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What is Digital Marketing? A Comprehensive Guide For Beginner 2024

Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, involves promoting and selling products or services using digital channels.

Think of it as the modern version of marketing, where instead of billboards and television ads, you use websites, social networks, search engines, and other online tools to reach your target audience.

Marketers can use any marketing that uses electronic devices to convey promotional messages and measure their impact throughout the customer journey.

In practice, digital marketing typically refers to online marketing campaigns that appear on a computer, phone, tablet, or another device.

It can take many forms, including online videos, display ads, search engine marketing, paid social ads, and social media posts.

Digital marketing is often compared to “traditional marketing,” such as magazine ads, billboards, and direct mail. Interestingly, television is often grouped with traditional marketing.

Did you know that more than three-quarters of Americans connect to the Internet daily? Not only that, but 43% go online more than once a day and 26% are online “almost constantly.” These figures are even higher among mobile Internet users.

89% of Americans connect to the Internet at least daily and 31% do so almost constantly.

As a marketer, it is important to take advantage of the digital world with an online advertising presence, building a brand and providing a great customer experience that also attracts more leads and more, with a digital strategy.

A digital marketing strategy allows you to leverage different digital channels, such as social media, pay-per-click, search engine optimization, and email marketing, to connect with existing customers and individuals interested in your products or services.

As a result, you can build a brand, provide a great customer experience, attract potential customers, and more. Basically, if a marketing campaign involves digital communication, it is digital marketing.

Inbound Marketing VS Digital Marketing

Digital marketing and inbound marketing are easily confused, and for good reason.

Digital marketing uses many of the same tools as inbound marketing: email and online content, to name a few.

Both exist to capture the attention of potential customers throughout the buyer’s journey and convert them into customers.

However, the two approaches take different views on the relationship between tool and goal.

Digital marketing considers how individual tools or digital channels can convert leads.

A brand’s digital marketing strategy can use multiple platforms or focus all its efforts on a single platform.

For example, a company may primarily create content for social media platforms and email marketing campaigns, ignoring other avenues of digital marketing.

On the other hand, inbound marketing is a holistic concept.

First, consider the objective, then analyze the available tools to determine which ones will effectively reach your target customers, and then at what stage of the sales funnel it should occur.

As an example, let’s say you want to increase website traffic to generate more leads and leads. You can focus on search engine optimization when developing your content marketing strategy, which will result in more optimized content, including blogs, landing pages, and more.

The most important thing to remember about digital marketing and inbound marketing is that, as a marketer, you don’t have to choose between the two.

In fact, they work better together. Inbound marketing provides structure and purpose for effective digital marketing to digital marketing efforts, ensuring that each digital marketing channel works toward a goal.

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Why is Digital Marketing Important?

Any type of marketing can help your business thrive. However, digital marketing has become increasingly important because of how accessible digital channels are.

In fact, in March 2022 alone there were 5 billion internet users worldwide.

From social media to text messaging, there are many ways you can use digital marketing tactics to communicate with your target audience.

Additionally, digital marketing has minimal upfront costs, making it a cost-effective marketing technique for small businesses.

Digital marketing isn’t just a trend; it’s the lifeblood of modern businesses. Here’s why it holds such immense importance:

1. Reach a Global Audience: Compared to traditional marketing, digital marketing transcends geographical boundaries, allowing you to connect with potential customers worldwide. This opens up vast opportunities for growth and expansion.

2. Target Your Ideal Customers: Unlike scattershot traditional methods, digital marketing empowers you to laser-focus your efforts on specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This ensures your message resonates with the right people, maximizing your return on investment (ROI).

3. Build Brand Awareness and Loyalty: Through engaging content, social media interaction, and targeted campaigns, digital marketing fosters brand awareness and loyalty. You can cultivate relationships with your audience, building trust and establishing yourself as an industry authority.

4. Measure and Analyze Performance: Unlike traditional marketing’s guesswork, digital marketing provides concrete data on campaign performance. Track website traffic, engagement metrics, conversion rates, and more to refine your strategies for continuous improvement.

5. Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to expensive traditional methods, digital marketing offers a broader range of budget-friendly options. You can tailor your strategy to fit your resources, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.

6. Adaptability and Flexibility: The digital landscape is constantly evolving, but digital marketing allows you to adapt quickly. You can experiment with new trends, test different approaches, and pivot your strategies based on real-time data to stay ahead of the curve.

7. Personalization and Customer Engagement: Digital marketing enables personalized communication with your audience. Tailored messages, interactive content, and real-time interactions foster deeper engagement, leading to higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

8. Competitive Advantage: In today’s digital world, having a strong online presence is essential. By embracing digital marketing, you stay competitive, attract new customers, and retain existing ones, giving you an edge over offline-focused competitors.

Remember: Indeed, digital marketing isn’t a magic bullet or a once-and-done solution. It’s a dynamic journey requiring unwavering commitment and continuous refinement. However, the rewards are substantial. Through consistent improvement, analysis of results, and adaptation to evolving trends, you can unlock its full potential and transform your business goals into reality.

B2B VS B2C Digital Marketing

While both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) digital marketing aim to attract and convert customers, the approaches differ significantly due to the distinct nature of their target audiences. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences:

Target Audience:

B2B: Focuses on businesses or organizations, targeting decision-makers within those entities. It’s a rational, logical audience driven by ROI and long-term benefits.

B2C: Targets individual consumers, appealing to their emotions, desires, and immediate needs.

Decision-Making Process:

B2B: Involves multiple stakeholders with research, approvals, and budget considerations. The process can be lengthy and complex.

B2C: Decisions are often individual-based and quicker, driven by personal preferences and immediate needs.

Marketing Channels:

B2B: Often utilizes professional networks like LinkedIn, industry publications, webinars, and email marketing. Content tends to be informative, data-driven, and focused on ROI.

B2C: Leverages a wider range of channels like social media (Facebook, Instagram), influencer marketing, emotional storytelling, and user-generated content.

Content Strategy:

B2B: Focuses on educational content, case studies, white papers, and thought leadership pieces that showcase expertise and address industry challenges.

B2C: Creates engaging, emotionally-driven content like videos, infographics, user testimonials, and social media posts that resonate with individual desires.

Metrics and Measurement:

B2B: Tracks metrics like lead generation, website traffic, and qualified leads, often with a longer sales cycle in mind.

B2C: Focuses on immediate conversions, sales figures, and customer lifetime value.

Remember:

Tailoring is key: Understand your specific B2B or B2C audience and their unique needs to develop an effective marketing strategy.

Combine channels: Integrate different channels for a holistic approach, reaching your target audience at various stages of their buying journey.

Data is your friend: Track key metrics and analyze results to continuously optimize your campaigns for maximum impact.

Digital marketing strategies work for both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) companies, but best practices differ significantly between the two.

Below is a more detailed analysis of how digital marketing is used in B2B and B2C marketing strategies.

