Top Digital Marketing Channels to adopt in 2023

How do you start your day; with a cup of coffee or scrolling through social channels? There is a good chance you do both, reading the latest news and clicking on some capturing advertisements. While you are sipping your coffee, digital marketers have planned and targeted you to show the exact advertisement you would like to click on. Magic? No, it is just a digital marketing strategy, and we are all part of it. 

While the average user doesn’t dive deep into digital marketing strategies, we have analyzed the latest trends and updates to present a comprehensive guide for handling the top digital marketing channels. 

11 Most effective Digital Marketing Channels 2023

The proper implementation of digital marketing channels reinforces brand-customer interaction and helps gain a competitive advantage. 

Do you want to learn more about digital marketing?

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Organic Search/Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Every second there are registered over 63.000 Google search queries, and to become A website on a link chosen by the user, it should be on the first page, and the higher the position is, the more clickable the link is. In the modern digital environment, search engines are so far the highest converting channels that can lead users to all the other marketing channels (website, social media platforms). Search engine optimization means all your channels are optimized to bring higher traffic and conversions. SEO refers to the website and the blog, YouTube channel, Facebook business profile, and Google My Business. Each channel and business model requires specific SEO tactics and targeting to generate organic traffic.

SEO Statistics

• SEO strategies reduce the costs of customer acquisition by 87.41%.
• Search engine optimization increases the business value of a blog visit by 429%.
• B2B marketing generates 2x more revenue from organic search.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing

Email marketing is often neglected as a digital marketing channel and a powerful lead generation funnel. However, experienced marketers know how to harness the potential of email marketing and build a sophisticated strategy for high ROI. 

Types of emails and email marketing campaigns may include:

• Blog subscription newsletter
• Follow-up email
• Customer welcome email
• Holiday promotions
• Conversion(cart) abandonment email
   

Though email marketing is not a new marketing channel (in fact, it is one of the first ones we used before social media), it has new strategies and tools for better efficiency and productivity. The main goal of email marketing is to keep in touch with the audience, promote content (latest news, discounts, etc.), deeply personalize messages, and direct customers toward the website with a strong CTA. 

Email Marketing Statistics

• Every $1 spent on email marketing will bring an average of $42 ROI.
• For B2B, email marketing proved to have 40% higher efficiency in converting users than Facebook and Twitter.
• Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more trusted and likely to be opened. 

Content Marketing/Websites

Content Marketing

A website is a must-have component for businesses to promote any service or product in a digital environment. It should present the brand identity and reveal the business’s philosophy, goals, and main objectives within one or several pages. Whether it is a B2B or B2C business, the website and its content should be focused on presenting the brand in the best way and selling it. By publishing relevant, up-to-date, and high-quality content, the brand establishes itself as an authority gaining customers’ trust. 

The ready website is a platform for content marketing, creating different types of content and taking customers throughout the user journey. Content marketing can include basic types - blog posts, and newsletters, or extend to more technical content like videos, infographics, eBooks, and webinars. 

Depending on the goal of marketing efforts, the brand can leverage different types of content marketing:

Awareness: blog posts focused on current trends and customer pain points

Consideration: videos, infographics, surveys

Decision: demo, eBook, white paper. 

Content Marketing Statistics

• 82% of website traffic comes from video content.
• Businesses spend over 46% of their marketing budget on blog content creation.
• The optimal length of the blog is 2,400 words, checked by Google bots to pull out keywords for search engine rankings. 

Content marketing can be tied with the rest of digital marketing channels and marketing efforts.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing

Even with the success and high conversion rates of organic search, businesses should still consider investing in paid advertising to gain a desirable market share. Search engine marketing (SEM) or paid search is a strategy for increasing website traffic to gain valuable leads. Seamlessly placed in the first positions of search results, content with a powerful title may immediately grab attention and induce users to visit the page. The highest ROI is provided through intelligent targeting, branded keywords, and the searcher’s location. 

