What Is Digital Marketing? Basics and How to Get Started

In a recent survey, nearly 80% of marketers agreed that the marketing landscape has changed more in the last three years than in the past five decades. The internet has forever changed the way marketing works by allowing businesses to utilize an ever-evolving collection of digital marketing techniques.

Throughout this article, we’ll provide you with a thorough overview of what digital marketing is and how it works.  We’ll be discussing these topics:

• What is digital marketing?
• Digital vs. traditional marketing
• Outbound vs. inbound marketing
• Digital marketing and the customer journey
• Types of digital marketing
• Fundamental digital marketing strategies
• KPIs for digital marketing
• 7 steps to building a digital marketing plan
• Get started with digital marketing on Upwork

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is a broad term referring to any marketing technique carried out online. From websites and mobile apps to search engines and social networks, the internet offers a wide range of online advertising venues.

When launching a full digital marketing campaign, many brands rely on a multichannel approach. Multichannel marketing involves using a combination of digital channels to reach existing and potential customers.

Later, we’ll look more closely at common forms of digital marketing and how they work. First, let’s explore some ways that digital marketing compares to traditional advertising.

Digital vs. traditional marketing

While digital marketing targets internet users, traditional marketing relies on offline advertising techniques. Instead of running ads on marketing platforms like Facebook and Instagram, a traditional marketer might use newspaper and magazine ads or TV and radio commercials.

Over the past few decades, digital marketing has exploded in popularity and now commonly outpaces traditional strategies in terms of ad spend. Yet the debate over whether it’s more effective than traditional advertising rages on.

The truth is that both forms of marketing come with unique sets of pros and cons. Let’s explore the benefits that digital marketing offers in comparison to traditional.

The benefits of digital marketing campaigns

Digital media campaigns can be a highly effective way for brands to interact with customers from all over the world because content can be available instantly and practically anywhere. Yet traditional marketing can also come in handy in certain circumstances, particularly when targeting customers in the awareness stage.

For example, small businesses can use traditional marketing strategies like billboards, brochures, and local print ads to increase awareness at a local level. National print ads and television commercials can also draw customers from unexpected demographics.

That said, many online marketing channels offer solutions to problems that traditional marketing teams have faced for decades. Here are some perks an effective digital marketing strategy can offer:

• Audience targeting is made easy. Rather than presenting marketing messages to the public at large, most digital marketing channels allow advertisers to target specific audiences. This can help you optimize your efforts by serving ads or content to the people most likely to find them of interest.‍
• They’re cost effective. The average price of running an ad in a national magazine can fall between $250,000 to $700,000. The average price a small to medium-sized business pays for an online ad project is $1,000 to $7,500.‍
• They’re easier to track. Tracking the success of specific ads in a traditional marketing campaign can be very difficult, if not impossible. Digital media tracking tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads enable tracking the performance of each aspect of your campaign in impressive detail.‍
• You get editing capabilities. Once a print ad runs, it's impossible to edit. Digital media ads can be easily altered and reused in later campaigns.‍
• Communication becomes possible. With a few exceptions, such as event marketing, most traditional media campaigns are one-way conversations. Digital marketing helps brands interact with their customers through social media, comment sections, and reviews.‍
• They’re non-intrusive. Marketing teams have long faced the problem of how to make ads like commercials and telemarketing calls feel less intrusive. Digital marketing offers solutions like display or native ads that blend in with their digital surroundings.‍
• They offer plenty of variety. Digital marketing makes incorporating different strategies and types of digital media into the same campaign easy. For instance, a company launching a business-to-business sales campaign might use SEO to boost organic traffic on its website in addition to a collection of videos, white papers, and infographics to engage visitors.

Outbound vs. inbound marketing

Another major perk of digital marketing is that it enables a powerful strategy known as inbound marketing. Almost all traditional marketing techniques rely on an outbound marketing strategy, which essentially involves pushing generic sales pitches to a mass audience.

