DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital Marketing is the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner.

Whilst digital marketing does include many of the techniques and practices contained within the category of Internet Marketing, it extends beyond this by including other channels with which to reach people that do not require the use of The Internet. As a result of this non-reliance on the Internet, the field of digital marketing includes a whole host of elements such as mobile phones, sms/mms, display / banner ads and digital outdoor.

Previously seen as a stand-alone service in its own right, it is frequently being seen as a domain that can and does cover most, if not all, of the more traditional marketing areas such as Direct Marketing by providing the same method of communicating with an audience but in a digital fashion. Digital is now being broadened to support the "servicing" and "engagement" of customers.

Pull

Pull digital marketing technologies involve the user having to seek out and directly select (or pull) the content, often via web search. Web site/blogs and streaming media (audio and video) are good examples of this. In each of these examples, users have a specific link (URL) to view the content.

Pros:
• Since requests are inherently opt-in, the size of content is generally unlimited.
• No advanced technology required to send static content, only to store/display it.

Cons:
• Considerable marketing effort required for users to find the message/content.
• Some types of marketing content may be blocked in mixed content scenarios (i.e.: Flash blockers)

Push

Push digital marketing technologies involve both the marketer (creator of the message) as well as the recipients (the user). Email, SMS, RSS are examples of push digital marketing. In each of these examples, the marketer has to send (push) the messages to the users (subscribers) in order for the message to be received. In the case of RSS, content is actually pulled on a periodic basis (polling), thus simulating a push.

Pros:

• Faster delivery - push technologies can deliver content immediately as it becomes available.

• Consistent delivery - some push platforms have single content types, making it difficult for the user to block

   content by type.

• Better targeting - since push technology usually justifies subscription, more specific marketing data may be

   collected during registration, which allows for better targeting and more personalization.

• Better data - marketing data can be correlated to each request for content, allowing marketers to see

   information such as user name as well as demographic and psychographic data.

Cons:
• Smaller audience - push technology not implemented on common platforms generally need client and/or
   server software before content can be created, distributed, and/or viewed.
• Higher cost - less popular platforms may have higher implementation costs.
• Lesser discoverability - smaller audiences mean fewer views mean less visibility in search engines.