B2B clients tend to have longer decision-making processes and thus longer sales funnels. Relationship-building strategies work better for these clients, whereas B2C customers tend to respond better to short-term offers and messages.

B2B transactions are usually based on logic and evidence, which is what skilled B2B digital marketers present. B2C content is more likely to be emotionally based, focusing on making the customer feel good about a purchase.

B2B decisions tend to need more than 1 person’s input. The marketing materials that best drive these decisions tend to be shareable and downloadable. B2C customers, on the other hand, favor one-on-one connections with a brand.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. A B2C company offering an expensive product, such as a car or computer, might offer more informative and serious content.

Therefore, your digital marketing strategy should always be geared towards your own customer base, whether you are B2B or B2C.

Take a look at your current audience to create knowledgeable and targeted online marketing campaigns.

This ensures that your marketing efforts are effective and you can capture the attention of potential customers.

Types of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the broad term for any marketing efforts that use digital channels to reach and connect with customers.

This can include various activities, from creating and sharing content online to running ads on social media and search engines.

There are as many specializations within digital marketing as there are ways of interacting using digital media.

Here are a few key examples of types of digital marketing tactics.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is technically a marketing tool rather than a form of marketing in itself.

The Balance defines it as “the art and science of making web pages attractive to search engines.”

The “art and science” part of SEO is the most important. SEO is a science because it requires you to research and weigh different contributing factors to achieve the highest possible ranking on a search engine results page (SERP).

Today, the most important things to consider when optimizing a web page for search engines include:

Quality of content

Level of user engagement

Mobile-friendliness

Number and quality of inbound links

In addition to the above, you need to optimize technical SEO, that is, all the back-end components of your site.

This includes URL structure, loading times, and broken links. Improving your technical SEO can help search engines better navigate and crawl your site.

Strategic use of these factors makes search engine optimization a science, but the unpredictability it involves makes it an art.

Ultimately, the goal is to rank on the first page of a search engine results page.

This ensures that those searching for a specific query related to your brand can easily find your products or services.

Although there are many search engines, digital marketers often focus on Google because it is a global leader in the search engine market.

In SEO, there is no quantifiable rubric or consistent rule for high search engine rankings.

Google and other search engines change their algorithms almost constantly, so it’s impossible to make exact predictions.

What you can do is monitor your page performance closely and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media.

This approach establishes expertise, promotes brand awareness, and keeps your business top of mind when it’s time to buy what you sell.

But this is different from traditional advertising. Instead of attracting prospects with potential value from a product or service, it offers value for free in the form of written materials, such as:

Blog posts

E-books

Newsletters

Video or audio transcripts

Whitepapers

Infographics

Content marketing is important, and there are plenty of statistics to prove it:

85% of consumers expect companies to produce entertaining and helpful content experiences

63% of companies that have at least 5,000 employees produce content daily

93% of marketers believe that their company values content as an important asset

As effective as content marketing is, it can be tricky. Content marketing writers need to be able to rank high in search engine results while engaging the people who will read the material, share it, and further interact with the brand.

When content is relevant, it can build strong relationships throughout the pipeline.

To create effective, highly relevant, and engaging content, it is important to identify your audience.

Who are you ultimately trying to reach with your content marketing efforts? Once you have a better understanding of your audience, you can determine the type of content you create.

You can use many content formats in your content marketing, including videos, blog posts, printable worksheets, and more.

No matter what content you create, it’s a good idea to follow content marketing best practices.

This means creating content that is grammatically correct, error-free, easy to understand, relevant, and interesting. Your content should also direct readers to the next stage of the pipeline, whether that’s a free consultation with a sales representative or a sign-up page.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is all about driving traffic and increasing brand awareness by engaging people in online discussions.

You can use social media marketing to showcase your brand, products, services, culture, and much more.

As billions of people spend their time interacting on social media platforms, it may be worth focusing on social media marketing.

The most popular digital platforms for social media marketing are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, followed closely by LinkedIn and YouTube.

Ultimately, the social media platforms you use for your business depend on your goals and your audience.

For example, if you want to find new prospects for your FinTech startup, targeting your audience on LinkedIn is a good idea since professionals in the sector are active on the platform.

On the other hand, running social media ads on Instagram can be better for your brand if you run a B2C focused on younger consumers.

Because social media marketing involves active audience participation, it has become a popular way to attract attention.

It’s the most popular content medium among B2C digital marketers (96%), and it’s also gaining ground in the B2B sphere.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 61% of B2B content marketers increased their use of social media this year.

Social media marketing offers built-in engagement metrics, which are extremely useful in helping you understand how well you are reaching your audience.

You decide what types of interactions matter most to you, whether it’s the number of shares, comments, or total clicks to your website.

Direct purchasing may not even be a goal of your social media marketing strategy.

Many brands use social media marketing to start a dialogue with audiences rather than encouraging them to spend money immediately.

This is especially common among brands that target older audiences or offer products and services that aren’t suitable for impulse purchases.

It all depends on your business’s social media marketing goals.

To create an effective social media marketing strategy, it is essential to follow best practices. Here are some of the most important social media marketing best practices:

Craft high-quality and engaging content

Reply to comments and questions in a professional manner

Create a social media posting schedule

Post at the right time

Hire social media managers to support your marketing efforts

Know your audience and which social media channels they’re most active on

Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a form of digital marketing in which you pay a fee every time someone clicks on your digital ads.

So instead of paying a fixed amount to constantly serve targeted ads across online marketing channels, you only pay for the ads that individuals interact with.

How and when people see your ad is a little more complicated.

One of the most common types of PPC is search engine advertising, and since Google is the most popular search engine, many businesses use Google Ads for this purpose.

When a slot is available on a search engine results page, also known as the SERP, the engine fills that slot with what is essentially an instant auction.

An algorithm prioritizes each available ad based on a number of factors, including:

Ad Quality

Keyword relevance

Landing page quality

Bid Amount

PPC ads are then placed at the top of search engine results pages based on the above factors whenever someone searches for a specific query.

Every PPC campaign has one or more target actions that viewers are expected to take after clicking on an ad.

These actions are called conversions and can be transactional or non-transactional.

Making a purchase is a conversion, just like signing up for a newsletter or making a call to your home office.

Whatever you choose as your target conversions, you can track them through your chosen digital marketing channels to see how your campaign is performing.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing tactic that allows someone to make money by promoting another person’s business.

You can be either the developer or the company working with the developer, but the process is the same in both cases.

It operates on a revenue-sharing model. If you are an affiliate, you receive a commission every time someone buys the item you are promoting.

If you are the merchant, you pay the affiliate for each sale they help you make.

Some affiliate marketers choose to review a single company’s products, perhaps on a blog or other third-party site. Others have relationships with multiple merchants.

Whether you want to become an affiliate or find one, the first step is to make a connection with the other party.

You can use digital channels designed to connect affiliates with retailers, or you can start or join a program for a single retailer.

If you are a retailer and choose to work directly with affiliates, there are many things you can do to make your program attractive to potential promoters.