Whether in the form of a TV commercial, magazine ad, or spam email, the one-way message of outbound marketing is almost always “buy now.” In 2005, HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan developed a completely different strategy known as inbound marketing.

‍While outbound marketing uses promotion to cut right to the sale, inbound marketing attracts targeted audiences with helpful, tailored content. Metaphorically speaking, inbound marketing invites potential customers to form a relationship with a brand, while outbound marketing proposes marriage on the first date!

A well-executed inbound content marketing strategy can remove the stigma of traditional advertising with content designed to educate, entertain, or engage. But just like any other type of relationship-building, inbound marketing campaigns take time to nurture and develop.

That’s why inbound marketing teams approach the process of turning leads into loyal customers as a multi-step process. This process involves guiding potential customers through different stages of what’s commonly known as the marketing funnel.

Digital marketing and the customer journey

Throughout the next several sections, we’ll introduce you to the four stages of the marketing funnel:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Conversion
4. Loyalty

Marketers commonly refer to a user’s progress through these stages as the “customer journey.” These stages may vary slightly across different marketing teams.

For example, one marketer might group the conversion and loyalty stages together. Another might divide the loyalty stage into two sections like “loyalty” and “brand advocacy.” However, the overall structure of the customer journey remains fairly consistent throughout the marketing world.  

1. Awareness

The first step in selling any product or service is making sure potential customers know your business exists. In the awareness stage, a potential buyer is just becoming aware of a problem they have, and they’re looking for more information.

They’re searching for answers to broad questions like “How can I improve my website traffic?” or “What are some gift ideas for my teenage niece?” As an inbound marketer, your goal here is not to make a sale but to provide helpful resources and insights.

One of the best ways to cater to customers in the awareness stage is to offer free resources like articles, blog posts, social media posts, free templates, or how-to videos. The more value you can offer a potential customer for free, the more likely they’ll be to explore what else you have to offer.

2. Consideration

Once a customer gains a solid understanding of their problem, they’ll be ready to start looking for the best ways to solve it. The consideration stage is where they’ll begin rounding up and comparing possible solutions.

As a marketer, your goal in this stage is to present your product not just as a solution, but as the best possible solution. Here you want to prove to potential customers that you understand their pain points and assure them that they’ve come to the right place for help.

Customers in the consideration stage will also be curious about what sets your brand apart from the competition, so provide that information. Just remember that the consideration stage should be about explaining what you can do for your customer instead of pushing them to make a purchase.

In this phase, you might choose to provide content like case studies, testimonials, or product comparison guides. Offering free samples or consultations can also be a great way to invite  potential customers to experience the benefits of your products firsthand.

3. Conversion

Also known as the “decision” phase, the conversion stage is where a customer has done all their research and is ready to make a purchase. Your goal in this stage is to make it as easy as possible for them to make their purchase from your brand.

This is the stage where exceptional customer service really pays off. Ensure that each product page of your website is easy to navigate yet detailed enough to answer any questions a customer may have.

Offering tools like customer service hotlines, chatbots, and FAQ pages can also go a long way toward inspiring confidence. Last but not least, make sure your checkout process is as seamless as possible and includes a variety of common payment options.

4. Loyalty

As important as it is to attract new customers, never underestimate the power of your existing customer base. As many business leaders can attest, the cost of attracting new customers can be significantly higher than for retaining existing ones.

If properly nurtured, long-time customers can also be a valuable source of referral traffic and “earned media.” To better demonstrate what earned media is, let’s compare it to the two other types of digital media.

• Owned media. Owned media is content you create and fully control, such as your brand website and social media pages.
• Paid media. Paid media is simply paid marketing content. One example could be a banner ad that a business paid to have placed on a social media platform or external website.
• Earned media. Earned media is content like positive customer reviews or press releases that a company “earned” rather than produced or purchased.

