How Digital Marketing Courses Assist an Online Marketing Strategy

In today’s highly technological and online-driven world, digital marketing is more important than ever if businesses want to attract customers.

Thus, businesses are in desperate need of online marketing professionals.

MANCOSA offers numerous digital marketing courses to help individuals become online marketing specialists and build fulfilling careers within the industry.

This article will discuss what digital marketing is, how it’s different from traditional marketing, why it’s vital for businesses, and the top digital marketing careers so you can decide if this is the right fit for you.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of businesses and brands through the internet and other online platforms.

This includes platforms like social media, paid advertising, email, business websites, and more.

Since its origin in the late 1990s, digital marketing has grown tremendously, with the worldwide digital advertising market expected to reach $616 billion (over R11 trillion) in 2022.

Online marketing has significantly changed how organisations advertise their brands and connect with their target customers.

Virtually all businesses worldwide are implementing online marketing into their overall marketing strategies to avoid being left behind by today’s digitally inclined consumers.

This is because many consumers use mobile phones, computers, and tablets to shop online rather than visiting physical stores.

Difference between digital marketing and traditional marketing?

The biggest distinction between traditional and digital marketing are the platforms used to convey marketing messages.

While traditional marketing uses platforms, such as magazines, brochures, newspapers, and radio, digital marketing uses online media, such as websites, social media, video streaming, etc.

Traditional marketing is often a one-way communication channel (where the customer can’t respond to the message directly).

On the other hand, many digital marketing platforms offer two-way communication where customers can respond to marketing messages (either via comments, direct responses on email, etc.)

Though digital marketing has taken the world by storm, this doesn’t mean traditional marketing isn’t relevant anymore. Many businesses still use traditional marketing extremely effectively today.

For example, We Buy Cars uses billboards and radio advertisements to communicate with its target customers. This has aided the company in becoming one of the country’s most well-known second-hand car dealers.

At the end of the day, the type of marketing methods businesses use will depend on their offers.

Ways digital marketing helps your marketing strategy

Here’s a list of some of the biggest benefits businesses get when using digital marketing.

1. Cost-effective

Digital marketing campaigns are often far less expensive than traditional marketing.

For example, typical billboard campaigns in SA can cost between R5,000 to R50,000 per month (regardless of whether anyone sees the advertisement). Whereas online campaigns, such as Facebook advertising, only lets you pay when someone sees or clicks on your ad.

This means businesses will pay far less for their advertising — all while knowing the right people see their ads.

2. Higher return on investment

Online marketing allows businesses to experiment with their marketing strategies and find the methods that produce the highest return on investment (ROI).

It allows them to measure each campaign’s success and determine what makes it successful and what doesn’t. From there, they can quantify their return by making use of the methods that work best.

3. Improved audience insights

Online platforms such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, and even email constantly capture data about the people interacting with companies’ content.

This includes data such as:

Customers’ interests
The times they’re online
When they’re most likely to open emails
And much more

As a result, businesses get valuable information about their customers that can be used to improve tactics and personalise their offerings.

4. Generates quality leads and conversions

Digital marketing allows businesses to take prospects through the entire sales funnel.

From generating a lead through various online marketing and advertising methods to the final sale.

Furthermore, it allows them to repeatedly sell to the same customer with methods such as upselling, cross-selling, and even subscriptions.

5. Expand customer reach

Online marketing allows businesses to expand their reach internationally and speak to far larger audiences.

Social media alone brings in multitudes of prospective clients since there are currently 4.48 billion people worldwide who use social media.

Additionally, over 1 billion people use Google every single month.

This allows businesses to reach people they never would’ve been able to target before.

6. Build customer loyalty

Businesses can create more loyalty with their customers since online platforms allow them to answer questions in real time. This means fast and efficient support and feedback.

Furthermore, they get to provide their customers with the most relevant and valuable information — establishing their authority and expertise.

Hiring graduates who have completed digital marketing courses can help a business to harness these benefits of online marketing.

Top jobs for digital marketing graduates

Digital marketing courses can help graduates attain several high-paying positions. They can either choose a general role or go into more specialised work. Some of the top jobs for digital marketing graduates include.

Email marketing specialists: People specialising in creating and monitoring various email marketing campaigns. These emails are often sent to nurture customers or to sell to them.

Digital marketers: People who help maintain a brand by working on several marketing campaigns across different platforms. Some of their duties include performing market research, strategising, and creating content.

Social media managers: People who oversee a company’s interactions with customers across several social media platforms. They’re responsible for analysing engagement data, looking at trends, and creating content that’ll engage followers.

PPC specialists: Pay-per-click specialists manage internet advertising campaigns. They’re responsible for developing strategies, designing, implementing the campaign, and analysing its performance.

SEO specialists: Search engine optimisation specialists use research and analysis to improve a website’s rankings on Google and other search engines. They develop a strategy, search for keywords, and write content.

Study Digital marketing courses with MANCOSA

Digital marketing is a highly lucrative and ever-growing industry with countless possibilities. Getting into this industry will set you up for future career success.
MANCOSA helps you learn digital marketing online with some of the best digital marketing courses, including an online Digital Marketing course and Digital Transformation Strategy.