Top 12 Types Of Digital Marketing 2024: What Are They?

There are various kinds of digital marketing. Today, I’ll review some of the most common types that marketers like you can use for your company.

Remember that neither type is inherently superior to the other; it depends on your specific circumstances and needs. Furthermore, you can (and should) mix and match different types for a supercharged advertising strategy.

1. Content Marketing

One of the most effective indirect types of digital marketing is content marketing. Businesses typically market themselves by promoting their products, services, or brands.

Content marketing focuses on promoting your value through relevant and useful content. 

Content marketing encompasses a wide range of content types. E-books, brochures, infographics, case studies, blogs, videos, and social media posts are popular types of web content.

An effective content marketing strategy is about producing content your target audience wants to see to influence their purchasing decisions later on.

As the saying goes, “Content is king.” Content marketing drives results, builds trust, and raises brand awareness.

By publishing high-quality content, you establish yourself as an authority in your field. Your reputation among customers and fellow industry experts will also increase if you produce great content.

Another advantage of content marketing is that it complements any digital marketing effort. Good content should be the foundation of your digital marketing strategy.

Suppose you want to give shoppers more information about your products or services. In that case, you can create highly engaging social media posts or even include a QR code in your traditional marketing materials.

Combining content marketing with proactive customer service is a powerful one-two punch if you are a service-based business or sell high-ticket items.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) has been the marketing buzzword of the decade, and for a good reason: more than 90% of online experiences begin with a simple online search via search engines such as Google and Bing.

Marketers can use SEO to rank on search engine results pages (e.g., Google, Bing, and others) for their most relevant keywords, allowing them to reach many potential buyers or consumers.

After all, over 63,000 searches are performed every second. That is a tremendous amount of untapped potential!

An effective SEO strategy includes various complementary SEO techniques, such as keyword research, blog posts, backlink building, and technical site optimization.

Local SEO is a subset of SEO that focuses on marketing small businesses to their local communities.

One of the reasons for its popularity is that it is an effective type of inbound marketing platform.

This means that rather than reaching out to customers (who may or may not be interested in the first place), marketers focus on bringing customers to them via search engines – and these customers are, more often than not, ready to make a purchase decision.

SEO assists marketers in optimizing their online presence to attract high-quality website traffic with high conversion potential.

The main disadvantage is that SEO can become quite complicated and time-consuming for the average business owner, especially since the algorithms used by search engines like Google to rank content are constantly updated.

Fortunately, numerous digital marketing agencies provide comprehensive SEO campaign management services across various search platforms.

If you’d rather have a skilled digital marketer or a marketing team handle your SEO, look into The Search Initiative, a firm that’s worked with Ahrefs, Skyscanner, SEMRush, and the New York Post.

3. SEM – Search Engine Marketing

Because their names are so similar, search engine marketing (or SEM) and SEO are frequently confused.

Both work with search engines such as Google and Bing. However, these two types of digital marketing differ in some ways, and it is critical to understand them.

While SEO assists marketers in ranking organically for their target keywords, SEM focuses on increasing website traffic from search engines via paid advertisements. Bing Ads and Google AdWords are the two most popular SEM services.

SEM enables marketers to place paid advertisements on search engine results pages. Except for an “Ad” label, these ads resemble organic search results in Google.

They appear at the top of the search results before any organic search results, providing you with high visibility and immediate brand awareness.

SEM is popular among digital marketers because it is simple to create targeted search results ads based on keywords and the searcher’s location.

You can target your ads to a specific demographic or geographic area. You can even go further and target competitor keywords, allowing you to “steal” some traffic from a competitor.

Search engine marketing is not intended to replace optimizing search engine results pages. Marketers should always use a combination of the two to drive as much search traffic as possible to their websites.

4. SMM – Social Media Marketing

As the name suggests, social media marketing (SMM) is all about using the power of content on social media platforms to market your business.

Over the last decade, social media networks have dominated digital media, attracting millions, if not billions, of users worldwide. This makes them a valuable source of traffic.

