Due to the increase in online users, businesses increasingly rely on e-marketing (electronic marketing) to support their marketing efforts. E-marketing is often referred to as Online Marketing or Internet Marketing.
It’s a useful way for marketers to boost their online presence and engage with their target audience.
Let’s cover the definition of e-marketing and how you can use it for your business.
What Is E-Marketing?
E-marketing is the marketing of goods and services through the internet.
It makes it easy for businesses to reach a wide range of potential customers due to the large number of people using the internet today.
E-marketing is crucial for business for a few reasons, as it:
Various technologies are used in e-marketing, allowing shoppers to read ads, use/receive coupons, view pictures of products, compare prices, and make purchases with a few clicks of a mouse. Which saves time and money.
Types of E-Marketing
E-marketing can be broken down into eight main categories:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO helps you achieve organic (non-paid) traffic from search engines like Google. Organic results appear underneath paid results on the search results page:
The goal of an SEO strategy is to rank as highly on the search results page as possible. That way, potential customers will see your page first.
Here are a few things you can do to improve your SEO:
A good way to get started is to use our Keyword Magic Tool to find relevant keywords for your business.
All you need to do is plug in a topic (keyword) you want suggestions for.
And you’ll receive a wide range of related keywords you can sort by search volume, question-based keywords, and more.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, read our ultimate guide to keyword research.
2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click advertising is a digital method where an advertiser pays a publisher every time the ad is clicked. What differentiates pay-per-click from SEO is that you have to pay for the results.
When planned strategically, PPC advertising can increase traffic to a specific page or site.
The cost of running an ad or promoting your search results will vary depending on how competitive your keywords are. A keyword with high competition will likely cost more, while a low-competition keyword will likely cost less.
Ads can be classified as pay-per-click if they appear on search results pages, while browsing the web, before YouTube videos, and in social media.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing includes everything a business does through its social media channels to promote its products or services.
A successful social media marketing strategy requires engaging posts, interaction with the audience, and consistency.
Ensure that every piece of content you publish serves a distinct purpose or solves a specific problem for your social media marketing efforts to be effective.
Examples of social media marketing include posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, etc.
You can use our Social Media Toolkit to help you accomplish the following:
4. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a type of e-marketing that focuses on creating, publishing, and distributing content for an online targeted audience.
The purpose of content marketing is to increase brand awareness through storytelling and information sharing and to get the reader to take action toward becoming a customer, like requesting more information or joining an email list.
Examples of content marketing include blog posts, white papers, e-books, podcasts, articles, and case studies.
Here’s an example of an ebook from Drift:
5. Email Marketing
In email marketing, businesses send out emails to contacts informing them about products, services, sales, content, etc. Its high return on investment (ROI) is a vital part of most businesses’ inbound strategy.
Sending out mass emails that “fit all” to your contacts is easy but no longer effective. Modern email marketing focuses on consent, segmentation, and personalization. You can build a community around your brand through a well-designed email marketing strategy.
Marketers should strive to improve two metrics regarding email marketing software:
Examples of email marketing include sending out a weekly newsletter linking to your latest blog post, emailing customers when there is a limited offer or sale, and emailing your customers about a new product or service.
For example, the Strand Book Store made this announcement to their email subscribers:
6. Mobile Marketing
In mobile marketing, websites, e-mail, SMS, MMS, social media, and apps are used to reach a target audience through smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
Some examples include:
Mobile marketing can help drive brand value and demand for your products or services by connecting with more consumers in real time at any point in the customer lifecycle.
Here’s an example from jewelry brand Mejuri:
7. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing agreement between a web retailer and an external website in which the retailer pays the external website a commission for the site visitors or sales generated by its referrals.
Affiliate marketing allows businesses to effectively market their products at a low cost and effort, with high return on investment and increased brand awareness and business growth.
8. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing refers to the partnership between a brand and an influencer. Influencers receive payment and/or products in exchange for creating or sharing content about a brand with their followers.
You don’t necessarily need to reach out to the influencer with the largest following. It can actually be more beneficial to find an influencer within your niche with a high engagement rate.
Here’s an example of a partnered Instagram post from Allegra Shaw:
Pro tip: Apps like BuzzGuru Influencer Analytics can help you find the best influencers for your brand. So you can reach the right audience for your product or service.
The Advantages of E-Marketing
Now that we’ve covered different types of e-marketing, let’s discuss the advantages:
1. It’s More Advanced than Traditional Marketing
E-marketing allows marketers to be a lot more targeted and allows you to reach the people who will be interested in the information you are providing.
With traditional marketing, like a billboard or TV ad, you have no idea if your target audience will see it.
With the ability to be so specific and reach your ideal audience where you know they are online, you’ll get a better return on investment.
Plus, your advertisements will be available to your target audience 24/7, 365 since they’re online.
2. You Can Stick to a Low Budget
You can build your way to a profitable business by using e-marketing techniques.
Posting on social media, creating videos on Youtube, and optimizing for SEO doesn’t necessarily need to be expensive.
You may choose to more heavily invest in these practices down the line, but you can keep things low-budget if necessary and still see results.
The most significant investment might be your time, but that time invested directs people toward a sale.
3. It Provides a Customized Advertising Approach
E-marketing helps you personalize offers for your customers based on their preferences and buying history.
By tracking the product information and webpages that potential customers visit, you can make targeted offers that reflect their interests based on a profile of their preferences and buying history.
Tracking webpage visits can help you plan cross-selling campaigns to increase the value of consumer sales.
4. It Lets You Build Relationships with Customers
Internet marketing is crucial in increasing client retention levels and building customer relationships. Once a customer purchases from your online store, send a follow-up email to thank them and confirm the transaction.
By sending clients customized offers regularly, you can help maintain the relationship and provide a personal touch.
Start Your E-Marketing Efforts With Semrush
E-marketing gives you more chances to connect with your target market because it lets you create content for multiple channels and reach more prospective leads.
Whether you focus on SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, or another avenue, e-marketing is a powerful and effective way to grow your business.
To start your own e-marketing efforts, download your free Semrush subscription today.
Or, check out all the things you can do for free on Semrush.
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