Introduction
Digital marketing has become an integral part of the marketing strategy for most businesses today. It is a cost-effective way to reach out to more customers and promote your products and services to them. Additionally, digital marketing also provides a highly interactive and engaging experience for customers. This is why there has been an explosion of digital marketing agencies and professionals in recent years. The digital marketing industry has surpassed the traditional marketing industry in terms of reach, investment, and profitability. As a result, understanding the evolution of digital marketing, its current trends, and where the market is going in the future is important for senior digital marketing professionals. This is also true for freshers and interns who want to get into positions in the digital marketing industry. In this article, we will discuss the past, present, and future of the digital marketing industry.
Before we move on, let us discuss what digital marketing means.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is the process of using digital channels or online media outlets like social media, video hosting platforms, search engines, etc. to promote or market products and services to customers and businesses. It involves the use of various digital marketing tools and strategies to reach out to customers and engage them in the purchasing process. There are a variety of digital marketing tools and strategies that businesses can use to reach out to their target audience. These include but are not limited to social media marketing, content marketing, search engine optimisation and marketing, email marketing, and pay-per-click advertising.
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Why is the History and Evolution of Digital Marketing important?
In the modern digital era, every working professional must be familiar with the concept of digital marketing. The world is increasingly dependent on social media for information, entertainment, and educational content. Millions of people use social media regularly to access content and share their content. This is why digital marketing has taken on one of the most important roles in the marketing sector in recent times.
There is also speculation that traditional marketing platforms like print, radio, and television will disappear completely soon with the advent of online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, online radio stations, podcasts, and digital magazines and newspapers. With the advent of upcoming technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, and personalisation on social media, digital marketing is expected to become the sole platform for marketing to the public. This is also driven by the fact that digital marketing is much more affordable than traditional marketing platforms like print and mass media.
Why does the digital marketing industry stand out in the marketing industry?
The reach of digital marketing is very high, with a decent ROI. Digital marketers reach a wide range of audiences in a shorter period. Digital marketing can also be heavily personalised to find and advertise to specific groups and individuals who are highly likely to buy the product and filter out those who are likely to stay away from the services. This filtering option is the most important advantage of digital marketing which is unavailable in other forms of marketing. Even without the ability to touch and feel the product, digital marketing can be highly personalised and tailored to the tastes of customers. Digital marketers can also experiment with different advertisements and bring down the marketing campaign's total cost by choosing the right and high-performing ads through techniques like A/B testing, which can be decided in real-time.
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How did the digital marketing industry come into being?
To begin with, the digital marketing industry was a byproduct of the widespread use and popularity of the internet. Especially during and after the dot-com bubble era, companies and marketers around the world realised the potential of online marketing strategies. When Google launched its Adwords program, suddenly a whole new world of marketing opportunities opened up for big and small businesses. Marketing on the internet became profitable, and affordable, and came with a high return on investment. As a result, expert professionals in digital marketing agencies came into being. This is how several digital marketing agencies were born during this period. Time after time, as the internet continues to grow and reach the whole world population, digital marketing has retained its importance and priority in the marketing strategies of all companies alike. From corporations to small businesses, everyone is investing in digital marketing strategies. Due to its affordability, high experimentation qualities, and heavy personalisation opportunities, digital marketing has become the favourite of marketers and researchers.
The history of digital marketing can be traced back to the 1980s and 1990s when computers were already advanced enough to store customer information in their large databases. Then, the companies chose to market through digital means. With the ensuing popularity of personal computers in that era, digital marketing The first clickable banner went live in 1993. After that, HotWired purchased a few banner ads for the advertising campaign (Source: Simplilearn). Gradually, the winds shifted in favour of digital marketing as new technology entered the digital marketplace and some of the Silicon Valley companies launched their internet services. This was the time when Google and Yahoo launched and became an instant trend on the internet.
In 1998, Google was born. In the same year, Microsoft launched its MSN search engine, and Yahoo launched its Yahoo Web search. Shortly afterwards, the internet bubble burst and the smaller internet-based startups were left behind or incurred huge losses. This allowed search engine giants like Google to expand their market reach. It was also a time when the current social media giants made their way onto the internet. These companies include the rollouts of LinkedIn in 2002, Myspace and WordPress in 2003, and Facebook in 2004. In 2006, search engine traffic reached around $6.4 billion in a single month.