SEM Statistics

• The CTR for the first position on a Google search query is 19.3%.
• The top popular SEM services are Google Ads and Bing Ads.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Per Per Click

PPC is actually not a channel, but a method of driving paid traffic to the website by displaying ads on different platforms. The name literally means that you per every user click, and it is critical to building targeted PPC marketing and not to waste the budget on clicks that won’t lead to conversion.

The common type of PPC is Google Ads which offers pay for top positions on SERP (search engine result page). Other channels to use PPC are:

Paid ads on Facebook: Posts published and visible in the news feeds of the targeted audience.

Twitter Ads campaigns: Series of posts of profile badges in the news feed to increase website traffic, Twitter followers, and engagement.

Instagram Ads: sponsored posts and stories available to a targeted group. 

TikTok Ads: Brand Takeovers, In-Feed Ads, and Hashtag Challenges in organic feed.

Sponsored messages on LinkedIn: sending messages to a specific group of users based on industry or background. 
 

PPC Statistics

• 65% of users click on ads when scrolling the feed or making purchases.
• PPC advertising generates 50% more conversions than organic advertising.
• Paid ads have a 200% ROI.
   

Social Media Marketing

Popular social media channels
 

With over 4,8 billion active social media users, social media marketing (SMM) is A leading digital marketing channel for businesses to take customers through the whole buyer journey. Social media marketing is a huge marketing category with subcategories and strategies for each social media. When addressed with a robust strategy, each channel may drive up to 80% qualified leads and support two-way communication between the brand and the customers.

Depending on the business type, it can target different social media channels and types of content.

Facebook

Currently, Facebook has 2,8 billion active users on the platform, both mobile and desktop generating unimaginable volumes of interaction. For example, over 100 million video hours are watched per day; 90,4% of millennials use social media; 70% of marketers call Facebook the most useful platform for marketing efforts.

Facebook offers free tools and supports all types of content to distribute via the platform for marketing initiatives.

Instagram

While Facebook takes the leading position with user numbers, Instagram has proved to be more effective for marketing and sales than Facebook. The interface of the app and the content types provide the second-best ROI. With three types of visual content - post, story, and Reels, marketers have more comprehensive options to target customers. 

LinkedIn

The popular network with industry professionals is not suitable for all businesses. Still, if your product or service is relevant to the platform, LinkedIn should definitely be included in social media marketing as a channel with rapidly growing popularity. 

Twitter

If used in the right way, the social media platform may generate one of the best ROIs. Twitter offers constant interaction and engagement with the audience with immediate result measuring. It has become a perfect platform for situational marketing, drawing attention to brands and products.

TikTok

No one could ever believe TikTok would one day lead the top social media channels. Today, it is a must-have social network for influencers and businesses for rapid fanbase growth. 65% of users note that it is much easier to connect to customers with branded content on TikTok than on other platforms, especially if the target audience is Gen Z. 
 

SMM Statistics

• 55% of customers make a final decision/purchase after discovering the product on social media.
• Social media overtook paid search as an ad channel growing by 25%.
• An average internet user has seven social media accounts. 

Native Advertising

Native ads types

Native advertising is probably less promoted but is one of the most effective marketing channels for driving traffic and conversion. With native ads, you provide paid ads and sponsored content that match the look and feel of the platform in which they appear. For example, it can be a blog post or a paid ad in social media feeds on publishing platforms. The best thing about native ads is that they don’t look like ads and provide information to readers equally. The more trustworthy the content is, the higher the conversion rates are. 

Digital marketers are increasingly turning to Native ads understanding the efficiency and user-centric qualities. After all, the digital environment is now all about user experience and delivering top-notch content for customers. Native advertising will become more intelligent and targeted as a result of programmatic display advertising and programmatic native advertising. At the same time, the native effect will diminish as disclaimer regulations are applied, and visitors begin to distinguish native advertising from original content. 