You will need to provide these affiliates with the tools they need to succeed. This includes incentives for great results as well as marketing tools and pre-made materials.

Influencer Marketing

Like affiliate marketing, influencer marketing relies on working with an influencer (a person with a large following, such as a celebrity, industry expert, or content creator) in exchange for exposure.

In many cases, these influencers will endorse your products or services to their followers across multiple social networks.

Influencer marketing works well for B2B and B2C businesses that want to reach new audiences.

However, it is important to partner with reputable influencers since they essentially represent your brand. A bad influencer can damage consumer trust in your business.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation uses software to power digital marketing campaigns, improving advertising effectiveness and relevance.

As a result, you can focus on creating the strategy behind your digital marketing efforts instead of tedious and time-consuming processes.

While marketing automation may seem like a luxury tool your business can live without, it can significantly improve engagement between you and your audience.

According to the statistics:

91% of US consumers find personalization either “very” or “somewhat” appealing

82% of consumers would like the brands they engage with to understand them better

78% of companies believe in the value of real-time personalization, yet 60% struggle with it

Marketing automation allows businesses to meet personalization expectations. It allows brands to:

Collect and analyze consumer information

Design targeted marketing campaigns

Send and post digital marketing messages at the right times to the right audiences

Many marketing automation tools use prospects’ engagement (or lack of engagement) with a particular message to determine when and how to contact them next.

This level of real-time personalization means you can effectively create an individualized marketing strategy for each customer without additional time investment.

Email Marketing

The concept of email marketing is simple: you send a promotional message and hope your prospect clicks on it.

However, the execution is much more complex. First, you need to make sure your emails are searchable.

This means having a membership list that does the following:

Individualizes the content, both in the body and in the subject line

States clearly what kind of emails the subscriber will get

An email signature that offers a clear unsubscribe option

Integrates both transactional and promotional emails

You want your prospects to see your campaign as a valued service, not just a promotional tool.

Email marketing is a proven and effective technique on its own: 89% of professionals surveyed named it their most effective lead generator.

It can be even better if you integrate other digital marketing techniques such as marketing automation, which allows you to segment and schedule your emails so that they meet your customers’ needs more effectively.

If you are considering email marketing, here are some tips that can help you create great email marketing campaigns:

Segment your audience to send relevant campaigns to the right people

Ensure emails look good on mobile devices

Create a campaign schedule

Run A/B tests

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy that allows you to interact with your target audience on their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

This can be done through SMS and MMS messages, social media notifications, mobile app alerts, etc.

It is crucial to ensure that all content is optimized for mobile devices. According to the Pew Research Center, 85% of Americans own a smartphone.

So your marketing efforts can go a long way when creating content for desktop and mobile screens.

Snapchat Marketing

All You Know about Snapchat marketing is the process of using Snapchat to promote your brand or business.

Snapchat is a social media platform that is popular with young people, so it can be a great way to reach this demographic. Snapchat marketing can be used to achieve a variety of goals, such as:

Increasing brand awareness

Driving website traffic

Generating leads

Boosting sales

Why use Snapchat marketing?

There are several reasons why you might want to consider using Snapchat marketing:

Reach a young audience: Snapchat is especially popular with Gen Z and Millennials. If your target audience falls into one of these demographics, Snapchat could be a great way to reach them.

Create engaging content: Snapchat’s features, like filters, lenses, and stickers, can be used to create fun and engaging content that will resonate with young people.

Drive results: Snapchat marketing can be used to achieve a variety of marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, and generating leads.

How to get started with Snapchat marketing

If you’re interested in getting started with Snapchat marketing, here are a few steps you can take:

Create a Snapchat account: If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to create a Snapchat account for your business.

Optimize your profile: Make sure your profile is complete and includes all of the relevant information about your business, such as your website URL and contact information.

Create engaging content: Use Snapchat’s features to create fun and engaging content that will resonate with your target audience.

Run ads: You can also run ads on Snapchat to reach a wider audience.

Track your results: It’s important to track your results so you can see what’s working and what’s not.

Here are some additional tips for Snapchat marketing:

Use geofilters: Geofilters are location-based filters that can be used to promote your business to people in a specific location.

Run contests and giveaways: Contests and giveaways are a great way to generate excitement and engagement around your brand.

Collaborate with influencers: Partnering with influencers can help you reach a wider audience and build trust with potential customers.

Use Snapchat insights: Snapchat insights can provide you with valuable data about your audience and how they are interacting with your content.

Spotify Marketing

All You Know about Spotify’s marketing strategy is widely admired for its effectiveness and innovation. Here are some key aspects:

Target audience: While appealing to a broad spectrum, Spotify focuses heavily on younger demographics like Gen Z and Millennials.

Key strategies:

Freemium model: Offering a free ad-supported tier alongside premium subscriptions attracts users and converts some to paying customers.

Personalization: Spotify excels at using user data to create personalized recommendations, playlists, and experiences, fostering deeper engagement.

Data-driven approach: They leverage user data to inform platform features, marketing campaigns, and content partnerships.

Social media presence: They actively engage on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, creating shareable content and interacting with users.

Collaborations and partnerships: Spotify partners with artists, brands, and influencers for exclusive content, events, and experiences.

Content marketing: They create engaging editorial content like podcasts, interviews, and playlists to attract and retain users.

Emotional storytelling: They use emotional storytelling in their ads and marketing materials to connect with users on a deeper level.

Focus on user experience: Spotify prioritizes a seamless and enjoyable user experience, which fosters loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.

Examples of successful campaigns:

Wrapped: The personalized year-end listening summary has become a cultural phenomenon, generating immense user engagement and social sharing.

Blend: This feature allows users to create a shared playlist with friends, fostering social connection and platform usage.

EQUAL: This initiative promotes gender equality in the music industry, aligning with its target audience’s values and attracting positive attention.

Recent trends:

Focus on podcasts: Spotify is investing heavily in podcasts, acquiring studios and exclusive content deals, to diversify its offerings and attract new users.

Livestreaming: They are exploring live audio experiences, partnering with artists for concerts and events, further engaging their audience.

Social commerce: Integrating e-commerce features within the platform, allowing users to purchase merchandise directly from artists.

TikTok Marketing

All You Know about TikTok marketing is the process of using TikTok to promote your brand or business. TikTok is a social media platform that is popular with young people, so it can be a great way to reach this demographic.

The TikTok marketing can be used to achieve a variety of goals, such as:

Increasing brand awareness

Driving website traffic

Generating leads

Boosting sales

Why use TikTok marketing?

There are several reasons why you might want to consider using TikTok marketing:

Reach a young audience: TikTok is especially popular with Gen Z and Millennials. If your target audience falls into one of these demographics, TikTok could be a great way to reach them.

Create engaging content: TikTok’s features, like filters, lenses, and stickers, can be used to create fun and engaging content that will resonate with young people.

