What is digital marketing?
Digital Marketing can be simply defined as advertising distributed via digital channels such as social media, email, websites, search engines, mobile apps, and many more. It is the promotion of a business, product, or brand using various electronic media. It covers a very broad focus – email marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing – as similar or different as they may seem from each other, they all fall under digital marketing.
Content marketing
In the world of digital marketing “content is king”. Content always matters when trying to generate brand awareness, product promotion, traffic growth, and lead creation. Without good content, your advertising effort would most likely be a flop.
Social media marketing
The use of social media to promote a brand to drive traffic, increase brand awareness, and generate business leads has seen a rapid growth through the years as the number of social media users continue to boom.
Pay-per click (PPC)
Image Source: www.treprep.com
PPC or pay-per click is a digital marketing method in which publishers post ad links to your business or brand and you pay them based on the number of clicks they will be able to generate.
Email marketing
Others might think that emails are becoming obsolete, but major companies are still using email as a tool to communicate and promote their products to their audiences.
Affiliate marketing
This type of digital marketing is famous to bloggers, vloggers, and other online personalities. They receive a commission by promoting a product in their videos or articles.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimizing your page or website to have a higher rank in search engine results. The higher your page rank, the higher your website traffic would be.
Benefits of digital marketing
Marketing is always about building connection with your audience, at the right time and at the right place. This means that you need to be where they are spending most of their time, and right now it’s the internet. Study show that people nowadays spend twice the time on the internet as much as they do 12 years ago. The internet has changed the way how we interact, how we meet people, how we shop, and how we do business.
Gone are the days where you see a lot of people distributing flyers on the streets to promote a new business or product. You are more likely to stumble upon an advertisement while scrolling through Facebook than to see someone giving away flyers and brochures.
There is no denying that digital marketing has been essential in the growth of major brands and businesses right now. The good thing about digital marketing is that it can work for any kind of business in any kind of industry. Regardless of what your business or brand is trying to sell, it can still take advantage to the following benefits of digital marketing:
- Increased brand awareness
- Increased website traffic and lead generation
- Higher return of investment (ROI) and revenue
- Better customer support
- More cost efficient
- Less time consuming
Who to follow?
Digital Marketing Experts are the ones behind successful campaigns and effective business promotions. Some have established their names in the digital marketing sphere and are considered as the authorities when it comes to digital marketing. They are not only marketers but are also credible gurus and keynote speakers.
If you want your business or brand to succeed in through digital marketing, following these marketing experts and speakers is your sure way to success. (In no particular order)
20.) Brian Halligan – HubSpot
Brian is a Senior Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology teaching Entrepreneurial Product Development and Marketing, and has authored two books. He is a recipient of the New England Award and a Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011.
He is also the CEO and co-founder of HubSpot and serves as an adviser to the board of directors of different organizations.
Twitter: @bhalligan Facebook: Brian Halligan LinkedIn: Brian Halligan
19.) Jeff Bullas – com
A famous speaker, strategist, consultant, author, and social media, marketing blogger, Jeff is one of the Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers in 2013 by Forbes, number 8 in The World’s Top 40 Social Marketing Talent by Forbes, and the Top 1 Content Marketing Influencer Globally. He specializes in online personal and corporate branding, where he utilizes the power of social media outlets to help his clients of executives and companies to unleash their maximum potentials. He is also the author “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog”.
Twitter: @jeffbullas Facebook: Jeff Bullas LinkedIn: Jeff Bullas
18.) Chris Ducker – YouPreneur
A popular podcaster, speaker, entrepreneur, and author of the bestseller “Virtual Freedom”, Chris was originally from the UK but has been living in the Philippines for years now. There he opened a lot of businesses including a co-working space, an outsource call center facility, and a virtual assistant recruitment hub.
Twitter: @ChrisDucker LinkedIn: Chris Ducker
17.) Danny Sullivan – Search Engine Land
Danny is most respected authority when it comes search engine and search engine-based marketing topics. He has been the leader in this field since 1986 and deemed to be unparalleled. He is the producer of SMX: Search
Marketing Expo conference series, Chief Content Officer for Third Door Media, and the Founding Editor of Marketing Land. He also manages a personal blog called Daggle.