Just look at how many people are on the three most popular social media platforms:

• Facebook – 1.66 billion active daily users
• Twitter – 330 million active monthly users
• Instagram – 500 million active daily users

The key to running a successful social media marketing campaign is to create shareable (and possibly viral) content.

Marketers could post directly to their profile or add social media sharing buttons to their website, allowing visitors to share their content with their friends and family.

There are also sponsored posts and paid advertisements for each social media network, but you don’t have to spend money to build a large following.

Finally, one of the most significant benefits of social media marketing is that it is accessible and affordable, even for small businesses.

Social media channels are critical components of any effective digital marketing strategy because they are one of the few channels allowing two-way communication between your brand and its customers.

Users can like your posts, comment on them, and interact with your content.

It’s possible for some platforms even to allow users to send purchases and inquiries directly to your business, making them excellent lead-generation tools, especially when paired with mobile marketing.

You can also schedule and track your posts with tools like Hootsuite or its alternatives to gain insights into what works best for your business.

5. Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-per-click, also known as PPC, is a popular type of digital marketing. It’s an advertising model in which you only pay for the number of clicks on your ad.

Regarding ads on the SERP, PPC falls under the search engine marketing umbrella, but it can also include affiliate marketing (more on that later) and display advertising on another site.

Running a PPC ad usually involves little to no upfront cost. You only pay a small fee if a customer clicks on your ad. If no one clicks on it, you will not be charged.

This makes it appealing to small businesses with limited resources. However, predicting how much you’ll have to pay at the end of the month is difficult.

The average cost of a click is between $1 and $2, but this varies greatly depending on your industry and the keywords you want to target.

Highly competitive industries or keywords will charge more – the insurance industry has the highest cost-per-click, with some keywords costing as much as $50+ per click. Some keywords, on the other hand, will only cost you a few cents.

6. Affiliate Marketing

What exactly is affiliate marketing, and how does it work?

One of the most profitable types of digital marketing is affiliate marketing. It entails a partnership with an online retailer in exchange for a commission on every sale or lead you generate. The two most common methods are as follows:

• Giving their readers/followers a special discount code
• Their content website linking to yours

You pay your affiliate partner for site traffic/sales whenever a user enters the discount code or clicks on the link.

There are many affiliate marketing programs available for e-commerce sites, including Amazon Associates, eBay, Shopify, etc. You can also cut out the middleman by creating your affiliate program.

In most cases, it’s a win-win situation. You delegate some tasks to a marketing team, reach out to a new target audience or consumers in niche communities, set your own cost-per-click/sale, and only pay for actual conversions.

In exchange, your partners will earn a passive income with no upfront costs and minimal stress.

However, there are a few drawbacks and challenges. If you choose to do affiliate marketing through a well-known affiliate network, such as Amazon Associates, you will be competing with literally thousands of other businesses.

You are also restricted to Amazon’s rates, and you must learn how to work with their system to be successful.

You have far more control if you go the other route and create your affiliate program.

However, you must also handle the rest of the operations, such as reaching out to potential affiliates, training them, and tracking the leads they generate.

7. Email Marketing

Email Marketing is still one of the most widely used and effective forms of digital marketing.

Marketing via email is a great way to raise awareness of your products and services, build relationships with your customers, and motivate them to be loyal to you.

A successful email marketing campaign relies on building an email list, creating content that is engaging for your audience, crafting enticing subject lines, and planning the best time to send it.

The types of emails you can send are virtually limitless. Most customers are already familiar with the brand newsletter, where you can provide regular updates on the company’s activities.

You can also send emails when you launch a new product or service, redesign your website, open a new store, or host an event. Email marketing also includes confirmation emails, thank-you notes, and notifications.

8. Instant Messaging Marketing

While instant messaging is most commonly used to communicate with friends and family, businesses can also use it to communicate with their target market, not only to answer questions or fulfill orders but also to promote themselves.

Because chat is one-on-one, marketing via instant messaging apps requires a slightly different approach than other online marketing tactics.