Drive results: TikTok marketing can be used to achieve a variety of marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, and generating leads.

How to get started with TikTok marketing

If you’re interested in getting started with TikTok marketing, here are a few steps you can take:

Create a TikTok account: If you don’t already have one, you’ll need to create a TikTok account for your business.

Optimize your profile: Make sure your profile is complete and includes all of the relevant information about your business, such as your website URL and contact information.

Create engaging content: Use TikTok’s features to create fun and engaging content that will resonate with your target audience.

Run ads: You can also run ads on TikTok to reach a wider audience.

Track your results: It’s important to track your results so you can see what’s working and what’s not.

Here are some additional tips for TikTok marketing:

Use geofilters: Geofilters are location-based filters that can be used to promote your business to people in a specific location.

Run contests and giveaways: Contests and giveaways are a great way to generate excitement and engagement around your brand.

Collaborate with influencers: Partnering with influencers can help you reach a wider audience and build trust with potential customers.

Use TikTok insights: TikTok insights can provide you with valuable data about your audience and how they are interacting with your content.

By following these tips, you can create a successful TikTok marketing campaign that will help you reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals.

Here are some examples of brands that are using TikTok marketing successfully:

Taco Bell: Taco Bell has used TikTok to create fun and engaging content that resonates with its target audience. For example, the brand has created TikTok filters, lenses, and stories that feature its popular menu items.

Red Bull: Red Bull has used TikTok to sponsor events and create content that is relevant to its target audience of young adults. For example, the brand has sponsored extreme sports events and created TikTok stories that feature athletes performing stunts.

Kylie Cosmetics: Kylie Jenner’s makeup line, Kylie Cosmetics, has used TikTok to promote its products and connect with its customers. For example, the brand has used TikTok filters and lenses to allow customers to try on its products virtually.

The best type of digital marketing for your business will depend on a number of factors, such as your target audience, your budget, and your overall marketing goals.

It is often a good idea to use a combination of different digital marketing tactics to reach your target audience and achieve your goals.

The Benefits of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing has largely become important because it reaches such a wide audience.

However, it also offers a number of other benefits that can boost your marketing efforts. These are just some of the benefits of digital marketing.

Wide Geographical Coverage

When you post an ad online, people can see it from anywhere (provided you haven’t geo-restricted your ad).

This makes it easier to expand your business’s market reach and connect with a wider audience across different digital channels.

Cost Efficiency

Digital marketing not only reaches a wider audience than traditional marketing but is also less expensive.

Overhead costs for newspaper ads, TV spots, and other traditional marketing opportunities can be high.

They also give you less control over whether your target audiences will see these posts in the first place.

With digital marketing, you can create a single piece of content that attracts visitors to your blog as long as it is active.

You can create an email marketing campaign that sends messages to targeted customer lists on a schedule, and it’s easy to change that schedule or the content as needed.

When you add it all up, digital marketing gives you a lot more flexibility and customer contact for your ad spend.

Quantifiable Results

To know if your marketing strategy is working, you need to know how many customers it attracts and how much revenue it ultimately generates. But how can you achieve this with a non-digital marketing strategy?

There is still the traditional option of asking each customer: “How did you find us?” »

Unfortunately, this doesn’t work in all sectors. Many businesses don’t have the ability to have one-on-one conversations with their customers, and surveys don’t always yield comprehensive results.

With digital marketing, tracking results is simple. Digital marketing software and platforms automatically track the number of desired conversions you’re getting, whether that’s email open rates, visits to your homepage, or direct purchases.

Easier Personalization

Digital marketing allows you to collect customer data in a way that offline marketing cannot. Data collected digitally tends to be much more precise and specific.

Imagine that you offer financial services and you want to send special offers to Internet users who have viewed your products.

You know that you will get better results if you target the offer to the person’s interests, so you decide to prepare 2 campaigns.

One is for young families who have considered your life insurance products and the other is for millennial entrepreneurs who have considered your retirement plans.

With digital marketing, all this information is already at your fingertips.

More Connection With Customers

Digital marketing allows you to communicate with your customers in real-time. More importantly, it allows them to communicate with you.

Think about your social media strategy. It’s great when your target audience sees your latest post, but it’s even better when they comment or share it.

This means more buzz around your product or service, as well as increased visibility every time someone joins the conversation.

Interactivity also benefits your customers. Their level of engagement increases as they become active participants in your brand story.

This sense of belonging can create a strong sense of brand loyalty.

Easy and Convenient Conversions

Undeniably, digital marketing unlocks a universe of customer data compared to traditional methods. What’s more, this data is often highly precise and granular, allowing for laser-focused campaigns that tap into individual interests.

Consider your example of offering financial services. Imagine the immense power of knowing what products website visitors have viewed. Therefore, you can craft hyper-targeted campaigns precisely like you mentioned:

One campaign, geared towards young families who have explored life insurance, could seamlessly highlight the benefits of securing their loved ones’ futures.

Another campaign, aimed at millennial entrepreneurs considering retirement plans, could effectively emphasize the importance of early planning for a comfortable future.

With digital marketing, this level of granularity is readily available, empowering you to deliver highly relevant messages that convert at a significantly higher rate.

However, always remember to be mindful and respectful of data privacy regulations. Obtain explicit consent before using customer data for marketing purposes.

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy?

For many small businesses and beginner digital marketers, getting started with digital marketing can be difficult.

However, you can create an effective digital marketing strategy to increase brand awareness, engagement, and sales using the following steps as a starting point.

Creating a successful digital marketing strategy requires careful planning and execution. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

1. Define your goals and target audience:

Goals: What do you want to achieve with your digital marketing efforts? Increase brand awareness, generate leads, boost sales, or improve customer engagement? Set clear, SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) to track your progress.

Target Audience: Who are you trying to reach? Develop detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal customers, including their demographics, interests, needs, and pain points. This helps tailor your message and communication channels effectively.

2. Analyze your current landscape:

Evaluate existing digital presence: Audit your website, social media channels, email marketing, and any other existing digital assets. Identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

Research competitors: Analyze your competitors’ digital marketing strategies to understand their tactics, strengths, and weaknesses. Learn from their successes and identify opportunities to differentiate yourself.

3. Choose your digital channels:

Owned media: These are channels you control, like your website, social media profiles, and email list. Focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.

Paid media: Invest in advertising platforms like Google Ads, social media ads, or display advertising to reach a wider audience or target specific demographics.

Earned media: Generate organic reach through public relations, influencer marketing, and content marketing that encourages others to share your message.

4. Develop a content strategy:

Content types: Create a mix of informative, engaging, and valuable content formats like blog posts, videos, infographics, social media updates, and email newsletters.

Content calendar: Plan your content, ensuring consistent publishing and addressing your audience’s needs throughout the buyer’s journey.

5. Track and analyze results:

Monitor key metrics: Use analytics tools to track website traffic, engagement metrics, lead generation, and conversions.