Native advertising Statistics

• Native ads have an 8.8x higher CTR (0.8%) than display ads.
• Customer purchase intent is 53% higher for native ads. 
• More personalized advertising will be enabled through AI and ML in programmatic native advertising.

Having trouble with generating converstion through native advertising?

We know how to create targeted native ads.

Video Marketing

Video Marketing

The value and role of video marketing dramatically changed with the expansion of TikTok and content types like Reels on Instagram. Videos proved to be more effective, targeted, and engaging for any purpose and any buyer persona. 

Video content can be implemented through all digital marketing channels if it is suitable for the product or service you provide. Moreover, the video content (including a landing page) is 53 times more likely to be ranked on the first page of Google results. To get a broader reach, videos are distributed through YouTube and Vimeo platforms and shared across all channels.
 

Video Marketing Statistics

• 72% of businesses claim their video marketing has increased conversion rates.
• 52% of users feel more confident about purchase decisions after watching product videos.
• 86% of businesses harness video marketing to gain a competitive advantage.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing strategy

Affiliate marketing is performance-based advertising that refers to the partnership between affiliate marketers and merchants to promote products through referrals. This type of content is labeled an “affiliate link” or “sponsored post.” In simple words, you receive a commission for promoting someone’s service or product. It can be carried out by hosting video ads through the YouTube Partner Program and posting affiliate links on blogs or social media channels. Most times, publishers and bloggers are engaged in affiliate marketing. 
 

Affiliate marketing requires much effort while generating less ROI compared to other digital marketing channels. 

The modern type of affiliate marketing is influencer marketing, widely used on social media channels. Influencers are those content creators with X number of followers who already trust and get inspiration. Influencer marketing is much like word-of-mouth marketing with a more customer-oriented approach in a digital marketing environment. Influencer marketing is product and service-specific, and if it is applicable to your business, you may benefit by partnering with an influencer.
 

One of the industries widely using affiliate marketing benefits is fintech. The industry heavily relies on affiliate marketing because of the struggle to incorporate other digital channels and marketing strategies into its promotional strategy. For fintech, industry-based traffic generators gather leads and filter them to later distribute to partners according to their industries.
 

Affiliate marketing statistics

• Over 80% of brands globally implement affiliate marketing.
• 65% of affiliate marketing traffic is generated through blogging.
• Affiliate marketing drives 16% of total online orders.
   

Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is not a digital marketing channel but software that enables automating marketing operations on digital channels. By automating the processes, it is possible to provide better efficiency and unload the marketing team to focus on crucial tasks. Marketing automation can be implemented in the following cases:

• Email newsletters
• Social media post scheduling
• Lead-nurturing workflows
• PPC campaign tracking and reporting
   

Digital/Online PR

Digital PR

Online PR has the same functions as traditional PR. The only difference is that it is carried out in a digital environment. The channel secures earned online coverage and reputation by publishing guest posts and content on the following channels:

Company reviews: showing your business more customer-oriented and transparent will contribute to building a reputation as a reliable brand.   

Replying to comments: being constantly connected and easily reached for your customers will help build a network of loyal customers.
 

Digital PR Statistics

• Social media communication and PR bring a 90% revenue increase in social media marketing.
• Twitter is leading as a platform for reporter outreach and developing relationships with the press.
• A press release is the most trustworthy digital PR type.
   

Closing up: How to do Digital Marketing?

Knowing what digital marketing is and which digital marketing channels drive traffic is half a job. The greatest effort to drive results is hidden in the strategies and methods of harnessing digital marketing efforts in the right place and at the right time. As a starting point, you can follow this 10-step guide that may help you create a robust digital marketing strategy.
 

Step 1: Create a buyer persona

Step 2: Identify marketing goals and tools

Step 3: Evaluate available digital marketing channels

Step 4: Start with a digital presence

Step 5: Keep it mobile optimized

Step 6: Make your brand easy for customers to reach

Step 7: Track the latest technologies 

Step 8: Automate marketing

Step 9: Analyze marketing metrics

Step 10: Find and tune your unique selling proposition