Unravelling the world of digital marketing

The modern era is a digital one. Digital marketing dominates the world, and rightly so, as it presents businesses with countless possibilities to promote their brand’s products and services through various online channels and drive growth. But have you paused to wonder how digital marketing started, and how it gripped the world so quickly?

Tracing the journey

Currently, 65% of an individual’s time is spent on mobile phones, showcasing the vast impact of digital media. No wonder, the digital media industry currently holds a market capital of $200 billion, where 96% is contributed by Google Adwords, making it one of the major players in the industry. The digital marketing revolution has also been brought about by social media accounting to three billion users. Consequentially, there has been a rise in the number of bloggers and Instagram influencers have added another $1 billion to the industry. The digital marketing industry is expected to grow even further, bringing about a paradigm shift in the industry.

But how did it all start?

Coined in the 1990s, the digital age came as a by-product of the internet and the establishment of Web 1.0. The Web 1.0 platform was instrumental in assisting individuals to look for information but did not allow them to share their findings with others. This led to ambiguity among the marketers, who were unsure whether their strategies to promote products and services online would work, owing to the limited functions of the Web 1.0 platform.

Post the 1990 search engine, ‘Archie’, the first clickable web-ad banner was introduced in 1993. Google then made its debut, followed by Yahoo. The development of cookie technology, a code that stored user data in client browsers, was crucial to the evolution of digital marketing.

In this regard, the year 2000 was significant as well, as it was the start of the Web 2.0 era. Unfortunately, this was followed by the bursting of the dot-com bubble, which caused several internet firms to fold. Thankfully Google survived this crash and went on to launch AdWords, a tool that allowed advertisers to promote their products.

In due course, social media came into being. Facebook and Twitter were slowly made available to the masses. In 2002, LinkedIn was born. By the time YouTube was introduced, marketers had the option of multiple platforms to promote their brands. In 2009, Google launched Instant for real-time search engine results. And later, when mobile technology took off, new social media platforms like WhatsApp, and Instagram took the advertising world by storm. Since then, digital marketers haven’t looked back.

Why is digital marketing so important?

Digital marketing helps brands reach a larger audience compared to traditional marketing methods and target a specific customer base whose likes and interests align with the products and services of the company. Let’s explore the ways in which digital marketing can benefit marketers.

The channels of digital marketing

Cheat sheet to getting started with digital marketing

Any company or organisation can leverage digital marketing to scale up and modify their business strategy and have a profitable and thriving web presence. Digital channels enable businesses to zero in and attract the right customers using their industry insights and content to keep their audiences engaged.