Identify what’s working and what’s not: Regularly analyze your data to understand what content resonates with your audience and make adjustments to your strategy as needed.

Additional Tips:

Stay up-to-date: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Stay informed about new trends and adapt your strategy accordingly.

Be transparent and authentic: Build trust with your audience by being transparent about your brand and values.

Be consistent: Building a successful online presence takes time and effort. Implement your strategy consistently and keep providing valuable content to your audience.

Importance of Digital Marketing

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for any business, regardless of size or industry. This is where digital marketing comes in. It refers to any Importance of Digital Marketing activity that uses electronic devices or the internet to promote products, services, or brands.

The importance of Digital Marketing holds immense importance in today’s world, and its value keeps growing with the increasing dependence on the internet. Here’s why it’s crucial for businesses:

Reach and Visibility:

Global Audience: Reach a vast audience across the world, surpassing geographical limitations.

Targeted Approach: Pinpoint your ideal customers based on demographics, interests, and online behavior.

Increased Brand Awareness: Build brand recognition and establish your presence in the digital space.

While traditional marketing has served businesses well for decades, the digital landscape has now become the dominant force, demanding a shift in strategy. In this environment, digital marketing emerges as not just an option, but a necessity for businesses of all sizes. Let’s delve into the reasons why:

Reaching New Heights: Expanding Your Audience

Transcending Borders: Unlike physical limitations, digital marketing empowers you to connect with a global audience, opening doors to previously unthinkable customer bases.

Laser-Sharp Targeting: Gone are the days of scattershot advertising. Digital tools allow you to pinpoint your ideal customers with laser precision, based on demographics, interests, and online behavior. This targeted approach ensures your message resonates with the right people, maximizing impact.

Brand Awareness on Steroids: Building brand recognition in the digital age is easier than ever. Engaging content, strategic social media presence, and targeted advertising propel your brand into the spotlight, fostering recognition and establishing your authority within your industry.

Beyond Awareness: Building Deep Connections

Two-Way Street to Engagement: Digital marketing isn’t a one-way monologue. It’s a two-way conversation where you can directly interact with your audience, building trust and fostering loyalty. Respond to comments, answer questions, and participate in discussions to create a genuine connection with your customers.

Pulse of Your Audience: Valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors are readily available through real-time feedback on your campaigns. This data-driven approach allows you to constantly adapt and improve your strategies, ensuring they remain relevant and resonate with your target audience.

Community: The Power of Belonging: Foster a thriving community around your brand by creating engaging online spaces. This sense of belonging encourages brand advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing, propelling your brand further into the digital stratosphere.

Numbers Tell the Story: Measuring Success

Data-Driven Decisions: Gone are the days of guesswork. Digital marketing provides comprehensive data on every aspect of your campaigns, allowing you to track performance with precision. Understand what’s working, and what needs improvement, and optimize your strategies for maximum impact.

ROI in the Spotlight: Clearly demonstrate the value of your marketing efforts to stakeholders by showcasing the quantifiable results achieved. Increased website traffic, improved conversion rates, and boosted brand awareness paint a clear picture of digital marketing’s effectiveness.

Investment that Scales: Unlike traditional marketing with potentially high upfront costs, digital marketing offers flexibility and scalability. Start small with targeted campaigns and gradually scale your efforts as your business grows, ensuring budget-conscious optimization.

More Than Meets the Eye: Additional Advantages

Personalization Power: Deliver tailored messages and experiences to individual customers, creating a sense of connection and relevance that resonates deeply.

Mobile-First Mindset: Reach customers where they spend most of their time – on their smartphones. Optimize your website and marketing efforts for mobile experiences to stay ahead of the curve.

Competitive Edge in the Digital Arena: The digital landscape is your new battleground. Embrace the power of digital marketing to stay ahead of competitors and conquer your market share.

In conclusion, digital marketing is more than just a marketing strategy; it’s a bridge to success. By leveraging its multifaceted power, you can connect with your target audience, build meaningful relationships, and ultimately achieve your business goals. Are you ready to embark on your digital marketing journey?

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asdcnawaz · 4 months

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Digital marketing courses for free, Online marketing training without cost, Free SEO classes

ASDC Kanpur Courses: Your Gateway to Business Success in the Digital Age

ASDC Kanpur is a centre of higher education and our courses are designed to meet the needs of business. By enrolling in our digital marketing courses you can access

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palaksolanki15 · 9 months

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Exploring the Best Marketing Certifications for Career Growth

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, the role of marketing has become more crucial than ever. With the proliferation of digital channels and the increasing importance of data-driven decision-making, marketers need to stay updated with the latest strategies and tools to remain competitive. One effective way to showcase your expertise and stay current is by obtaining marketing certifications. In this blog, we'll delve into some of the best marketing certifications that can significantly enhance your career prospects.

1. Google Ads Certification: Mastering the Digital Advertising Realm

Google Ads is an integral part of digital marketing, allowing businesses to reach their target audience effectively. The Google Ads certification covers various aspects of creating, managing, and optimizing ad campaigns across the Google Ads platform. This certification is not only recognized globally but also provides valuable insights into pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, keyword targeting, and ad performance analysis.

2. HubSpot Content Marketing Certification: Crafting Compelling Content

Content marketing remains a cornerstone of modern marketing strategies. The HubSpot Content Marketing Certification equips you with the knowledge and skills needed to create compelling content that resonates with your audience. From content ideation to distribution and measurement, this certification covers the entire content marketing lifecycle.

3. Facebook Blueprint Certification: Mastering Social Media Advertising

Social media platforms, particularly Facebook, have become powerful marketing channels. The Facebook Blueprint Certification offers a comprehensive understanding of advertising on the platform. It covers topics such as ad targeting, ad formats, campaign optimization, and measuring ad performance. With the ability to reach billions of users, this certification is a must-have for any social media marketer.

4. Data Analytics Certifications: Unleashing the Power of Data

Data-driven decision-making has transformed the marketing landscape. Certifications in data analytics, such as Google Analytics and Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals, provide marketers with the skills to gather, analyze, and interpret data to optimize marketing strategies. Understanding user behavior and tracking key metrics are essential for successful marketing campaigns.

5. Content Marketing Institute Certification: Elevating Your Content Strategy

The Content Marketing Institute offers a certification program that focuses on strategic content marketing. It covers audience research, content creation, distribution, and measurement. This certification is perfect for marketers aiming to develop a holistic content strategy that aligns with business goals.

6. Digital Marketing Institute Certification: A Comprehensive Digital Marketing Approach

The Digital Marketing Institute provides a comprehensive certification program covering various digital marketing disciplines, including SEO, social media, email marketing, and more. This certification is suitable for those looking to gain a well-rounded understanding of digital marketing and its diverse components.

7. Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification: Navigating Social Media Management

Managing multiple social media accounts and staying consistent can be challenging. The Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification offers insights into effective social media management, scheduling, analytics, and engagement. This certification is a valuable asset for social media managers and marketers.

