Ending the Confusion in Internet (Digital)Marketing
I am incredibly excited to launch this series. One of my passions is helping people figure out the best way to market their businesses online. Sadly, this usually means uncovering the lies or misleading information we all receive every day from salespeople and so called “consultants” who are more focused on selling their solutions, rather than helping business owners succeed with the best solutions for their businesses.
Of course, there are many “truths” out there as well, and if we focus on discovering and implementing the “truths” about Internet marketing and avoiding the “lies” we can find the right solution for any specific business to ensure success.
There will be some provocative posts and topics that will get some people a bit riled up, but it will be fun and informative.
The “Digital Marketing” Manipulation
One of my pet peeves is that around 12 years ago marketers started referring to “Internet Marketing” as “Digital Marketing”. From what I can tell, this was a decision made by marketers forced upon the lay person and causes some confusion among business owners. The truth is that the terms Digital Marketing and Internet Marketing are interchangeable.
Regularly people ask me “What is digital’ marketing.” I have to explain that it is simply “Internet Marketing”, and this usually ends the confusion. Unfortunately, because marketers thought “Digital” was cooler than “Internet” we have to accommodate both in how we communicate to people. There may be some benefits to changing the name, but it more about perception than reality.
Regularly people ask me “What is digital’ marketing.” I have to explain that it is simply “Internet Marketing”, and this usually ends the confusion. Unfortunately, because marketers thought “Digital” was cooler than “Internet” we have to accommodate both in how we communicate to people. There may be some benefits to changing the name, but it more about perception than reality.
Marketers did the same thing by getting us all to use the term “cloud” a few years ago. When I first heard cloud computing, I thought, “You mean ‘Internet’ computing?”. Of course, there were other reasons for using the term “cloud”, but most of them have to do with marketing and perception, rather than the development of a new technology. Some may disagree with me on this, and that’s OK, but I think there is much more truth in what I am saying than not. Cloud is an excellent way of describing the Internet, and using “cloud” vs. “Internet” may have encouraged many of us to use
Some may disagree with me on this, and that’s OK, but I think there is much more truth in what I am saying than not. Cloud is an excellent way of describing the Internet, and using “cloud” vs. “Internet” may have encouraged many of us to use Internet-based or cloud-based computing we would not have considered otherwise and in ways that simplify our lives, but it doesn’t mean there was some sort of new technology.
What “Internet” or “Digital” Marketing Topics Will We be Addressing?
In this series, we will be addressing the truths and lies on all of these topics:
- Website Design and Development
- SEO
- Paid Search (Adwords & Bing)
- Social Media Marketing
- Do It Yourself vs. Hiring Vendors (You probably need to do a bit of both)
- Email Marketing
- Display, Programmatic, Retargeting/Remarketing
- Couponing (Groupon, etc.)
