What is digital marketing? Types and tools

Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the set of strategies a business uses to promote its products or services through the internet: search engines, social media, email, websites and apps. Its principle is the same as always, taking your brand to where your customers are, but with one big difference: you can choose precisely who you talk to and measure what works.

In this guide you'll see exactly what digital marketing is, why it's worth investing in, its main types and the tools you need to get started.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing covers every marketing activity that happens on digital channels: showing up on Google when someone searches for what you sell, posting on social media, emailing your customers, creating content for your website or running ads online.

Like traditional marketing, it aims to make a brand known, attract customers and sell. What changes is the place: we're talking about connected people who shop online, read the news, compare options and share on social media. Knowing which tools and strategies suit each audience can be the difference between a brand that grows and one that goes unnoticed.

Compared with mass media such as TV, radio or print, digital marketing has four clear advantages:

• Targeting. You can show your message only to the people you care about, based on their location, age, interests or what they search for.
• Measurement. You know how many people saw your message, how many clicked and how many bought.
• Flexibility. You can change, pause or boost a campaign while it's running.
• Conversation. Customers can reply, comment or message you directly.

Why invest in digital marketing?

These days it's hard to find a business that doesn't put part of its marketing budget into digital channels. One of the main reasons is the cost-benefit ratio: with a smaller investment you can give your brand the boost it needs, because you focus your money on the people most likely to buy from you.

Digital campaigns also come with analytics. With Google Analytics 4 and the reporting in platforms such as Google Ads or Meta Business Suite, you can see your performance in close to real time: what brings in visitors, how your audience reacts to each campaign and at which point in the buying process customers drop off. That way you fix what isn't working and double down on what connects with your audience.

You can also test several strategies at once, measure the response and build increasingly personalised campaigns. That creates valuable relationships with your customers, and remember that keeping an existing customer is usually easier than attracting a new one. To go deeper, read the benefits of digital marketing and 10 reasons to invest.

Types of digital marketing

Digital marketing has many branches, and several of them work together. These are the 9 most widely used types and what each one can do for your business.

1. SEO (search engine optimisation)

Your website is one of your most important tools, and SEO aims to help customers find it on search engines such as Google or Bing without paying for each visit.

Ranking a page depends on technical factors and, above all, on the quality of the content. Google says its systems aim to reward helpful, reliable information created to benefit people, not to manipulate rankings. Techniques are usually grouped into three areas:

• On-page SEO: content that answers what your audience is searching for, good titles and a clear structure.
• Off-page SEO: your site's reputation, for example when other trustworthy sites link to you or mention you.
• Technical SEO: making sure your site loads quickly, works well on mobile (Google indexes the mobile version of websites) and can be crawled without problems.

Keep in mind that Google now also shows AI-generated summaries, called AI Overviews, for many searches. The best way to appear is still the same: original, useful content created by people who know the subject. For the basics, read what SEO stands for and how it works.

2. SEM (search engine marketing)

SEM, or search engine marketing, is similar to SEO with one difference: you pay for your ads to appear when someone searches for keywords related to your business. The most widely used platform is Google Ads, where the most common model is paying each time someone clicks your ad.

Its big advantage is intent: you show your ad to someone who is looking for exactly what you offer, and you can start getting visits as soon as the campaign goes live. For practical ideas, see our SEM tactics to boost your marketing strategy.

3. Content marketing

Content marketing means creating and sharing valuable content, such as blog articles, guides, videos, infographics or e-books, to attract your audience and build brand awareness.

Instead of bombarding people with advertising, content marketing offers something useful or entertaining that builds recall and trust. The topic and format depend on your type of business and the people you want to reach; what matters is that it's high quality and answers real questions.

4. Inbound marketing

Inbound marketing starts from a simple idea: customers find you, rather than you chasing them. It combines content, SEO, social media and email to attract people, help them solve their questions and guide them through to a purchase.