Shortly afterwards, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google were competing for search engine traffic. Then came web 2.0. That's when people began to become active participants in these search engines rather than stay passive users. They started to interact with other users on businesses' websites through emails, forums, comments, and likes. Users even started interacting with each other through emails, online chat rooms, and forums. As a result, information flow was multiplied, which opened up opportunities for digital marketers to increase their wealth. By 2004, the internet advertising and marketing budget was around 2.9 billion dollars in the United States alone.
Then came the golden era of social networking sites. First came MySpace, followed by Facebook and Orkut. These social networking platforms revolutionised how internet users were utilising the internet. The new concept of making friends online and keeping in touch with them and their updates was a major success. As a result, these companies open up fresh doors and opportunities to market today to your customers through social media sites. It was the beginning of a new era in digital marketing. This is where social media marketing, which is a major contributor to digital marketing, came about.
This was also the time when cookies made their inroads into the digital marketing industry. Advertisers began to look for ways to identify and track their customers throughout the internet. Moreover, the cookies made internet browsing highly personalised thanks to the tracking technology. It laid bare the browsing patterns of individual users to digital marketing companies, thus handing them a tool to advertise with a high probability of conversion. Cookies of the present are advanced enough that even 3rd party websites can view, access, and benefit from these small chunks of code embedded in the individual's browser from any website. While Google has plans for a cookieless future, the plans to realise that on the Chrome browser had been rescheduled by Google.
Customers can now access digitally advertised goods at any time. According to 2014 data gathered by the Marketing Tech Blog, social media posting is the most popular online activity in the US. An average American uses social media for at least 37 minutes every day. As a result, 97% of digital marketers use Twitter, 69% use Pinterest, and 59% use Instagram in their marketing campaigns. Facebook is used by 99% of digital marketing professionals for the platform's high efficiency in the form of Facebook ads. While this is the case for advertisers, the ROI from these campaigns is also very high. Facebook has been a source of consumers for 70% of B2C marketers. In the case of Twitter, there is a probability of 67% of users purchasing a brand. Luxury brands are represented on Pinterest in 83.8% of cases. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are the top three social media platforms used by marketers (Source: Simplilearn).
The present and future of the digital marketing industry
Currently, the digital marketing industry is one of the most promising industries. Several trends that involve different technologies like artificial intelligence chatbots, voice searching, mobile optimisation, etc. are driving the industry in a new direction at a promising pace. The digital advertising industry is now valued at around $321 billion in 2022, according to Expert Market Research. With the rise of bloggers and social media influencers, the digital hemisphere is expected to grow at an exponential rate.
The Mobile Era
As smartphones got faster and more affordable, they opened a myriad of opportunities for digital marketers. The rise of smartphones as a primary source of information and entertainment also opened opportunities to advertise to their users. Nowadays, people are relying on their smartphones and tablets for online shopping, social media, news, and entertainment. This shift has changed the way companies approach digital marketing, with a growing emphasis on mobile-first strategies. Modern web design has an unwritten law to make every website mobile-responsive. Moreover, the explosion of mobile applications and app stores has only fueled the growth of mobile-related marketing campaigns. Mobile apps, with their rich and interactive experience for users, are perfect for shopping, entertainment, and communication on the go. Companies now need to consider developing a mobile app as part of their digital marketing strategy to reach customers where they are spending the most time.
Future
In the future, this will be even more relevant because of the intertwining of multiple technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, personalisation, and more. All these upcoming technologies will transform the industry and make it more sophisticated. By looking at the current trends in the digital marketing industry, you can guess where the industry is headed. The rollout of the 5G mobile network has huge potential for transforming the industry. Additionally, underrated technologies like virtual reality have the potential to make digital marketing a near-reality experience. The store is 5G-enabled and coupled with advanced devices and technologies that require industry professionals to become futuristic and insightful.
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Conclusion
Digital marketing is a constantly evolving field, and new tools and strategies are being developed all the time. Businesses need to keep up with the latest trends and developments in the field to stay ahead of the competition. From search engine optimisation to social media marketing and email marketing, digital marketing allows businesses to reach a large audience and engage with their target market cost-effectively and measurably. As technology continues to evolve and the digital landscape changes, businesses must stay up-to-date with the latest digital marketing trends and strategies to remain competitive. Visit SNATIKA to enrol in prestigious higher education programs in the digital marketing sector.