8. SEO Certifications: Navigating the Search Landscape

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of online visibility. Certifications like Moz's SEO Essentials Certification and SEMrush SEO Toolkit Course provide in-depth knowledge of SEO techniques, keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, and technical SEO.

In conclusion, marketing certifications have become essential tools for career growth and expertise in today's competitive landscape. These certifications offer a structured approach to learning the latest marketing techniques, tools, and strategies. Depending on your career goals and areas of interest, choosing the right certifications can significantly boost your credibility and open doors to exciting opportunities in the marketing world. Remember, the best certification for you is the one that aligns with your goals and helps you stay ahead in the dynamic field of marketing.

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iturhsweb · 1 year

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emeacademysblog · 1 year

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Best Digital Marketing Course In Kolkata Near Me

Digital marketing ALSO CALLED ONLINE MARKETING promotes brands over the INTERNET AND OTHER DIGITAL COMMUNICATION platforms.

Digital marketing has many benefits, including increased local visibility, which is crucial if your company depends on neighborhood clients. Global reach is one of these benefits. Local SEO and locally focused-advertising can be helpful for businesses.

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ganeshpunjal · 1 year

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infinitevision · 1 year

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Get IT Services, IT Training, Business Coaching.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 27 days

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The specific process by which Google enshittified its search

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

All digital businesses have the technical capacity to enshittify: the ability to change the underlying functions of the business from moment to moment and user to user, allowing for the rapid transfer of value between business customers, end users and shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

Which raises an important question: why do companies enshittify at a specific moment, after refraining from enshittifying before? After all, a company always has the potential to benefit by treating its business customers and end users worse, by giving them a worse deal. If you charge more for your product and pay your suppliers less, that leaves more money on the table for your investors.

Of course, it's not that simple. While cheating, price-gouging, and degrading your product can produce gains, these tactics also threaten losses. You might lose customers to a rival, or get punished by a regulator, or face mass resignations from your employees who really believe in your product.

Companies choose not to enshittify their products…until they choose to do so. One theory to explain this is that companies are engaged in a process of continuous assessment, gathering data about their competitive risks, their regulators' mettle, their employees' boldness. When these assessments indicate that the conditions are favorable to enshittification, the CEO walks over to the big "enshittification" lever on the wall and yanks it all the way to MAX.

Some companies have certainly done this – and paid the price. Think of Myspace or Yahoo: companies that made themselves worse by reducing quality and gouging on price (be it measured in dollars or attention – that is, ads) before sinking into obscure senescence. These companies made a bet that they could get richer while getting worse, and they were wrong, and they lost out.

But this model doesn't explain the Great Enshittening, in which all the tech companies are enshittifying at the same time. Maybe all these companies are subscribing to the same business newsletter (or, more likely, buying advice from the same management consultancy) (cough McKinsey cough) that is a kind of industry-wide starter pistol for enshittification.

I think it's something else. I think the main job of a CEO is to show up for work every morning and yank on the enshittification lever as hard as you can, in hopes that you can eke out some incremental gains in your company's cost-basis and/or income by shifting value away from your suppliers and customers to yourself.

We get good digital services when the enshittification lever doesn't budge – when it is constrained: by competition, by regulation, by interoperable mods and hacks that undo enshittification (like alternative clients and ad-blockers) and by workers who have bargaining power thanks to a tight labor market or a powerful union:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

When Google ordered its staff to build a secret Chinese search engine that would censor search results and rat out dissidents to the Chinese secret police, googlers revolted and refused, and the project died:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)

When Google tried to win a US government contract to build AI for drones used to target and murder civilians far from the battlefield, googlers revolted and refused, and the project died:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/technology/google-pentagon-project-maven.html

What's happened since – what's behind all the tech companies enshittifying all at once – is that tech worker power has been smashed, especially at Google, where 12,000 workers were fired just months after a $80b stock buyback that would have paid their wages for the next 27 years. Likewise, competition has receded from tech bosses' worries, thanks to lax antitrust enforcement that saw most credible competitors merged into behemoths, or neutralized with predatory pricing schemes. Lax enforcement of other policies – privacy, labor and consumer protection – loosened up the enshittification lever even more. And the expansion of IP rights, which criminalize most kinds of reverse engineering and aftermarket modification, means that interoperability no longer applies friction to the enshittification lever.

Now that every tech boss has an enshittification lever that moves very freely, they can show up for work, yank the enshittification lever, and it goes all the way to MAX. When googlers protested the company's complicity in the genocide in Gaza, Google didn't kill the project – it mass-fired the workers:

https://medium.com/@notechforapartheid/statement-from-google-workers-with-the-no-tech-for-apartheid-campaign-on-googles-indiscriminate-28ba4c9b7ce8

Enshittification is a macroeconomic phenomenon, determined by the regulatory environment for competition, privacy, labor, consumer protection and IP. But enshittification is also a microeconomic phenomenon, the result of innumerable boardroom and product-planning fights within companies in which would-be enshittifiers try to do things that make the company's products and services shittier wrestle with rivals who want to keep things as they are, or make them better, whether out of principle or fear of the consequences.

Those microeconomic wrestling-matches are where we find enshittification's heroes and villains – the people who fight for the user or stand up for a fair deal, versus the people who want to cheat and wreck to make things better for the company and win bonuses and promotions for themselves:

https://locusmag.com/2023/11/commentary-by-cory-doctorow-dont-be-evil/

These microeconomic struggles are usually obscure, because companies are secretive institutions and our glimpses into their deliberations are normally limited to the odd leaked memo, whistleblower tell-all, or spectacular worker revolt. But when a company gets dragged into court, a new window opens into the company's internal operations. That's especially true when the plaintiff is the US government.

Which brings me back to Google, the poster-child for enshittification, a company that revolutionized the internet a quarter of a century ago with a search-engine that was so good that it felt like magic, which has decayed so badly and so rapidly that whole sections of the internet are disappearing from view for the 90% of users who rely on the search engine as their gateway to the internet.

Google is being sued by the DOJ's Antitrust Division, and that means we are getting a very deep look into the company, as its internal emails and memos come to light:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/03/not-feeling-lucky/#fundamental-laws-of-economics

Google is a tech company, and tech companies have literary cultures – they run on email and other forms of written communication, even for casual speech, which is more likely to take place in a chat program than at a water-cooler. This means that tech companies have giant databases full of confessions to every crime they've ever committed:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Large pieces of Google's database-of-crimes are now on display – so much, in fact, that it's hard for anyone to parse through it all and understand what it means. But some people are trying, and coming up with gold. One of those successful prospectors is Ed Zitron, who has produced a staggering account of the precise moment at which Google search tipped over into enshittification, which names the executives at the very heart of the rot:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/

Zitron tells the story of a boardroom struggle over search quality, in which Ben Gomes – a long-tenured googler who helped define the company during its best years – lost a fight with Prabhakar Raghavan, a computer scientist turned manager whose tactic for increasing the number of search queries (and thus the number of ads the company could show to searchers) was to decrease the quality of search. That way, searchers would have to spend more time on Google before they found what they were looking for.