Incentives like loyalty programs or special discounts can be great ways to make sure your hard-earned customers know you appreciate their business. Positive interaction with your customers, whether through social media or other channels, can also have a positive effect on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

Types of digital marketing

As an internet user yourself, you’ve likely encountered digital advertising in a wide range of different formats. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular forms of digital marketing and how they can be used to target customers at every stage of the customer journey.

Digital marketing fields:

• Content marketing
• Display advertising
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Affiliate marketing

Content marketing

Content marketing involves attracting customers with high-quality original content such as articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, or newsletters. No matter which formats you use for content marketing, the goal is to build customer trust and establish your industry expertise.

A great piece of content should make a positive first impression on potential customers and leave them wanting more. Content marketing can be a particularly solid strategy for the awareness and consideration stages, as it focuses less on sales and more on educating or entertaining your audience.

Display advertising

As a form of outbound digital marketing, display ad marketing involves using visually engaging digital ads. Marketers commonly use popular tools like Google Ads to place pay-per-click (PPC) ads on relevant Google search engine results pages (SERPs).

The benefit of PPC advertising is that the cost you pay for each ad placement is calculated based on the number of users who actually click on it. If you want to expand beyond SERP ads, Google also offers plenty of options for advertising across the Google Display Network which features over 2 million websites, YouTube videos, and mobile apps.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing is exactly what it sounds like—the art of using popular online social networks as marketing channels. Social media marketing can take many forms, from running visual ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to TikTok video marketing campaigns.

One of the keys of an effective social media marketing campaign is understanding each platform’s strengths and audience demographics. For example, X (formerly known as Twitter) can be a great place for brands to playfully interact with audiences, while social media channels like LinkedIn are best for professional or business marketing.

Email marketing

When executed correctly, an email marketing campaign can produce an incredibly healthy return on investment (ROI). But it’s important to understand the difference between spam and a quality email marketing campaign.

Rather than sending out cold emails, include valid strategies for building an email contact list in your overall marketing plan. As your contact list grows, you may want to explore popular email platforms that can come with tools designed to help you engage your audience with professional-looking emails and newsletters.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing involves offering a commission in exchange for each sale someone else generates on your behalf. For example, at Upwork we offer anyone the chance to earn referral commissions through the Upwork Affiliate Program.

Of late, influencer marketing has become a popular subcategory of affiliate marketing. As the name suggests, influencer marketing involves incentivizing popular online influencers to promote or mention your products to their followers.

Fundamental digital marketing strategies

In order to make the most of your digital marketing efforts, you should take the time to understand key strategies. Below, we’ll introduce you to the following components:

• Customer personas
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Call to action (CTA)
• Responsive design and formatting
• Marketing automation tools
• A/B testing
• Retargeting
• Marketing analytics

Some of these strategies, such as customer personas and SEO, are considered foundational digital marketing tactics. Others, such as A/B testing and retargeting, can be used on a case-by-case basis.

Customer personas

Imagine you’re marketing a product to two different audiences. The first is a group of 25-year-old MMA fighters, while the second is composed of 75-year-old grandmothers.

You’re not alone if you would choose to use very different language, visuals, and sales tactics to appeal to each. Now imagine how terrifying it would be to have to craft an entire sales presentation without knowing which of these two groups you’d be presenting it to.

Luckily, taking the time to thoroughly understand your target audience can save you from ever finding yourself in this type of situation. Your target audience is a group of people with similar characteristics who are the most likely to be interested in your product or service.

It’s only by understanding their demographics, needs, pain points, and motivations that you’ll be able design your message in a way likely to appeal to them.

Creating a customer or buyer persona is a helpful tactic marketers commonly use to help visualize their target audience as a fictional character. For instance, you might craft your campaign to appeal to a buyer persona named Edith who has all of the overall characteristics of your 75-year-old grandmother group.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

When you perform a Google search, the odds are high that you’ll end up clicking on a link presented on the first search engine results page (SERP). In fact, a recent study revealed that less than 1% of searchers click a link present on the second results page.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of understanding the qualities that search engine algorithms are looking for and ensuring your site delivers accordingly. Doing so can increase your site’s SERP rankings and visibility.

