Digital marketing is a type of marketing that uses the internet to promote products or services in order to attract potential customers. Technology is everywhere, marketing domain is no exception. Traditional marketing reaches its audience offline through channels like print, telemarketing, and broadcast. All of these marketing channels had their limitations. And, not every time, it was possible to reach a wider audience through offline means.
Now, we have digital marketing that is replacing traditional marketing and bringing enormous benefits. Considering the internet rules the globe, there’s no denying that digital marketing is here to stay. Internet and online media make it possible for digital marketers to spread brand messages. With this, let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing.
Advantages of Digital Marketing
For obvious reasons, digital marketing is becoming popular. By the end of 2022, the digital marketing industry is expected to grow up to $65+ billion in value. More people are using technology and spending their time online. This makes it feasible to reach out to potential customers. Here are some benefits offered by digital marketing –
1. Helps to go global
In the traditional market, it was easier for big firms to take control, as they had the resources to do so. It wasn’t a good thing and negatively impacted the customers. In the digital market, these corporations have to think twice before dominating the market. Now, any brand can expand their presence as they are no longer confined by geographical boundaries. All thanks to digital marketing, start-up brands have equal opportunity to make their name in the market.
2. Increases engagement
Since digital marketing helps brands to go global, it’s crystal clear that it increases engagement. The market can be very chaotic, new brands enter here daily, and in all these distractions, keeping your customers hooked can be a strenuous task. This is why we have digital marketing that helps the brands to develop a credible reputation and create a loyal customer base. It allows brands to acquire potential customers, and keep the existing customers captivated by offering them excellent services and increasing their engagement.
3. Very cost-effective
We know by now that established enterprises used to dominate the traditional market because they had the right contacts and resources. Earlier massive investments were essential to rule the market, but now this factor has taken a step back. You can be a beginner and still run your business successfully with low investments. Digital marketing is a very cost-effective option, helping you save costs that you can invest in other areas of your business. You can run digital marketing successfully with your limited budget.
4. Helps in brand development
The importance of brand development cannot be underestimated. It provides credibility and helps you acquire loyal customers. Using digital marketing, businesses are gaining the trust of their customers, as it is an essential factor to continue doing business in the market. It helps businesses create their presence and make them recognizable. As potential customers are more likely to choose a brand that they recognize, and gain confidence to trust them with their time and money. This is also one of the advantages of advertisements.
5. Digital marketing can be personalized
More than just investing resources and time, it is important to do it in the right way. In the business marketing context, it means finding the target audience. This goal is achieved by interacting with potential customers and understanding their expectations from the brand using digital marketing. Personalization helps brands design their content as per the needs of their target audience. It makes the customers feel that the brand values them and addresses their needs. And, wouldn’t you want to interact with a brand that is considerate of your needs?
6. Easy to get started with
Unlike other modes of marketing, digital marketing can be initiated by anyone who have the basic understanding of internet. You don’t even have to be a digital marketer in order to market your products. The beginner-friendly tools provided by almost all the marketing solutions such as search engines, social medias, individual websites, etc. makes it extremely easy to get into digital marketing. But, in order to improve your conversion rates and optimize your marketing strategy, you might need professional help.
Disadvantages of Digital Marketing
Contrary to enormous benefits, we cannot turn a blind eye to the disadvantages of digital marketing. Now, let’s look at some of the disadvantages of digital marketing –
1. Tremendous competition
No doubt, digital marketing has made it possible for brands to go global, but on the flip side, it has increased the competition tremendously. Since anyone can create digital marketing campaigns, brands need to take extraordinary efforts to stand out. Various factors need to be considered so that the targeted audience is attracted, and confident about choosing them over other brands. It is a must for them to create relevant marketing campaigns, ensuring their products and services are suitable to the needs of the customers.
2. Technology dependence
We know that the internet made digital marketing possible, otherwise the other option that we had was traditional marketing, which had its limitations. Since technology is the backbone of digital marketing, any problem with it can lead to errors. A few of these errors are loading problems in landing pages, unresponsive links, and sometimes the button does not function as it is designed to. Although all these problems are dealt with by running multiple tests before making it live, still it needs monitoring and maintenance so that it functions properly.
3. Requires skills and training
We discussed how digital marketing is dependent on technology, so it is undeniable that training is essential. The person should have the required skills to carry out digital marketing. Getting things done right is more important here, than just doing things. Additionally, the tools and trends are continuously upgrading, so it is a necessity to keep up with the pace.
4. Digital marketing is time-consuming
By now you might have got an idea that if digital marketing requires skills and training, then it can be very time-consuming. Here, quality is more important than quantity. As only the digital marketing campaigns that fulfill the needs of the target audience can generate profits for businesses. So, a lot of time needs to be invested in measuring the results.
5. Privacy and security concerns
Since everything is digital here, there are risks of privacy and security issues. Various encryption tools are used to ensure the network connections are protected against threats. In addition to this, there are lists of legal considerations in terms of obtaining customer data. And, businesses should abide by the formalities in developing the digital marketing strategy for their brands. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the organization to protect the data of their customers as well as ensure that it is not compromised at any cost.
6. Done badly, it could damage your reputation
If digital marketing is done the bad way, it can be devastating. Instead of improving your reputation, the marketing will destroy it. This happens when you falsely advertise your products, hesitate to provide the quality services, make changes to the advertised pricing, etc. So, whatever you do, make sure that you only advertise a quality product that you can provide with its fullest based on what you promised to the customer through ads.