What Is Digital Marketing?
Unless you have been asleep for the past 20 years, you will have noticed that digital content is dominating the marketplace. From the explosion of internet entertainment to new mobile technologies, these ever-expanding platforms not only allow us a wider range of options for communication and play, but they also open up new pathways for brands and companies to communicate directly with consumers. The exciting new field of digital marketing offers new opportunities to connect with your clientele, often times at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods.
Digital marketing essentially breaks down into two different categories: push content and pull content. Pushed content most closely resembles traditional marketing methods, as it is unsolicited and generally speaking, more broadly targeted. Types of push content include banner ads on websites or blogs, pop-up ads, or certain kinds of email. These are great for building brand awareness and reaching a larger audience. However, one must be careful that their push marketing efforts not be too overwhelming: Consumers are likely to mark your messages as spam, blocking them and effectively making your pitch useless. Too much cannot only be a waste of your marketing budget, but can also lead to the loss of valuable customers.
Pull content is better suited for building a relationship with a customer since it involves them opting to receive communications. Social media, subscribed emails, and text messages are different type of pull content sources in digital marketing. Companies often offer exclusive deals or coupons through these feeds in order to attract followers and subscribers, thereby spreading the message to more people.

Both push and pull content can be used in concert to execute a digital marketing campaign. Often times, this is the most useful way to share information with consumers. However, brands must be just as savvy online as they are with any other marketing campaign. Since these campaigns can be done faster and cheaper, it can lead to mistakes such as typos or broken website links making it through to the end user. These types of errors can be incredibly damaging to a campaign, so diligence and proofing is necessary.
Another consideration during a marketing campaign using digital means is the device on which your message will be seen. As any smartphone user will know, the experience of reading something on a three-inch screen is vastly different than reading it on an 18-inch screen. Marketers must be conscious of their design and copy choices when crafting a digital message – it is not a one-size-fits-all type of situation. In fact, entire books and marketing classes have been devoted to creating effective campaigns for individual platforms, such and mobile devices and the myriad social media sites currently out there.