Is Digital Marketing More Complicated Than It Has to Be?

If you were to define digital marketing, what would your definition be? It is safe to say that at least one digital marketer would offer a complicated definition that references numerous industry practices. But maybe such a complex definition is not necessary. Perhaps the industry is making digital marketing more complicated than it needs to be.

Digital marketers do for themselves exactly what they do for their clients. They market themselves. And in doing so, they all look to establish their own individual brands. Again, this is all normal. But it is entirely possible – and we have seen this in so many other industries – to give so much attention to developing a unique brand that a company overthinks things. Overthinking leads to unnecessary complications.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is officially defined by the industry’s DigitalMarketer online community as “the act of promoting and selling products and services by leveraging online marketing tactics such as social media marketing, search marketing, and email marketing.”

DigitalMarketer’s definition is adequate, but the American Marketing Association’s definition is simpler and more to the point. They define digital marketing as “any marketing methods conducted through electronic devices which utilize some form of a computer.”

In a nutshell, digital marketing is just marketing using digital tools. Its basic principles are the same as non-digital marketing. At the root of every exercise is getting your message out to your targeted audience in a way that resonates with them. That’s about it.

Why Can’t We Keep It Simple?

Digital marketing becomes more complicated than it needs to be when the marketing experts start speaking. A desire to sound competent often seems to spark the need to speak about things like ‘metrics’, ‘key performance indicators, ‘synergies’, and ‘leveraging’. But despite those big words sounding fantastic during team meetings around the conference table, they do not mean much to clients whose only goal is to sell products and services.

Clients appreciate being spoken to in terms they understand. They appreciate it when marketing principles are explained to them thoroughly but simply. If clients understand all the intricacies of digital marketing lingo, they would probably understand digital marketing itself. They would have no need for professional services.

Is There a Best Way to Approach Digital Marketing?

There are many ways to approach digital marketing as a service offered to other businesses. One marketing firm may choose to emphasize SEO and driving traffic. Another might specialize in digital content creation. Whatever the case, marketing firms must combine all the fundamental principles of marketing to make it work.

Webtek Digital Marketing, a Salt Lake City firm serving clients in a variety of industries, suggests the best approach to digital marketing is to keep clients in the loop but keep things simple for them. Develop marketing campaigns that can be explained in basic terms so that clients can offer their input. Also, focus on mastering the fundamentals before getting into the more complex aspects of the campaign.

This is to say that marketing firms do not have to complicate things in order to compete. A pay-per-click ad campaign is what it is regardless of the language used to describe it. SEO is a basic concept that does not need to be embellished with important sounding vocabulary words and industry speak.

Digital marketing has become more complicated than it needs to be due to the natural evolution of competition. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Digital marketers can simplify without actually sacrificing the quality of the work they do. That is the most important lesson of all.