With the boom in digitalisation, businesses can no longer grow significantly without being online. With a change in user behaviour in the context of shopping, everything has gone online. It is where the six pillars of digital marketing step in. These are the backbone or foundation that can help elevate a brand and grow significantly. However, with so much information put on the internet, it can be confusing to determine which path to follow to grow your business. Therefore, to clarify it and to provide a clear answer on how many main pillars of digital marketing, we have explained it and what all core areas it entails. However, before you delve into it, we want you to first understand that, with the changing times, digital marketing is no longer a choice, but a necessity in today’s era.
Why Is Digital Marketing Important in Today’s Era?
Thinking that your business will attract a good ROI without digital marketing. Wait, here is what you are missing out on and should definitely consider the points below.
Increased Online Competition
In today’s world, almost every business or brand is online. Thus, to gain a competitive edge and stand out from others, utilising the six pillars of digital marketing is essential. These are tools to reach the target audience, boost sales, and engage with potential customers for leads.
Evolving Consumer Behaviour
The shift from the offline market to the online market has changed drastically. Consumer preferences and tastes have changed, and they are moving towards digital platforms to make a purchase, from their everyday essentials to shopping needs. And to meet those needs, digital marketing is important.
Cost Effective
Digital marketing is significantly more cost-effective than traditional advertising methods, such as TV, print, or radio. Pay-per-click allows you to pay only when someone clicks on the ad. Also, targeting via social media, such as Instagram or Facebook, does not cost much. Thus, in a nutshell, it is an opportunity for small brands and businesses to compete with giants. It maximises ROI, gives a competitive edge, and does not burn a hole in pockets.
The above section highlights the importance of the pillars of digital marketing. As you now know about how important it is in this era, wait no more and dive deep to learn the six pillars of digital marketing.
What are the Six Pillars of Digital Marketing?
Explore in depth the pillars of digital marketing and know how these can build any business or brand.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation is the process of improving a website’s visibility on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It focuses on improving traffic organically by making the website more search engine and user-friendly.
What All Does Search Engine Optimisation Cover?
- On-Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Content SEO
- Local SEO
- User Experience Signals
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on curating engaging and valuable content to target potential consumers. Instead of directly persuading a user to buy or purchase a specific product, content marketing focuses on solving real-time queries and keeping them entertained.
What All Does Content Marketing Cover?
- Blogs and Articles
- Press Release
- Social media posts
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Ebooks
Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing is a type of digital marketing that uses various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest, to promote a brand, product, or service. It is not only about posting pictures and videos; it goes beyond this step and focuses on building relationships and a strong online presence.
What All Does Social Media Marketing Cover?
- Content creation and sharing
- Community engagement
- Paid ads and promotions
- Analytics and Insights
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising is one of the other six pillars of digital marketing, where businesses and brands directly promote their product or service on different platforms such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Unlike driving results via organic traffic, the brand or business focuses on displaying the product or service directly to its potential consumers.
What All Does Paid Advertising Cover?
- Search Ads
- Display Ads
- Social Media Ads
- Video Ads
- Retargeting Ads
- Influencer Ads
Email Marketing
What is email marketing is a common doubt. So, to answer it in clear terms, it is one of the pillars of digital marketing, where businesses or brands choose email to connect with potential consumers. This pillar helps in building trust, boosting conversions, and retaining loyal consumers. The entire process involves audience segmentation, scheduling a campaign, and tracking open rate, clicks, and conversions.
What All Does Email Marketing Cover?
- Newsletter
- Promotional emails
- Transactional emails
- Personalized recommendations
- Drip campaigns
- Re-engagement emails
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the strongest six pillars of digital marketing, wherein the brand or business rewards external partners known as affiliates or publishers to drive traffic and get leads through their marketing efforts. The affiliates promote a brand product via unique links on social media, blogs, email, websites, or different marketing platforms and with every conversion they receive commission.
What All Does Affiliate Marketing Cover?
- Affiliate networks
- Influencer partnerships
- Coupon websites
- Referral programs
- Blogger and review sites
Wrapping Up
The six pillars of digital marketing — SEO, email marketing, content marketing, social media, paid advertising, and affiliate marketing — are the backbone of every business or brand striving for growth or excellence. Interconnected, every pillar plays a considerable role. SEO focuses on getting traffic organically. On the other hand, paid ads and affiliate tends to bring instant results. Content marketing is equally important for staying relevant and driving attention on social media, while email marketing focuses on building long-term relationships. In a nutshell, these pillars, when combined, maximise ROI and drive conversions, helping brands stay relevant in today’s digital era.
Frequently Asked Questions
A:The pillars of digital marketing are the core areas that help a business to build a strong presence and drive results. These include search engine optimisation, content marketing, social media marketing, pay-per-click advertisement, and affiliate marketing.
A:The 6Cs of digital marketing are content, customisation, community, convenience, cost reduction, and choice. These principles help a business to build a successful online presence.
A:The 6M’s of digital marketing include market, mission, message, media, money, and measurement. This model helps businesses plan an effective campaign, targeting potential consumers, setting communication goals, defining the core message, allocating a budget, and more.
A:In digital marketing, a click-through conversion refers to when a user clicks on an ad and subsequently completes a desired action. The cost per click refers to the amount an advertiser pays each time someone clicks on their ad.
A:6A’s of marketing are awareness, appeal, ask, act, advocacy, and affordability. These emphasise how brands should engage, retain, and grow their customer base.