Digital Marketing Channels – The first thing to emphasize is the importance of determining where your customers spend most of their time. In most cases, the answer to this question is the Internet, and that is where you should aim for your marketing strategy.
It’s safe to say that digital marketing remains a critical component of eCommerce marketing strategies, but which digital marketing channel should you choose? This article will make that choice much easier.
Your digital marketing strategy should include 3 very important components: brand awareness, lead generation, and direct sales. You’ll also need to make sure that these components reach your potential customers one by one in the right place at the right time. This means that, as you may have already guessed, you will need to combine multiple marketing channels to achieve the best results.
Table of Contents
Top 8 Digital Marketing Channels
1. Natural Traffic
All web site traffic from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo.com falls under the category of organic digital marketing.
People will find your website when they look up a certain subject or item. Search engines will prioritize your online store at the top of the search page results if it is properly optimized. Make an investment in search engine optimization if you want more visitors (SEO).
2. Electronic Traffic
The digital email marketing channel includes all website traffic from email messages.
These emails can be part of:
- Email marketing campaigns (eg Christmas Sale)
- Triggered email campaigns (for example, abandoned cart emails).
- Transactional emails (such as order confirmation emails)
Creating valuable blog posts, product guides, and educational resources can help ecommerce businesses attract potential customers and build trust. A well-planned content marketing strategy can support these efforts by delivering useful information at every stage of the customer journey.
3. Paid Search Traffic
A paid search digital marketing channel includes all website traffic that comes from paid search engine advertising. It can also be called search engine marketing (SEM) or pay-per-click (PPC).
Search campaigns can be run on the following networks:
- Google ads
- Bing ads
An online store looking to generate traffic from search engine marketing should focus on running their Google Shopping campaigns or Bing Product Ads, as these types of ads provide the best eCommerce ROI.
4. Traffic From Content Marketing
All website traffic from your blog, videos, and digital downloads like purchasing guides are included in the content marketing channel.
Inbound marketing is another name for content marketing that Hubspot uses.
E-commerce companies may increase traffic to their online stores by producing useful or entertaining content that is picked up by search engines and shared on social media.
Ecommerce businesses can also engage potential customers through live product demonstrations, expert sessions, and online educational events. Learn more about webinar marketing to understand how webinars can help businesses connect with their target audience and generate leads.
5. Use Of Social Media
All website traffic from social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, and others is included in the social media digital marketing channel.
Social media traffic can be free organic traffic or paid advertising.
In recent years, social networks have made it difficult for e-commerce companies to make themselves known with free initiatives. They want you to pay to play.
If you’re thinking about running paid ads on social media, consider the following:
- Facebook ads
- Instagram advertising
- Advertising on Pinterest
- Ads on Snapchat
6. Partner Traffic
All website traffic from affiliate partners is included in the affiliate digital marketing channel in exchange for a commission on all successful orders.
Your affiliate program might be introduced on well-known networks like:
- com
- com
- Rakuten shared link
You can build relationships with a rebate website like eBates, coupon sites like Retailmenot.com, deal sites like Slickdeals.net, bloggers, and internet influencers.
7. Referral Traffic
The digital referral marketing channel includes all website traffic that comes from literally everything else on the web, including apps.
These can include websites where you can place display ads, sponsored blog posts, or digital newspapers. I usually include everything that is not included in the other 7 channels, both organic and paid.
Attracting visitors to an ecommerce website is only part of the process; businesses must also encourage those visitors to complete purchases. Applying effective conversion marketing strategies can help improve customer journeys, reduce purchase barriers, and increase the likelihood of conversions.
8. Direct Traffic
A direct channel includes all website traffic that goes directly to your website without a referring website. People usually enter your website URL directly into their web browser or access their bookmarks.
Direct traffic also allows you to measure some of your marketing efforts offline, such as through radio, television, or events. For example, when people see your ad on TV, they can use their smartphone to directly access your website.
Digital marketing managers help coordinate online campaigns across channels such as search engines, email, social media, and paid advertising. Readers interested in the career side of digital marketing can also review the digital marketing manager salary in the USA for additional context about this professional role.
9. Chatbots
With the development of artificial intelligence technologies, the popularity of chatbots is also growing. Chatbots are programs that respond to customer messages much faster, which helps increase sales. Bots respond to messages, so the real person doesn’t have to.
As consumer expectations and digital platforms continue to evolve, ecommerce businesses need to adapt their marketing approaches to remain competitive. Understanding the essential qualities of modern marketing can help marketers develop more customer-focused campaigns and respond to changing market demands.
10. Voice Search
Verbal communication with search engines and virtual assistants was already introduced by Alexa, Siri and Google some time ago. As Internet users rely on it more and more, it cannot be ignored.
This also poses a challenge for digital marketers. Unlike text search, voice search often returns only one more relevant result, which is displayed and read to the user. SEOs may need to rethink which keywords to optimize for, as only the best will get the full score.
Managing multiple ecommerce marketing channels often requires experienced professionals who can coordinate campaigns, allocate budgets, and evaluate performance. Businesses and aspiring marketing leaders can explore the senior marketing manager salary to learn more about compensation for experienced marketing leadership roles.
The Bottom Line
The one thing I always recommend when creating a Digital Marketing Channels strategy is to define your objectives (goals) as well as set performance metrics. This is the only way to track performance and be able to do more of what works.
Kashifa Jafar is a technology writer and contributor at WebTechOn with 4+ years of experience in technology writing and content creation. She covers artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud computing, mobile technology, 5G, telecommunications, networking, apps, smart home technology, cybersecurity and consumer electronics.
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Sameena Begum is a technology and digital content reviewer at WebTechOn. She reviews selected content for clarity, organisation, consistency, readability and overall editorial quality.
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