Digital Marketing Free Course (Tutorial 2)

An Introduction to the Digital Marketing Channels   

Digital marketing free course

Tutorial 2: 

Hey there, welcome back to day two of your Digital Marketing for Beginners Course! Yesterday was a blast, so let's keep that energy up and running. Today, we're diving into the exciting world of channels. We'll be exploring the top-notch, widely-used digital marketing channels, understanding where they fit into the "marketing funnel." Plus, we'll be taking a closer look at the inner workings of these channels and the skills you need to ace them.

Here's a sneak peek at what's on the agenda for today: 

• What's all the buzz about the marketing funnel? 
• Let's uncover the most popular digital marketing channels out there. Where do these awesome channels fit into the marketing funnel? 
• And of course, a quick summary of all the amazing stuff we've covered!

Are you ready for another day of digital marketing fun? Let's dive right in!

 

What is the marketing funnel?

Welcome to the awesome world of the marketing funnel! You'll come across tons of cool visuals that'll help you grasp the magic of digital marketing as you journey through this course. But hold up, what exactly is this marketing funnel, and why is it such a big deal? 

Well, think of it as your trusty guide showing how potential customers, like website visitors or social media followers, turn into actual buyers. It all starts with casting a wide net to create awareness and then nurturing those interested folks through the funnel until they make that satisfying purchase. Just remember, not everyone sticks around at every stage, so the funnel's shape reflects this, getting narrower as you go down.

Oh, and here's a fun fact: 

A customer's journey isn't always a straight line. Imagine checking out a cool pair of sneakers online, only to stumble upon a negative review about the delivery time. Suddenly, you're back to square one, rethinking your options. 

Or picture this: you're in a rush to snag those perfect sneakers before your next class. Speed matters, right? You'd probably search like crazy, quickly judge a website's trustworthiness, and hit that buy button ASAP. That's what we call skipping stages and making a speedy decision.

But here's the cool part: the funnel isn't just about the customer's journey; it also teaches us how different marketing channels, campaigns, and even those fancy marketing roles work their magic at different stages of the funnel. 

In the next section, we'll zoom in on some of these exciting channels, the awesome people behind them, and how they fit perfectly into this whole marketing funnel thing. Exciting, right?

 

What are the most common digital marketing channels?

You can easily get tangled up in a whirlwind of options when you start thinking about this. Let’s use social media as a prime example.

Think about it—when you hear "social media," what pops into your mind? Maybe it's the old-school days of MySpace, Bebo, or Facebook. Or perhaps it's the latest buzz on TikTok, ClubHouse, or the trendiest platforms out there.

Oh, and here’s a twist—you might not even consider YouTube as social media, even though it shares some of the same cool features that make Facebook so social. You might view YouTube more like Netflix, a go-to spot for on-demand videos. But when we talk about "social media," we're really talking about a bunch of platforms that thrive on stuff made by users like you and me and chatting it up with peers. Each of these platforms has its own vibe, attracting a unique crowd. 

So, for your marketing game, one social media platform might be a better fit than another. Now, let’s say you're trying to market some fancy new briefcases. Would you go all-in on LinkedIn or sway with the TikTok trend? And guess what? It gets even more interesting. On social media, you've got a whole bunch of strategies up your sleeve. 

You can grow your fan base naturally, dishing out awesome content that folks crave—though it might take some time and effort. Or you could unleash ads on these platforms, aiming them directly at your target audience.

Or better yet, you could team up with influencers who’ve got a massive following, letting them rave about your product and urge their fans to grab it. Heck, why not blend all these techniques together for some real marketing magic?

Each of these techniques has its own special name. You might call the art of building a fan base on social media "organic social" or just plain "social media marketing." When you're teaming up with those influencers, that’s your top-notch "influencer marketing" game.

So, what's the big idea here? It's all about making sense of the madness. Yeah, things might seem chaotic, but that’s where the real magic happens. The key is to sort out these channels, give them their own categories, and put some awesome folks in charge.

