4 Types of Digital Marketing | SEO | SEM | SMM | Content Marketing (2024)

Digital Marketing is a curation of all marketing activities carried out in the digital space to market a product or service. It not only includes online marketing activities but also some traditional activities. To view online marketing activities as a separate entity from all other marketing activities is not advised. A great marketing campaign is a combination of both worlds. Here we list the 4 different types of digital marketing activities.

To further elaborate on “Digital Marketing“, it encompasses 4 most important digital marketing types that play a crucial role in any business. It is very important to not focus on just one type of digital marketing technique. The most prosperous digital marketing strategies use a multi-channel approach.

1. Content Marketing

Content marketing is the art of using a storyline with valuable information that translates to brand building and awareness among your target audience. The effects of content marketing are long term and your target audience are primed with information to take a profitable action. The key to an effective content marketing strategy is to build relationships with the target audience rather than posing.

Content marketing aims at building relationships with potential customers and becoming a partner rather than an advertiser. It means content marketing is often used in inbound marketing strategies through a content strategy that focuses on providing value to the target audience with content.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of using organic tactics to rank high on search engines. It is a natural way of generating traffic to your website from the search engine results page. It doesn’t stop with just driving traffic to your website but it also has a part to play in converting these traffic into quality leads.

SEO is often grouped under three categories as listed below:

a) On-Page SEO

It is nothing but optimizing a web page to target a specific search query and rank high on search engines. It can be achieved by doing various activities like keyword research, content creation, and keyword optimization.

b) Off-page SEO

It is carried out to build the reputation of a web page by linking it with other quality websites. By doing this you make search engines to trust the content on your website. This increases the reputation and reliability of your web page on search engines. This process of generating backlinks by connecting your webpage content with other quality websites is called link building.

c) Technical SEO

It is usually carried out to provide a great user experience. It is generally done by focusing on your site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, site structure, and indexation.

Many have come to a misconception that SEO has become ineffective in the B2B space, but the reality is, more than 70% of B2B purchases begin their buying process with a generic search. Hence your SEO strategy should focus more on creating quality content, generating quality backlinks to reach a wider audience, and rank high on the search engines. Though SEO has become challenging day by day, it is still one of the best channels for B2B.

3. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a paid tactic to gain attention to the brand by appearing high on search engine results. This strategy is often called paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. It involves various activities such as setting up the ads, optimizing the ads, setting a budget and most importantly placement of ads. SEM can be carried out on various search engines but is done predominantly on Google. Google supports paid advertising on its search engine and partners called Google Ads.

SEM is the most effective marketing strategy in the B2B space. Its impact is immediate and as soon as you launch your campaign, you can see your ads showing on SERPs. With SEM, you will have the luxury to define your target audience and you can filter them based on age, interests, location, habits and more. You can also keep a track of ROI which makes SEM more effective for B2B.

4. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social Media Marketing is the process of gaining traffic or attention from social media sites by posting content relevant to your target audience. Some of the popular social media sites include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Snapchat.

Each platform has its own set of rules to market your product or service, and it requires a unique approach and strategy. Your blog content may be ideal for one platform, a simple picture will help you reach a wider audience in another platform. Also, there are platforms where only video content works. It’s important to identify your audience and create content accordingly. The immense growth of social media marketing shows that B2B companies have shifted from broadcast media to social media platforms like LinkedIn to market their service or product. This channel helps them to better engage with their customers and create long term relationships.

Right from Content Marketing to Social Media Marketing, leverage all types of digital marketing techniques to reach your target audience with your product/service. When should you leverage these techniques? Send an email at [email protected] about your business and we will find what’s stopping you!

Still unsure which platform to prioritize first? Get in touch with us and let’s make it simple!