Marketing Digital

Digital Marketing is the promoting of brands using the Internet, mobile and other interactive channels. Digital Marketing is the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner. Whilst digital marketing does include many of the techniques and practices contained within the category of Internet Marketing, it extends beyond this by including other channels with which to reach people that do not require the use of The Internet. As a result of this non-reliance on the Internet, the field of digital marketing includes a whole host of elements such as mobile phones, sms/mms, display / banner ads and digital outdoor. Previously seen as a stand-alone service in its own right, it is frequently being seen as a domain that can and does cover most, if not all, of the more traditional marketing areas such as Direct Marketing by providing the same method of communicating with an audience but in a digital fashion.

Digital Marketing – Pull vs. Push
There are 2 different forms of digital marketing, each of which has its pros and cons.
Pull
Pull digital marketing technologies involve the user having to seek out and directly grab (or pull) the content via web search. Web site/blogs and streaming media (audio and video) are good examples of this. In each of these examples, users have a specific link (URL) to view the content.
Pros:
No restrictions in terms of type of content or size as the user determines what they want.
• No technology required to send the content, only to store/display it.
• No regulations or opt-in process required.
Cons:
• Considerable marketing effort required for users to find the message/content.
• Limited tracking capabilities – only total downloads, page views, etc.
• No personalization – content is received and viewed the same across all audiences
Push
Push digital marketing technologies involve both the marketer (creator of the message) as well as the recipients (the user). Email, SMS, RSS are examples of push digital marketing. In each of these examples, the marketer has to send (push) the messages to the users (subscribers) in order for the message to be received.
Pros:
• Can be personalized -- messages received can be highly targeted and specific to selected criteria – like a special offer for females, 21 years old or over and living in California.
• Detailed tracking and reporting – marketers can see not only how many people saw their message but also specific information about each user such as their name as well as demographic and psychographic data.
• High Return on Investment (ROI) possible – if executed the right way, push messaging can help drive new revenue as well as brand reinforcement.
Cons:
• Compliance issue – each push messaging technology has its own set of regulations, from minor (RSS) to heavily controlled (email and text messaging)
• Requires mechanism to deliver content – the marketer has to use an application to send the message, from an email marketing system to RSS feeders.
• Delivery can be blocked – if the marketer does not follow the regulations set forth by each push message type, the content can be refused or rejected before getting to the intended recipient.

Digital Marketing and Multi-Channel Communications
While digital marketing is effective when using one message type, it is much more successful when a marketer combines multiple channels in the message campaigns. For example, if a company is trying to promote a new product release, they could send out an email message or text campaign individually. This, if properly executed, could yield positive results. However, this same campaign could be exponentially improved if multiple message types are implemented. An email could be sent to a list of potential customers with a special offer for those that also include their cell phone number. A couple of days later, a follow up campaign would be sent via text message (SMS) with the special offer. Push and pull message technologies can also be used in conjunction with each other. For example, an email campaign can include a banner ad or link to a content download. This enables a marketer to have the best of both worlds in terms of their marketing messaging.