Zitron contrasts the background of these two figures. Gomes, the hero, worked at Google for 19 years, solving fantastically hard technical scaling problems and eventually becoming the company's "search czar." Raghavan, the villain, "failed upwards" through his career, including a stint as Yahoo's head of search from 2005-12, a presiding over the collapse of Yahoo's search business. Under Raghavan's leadership, Yahoo's search market-share fell from 30.4% to 14%, and in the end, Yahoo jettisoned its search altogether and replaced it with Bing.

For Zitron, the memos show how Raghavan engineered the ouster of Gomes, with help from the company CEO, the ex-McKinseyite Sundar Pichai. It was a triumph for enshittification, a deliberate decision to make the product worse in order to make it more profitable, under the (correct) belief that the company's exclusivity deals to provide search everywhere from Iphones and Samsungs to Mozilla would mean that the business would face no consequences for doing so.

It a picture of a company that isn't just too big to fail – it's (as FTC Chair Lina Khan put it on The Daily Show) too big to care:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM

Zitron's done excellent sleuthing through the court exhibits here, and his writeup is incandescently brilliant. But there's one point I quibble with him on. Zitron writes that "It’s because the people running the tech industry are no longer those that built it."

I think that gets it backwards. I think that there were always enshittifiers in the C-suites of these companies. When Page and Brin brought in the war criminal Eric Schmidt to run the company, he surely started every day with a ritual, ferocious tug at that enshittification lever. The difference wasn't who was in the C-suite – the difference was how freely the lever moved.

On Saturday, I wrote:

The platforms used to treat us well and now treat us badly. That's not because they were setting a patient trap, luring us in with good treatment in the expectation of locking us in and turning on us. Tech bosses do not have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it

Someone on Hacker News called that "silly," adding that "tech bosses do in fact have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years. That's literally the business model of most startups":

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40114339

That's not quite right, though. The business-model of the startup is to yank on the enshittification lever every day. Tech bosses don't lie in wait for the perfect moment to claw away all the value from their employees, users, business customers, and suppliers – they're always trying to get that value. It's only when they become too big to care that they succeed. That's the definition of being too big to care.

In antitrust circles, they sometimes say that "the process is the punishment." No matter what happens to the DOJ's case against Google, its internal workers have been made visible to the public. The secrecy surrounding the Google trial when it was underway meant that a lot of this stuff flew under the radar when it first appeared. But as Zitron's work shows, there is plenty of treasure to be found in that trove of documents that is now permanently in the public domain.

When future scholars study the enshittocene, they will look to accounts like Zitron's to mark the turning points from the old, good internet to the enshitternet. Let's hope those future scholars have a new, good internet on which to publish their findings.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

#pluralistic #ed zitron #google #microincentives #constraints #enshittification #rot economy #platform decay #search #ben gomes #code yellow #mckinsey #hacking engagement #Prabhakar Raghavan #yahoo #doj #antitrust #trustbusting

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digitalmarketingyouth · 2 months

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beingmash · 3 months

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BeingMash is a dynamic IT company specializing in website development, software development, and digital marketing solutions. With a passion for innovation and a commitment to excellence, we strive to empower businesses of all sizes to thrive in the digital landscape.

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beautiful-basque-country · 12 days

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Hey, I've been reading through your posts about how tourism and digital nomads and expats are gentrifying all kinds of cities and places in Spain and price out the locals and don't respect the culture and only put money in the hands of the wealthy.

I completely understand where you are coming from and what you're saying makes a lot of sense, but as an extranjero who wants to visit Spain, what are some things we can do to support the locals and also celebrate your culture while visiting?

Kaixo anon! Thanks for your message ^_^

I know that we all travel on a budget and are very much used to low costs in everything, and many of the suggestions I'm gonna write are quite more expensive than maybe other alternatives. This is another issue: affording ethical tourism is a privilege not many visitors have.

avoid big hotel chains and AirBnB. Instead, choose little, family-owned hotels. They usually are in villages not far from the big touristy town and also provide a calm space out of the noisy crowd.

avoid restaurant chains and fancy ones, since 99% of the times they're owned by a board of investors. Run away from those with menus displayed on blackboards written in English, they're usually unauthentic tourist traps with poor quality food. Instead, choose family restaurants offering homemade, real Spanish food. There are maaany of these, and they're a terrific experience.

if you're willing to buy some groceries, avoid supermarkets. Choose any good-looking fruit shop, or butcher's, or fishmonger's. Go to local markets and buy local produce.

if you're moving around, use public transportation or a bike. Avoid renting a car or boat and polluting our hometown and seas. If you're moving between towns, choose the train if possible instead of booking a flight.

And regarding the celebration part, some simple pieces of advice:

unless you're Latin or Mediterranean-looking, you're gonna be spotted as a guiri at first sight. You can do nothing to stop being a guiri, but don't behave like one. Since you're an easy target, be especially wary with your belongings and with people that suddenly approach you, they might be thieves. Don't walk with your map in hand 24/7. Leave your valuables at home or at your accomodation. Don't think Spain is your playground where local law doesn't apply to you because you're spending your money there. Behave like you would normally do at home.

many foreigners don't understand Spanish service. Waiters and waitresses won't be all smiles, sweet as candy, asking you non-stop how everything's going. That doesn't mean they're being rude to you and want you out, it's just a different culture: their job is to take your order, get your food, and give you the bill when asked for it. That's all the interaction you'll get. If you need more drinks or bread, you'll just have to politely attract their attention and they will help with your needs.

flow with Spanish schedule. Many tourists are entitled enough to ask for lunch at 12 or for dinner at 7. Of course this won't be a problem in tourist bars and restaurants, but everywhere else this just won't happen. Make sure to ask for the kitchen's working hours if you're interested in having a meal in a certain place and don't ask Spaniards to follow your guiri schedule.

use basic words in Spanish to be polite: buenos días, gracias, hasta luego. You don't need a Spanish proficiency certificate to leave a good impression after you leave and avoid that everyone thinks putos guiris again.

Learn about the different nations inside Spain before your visit. Don't expect flamenco shows in Donostia, or sangría in Santiago. Respect our pride: dressing up as a matador, donning a hat with the Spanish flag, or wearing it as a cape may be very unpleasant and rude for the locals in Catalunya, Euskadi, Galiza, etc. Do your homework prior to your visit and you'll enjoy it much much more, since you'll be able to appreciate all the different cultures that live together around here and what each of them has to offer you.

#euskal herria #pays basque #basque country #pais vasco #euskadi #spain #personal #tourism #travel #what to do when in spain

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iturhsweb · 1 year

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macrolit · 7 months

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Forbes article: "How Struggling College Bookstores Found A Way To Beat Amazon"

Oct 20, 2023,06:30am EDT

A new sales model adopted by hundreds of universities limits students’ ability to shop around for textbooks.

