AI can also be used to translate data into more easily understood insights, generate reports and personalise content for different audiences. However, while AI can enhance efficiency, human oversight is essential to ensure accuracy, creativity and brand alignment.

Privacy concerns

Privacy has become the biggest problem in digital marketing plans. Research shows 79% of consumers worry about how companies use their personal data. People care more about this now, and companies must change how they handle customer information.

Privacy issues have huge effects:

• 74% of Australians feel data breaches are one of the biggest privacy risks they face today
• 58% of Australians do not know what organisations do with their data
• Almost half (47%) of Australians said they had been informed by an organisation that their personal information was involved in a data breach

Because of these concerns, big tech companies now enforce stricter privacy rules. Apple made App Store developers tell users about data collection. This focus on transparency changes how marketers reach their audience.

Emerging platforms

New platforms and technologies keep popping up in the digital world. Voice search grows more popular as more homes have voice-enabled devices. As a result, marketers must adapt their content to work with voice searches.

Visual content platforms continue to grow quickly. Short videos lead the way, with TikTok and Instagram Reels getting most of the attention. Videos work well, helping 93% of consumers decide what to buy.

Social commerce has grown into a major industry. Platforms now let users shop without leaving their apps, and Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shops clearly demonstrate this trend.

Advantages of Digital Marketing

Greater Access to Consumers: As we’ve already discussed, people spend a significant portion of their day online, whether checking their emails in the morning or doom-scrolling social media at night. This is the single greatest advantage of digital marketing: near-24/7 access to consumers.

Global Reach: Unlike static traditional marketing channels like billboards and window displays, digital marketing is not limited by geography. It can cross great distances, reaching you at any time and any place. This opens brands up to more than just local or national customers. With the right digital marketing strategy, even the smallest business could reach a new audience on the other side of the world.

Cost Efficiency: Compared to print and television ads, digital marketing is much more affordable. SEO, social media, and content marketing cost a fraction of traditional advertising. This is hugely advantageous to small businesses, which can now compete alongside bigger brands.

Measurable Results: Unlike a radio or TV ad, digital marketing allows businesses to learn a lot about who bought their product, how they found it, and what led to their decision to buy it. This data is extremely useful, especially when developing future strategies to attract and retain more customers.

Customisable and Optimisable: Digital marketing is highly adaptable, meaning you can tweak your ads to align with the latest trends. This ensures your brand is ahead of the curve and can be fixed should there be any mistakes in the copy or visuals.

Small Businesses and Digital Marketing

At first, it might seem like the internet is the playground of large corporations who have big budgets to spend on digital marketing. In reality, it’s small businesses who are the biggest beneficiaries. 

Digital marketing is much more affordable than traditional advertising that appears in newspapers, TV and radio. What’s more, the data gathered online helps small businesses fine-tune their strategies. This, in turn, helps them spend their money more wisely and reach more of their niche customers.

The best digital marketing strategy for small companies will depend on their industry and target market. For local businesses, search engine marketing, principally SEO and Google Ads, is vital for attracting local search traffic.

Let’s take a look at some interesting stats on the power of search for small businesses:

• 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information
• 97% of users find a local business by searching online
• 72% of consumers who use search to find a local business end up visiting a store within eight kilometres

To attract and convert traffic from search engines, you need a conversion-optimised website. You should also have an active and up-to-date Google Business Profile.

At Gordon Digital, we specialise in helping small businesses succeed online. Do you have more questions, such as what digital marketing platforms and strategies your business should use? Contact our team for a free digital strategy consultation.