Digital Marketing Terms
Banner Ad, An advertisement that appears on a Web page, most commonly at the top (header) or bottom (footer) of the page. Designed to have the user click on it for more information (see Microsite)
Blacklisted, A blacklisted notice means that the message may not have been delivered due to be flagged on one of the major lists that keep tabs of known spammers. Different ISPs use different blacklists to block mailings from being delivered to their clients. It can be a temporary ban or a permanent one, depending upon the list.
Blocked, A blocked notice means that the message did not get through due to being considered spam by the subscriber’s ISP. This may be due to being on a blacklist or because the message contains a domain that is already being blocked.
Blog, Shortened from “web log” a blog is a user-generated Web site where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Campaign, A campaign is a specific message being sent to a specific group of recipients.
CAN SPAM Act The CAN SPAM ACT is a series of federal laws that must be followed by all email marketers. Those found in violation of the laws can be subjected to major penalties. For more information, go to http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/index.shtml
Click Through, The number of times people clicked on the links in your message. This is often referred to as CTR (Click Through Rate). Note: you must have enabled click through tracking in the campaign in order for this to be recorded.
Digital Brand Engagement, Brand and consumer interaction through the Internet. This includes all aspects of dialogue through the social web and on the brand's own website.
DMA Market, DMA stands for Designated Market Area, which is often associated with the entertainment industry. DMAs are usually counties (or sometimes split counties) that contain a large population that can be targeted, such as New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago.
Email Service Provider (ESP), Outside companies like mobileStorm that send bulk emails on behalf of their clients to prevent their messages as being labeled as spam or blocked entirely.
False Positives, Legitimate messages being labeled as “spam” Can cost companies potentially millions in potential lost revenue if not dealt with correctly.
GPRL, The Global Permanent Removal List consists of records that are automatically removed from a particular database. Almost all email service providers (ESP) or multi-channel messaging companies maintain these lists for their clients.
Instant Messaging, Instant messaging (often shortened to IM) is a type of communications service that enables you to create a kind of private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real time over the Internet.
Keywords, Used in conjunction with SMS messages. A user types a short code and matching keyword in order to be added to a mobile club or database.
Microsite, A mini Web site design to promote a specific portion or brand from a larger corporate site. Used often with contests or as a landing page for a specific promotion.
Open Rate, This is a ratio determined by the number of people who opened your email against the total number of people to whom you sent the message. Typically, this number will be low for large campaigns and higher for more targeted campaigns.

Opt-In List, Email marketers have databases of subscribers to their newsletters, featuring these subscribers' email addresses and names. Such a list is known as an opt-in list (and is thus CAN-SPAM compliant; see above for info on the CAN-SPAM act) because users choose to receive the emails. This is in contrast to spam email, which is unsolicited.
Personalization, Personalization gives you the ability to create a customized message for each person in your database. Can be addressed by first/last name, city, state, zip, etc.
RSS, RSS or Real Simple Syndication is technology designed to allow users to subscribe to a specific content feed and be automatically alerted when new updates are available.
RSS Reader, Application used to subscribe and monitor selected RSS content feeds.
Short Code, A short code is a 5 digit number that is used to send and respond to text messages. They can either be a random set of numbers or a “vanity” number tied to a specific brand or number pattern.
SMS, SMS (Short Message Service) is a one-way text message sent via a cell phone. It is usually received via the subscribers' text message inbox on their cell phone and can be a maximum of 160 characters per message.
Social Bookmarking, Social Bookmarking is a popular way to store, classify, share and search links that are combined into a single site for easy access.
Spam, An email message that is unwanted by the recipient. Legitimate emails can sometimes be incorrectly identified as spam and is a growing problem.
Streaming Technologies, Communication channel such as video and audio that is accessed online. Can be a pre-stored clip to access as well as a live feed that is streamed like an online broadcast.
Subscriber, A person who signs up to receive messages from a particular company or entity.
Targeting, Targeting allows you to send a message to people based on specific criteria from your subscriber database.
Voice Broadcast, Sending a pre-recorded voice messages to a large set of phone numbers at the time same. Can either be a voice call (meaning the recipient must answer the call for the message to play) or voice mail (meaning the message will play only if the recipient doesn’t answer )
Widget, A small graphical device that does a highly focused, often single, specific task. Web widgets can be embedded in web pages or run on the desktop of a PC (Windows or Mac) using software such as Apple's Dashboard software or Yahoo! Widgets Engine.

Marketing Internet Article

Article marketing is a type of advertising in which businesses write short articles related to their respective industry. These articles are made available for distribution and publication in the marketplace. Each article contains a bio box and byline that include references and contact information for the author's business. Well-written content articles released for free distribution have the potential of increasing the authoring business' credibility within its market as well as attracting new clients.