SEO is a bit of a science in itself that involves everything from performing keyword research and backlinking to improving page speed and content quality. If you want to improve your site’s search rankings, it’s worth signing up for a high-quality digital marketing course or enlisting the help of an SEO professional.

Search engine marketing (SEM)

Search engine marketing (SEM) is another way to increase your site’s SERP visibility without having to rely on SEO alone. The next time you type a search into Google, notice how a number of links marked “sponsored” appear at the top of the resulting SERP.

These sites have used SEM, a pay-per-click advertising method, to jump to the top of the results when users type in relevant keywords. While some users consider SEM links less credible than organic (nonpaid) search results, they can still go a long way toward boosting traffic.

Brands commonly use a combination of both SEO and SEM in an effort to get even more SERP visibility. Some businesses even use their competitors’ names as keywords in an effort to get their own links posted ahead of the competition’s.

Call to action (CTA)

No matter what stage of the customer journey a piece of digital content targets, a strong call to action (CTA) is essential. A CTA is simply a prompt that encourages your user to take a desired action.

Examples of common CTAs include “subscribe now,” “learn more,” or “try for free.” CTAs come in many shapes and sizes, but they should always make clear what you’d like the user to do next and make it as easy as possible for them to do it.

Responsive design and formatting

There’s nothing worse than attempting to visit a website on your phone only to discover that it’s not correctly formatted for mobile devices. That’s why responsive web design has become a fundamental mobile marketing necessity.

Sites that use responsive design automatically reformat to provide the best user experience on any device. Ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly will score you points not only with customers but also with Google’s search algorithm.

Marketing automation tools

Incorporating the right marketing automation tools can make any marketer’s life a great deal easier. For example, few people have time to send out welcome emails to every new email subscriber who joins their list.

That’s why email automation tools like Constant Contact offer features that can automatically send a personalized email or SMS message each time a user takes a specified action. Chat automation tools like ManyChat can save you time by answering common customer questions, while platforms like ActiveCampaign can select the most qualified leads based on your criteria.

Social media marketing managers commonly use tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social to do anything from auto-publishing scheduled posts to generating customized performance reports. The right automation tools can prove a valuable asset to streamlining nearly any aspect of your workflow.

A/B testing

Do you ever wonder if a small change to your website or ad could make all the difference? A/B testing allows you to find out by randomly presenting different viewers with two slightly different versions of the same piece of content.

By tracking the success of each version over time, you’ll be able to determine which performs the best with viewers. A/B tests can be run on anything from social media ads to entire web pages.

Retargeting

Have you ever noticed that you tend to see more ads from certain brands after visiting their websites? This is no accident but a common digital marketing technique known as retargeting.

Retargeting allows you to target ads to visitors who have recently interacted with your brand. You can create a retargeting campaign using a list of contacts, such as your email list, or by placing small tracking pixels on your website.

These pixels attach a small piece of JavaScript to each visitor’s browser, which signals retargeting platforms to serve them your ads. Retargeting can be an effective way to increase brand awareness and focus on users who have already expressed an interest in your product or services.

Marketing analytics

Marketing analytics tools like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics can provide you with a behind-the-scenes look at your campaign’s performance. Such tools offer real-time insights with valuable clues into how to best optimize your digital marketing efforts.

Analytics can reveal everything from your target audience’s preferences and behavior to which pages on your website are (and aren’t) generating results. In the next section, we’ll introduce you to several key analytics metrics and how tracking them can help improve your marketing return on investment.

KPIs for digital marketing

There are now many different marketing analytics tools to choose from, some of which offer the ability to track hundreds of different metrics. The good news is that you don’t need to track every metric available.

