Chapter 1

Introduction to Digital Marketing &

Benefits
Learning outcomes

● Clearly understand the distinct differences between digital skills and

Digital Marketing
● Define and explain digital marketing
● Understand the current environment of Digital Marketing in Ethiopia
● Distinguish between digital marketing and traditional marketing.
● A deep understanding of the benefits of Digital Marketing
● Comprehend the era of digital marketing, technological evolution, and
forecast future digital activities.
● Identify business types and their marketing efforts.
Marketing
The science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to
satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. [ Philip Kotler ]
Marketing Pillars
1) Product 2) Place
3) Price 4) Promotion
Traditional Digital
What are digital skills

Digital skills refer to the ability to use digital technology, communication

tools, and networks to access, manage, integrate, process, create, and
communicate information. These skills are essential in today's society,
where technology is rapidly advancing and becoming increasingly
important in all aspects of life.
Digital skills
Nowadays, digital skills are very crucial in our business and daily lives
because technology is influencing our day-to-day activity and the majority of
our jobs and tasks rely on computers (computer, mobile, tablet, internet, and
others). The following are instances we need digital skills,

● Handling basic computer operations

● Using basic applications and software
● Using Internet to solve problems
● Data entry and handling
● Safe use of computers and internet
Developed countries and digital skills
Digital skills have now become a fundamental component of everyday life in
developed countries, and it is difficult to function without them.

With the constant advancements in digital technology and the construction of

new technological infrastructures in developing countries, most businesses and
organizations' works are digitally processed,including

- Marketing (promotion, buying and selling)

- Banking,
- Production,
- Education,
- Communication,
- Internet of Things (IOT), artificial intelligence, autonomous devices,
Developing countries and digital skills

In developing countries like Ethiopia, digital skills are still in their infancy.
Our everyday activities are mostly manual and traditional.

Digital skills are considered basic in developed countries, but have become
a luxury in underdeveloped countries as there is little to no access to
technology or even awareness.

Because of rapid technological advancements, market expansion, and other

considerations, digital skills are now producing job opportunities in
developing countries. As a result, the market requires more digitally skilled
workers to process or operate systems.
Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing is any form of marketing that uses offline media to

reach an audience. Some examples of traditional marketing include

- Newspaper and other print medias

- Billboards
- Mail Communications
- Mass media like TV and radio
- SMS
- Referral
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the promotion of brands to connect with potential
customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication
channel.
Promote business through internet and message(ads) appear on potential
customers computers or smartphones.
Advantage and Disadvantages of Traditional Marketing

Advantages

● Wider reach
● Greater chance of building a reputation of trust
● Relatively effective for target audiences with ages around 50 and
older

Disadvantages

● High production Cost

● Limited audience targeting
● Difficulty in measuring results
Advantage and Disadvantage of Digital Marketing
Advantages
● Two way communication
● Greater audience targeting
● More cost effective
● Measurable results
● Collecting feedback
Disadvantages
● Technology dependent
● need to be evaluate and updated continuously
● Competition
● Ad blockers
● lack of internet access and interruption of network
Question

Choose a business from any industry that interests you and consider which
marketing type (traditional or digital marketing) is most suited to achieving
your business goals.

Traditional versus digital marketing

Compare Traditional and Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Traditional Marketing
Higher level of customer Little to no interaction
engagement
Easily measurable results Poor campaign measurement
Larger audience Limited audience
Less expensive and unlimited Higher cost and no control over
control over timing timing
Flexible budgeting options Fixed budgeting options
(Adjustable spending)
More versatility of formats Few formats that cannot be easily
updated
Higher rate of reaching targeted Lesser rate of reaching targeted
audience audience
Compare Traditional and Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Traditional Marketing

Multiple platform options Fewer platform options

Extremely fast conversion Slow conversion
Dynamic in nature Static in nature
Easy to measure investment Requires additional resource to
returns measure investment returns
Local to global reach Local reach
Quick, live and exact results Slow, rough and estimated results
Two-way communication with One way communication with
audience audience
Benefits of digital Marketing