Its focus is on your potential customers' needs, not your sales goals. That's why it works so well for purchases that involve research, such as professional services or business-to-business products.

5. Social media marketing

Social media changed the way you communicate with customers, because the conversation goes both ways. You can use it to build awareness, drive traffic to your website, answer questions and build a community.

Each platform has its own audience, formats and ways of interacting. Among the most used are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest and X (formerly Twitter). Your presence can be organic, with posts and engagement, or paid, with targeted ads. Social media takes time and consistency, but done well it tends to pay off in the long run. Check whether you have a social media marketing strategy that supports your goals.

6. Email marketing

Email is still one of the most effective channels, because it lets you speak directly to people who already know you: newsletter subscribers or customers who gave you their address.

Use it to share news and offers, invite people to events or follow up after a purchase. A few recommendations:

• Only email people who agreed to hear from you, and always offer an easy way to unsubscribe.
• Segment your list so each person gets relevant information.
• Automate key messages, such as a welcome or an after-sales follow-up.
• Don't overdo it: add value with every send, not just promotions.

Find all the details in our guide to what email marketing is.

7. Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing brings together the activities designed for smartphones, which is where many people search, compare and buy. It includes having a website that works well on small screens, in-app ads, text messages and conversations on messaging apps, as well as formats such as short vertical videos on Instagram Reels or TikTok.

More than a separate channel, it's a way of thinking about all your marketing: if something doesn't work well on a phone, you're losing customers.

8. Affiliate marketing

In affiliate marketing, other people or websites promote your products or services and earn a commission on every sale they generate. For your business it's attractive because you pay for results.

It works especially well for niche products, whose audiences are often actively researching before they buy. Choose affiliates who know your audience and present your offer honestly.

9. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing means partnering with people who already have an audience that trusts them, so they recommend your brand. It works because some of that trust carries over to your products.

Choose influencers whose audience resembles your customers and whose image fits your brand. You don't always need huge accounts: creators with small but highly engaged communities can be more effective for a local or niche business. And make it clear when content is a paid partnership.

Digital marketing tools

People sometimes say "digital marketing tools" when they mean the channels we've just covered. Here we mean the apps you use to run them. Many of the essentials are free:

• Analytics: Google Analytics 4 shows you where your visitors come from and what they do on your site. If you want reporting dashboards, you can connect Google Analytics to a free dashboard tool and share the charts with your team.
• SEO: Google Search Console is free and shows which searches you appear for, how many clicks you get and whether there are problems indexing your pages. PageSpeed Insights helps you check your site's speed and user experience.
• Local business: Google Business Profile is free and lets you manage how you appear on Google Search and Maps, reply to reviews and share updates.
• Advertising: Google Ads for ads on search and other Google placements, with Keyword Planner to research what people search for. Facebook and Instagram ads are created with Meta's advertising tools.
• Social media: Meta Business Suite is free and lets you schedule Facebook and Instagram posts, reply to messages and comments in one place and view insights.
• Email and customers: an email marketing platform to send, automate and measure your emails, and a CRM to organise your customer information and sales process.
• Content: online design editors to create graphics and AI assistants to help with ideas and drafts, always reviewed by someone who knows your business.

How to combine the types of digital marketing

You don't have to use every type of digital marketing at once. What works is choosing the right mix for your business:

1. Know your target audience: who they are, what they need and which channels they spend time on.
2. Define your value proposition: what makes you different and why someone should choose you.
3. Set measurable goals: for example, enquiries per month, online sales or bookings.
4. Start with two or three channels: a café could combine its Google Business Profile, Instagram and an email list; a business that sells to other businesses might choose SEO, LinkedIn and email.
5. Measure and adjust: review results every month, drop what isn't working and build on what is.

At first it's worth trying different strategies until you find the one that delivers the results you expect. Because digital marketing needs a smaller investment than traditional marketing, you have more opportunities to correct mistakes and try new ways to reach your customers.

If you'd like help choosing and managing the right channels for your business, take a look at our digital marketing services.