Here are the four main channels we're talking about. You’ll find these bad boys in small companies run by a few individuals and in big companies with whole teams dedicated to them:

Sure thing! Let's break it down in a friendly way.Here are some of the cool things we'll be exploring later in the tutorial.

SEO

SEO is like your website's magic trick to climb high in the search rankings. It's all about fine-tuning your site and pages so that when people search for stuff on Google, they find your site easily. 

You can tweak things on your page itself or behind the scenes, or you can pump out some awesome content. The goal? Get more folks interested in what you're offering.

Social Media Marketing 

Get ready to dive into the world of building your brand on social media. This is all about making friends and fans online, turning them into your loyal customers, and spreading your brand's awesomeness across social media platforms. And guess what? 

If you’re not splurging on ads and just relying on your awesome posts, that's what we call "organic" growth. But when you do put some cash into those social media ads, it's officially known as “pay-per-click marketing” or simply “PPC”. We'll talk more about PPC too, so stay tuned!

PPC

which stands for pay-per-click, is like the superstar of "paid marketing." You pay a certain amount every time someone clicks on your ad, whether it's an image, a video, or just plain text. But here's the catch—it's not always as straightforward as it seems. 

Sometimes you pay for different actions, like when someone clicks to watch a video or when they click at the end of the video to visit a website. On platforms like YouTube, it can be something in between. And guess who rules the PPC world? It's none other than the big shots, Google and Facebook.

Now, let's talk about CRM.

CRM

It's like the secret weapon businesses use to handle all their relationships and the data that goes with it. Think of all those emails you get from companies—how many are sitting in your inbox right now? They're all part of how CRM works. 

At some point, you probably signed up for a newsletter, shared some info while making a purchase, or set up an account. All that data goes into the CRM, along with stuff like what you bought, where you live, or even how likely you are to make another purchase based on what you've been looking at. 

The CRM manager's job is to make this whole system run smoothly. So there you have it—these four channels are like the main highways for bringing traffic to any website: search engines, social media, ads, and those friendly emails in your inbox.

Where do these channels fit into the marketing funnel?

Let me break it down in a more casual way for you. In the world of digital marketing, we often see things that seem like complete opposites. It's like having two sides of the same coin. This also applies to different marketing channels. Take "acquisition" and "nurture," for instance.

So, what exactly is an acquisition channel? These are the cool kids at the top of the funnel who bring fresh faces to your website. Think SEO, social media marketing, and PPC. You'd probably spend a lot of your time and budget on these guys since they're the ones driving serious growth.

The ultimate goal of these channels is to get people—your potential customers—onto your site and encourage them to take some action, like signing up, scheduling a call, or buying something awesome.

Now, let's talk about nurture channels. While email might seem like old news, it's still the rockstar of nurturing. Ever wonder why companies are always after your email address? It's because email marketing is seriously effective, and it's almost free!

As we mentioned earlier, the CRM team takes care of communicating with a company's leads. Their mission? To guide these leads through the entire process, from getting to know about the product to finally making a purchase. They do this by sending out stuff like useful e-books, time-sensitive discounts, or even video testimonials to build trust and convince you that the product is worth it. The options here are endless, really. It all depends on how creative you can get.

But hey, these channels aren't the only players in the digital marketing game. Take events marketing, for example. Events are like the friendly connectors, bridging the gap between someone showing interest and someone making a purchase. That's why you see conferences popping up all the time. They're gold mines for marketing and sales teams, giving them the perfect chance to build relationships and really understand what potential customers need on a personal level.

Summary

So, in our awesome tutorial today, we got the lowdown on the marketing funnel, what a marketing channel really is, and how each of them is totally unique. We also checked out how these channels slide into the marketing funnel. But wait, there's more! In our next session, we're gonna take a breather and chat about some slick research methods for the digital marketing world. Can't wait to catch you there!

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