Twitter: @dannysullivan LinkedIn: Danny Sullivan
16.) Barry Schwartz – Search Engine Roundtable
Barry is the editor of the very popular Seroundtable which is known as the “pulse of the marketing community”. He provides updates and articles about the latest updates on Google algorithms through his blog. He is also a news editor for Search Engine Land and owns a RustyBrick, a New-York based web consulting firm.
Twitter: @rustybrick Facebook: Barry Schwartz LinkedIn: Barry Schwartz
15.) Daymond John – com
Aside from being a businessman, investor, author, TV personality, and a motivational speaker, Daymond is also the founder, president, and CEO of the clothing brand FUBU. His story is literally rugs to riches for he started off selling $10 hats in the streets of New York before being a multibillion clothing brand.
Daymond is also the founder of The Shark Group, a brand management and consulting firm helping brands increase their visibility and sales. He works with celebrities and other brands to create additional revenue streams. He is also a brand ambassador of Shopify.
Twitter: @TheSharkDaymond Facebook: Daymond John
14.) Rohit Bhargava – Non-Obvious Company
Rohit is considered a trend curator, author of five bestselling books about future of business, and building brand and personality. He is also a Professor of Marketing at the Gerogetown University and has been invited to over 32 countries as a keynote speaker and is regularly quoted in influential media outlets like The Harvard Business Review and New York Times. He is the founder of Non-Obvious Company, a company that offers services like workshops, concierge marketing, keynote speaking, trend consulting, and leadership coaching.
Twitter: @rohitbhargava Facebook: Rohit Bhargava
13.) Jonathan Mildenhall
Widely known as the Chief Marketing Officer of AirBnb, Jonathan is also named as one of Forbes most influential CMOs of 2017 and was named Jury President for the Creative Effectiveness of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2016 he was recognized by Business Insider as #7 in their list of The 50 Most Innovative CMOs in the World, and in the same year he won the AdWeek’s Brand Genius award.
He was the mind behind Coca-cola’s “Open Happiness” campaign, one of the company’s most successful campaign to date and has been responsible for AirBnb’s breakthrough global campaigns “Wall and Chain”, “Live There”, and “Never a Stranger” among others.
Twitter: @Mildenhall LinkedIn: Jonathan Mildenhall
12.) Katrina Craigwell
At a very young age of 28, Katrina is already the Global Manager of digital marketing of the electronics giant General Electric (GE). She leads content for the digital marketing team at GE and responsible for the content creation and distribution across GE’s corporate properties internationally as well as the brands social media accounts. She is also among AdWeek’s 4 Influential Women in Marketing and Media.
Twitter: @kcraigwell LinkedIn: Katrina Craigwell
11.) Joe Pulizzi – Content Marketing Institute
Joe is well-known for being a great speaker, podcaster, entrepreneur, author, and lover of the color orange. He writes one for one of the most popular content marketing blogs globally and also a recipient of the John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
He has founded a number of startups during the course of his career but his greatest achievement to date is Content Marketing Institute (CMI). CMI is the most widely used content marketing educational material by enterprise brands. CMI was also recognized as the fastest growing media company by Inc. Magazine in 2014.
Twitter: @JoePulizzi LinkedIn: Joe Pulizzi
10.) Gary Vaynerchuk – com
Gary is an entrepreneur, internet personality, speaker, and a four-time New York Times bestselling author. Gary is well-known for growing their family wine business from $3 million to $60 million with the help of e-commerce, email marketing, and pricing. Shortly after this success, he founded VaynerMedia along with his brother in 2009. His company provides social media and strategy services to companies such as PepsiCo, Mondelez, GE, and other Fortune 500 companies. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Vaynerchuk founded a new company called The Gallery with PureWow CEO Ryan Harwood as the CEO after its acquisition.
Twitter: @garyvee Facebook: Gary Vaynerchuk LinkedIn: Gary Vaynerchuk
9.) David Meerman Scott – com
David is an online marketing strategist and a professional speaker on topics like social media, sales, and marketing. He is also an author of several books about marketing including The New Rules of Marketing and PR and Real-Time Marketing and PR.