As you prepare to launch each new campaign, you’ll want to hone in on a few select metrics that will serve as your key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics are used to measure the success of a digital marketing campaign, so you’ll want to ensure they align with your goals.

The exact number of KPIs you choose for each campaign may vary—some marketing teams focus on just two to four, while others cap the maximum number at 10. Here’s an introduction to some of the most commonly used KPIs and what they measure.

• Users. Your website’s number of unique visitors.
• Average time on page. The average amount of time users spend on individual pages of your website.
• Bounce rate. The percentage of users who leave your site before clicking on any additional pages.‍
• Entrance and exit rates. Which pages users most commonly use to enter and exit your site.‍
• Conversion rate. The percentage of users who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or providing their contact information.‍
• Cost per lead (CPL). The average marketing cost required to generate a lead
• ‍Customer acquisition cost (CAC). The average marketing cost required to turn a lead into a paying customer.‍
• Marketing return on investment (ROI). A comparison of the total amount of money you spend on marketing vs. how much money your marketing efforts generate.‍
• Return on ad spend (ROAS). ROAS is similar to ROI but is used to measure the success of specific campaigns rather than your overall marketing efforts. It’s generally calculated as a ratio that signifies the money an ad generates compared to the money spent on the ad.‍
• Revenue attribution. Reveals which aspects of your campaign are generating the most revenue.‍
• Open rate. This email marketing metric measures the percentage of emails in a mailing that were opened by receivers.‍
• Impressions. The number of times an ad appeared to customers, whether they clicked on it or not.‍
• Click-through rate (CTR). A comparison of an ad’s impressions to how many times it was clicked.‍
• Customer lifetime value (CLV). The average amount of revenue a single customer generates for your business throughout their lifetime.‍
• Average order value (AOV). The average amount of money customers spend per purchase.‍
• Net Promoter Score (NPS). Measures how likely customers are to recommend your brand to others.

As mentioned, the KPIs you select will vary based on campaign type and goals. For instance, a campaign focused on improving customer loyalty might track metrics such as customer lifetime value and net promoter score.

A social media campaign designed to promote brand awareness would be more likely to track metrics like impressions or click-through rates. As valuable as analytics tools can be, some come with more of a learning curve than others.

Engage an analytics expert if you want to outsource the tracking process or need help selecting the right platform for you.

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7 steps to building a digital marketing plan

Now that you’re familiar with digital marketing  fundamentals, it’s time to bring everything together to create a marketing plan. Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide designed to help you launch an online marketing campaign that gets results.

1. Understand your goals
2. Align your campaign with your audience and branding
3. Perform a competitor analysis
4. Map out a content marketing strategy
5. Define your budget
6. Select KPIs and enable tracking
7. Adapt and refine

1. Understand your goals

The first step to launching a successful digital campaign is getting clear about exactly what you hope to accomplish. As you’ve learned, the customer journey involves several different stages, each with its own set of goals.

Consider which of these goals would produce the best long-term return on investment for your marketing budget. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers.

A brand-new e-commerce business might choose to focus on raising brand awareness, while an established business might prefer to target an increase in sales. Regardless of which goal you choose, the next step is to make it even more specific.

One time-honored technique that marketers often use is developing SMART goals. The SMART acronym stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

For example, a business might start with a broad goal like “increase sales.” The next step would be to hone in on a SMART goal such as: “Boost sales of Product XYZ by 10% in the next quarter.”

2. Align your campaign with your audience and branding

Once you understand your goals, it’s time to plan the best ways to achieve them. This is where you’ll want to use skills like target audience research to craft customer personas.

You might use free resources like HubSpot’s Make My Persona or Semrush’s persona creation tools. While you’ll want to craft your campaign around your target audience, it’s important to make sure you also remain true to your branding.

A company’s branding is essentially its unique style and personality. Crafting a brand involves the consistent use of everything from certain colors and visuals to overall tone and language.