Background
Article marketing has been used by professionals for nearly as long as mass print has been available. In paper-print form (as opposed to online forms), article marketing is utilized commonly by business owners as a means of obtaining free press space. A local business provides useful content to the newspaper free of charge, and in return the newspaper prints the business' contact information with the article. Because newspapers and other traditional media are expected to present content on limited budgets, this arrangement is generally advantageous for all parties involved. For example, an accounting firm may market itself by writing an article entitled "The Top 10 Ways to Avoid Being Audited" and offering it to the local newspapers several weeks prior to tax season. Similarly, a roofing company may offer radio stations a concise article entitled "How to Avoid Ice Damage to Your Roof this Winter" shortly before the winter season.

Online article marketing
With the rise of e-commerce and Internet marketing, article marketing has made a move to the online world as well. As in traditional forms of media, online article marketing has served the dual role of providing publishers with what amounts to free content, and advertisers with similarly free advertising. The website where an author can post an article is known as an article directory. The primary reason an author can post an article without cost is that the directory owner places advertising on each article page and collects the revenue generated from the advertising. The article directory site gradually increases its own search engine popularity as more articles are posted, benefitting both the author and the directory owner with increased visitor numbers and therefore article page views. However unlike the off-line version, there are additional dimensions to article marketing online. Most notable among the differences is the use of articles for search engine optimization. Articles are written to target particular keyword niches, and distributed to content publishers that cater to those markets. Authors are able to target their audience with informative content, sent to an already-interested group of readers. Many online article marketers enjoy the low cost of this type of advertising and so have written hundreds and sometimes thousands of articles. One online article writer has written 12,900 articles. These prolific article authors also enjoy abundant backlinks (i.e., links pointing back to the business' website). When the articles are distributed via RSS, the exposure to the authoring business and number of backlinks is increased greatly. Because of this, article marketing has been the victim of junk content over the past few years. It's important that article marketers be careful not to abuse the Internet and post poor quality content on the web just for promotional purposes; smart article marketers use scientifically proven techniques that dig deep into their own businesses and their readers' concerns and needs and tactfully persuades them to click through to their web sites. Another article marketing option available is where the author can choose to take control of the advertising space on the page where his article is posted. With this option the author has the choice to either have no advertising to compete with the article, or to have control over the advertising on the page along with the revenue generated.

Web 2.0
Article marketing has become increasingly popular as a marketing method under the Web 2.0 generation of business on the Internet. Many subjects have gained popularity through viral propagation of articles via social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The sudden popularity of article marketing has caused an overall reduction in quality in many subjects, mainly due to individuals writing low-quality articles as a quick way of achieving exposure. Efficient use of article marketing as a form of promotion requires invested effort in writing high-quality, relevant articles.[1]

Article marketing and search engine optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) deals with the order in which webpages are ranked when keywords or phrases are typed into search engines. The higher a page is ranked, the more likely that page will draw a greater number of site visitors. For company websites, increased traffic often translates into increased sales, and article marketing has proven to be useful and effective for several leading Internet marketing ventures. One method of SEO encompasses the idea that a website's rank in search engines will rise as it obtains more backlinks. Therefore, writing and distributing articles that contain a link to a business owner's website within the bio box should result in more links back to that website. Theoretically this process will increase that website's rank within search engines. This theory has led to a trend in online marketing toward writing articles solely for SEO purposes, and are commonly referred to as reprint articles. This trend has been matched by a wide selection of article marketing directory websites which accept, vet, and provide redistribution of such articles to online publishers. The free distribution of articles has, however, led to a large amount of duplicated content appearing on websites across the Internet. The quality of articles can also suffer as some authors seek a large quantity of backlinks at the possible expense of content quality.[2] Recently there is a new breakthrough in the article marketing technique. This new breakthrough minimizes the possibility of duplicated content across internet. The technique involves proprietary algorithm based on article spinning method. Unique Article Wizard is an example of article distribution center that use this method. Using this technology, completely unique articles can be shown in many article directory, such as those shown in Gigantesque Articles Directory.

References
1. ^ [Kwan, K. (2008), Entrepreneurial Steroids: Article Science that Triples 3X CTR and PUMPS Sales & ROI, 6WRiters Publishing Group]
2. ^ [Kwan, K. (2008), Entrepreneurial Steroids: Article Science that Triples 3X CTR and PUMPS Sales & ROI, 6WRiters Publishing Group]