Digital Marketing: What It Is and How to Get Started

Digital marketing, or online marketing, is a form of advertising that uses the Internet and digital technologies to connect with customers. It seeks to accomplish the same thing as traditional marketing by leveraging digital marketing channels such as computers and smartphones rather than print, radio, or television.

Read on to learn more about digital marketing strategies and how to start a career in digital marketing.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing campaigns aim to increase brand awareness, drive sales, and promote goods and services. A study from April 2024 revealed 5.44 billion people (67.1 per cent of the global population) use the internet today, and 5.07 billion use social media [1]. This exponential increase in internet users has led to a similar rise in digital marketing efforts.

As a result, advertisers have increasingly devoted more and more of their budget to digital marketing year after year. According to IDC’s 2023 Digital Business Survey, 62 per cent of Indian enterprises surveyed expect more than half of their revenue to come from digital models by 2026 [2]. With this in mind, digital marketing will likely continue to be a growing field with an increasing impact in several sectors within India’s digital economy.

Data also plays a big part in digital advertising. In addition to collecting valuable information by tracking a customer’s journey in real-time, data allows marketers to target specific audiences by tailoring content to their preferred digital channels.

5 types of digital marketing examples

Digital marketers connect with potential customers through several different forms of marketing. The following strategic approaches, used by small companies and big businesses alike, remain among the most popular and impactful used today.

1. Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a digital marketing technique that seeks to improve the ranking of online material on search engines, such as Google or Bing. If you have searched for something on Google, you’ve likely noticed that even the simplest search can yield millions of results. Yet, you probably rarely go past the first few suggestions, let alone the next page.

In such a highly crowded space, digital marketers use SEO to ensure potential customers find their products or services online through organic traffic. Search engine marketing also involves collecting data to measure the success of digital marketing campaigns, including click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. Some common ways to go about SEO include:

• Creating quality content such as blog posts or social media posts that meet searcher intent

• Using keywords to help search engines identify relevant material

• Using long-tail keywords (specific phrases that searchers use) to help content reach its target audience

• Ensuring that content loads quickly and is compatible with a wide range of digital platforms such as mobile devices

Data drives SEO marketing

In SEO marketing, you'll monitor data, such as the bounce rate or clickthrough rate, to measure how well a blog, product page, or social media post is doing. You'll need to become familiar with tools like SEMRush and Google Analytics and business intelligence tools like Tableau and Looker to generate and analyze data from your organization.

Read more: What Is SEO Marketing? + How to Improve Your SEO

2. Content marketing

Content marketing is an approach to connecting with a target audience by creating original content. Rather than being concerned with making sales, content marketing typically seeks to raise brand awareness through material that appeals to a particular audience.

Content marketing can use either digital or traditional media, but it is most often used today as a form of online marketing. This online content is often used for inbound marketing, effectively drawing audiences in with enticing content that piques their interest and raises overall brand awareness.  

Content marketing can take many forms across a range of digital media channels, including:

• Informative articles and blogs 

• Original videos

• Social media channels

• Podcasts

• Affiliate marketing

3. Email marketing

As the name suggests, email marketing is a digital strategy that uses email to reach customers. To do it, marketers send timely emails to large groups of people who have signed up for their contact list to advertise sales, discounts, and new products or services. Many email marketing agencies exist in India to help companies connect with their customers, such as Octane, Mail Marketer, and MailGet Bolt.

Some common examples of emailing marketing include:

• Timed emails that raise brand awareness during holiday seasons 

• Blast emails that inform recipients about upcoming sales events 

• Targeted emails that send personalised offers and messages to specific groups on an email list 

4. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a digital marketing model that involves an advertiser paying a publisher each time their ads are clicked. Typically, the publisher is a website owner, search engine operator, or social network platform like Facebook or Instagram.

Typical examples of PPC advertising include:

• Banner ads that flank web content on the sides or top of the page 

• Social media ads that appear in the feeds of targeted audiences 

• Ads that appear when a specific keyword is searched on a search engine, such as Google

5. Social media marketing

Social media marketing is a form of online advertising that uses social networks, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, to reach prospective customers. A core feature of modern digital marketing, social media marketing leverages the reach of social network platforms with data-driven efforts to reach targeted consumers.

The active user size of social media platforms makes them particularly enticing to marketers. One study published in April 2024 quantifies the number of active social network users in the billions [3]:

• Facebook: 3,065 billion monthly active users

• YouTube: 2,504 billion monthly active users

• WhatsApp: 2 billion monthly active users

• Instagram: 2 billion monthly active users

In India, 462 million people use social media, which represents 32.2 per cent of the total population [4]. Whether through computers, mobile devices, or mobile apps, social media offers the opportunity to reach a wide—and targeted—audience of possible consumers. 

Examples of social media marketing include:

• An engaging video posted on social media by British Airways about their UK-based cabin crew flying into India for the first time whilst promoting a three-day offer on flights between the UK and India.

• Influencer marketing or pictures posted on platforms like Instagram that reflect a brand’s identity, such as Sabyasachi’s fashion-filled Instagram account.

Read more: What Is a Social Media Marketer? And How to Become One

Are there more types of digital marketing?

Yes! Along with these five main types, the field of digital marketing includes several additional categories and subcategories. Think about what sparks your interests as you consider:

• Affiliate marketing

• Influencer marketing

• Search engine marketing (SEM)

• Video marketing

• Mobile marketing

• Podcast marketing

• Public relations marketing

• Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) marketing

Digital marketing salary and job outlook

The job outlook for digital marketing is positive, with salaries varying depending on experience and position. In addition to increasing marketers’ budgets, digital marketing also offers the opportunity to reach billions of people using the internet today. As a result, the value of India's digital marketing sector was ₹406.85 billion as of 2023 and is expected to reach ₹620.45 billion in 2025 [5].

Glassdoor estimates that the average monthly salary for a digital marketer in India is ₹23,500 as of June 2024 [6]. Digital marketing managers in India annually earn about ₹8,50,000 [7].

Read more: Digital Marketing Salary: How Much Can You Earn in 2024?

How to become a digital marketer

Digital marketers generally need a firm grasp of marketing, business, communications, and digital technologies. Many employers prefer candidates with a qualification in either business or marketing, though a degree isn’t always necessary if you have the right skills. It may also be helpful for candidates to have done an internship or relevant apprenticeship.  

In addition to possessing the proper credentials, you must create a portfolio demonstrating your digital marketing abilities. Some of the skills you should showcase in your portfolio include the following:

• Marketing

• Communication 

• Collaboration

• Creativity

• Decision making

• Data analysis

Read more: 9 Digital Marketing Jobs + How to Get One

Prepare for a career in digital marketing with Coursera

A career in digital marketing is possible with the proper preparation, training, and approach. Start building the marketing skills companies seek with the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera. Learn digital marketing techniques, such as how to engage customers, analyse company data, grow brand loyalty, and find your first entry-level position.