Spend as much time as it takes to solidify your branding choices because, once launched, you’ll want to remain as true to them as possible over time. For example, Coca-Cola’s trademark script logo has remained relatively unchanged since it was first created in 1886.

3. Perform competitor analysis

Competitor analysis involves identifying your top competitors and researching their marketing strategies. While it may initially sound a bit sketchy, competitor analysis is so common in digital marketing that multiple platforms are now available to help you do it.

You’ll quickly discover that a little friendly spying can yield valuable insights into what is and isn’t working in your competition’s strategy. From the SEO keywords they’re targeting to which industry trends they’re backing, studying the competition’s strategy is akin to getting a peek at their playbook.

You can use these insights to inform strategies for your own campaign and spot any content gaps that you may be in a unique position to fill.

4. Map out a content marketing strategy

Now it’s time to zero in on which types of digital marketing tactics you plan to use. Here are some of the things you’ll want to consider as you begin mapping out your strategy:

• Paid vs. organic. Do you plan to use paid advertising, organic (nonpaid) messaging, or a blend of both?
• Content formats. What types of media will most likely appeal to your target audience? Do you plan to use visual ads and videos, infographics, and newsletters, or a blend of different types of digital media?‍
• Marketing channels. Determine which marketing channels you plan to utilize, from social media networks to Google Ads or anything in between.‍
• Content scheduling. Begin creating the first draft of your content calendar, a schedule detailing what will be posted, where, and when. While a broad overview can be helpful at this stage, you may not want to get too detailed until you’ve solidified your budget in the next step.

5. Define your budget

Now that you have a better idea of what you want your campaign to look like, it’s time to decide how to allocate your budget. In addition to budgeting for things like paid ads, be sure to consider how much it will cost to produce the content itself.

Factor in your own skills as well as those of each member of your marketing team (if applicable). For example, if you’re a master of much of Adobe Creative Cloud, you may be able to minimize your design budget significantly.

But you may still want to bring in freelance writers to help with copy or SEO experts to give your site its best shot at higher organic search rankings. Map out your budget as precisely as possible, but make sure to set aside reserve funds to cover any unexpected surprises.

6. Select KPIs and enable tracking

The more your plan comes together, the easier it will be to select the right KPIs to track your success. This is the time to explore the most helpful marketing analytics tools.

Tools like Google Analytics are both free and incredibly comprehensive, while paid options like HubSpot tend to be more user-friendly yet pricier. Some social media platforms also offer their own set of analytics tools, such as Facebook Insights or X Analytics.

While it's generally best to focus on one or two tools per campaign, do some research to determine the best choice for you. Once you make your selection, make sure it’s set up to start tracking your campaign as soon as it's ready for launch.

7. Adapt and refine

KPIs can provide valuable insights, but it’s important to give each metric enough time to collect a reasonable amount of data. Many marketing teams report on KPIs once a month.

If you’re running a shorter campaign, checking in on your KPIs weekly can give you a good idea of any areas that are in need of improvement. In some cases, a consistently weak KPI may indicate it’s time to shift your approach.

Imagine, for instance, that your social media campaign generated outstanding success on Facebook but failed to produce results on TikTok. This may simply indicate that Facebook is your target audience’s preferred social network and may be worth directing more of your budget toward.

Perfecting your brand’s advertising strategy takes time. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hit the bullseye on your first attempt. As long as you remain persistent yet adaptive, you’ll learn to use digital marketing as a winning strategy for your brand.

Get started with digital marketing on Upwork

Are you ready to start using the latest online strategies to grow your business? Look to Upwork’s Talent Marketplace to connect with top digital marketers and marketing strategists who can help you get started. Upwork is home to a wide range of independent professionals with the skills you need to bring your next campaign to life.

Upwork is also a great place for digital marketing professionals in search of their next client. Check out our digital marketing or marketing strategy job posts to start building valuable connections with top brands in a variety of industries.

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Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.