By Lauren Debter, Forbes Staff

As fall semester dawned at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, senior Olivia McFall turned to Amazon to shop for books — not only because its prices were better for certain titles, but so she could get her course materials quickly. The campus bookstore could sometimes take a week or two. Unacceptable.

“Teachers will start assigning reading on the first day,” McFall, a 22-year-old fashion-merchandising major, told Forbes. “You get behind if you don’t have that textbook. If I buy it on [Amazon], it’s usually because I can get it faster than the bookstore.”

For decades, Amazon’s lower prices and speedier delivery have blown a crater in the college bookstore business. Given the option to shop around, students only buy about one-third of their course materials at the campus store.

Now the bookstores are fighting back. They say they’ve hit on a plan that would, almost magically, quash competition from online rivals like Amazon. T.C.U. is among the colleges considering a model that would automatically charge students for textbooks on their tuition bills, which can be covered by financial aid, and get them to students by the time classes begin. Books are typically discounted 30% or more, said the bookstores, who negotiate volume discounts. Students must return materials at the end of the semester.

Despite reservations from education advocates who worry it limits purchasing options for students, the plan, dubbed Inclusive Access, is spreading like kudzu. It rose out of a 2015 rule from the U.S. Department of Education that permitted universities to include the cost of textbooks with tuition, as long as prices were under competitive market rates and students could opt out.

Bookstores latched onto the idea during the pandemic. They were looking to boost sales at a time when they were hamstrung by closures, declining enrollment numbers and the seismic shift to digital textbooks — and still are.

In the 2022-23 academic year, Inclusive Access already captured the business of 44% of students, worth an estimated $1.4 billion annually, according to the National Association of College Stores.

Illinois-based Follett Corp., a privately held company (annual sales: $1.6 billion) that operates roughly one-third of college bookstores, said the number of its campuses that have adopted the Inclusive Access model has tripled to 450 since 2019. New Jersey-based Barnes & Noble Education (annual sales: $1.5 billion), which spun out of the bookseller chain in 2015 and also runs a third of campus bookstores, said it has over 150 schools signed up for Inclusive Access, up from just four in 2019. (The colleges themselves operate the other one-third of campus bookstores.)

Overnight, schools that switched to Inclusive Access brought guaranteed revenue to booksellers. Sell-through rates, which measure the percentage of course materials students purchase at the campus bookstore, skyrocketed from about 30% before Inclusive Access to north of 80 or 90%, according to Follett and Barnes & Noble Education. Few students opt out, the companies said, because they like the prices and convenience.

It’s a clever way to beat Amazon. Unable to compete, Follett and Barnes & Noble Education separated their customers from the open marketplace and bundled their products with something Amazon couldn’t sell — college tuition. The bookstore gets the customer without ever having to go up against the online behemoth, which is currently being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for its own alleged anti-competitive practices. (Amazon has said it disagrees with the allegations, and will contest the lawsuit.)

“It’s a significant volume increase because you’re capturing all of the course material market share in an institution,” Jonathan Shar, who oversees campus stores operated by Barnes & Noble Education, told Forbes. “Plus, it’s much more predictable.”

Amazon Prices

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the impact Inclusive Access is having on its textbook sales. Amazon said it may offer discounts to schools that buy books in bulk, but it’s been winding down certain aspects of its textbook business. In April, it stopped renting physical textbooks to students and in 2020 it stopped buying textbooks back from students.

Last year, 37% of students purchased books from Amazon. That’s down from 46% in 2019, according to the National Association of College Stores.

Selling textbooks isn’t the business it used to be. A decade ago, students spent $4.8 billion a year on textbooks, according to research firm Words Rated. Today, it’s about $3.2 billion. During the 2022-23 school year, students spent an average of $285 on course materials, the lowest figure since the National Association of College Stores began tracking spending 16 years ago.

That’s partly the result of a rapid shift to lower-cost digital textbooks, with 55% of course materials now digital, up sharply from 15% prior to the pandemic, according to Emmanuel Kolady, Follett’s CEO. More textbooks are being made available online for free from sites like OpenStax, too. Nearly three-quarters of students say they were assigned at least one free course material in the latest academic year, according to the National Association of College Stores.

Company’s ‘Cornerstone’

Barnes & Noble Education, a publicly traded company that runs 800 campus bookstores, has described Inclusive Access to investors as a “cornerstone” of its plan to return to profitable growth, noting that course-material revenue rises more than 80% and gross profit nearly doubles after schools switch to the new model.

The company has lost a cumulative $600 million since 2018. Last year’s sales were 23% below pre-pandemic levels. This summer, it had to negotiate an extension on its loan payments because it couldn’t come up with enough cash. As part of the deal, it gave up two board seats and said it would explore selling the company. Its stock price has lost 90% of its value in the last two years, tumbling to less than $1 a share.

“It feels like this is their first, second and third priority,” said Ryan MacDonald, an analyst at Needham who covers Barnes & Noble Education, referring to Inclusive Access, which the company calls “First Day Complete.”

Benefits For Students

The booksellers claim the program saves students money. Follett said that students spend an average of 30% less than if they were to buy new books and are better equipped for classes as Inclusive Access gets them their materials before the semester begins.

At New York University, for instance, where Follett runs bookselling, students are automatically billed for books unless they opt out. Most are digital rentals. A textbook for an introductory biology class is priced at $36.75, which gives students access to a digital copy for the semester. That’s 20% less than if they went directly to the publisher’s website and rented it for the term. It’s 40% less than on Amazon, which only offers the option to buy the digital version, not rent it.

The math, however, is not always transparent. According to a report from the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, which analyzed 52 book-buying contracts, it’s “hard, if not impossible” to figure out how deep the discounts are because schools don’t make it clear what the discount is based on.

Savings can be less meaningful for students who would have otherwise bought used books or borrowed books, said Nicole Allen, director of open education at SPARC, a nonprofit that advocates for more course materials to be free. The one-quarter of students who intentionally skip buying certain books each semester, usually because they don’t think they need it, are also charged, she said. As more schools migrate to Inclusive Access, Allen questions whether discounts will disappear since publishers have a long history of raising prices.

“This is already a captive market because students are told what to buy,” Allen told Forbes. “Inclusive Access makes it an even more captive market by telling students how they’re going to buy it.”

Even without Inclusive Access, students can be limited in their comparison shopping. More and more professors are assigning books with single-use access codes, available for an additional fee, which students use to access quizzes, homework and other materials online. Promoted by publishers who benefit from the new revenue stream, they’re often sold exclusively by the campus bookstore and cannot be resold.

Follett’s president Ryan Petersen predicts that a newer variant of the model called Equitable Access, where students pay a flat fee for their materials regardless of the courses they’re taking, will be adopted by most schools in the next five years.

“We’re having this conversation with every campus we can,” Petersen told Forbes, “potentially even to campuses who are sick of hearing about it.”

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