Personalize your messages, inspire action (e.g., “Learn more,” “Buy now,” etc.), and, most importantly, keep them short and snappy. Long messages are likely to be skipped by users.

IMM, one of the more underappreciated types of digital marketing, provides numerous benefits to your company:

• For starters, creating a profile or account is a no-brainer.
• Second, instant messaging is just that: instant. Customers can (and frequently do) view and respond to your messages immediately.
• Additionally, you can often segment your target audience or consumer by creating lists or groups, so that you are able to send relevant messages to the right people.

A few stand out above the rest when deciding which messaging apps to use.

WhatsApp is the most popular app, with over 1.5 billion users. With 1.3 billion users, Facebook Messenger comes in second, while Viber, WeChat, and Telegram round out the top five.

9. Video Marketing

If you know how to use video correctly, it can be an extremely effective online marketing tool.

With more than half of consumers expecting video content from their favorite brands, there’s no denying the importance of incorporating videos into your digital marketing strategies.

You can use video marketing to promote your company, increase traffic to your website, educate customers, encourage engagement, and even go viral. You can create a variety of digital marketing videos.

• Demo videos that let you show off your product.
• Educational videos are excellent for teaching customers a new concept or instructing them on performing a specific task.
• No matter what type of event you are planning, event videos can help you highlight the most interesting aspects.
• You can learn from an expert in your field by watching interview videos. This not only educates your customers but it also increases your credibility.
• Testimonial/case study videos allow you to show users why your company is the best option. Hearing from other satisfied customers and seeing actual results can help convert a customer!

10. Influencer Marketing

The term “influencer” may be new, but the concept is not. It refers to a social media content creator with a large following in a particular niche or community.

They may lack the celebrity and name recognition of an A-list celebrity endorser, but that doesn’t make them any less effective as a marketing tool.

Consider influencer marketing to be an “improved” version of word-of-mouth marketing. By collaborating with an influencer, you gain access to their audience, which can reach hundreds of thousands of people.

These followers frequently trust and admire the influencer, making them far more likely to purchase a product recommended by one.

There are many different types of influencers, just as there are many different types of celebrities (e.g., actors, musicians, public figures, etc.). The type you choose is determined by your target market, taste, and budget:

• Micro-influencers have thousands but no more than 100,000 followers. These are people who, no matter how small their community, have a specific niche or expertise and are trusted within it. Furthermore, they are usually much less expensive.
• Macro-influencers are individuals who have 100,000 to a million followers. These social media influencers are usually at the top of their game. This is the influencer type to target if you want a little expertise and reach.
• Mega-influencers are celebrities with millions of followers. While these are typically celebrities, some social media stars reach this level. While mega-influencers provide the most reach, casting too wide a net may not result in as many clients as you’d like. Furthermore, mega-influencers frequently charge exorbitant fees for a single post, such as thousands or even millions of dollars.

When using influencer marketing, ensure that you are targeting the right influencer and, thus, the right target audience.

You should also be wary of influencers who have “purchased” followers. According to Talkwalker’s Dan Seavers, it may be more effective to focus on micro-influencers rather than macro-influencers.

11. Radio Advertising

Most people overlook that radio advertising was one of the first digital marketing tools invented when they think of “types of digital marketing.”

Radio broadcasts are also not a thing of the past; they reach over 230 million users aged 12 and up in the United States alone.

Aside from their broad reach, radio advertisements are also a more cost-effective digital advertising method. They’re simple and inexpensive to produce, requiring only a good script and a talented voice actor.

However, you must be more strategic in marketing to your target audience because you have no control over who hears your advertisements.

12. Television Advertising

Yes, television marketing is included in the digital marketing platform! For decades, TV commercials have been the bread and butter of the advertising industry, owing to adults’ daily hours in front of the television.

You can reach millions of people with TV ads, and some may become customers.

The first impediment is financial. TV commercials can cost thousands of dollars to produce and air, which a small business may not be able to afford.

Second, viewers increasingly avoid ads by using DVRs, streaming services, and illegal downloads.