● Cost effective
● Global reach
● Target the right audience
● Two-way communication
● Multiple post formats
● Measurable results
● Multiple strategy
● Adjustable campaign
 Era of Digital marketing

1926 1945 1964 1980 1999 2000

Generation
GI Mature/ Baby Generation Y/ Generation
Generation Silents boomers X Millennials Z
- Due to - Internet and - Young kids
- Not keen to
- Living in - Tech savvy - Heavily
WWII, great technology social media
- Innovators engaged with
wars depressions - Interested in usage
- Social media social media
news and - Facebook is the
- Not exposed - Traditional - Mobile marketing - Quick videos
slow videos preferred
to values platform and memes
- Rarely use
- Are online most
technology - Strong work Facebook as - Digital video,
Ethic email, twitter of the time
an entry
Digital Platforms
A digital platform is a software-based online infrastructure that facilitates
interactions and transactions between users. It is also a digital space that
provides facilities for users to collaborate, interact, or transact digitally.

Among the many available digital platforms known worldwide, we will focus
on the following:

1. Social media platforms

2. Website
3. Email
4. Google products
Social media Platforms
Social media is a collective term for websites and applications that focus on
communication, community-based input, interaction, content-sharing,
and collaboration.

Some of the most well used social media platforms include:

- Facebook - Twitter (X) - YouTube

- Instagram - LinkedIn - Snapchat
- Messenger - TikTok - Pinterest
- WhatsApp - Telegram - Wechat
Personal account and business page
Personal account: is an account where users may create, share, and
view contents, including uploading or downloading images/ videos/
documents/ files.

Business account: is a company account that allows you to track users

and posts so you know what posts people see, and what content your
followers interact with.

Almost all social media platforms have access to both personal and
business accounts with different features.
Social media terms and keywords
Posts: are messages/ topics/ ways of communication to help people learn
about your business’ products and services. you can share single or multiple
photos and videos in different placements.

Caption: here you are going to add a text at the top explaining what your post
wants to communicate.

Hashtag: is a word/ phrase is next after “#” symbol for your post on the caption
part so that the algorithm understands what your post is about and this puts
your content in front of people who are already exploring topics related to your
service.
Social media terms and keywords
Artwork: includes choosing whether to include a photo, video, audio or
collection of them.

A Call to Action/ CTA: is like an instruction to your audience used to provoke

an immediate response. It answers the question, "What do you want your
audience to do on your page?"e.g. follow, book now, call now, sign up, shop
now, learn more, etc.

Feeling/ Activity: you can add your feeling or activities of your specific post
that may easily describe the message of your post.
Social media placements
Posts: appears on the main page of the of the platform mainly on newsfeed/
timeline.

Stories: here is where you can share a short, full screen, immersive content
that disappears after 24 hours.

Reels: are short videos that can consists of video, music, filters, effects, and
more with an interactive video display. E.g. FB, IG and Tiktok reel and
youtube shorts

Live: most powerful ways to connect with your audience on Facebook. You
can broadcast to groups, your page, and it is a great way to get your content
in front of a brand-new audience.
Facebook Business page
Facebook Business page is a public social media profile represents a
business or brand and showcases the services it provides.

- Create your business page and setup the necessary data?

Facebook
Accounts
Facebook
Page roles
Page role Full control Edit page Respond Create View
(can assign info and comments ads insight data
page roles and publish and send
delete the posts messages
page)

Admin ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Editor 𐄂 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Moderator 𐄂 𐄂 ✔ ✔ ✔

Advertizer 𐄂 𐄂 𐄂 ✔ ✔

Analyst 𐄂 𐄂 𐄂 𐄂 ✔
Facebook
Page roles

As your business continues to grow on Facebook, you may start to need some help managing
your page:

- People with Facebook access: These people can switch into the Page and manage it
directly on Facebook, or by using other tools like Meta Business Suite or Creator Studio.
With Facebook access people page roles included are content, community activity, Ads
and insights and full controls access.
- People with task access: These people can't switch into the Page on Facebook, but
they can manage specific tasks using other tools like Meta Business Suite or Creator
Studio. This includes content, community activity, Ads and insights.
- Community managers: can moderate chat comments, suspend or remove people who
violate community standards and see all admins of this Page.
- Business account access: This Page is part of a Business Account. Admins of this
Business Account may give themselves or others access to the Page, and remove [Link]
may delete the Page at any time.
Facebook

Page verifications

Verified pages and profiles have blue checkmarks next to their names to show
that Facebook has confirmed they're the real presence of the public figures,
celebrities, and brands they represent. Verifying your page and profile do have
the following benefits:

● helps gain customers' loyalty

● Distinguish from fake accounts
● Increase page engagement
Facebook
Insights

Facebook Insights is where you will find all of your analytical data from your
Facebook page, and it is a place you should visit on a regular basis.

- It contains Overview dashboard, Results dashboard, Audience

dashboard, Feedback dashboard, Benchmarking dashboard, Content
dashboard, Messaging dashboard, Video dashboard
- Metrics can be impression, reach, pagelike, follower, profile visit, like,
comment, share, post click, average minute viewed, audience
metrics.
Facebook
Insights metrics

- Page likes
- Followers
- Reach
- Impression
- Engagement
- Engagement rate
- Profile visits
- Audience demographics
Pillars of digital marketing
- Marketing funnel cycle ( AIDA model )

- Understand your customer journey

Marketing funnel cycle- AIDA model

Awareness
1
- Audience become
aware of your brand
Interest
- Audiences don’t take - Where customers
action take interest in your
- Mass promotions 2
products and
services
- engaging content
Desire and visually striking
- Highly qualified leads design
- Individualized content 3
- keep customers Action
interested
- Leads take action by
4 making a decision on
your product or service
- Micro conversions like
signups, downloads
Marketing funnel cycle- AIDA model
Understand your customer journey

Awareness stage: which is where the user first hears about a product, service or brand.

User first learns about the product, service, or brand.

Goal - Introduce and attract attention.

Interest stage: It is the stage where the user sees that what you have to offer, may solve
a current need, and they want to find out more.

User recognizes the product may solve a current need.

Goal - Provide more information to generate interest.

Desire stage: That is when the user has decided that they would really like the product
you offer.

User decides they would really like the product.

Goal - Strengthen the user's desire through benefits and features.

Action stage. This is when the user decides to buy, or transact. It is often referred to as a
conversion.

User decides to make a purchase or transaction.

Often referred to as a conversion.

Goal - Facilitate and encourage the transaction.

Pillars of digital marketing

Advocacy stage. This is the stage at which the user becomes an advocate for your
product.

User becomes an advocate for the product.

Goal - Encourage positive reviews and word-of-mouth promotion.

Digital marketing trends and innovation
Digital marketing is changing with the help of AI, which makes creating content easier
and more personalized. AI tools can write blog posts, social media updates, and email
campaigns based on what users like and need. This means businesses can quickly
make content that feels relevant and engaging to each person. AI also helps marketers
spot trends and adjust their strategies on the fly.

- Text generative
- Image generative
- Video generative
Digital marketing trends and innovation
Reels are growing popular on social media because they’re short, fun, and engaging.
Their quick, eye-catching format grabs people’s attention, leading to higher interaction
and sharing. Social media algorithms also favor Reels, so they often get more visibility
on users' feeds. This makes them a great tool for brands to showcase products and
connect with audiences in a creative way. Plus, Reels often tap into popular trends and
challenges, making it easier for content to go viral.
Social media Platforms
Social media is a collective term for websites and applications that focus on
communication, community-based input, interaction, content-sharing,
and collaboration.

Some of the most well used social media platforms include:

- Facebook - Twitter (X) - YouTube

- Instagram - LinkedIn - Snapchat
- Messenger
- TikTok - Pinterest
- WhatsApp
- Telegram - Wechat