Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the act of promoting and selling products and services by leveraging online marketing tactics such as social media marketing, search marketing, and email marketing. If you’re new to digital marketing, it may feel overwhelming. We get that… But in many ways, digital marketing is no different than traditional marketing. In both, smart organizations seek to develop mutually beneficial relationships with prospects, leads, and customers. Now, think about the last important purchase you made. Perhaps you purchased a home, hired someone to fix your roof, or changed paper suppliers at your office. Regardless of what it was, you probably began by searching the Internet to learn more and find your best options. Your ultimate buying decision was then based on the reviews you read, the friends and family you consulted with, and the solutions, features, and pricing you researched. Today, most purchasing decisions begin online. That being the case, an online presence is absolutely necessary—regardless of what you sell.

And having a strong digital presence will help you in multiple ways:

• It will make it easier to create awareness and engagement both before and after the sale.
• You can convert new buyers into rabid fans who buy more (and more often).
• You’ll enjoy all the benefits of word-of-mouth and social sharing.

Be aware, though, the digital marketing scene is ever changing. Gurus, podcasts, and bloggers declare a tool or tactic hot one week and dead the next. The truth is, today, digital marketing is less about “digital” and more about “marketing,” largely because digital marketing has come of age. Its fundamentals have already been established. At DigitalMarketer, our objective is to clear the confusion about the tactics that work and how to use them to grow your business. We stand against those so-called gurus who promote the next “shiny object” that will reportedly kill email marketing, digital advertising, or search engine optimization. Here, we’re all about the fundamentals.

As you’ll see in this guide, these core disciplines of digital marketing will be critical to your business growth today, tomorrow, and for years to come. Each of these disciplines will be covered in a chapter of this Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing as shown below.

What You’ll Learn

Chapter 1: Your Digital Marketing Strategy Template

• The Customer Value Journey is the strategic foundation of everything we do here at DigitalMarketer. It’s the master template upon which every other digital marketing discipline and tactic is built. Learn all 8 stages and how you’ll use them to create a winning strategy for your business.

Chapter 2: Developing a Content Marketing Strategy

• Done right, your content marketing will not only attract prospects, but also move them through a marketing funnel to drive more sales and grow your business. Learn how to plan your content marketing strategy and how to create “perfect” content.

Chapter 3: Crafting a Digital Advertising Plan

• The secret to powerful digital marketing is traffic. If you can master traffic acquisition, you can easily drive traffic, sales, and ultimately, growth. Here, you’ll learn the secrets to crafting a digital advertising plan that actually works.

Chapter 4: Understanding Social Media Marketing

• “Going social” isn’t simply about being active on Facebook and Twitter. Learn the Social Success Cycle and how you can use it to attract your fans and followers, engage them, and even sell to them.

Chapter 5: Following Email Marketing Best Practices

• Forget any rumors to the contrary. Email is alive and well—and if you know how to use it, it will help you exponentially grow your business. Learn the role of email in a growing business and how you can use it to quickly move prospects and customers through the Customer Value Journey.

Chapter 6: Designing Your Search Marketing Strategy

• Search marketing has radically changed in the last few years. But we see that as good news! Today, it can boost your website’s traffic and visitors’ trust while supporting your other digital marketing disciplines as well. Learn the right way to do search engine optimization here.

Chapter 7: Applying Website Analytics to Your Digital Marketing

• If numbers aren’t your thing, we’ve got you covered. Website analytics are a powerful tool for helping you figure out what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next. Learn the process we use here at DigitalMarketer—an easy-tounderstand approach anyone can use.

Chapter 8: Leveraging Conversion Rate Optimization to Drive Growth

• Conversion rate optimization may sound hard, but it doesn’t have to be. And it’s critical to your success as a digital marketer. We’ll show you how to implement a simple framework that will guide everything you do as a digital marketer.

This is where digital marketing begins and ends…

With a Customer Value Journey that strategically builds relationship with new prospects and converts them into loyal, repeat customers.

This Journey is the process every prospect goes through to become a new customer.

It’s how strangers become buyers and, eventually, raving fans of your business.

The hard truth is that marketing is not a one-step process. There are eight stages you must account for on the path to purchase and promotion.

But, I have great news. If you understand this digital marketing strategy (a.k.a. the Customer Value Journey), then you can intentionally engineer your business in such a way that it moves people predictably through the stages in this template.

In other words, you’ll no longer wonder if you’ll be able to generate leads. You won’t have to cross your fingers and hope for customers. When you understand the Customer Value Journey, even reviews and referrals will become automatic.

The Customer Value Journey is the strategic foundation of everything we do here at DigitalMarketer. It’s the master template upon which every other digital marketing discipline and tactic is built.

Interested in the topics related to business? Feel free to read through the book above.