Twitter: @dmscott Facebook: David Meerman Scott LinkedIn: D.M Scott
8.) Seth Godin – typepad.com
Seth might have the most number of books published in this list. As of writing he has already published 17 books with Purple Cow, Linchpin, and The Dip as bestsellers. He is a well-respected blogger, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and an alumna of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He is the founder of Yoyodyne which he sold to Yahoo in 1998 for $30 million, and also became Yahoo’s vice president of direct marketing. In 2006, he launched Squidoo and in just two years, the site was already one of the 500 most visited sites in the world. Squidoo was sold HubPages in 2014 at an undisclosed amount.
Twitter: @ThisIsSethsBlog Facebook: Seth Godin
7.) Shama Hyder – Marketing Zen
Shama is a well-respected and sought after keynote speaker, entrepreneurial strategist, and a best-selling author of the book The Zen of Social Media Marketing. She is the CEO and founder of MarketingZen, which specializes in social media marketing, content development, SEO, PPC, and SEM.
She is a recipient of the prestigious Technology Titan Emerging Company CEO award and has been able to share the debate stage with world’s top pioneers like President Obama and Dalai Lama. She is a respected figure at both the United Nations and the White House.
Twitter: @Shama Facebook: Shama Hyder LinkedIn: Shama Hyder
6.) John Sparks – IamJohnSparks
A social media power influencer and coach, John is known as the “Go-to man on twitter”. He is a respected social media speaker who addresses civic and community groups, schools, businesses, and small and large groups about Twitter. He authored the book 365 Ideas to Go from Good to Great on Twitter, which has gained a massive social media fame after its release.
He is the founder and CEO of Online Image Works and a professor at The Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas where teaches Online Journalism
Twitter: @IamJohnSparks LinkedIn: John Sparks
5.) Steve Rayson
Steve is an investor, entrepreneur and currently BuzzSumo’s non-executive director. BuzzSumo is a social search tool intended to support journalists, content marketers, and those who are interested in understanding influencer amplification and finding great content in the web.
Twitter: @steverayson LinkedIn: Steve Rayson
4.) Joost De Valk – com
Joost is a SEO master and advisor, web developer and the founder and CEO of Yoast. He was a digital marketer and consultant for eBay and The Guardian before developing what is now the YoastSEO plugin for WordPress which is said to be the most comprehensive SEO software available for WordPress users at the moment.
Twitter: @jdevalk Facebook: Joost de Valk LinkedIn: Joost de Valk
3.) Larry Kim – WordStream
A graduate of Electrical Engineering (with honors) at University of Waterloo in Canada, Larry has been working as an Internet marketing manager, software engineer, and software product manager for the last decade. He is a regular contributor for Forbes and Search Engine Land and has written four award-winning books.
He launched WordStream in 2007, offering Internet Consulting Services and sells Search Engine Marketing Automation Softwares.
Website: MobileMonkey.com Twitter: @larrykim LinkedIn: Larry Kim
2.) Neil Patel – Quicksprout Blog
Neil is considered as one of the top authorities in the digital marketing world. He is the co-founder of KISSmetric, Crazy Egg, and Hello Bar and the founder and author of his blog Quicksprout where he provides comprehensive and in-depth tutorials about digital marketing in an easy and fun way. He is also a regular contributor for Entrpreneur.com, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and Forbes.
He is recognized as one of the Top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the Top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. He is also considered as the top media influencer on the web by Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.
Twitter: @neilpatel Facebook: Neil Patel LinkedIn: Neil Patel
1.) Rand Fishkin – The Moz Blog
Dubbed as the Superstar of SEO and the “Wizard of Moz”, Rand is the founder and former of CEO of Moz. He is a renowned speaker and author of two books that are very popular in the SEO scene – Inbound Marketing & SEO and Art of SEO.
He is also the host and regular contributor to Whiteboard Friday, where he talks about Search engine optimization, social media marketing, and content marketing.
Twitter: @randfish Facebook: Rand Fishkin LinkedIn: Rand Fishkin
Final words
There may be other great digital marketing experts not included in this list but the people above have impressive portfolios in the table when it comes to digital marketing. They are well respected and revered in their own subfields and by just following them and taking cues of their insights and ideas, you may be able to acquire motivations to take bold digital marketing actions in your own business.
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