Digital Marketing Tutorial

Fast, Easy, Free Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners

Digital Marketing is EASY Once Someone Shows You the Way!

“Can digital marketing help me?”  These days it’s a question almost every small business and non-profit is asking themselves.

A quick great way to find out if digital marketing can help you is by using this fast, easy, free Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners. You can learn Digital Marketing basics at home, or anywhere that’s convenient for you. It’s designed to help small business owners and non-profits get the most out of their Digital Marketing efforts.

Here’s a link to the Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners Table of Contents

PLEASE NOTE: This free Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners is a bit “long in the tooth”. In other words, you may find the info a bit dated. All the basics detailed in this tutorial are still true, but it may be missing more recent additions to the digital marketing landscape.

What is Digital Marketing? (The Basics)

Wikipedia defines Digital Marketing (also called internet marketing, web marketing, emarketing & online marketing) as follows: “Digital marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services.”

And what that typically means in real terms to most Web entrepreneurs is, “How do I attract more first time visitors to MY Web site who need my product or service, or will support my cause?”

In this free online Digital Marketing Tutorial you’ll learn how each of these major Digital Marketing components can help you attract additional Web site visitors and keep them coming back for more, as well as how to implement them in a very cost-effective manner.

B2C versus B2B Digital Marketing

But what the heck is Business to Business (“B2B”) Digital Marketing and how is it different from Business to Consumer (“B2C”) Digital Marketing?

B2B Digital Marketing is the term used to describe the marketing of products or services from one business to another.  A business marketing its product or service to another business requires understanding the target business as well if not better than a business marketing its product or service to consumers.

Let’s look at two of the major differences between B2B and B2C Digital Marketing – the TARGET AUDIENCE and the “BUYER’S JOURNEY” – to better understand these differences.

Target Audience

The typical B2C Target Audience versus the typical B2B Target Audience:

Target Audience Size: A B2C product/service is typically marketed to individual consumers using some form of mass marketing (TV, radio, retail locations, Google AdWords, etc.).  A B2B purchase typically begins with some form of limited “mass marketing” that quickly evolves into one business interacting with another business.

Product/Service Complexity: B2C products/services tend to be easily understandable by the potential consumer and can therefore can be marketed with a limited number of product/service specifics.

B2B products/services tend to be much more complex and therefore require several individuals from different departments in the business to review and approve these purchases.  This means that the online marketing materials produced need to be much more detailed and, in many instances, will require some type of on-site demonstration.

Product Price: Except for purchasing housing and/or vehicles, the typical B2C product/service price is well within the buying power of 1 person. The typical B2B product/service tends to be much more expensive and therefore again requires multiple departments to approve the purchase.

Buyer’s Journey

Let’s start by comparing the typical B2C Buyer’s Journey versus the typical B2B Buyer’s Journey.

The journey consists of a three-step process:

  • Awareness Stage: The buyer realizes they have a problem.
  • Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and researches options to solve it.
  • Decision Stage: The buyer chooses a solution.

The graphic below (courtesy of HubSpot) illustrates a sample buyer’s journey for the simple purchasing decision of a doctor visit during an illness.

Buyers Journey-HubSpot-DaveIngalls.com

The main difference between a B2C and a B2B Buyer’s Journey is the number of “buyers” on each one.  A typical B2C Buyer’s Journey, as outlined in the example above, is a journey taken by 1 or at most 2 “buyers” who typically have very closely aligned informational needs in order to make the final buying decision.

On a true B2B Buyers’ Journey, there are typically multiple “buyers” at each step in the journey, each buyer with his/her own set of informational needs to be met.

Bottom line: The B2B Buyers’ Journey is a much more complicated journey with many “buyers” on that journey, each of whom must be understood and provided with the appropriate information to make the final buying decision.

But, at the end of the day, whether you’re interested in B2B Digital or B2C Digital Marketing, you are still trying to attract humans with your marketing efforts.

Inform, Educate and Help

So what should YOU do to attract that type of first time visitor to YOUR Web site? If you take only one concept away from your visit to this Digital Marketing Tutorial, make it this one:

Digital Marketing is all about INFORMING, EDUCATING and HELPING your Web site visitors find solutions to their problems or needs. Do NOT try to sell them anything initially – instead provide them with the best solutions to those problems and/or the best ways to meet those needs.

This concept is known as Inbound Marketing. And inbound marketing is all about creating RELEVANT CONTENT for YOUR Web site, blog, Facebook page, Twitter “tweets”, YouTube videos, etc. that INFORMS, EDUCATES and HELPS, and is targeted at YOUR best potential customers. (To learn more about Inbound Marketing, visit HubSpot, especially their Inbound Marketing for Small Businesses section.)

Why take the “Inform, Educate, Help” route? Think about why those folks are using a search engine like Google in the first place – it’s typically to INFORM and EDUCATE themselves about a product, service or cause that could solve a problem or meet a need. If you are the one doing the best job at providing that information and education, those first time visitors will end up on YOUR Web site and turn into YOUR best potential customers!

Inform, educate and help. Inform, educate and help. Inform, educate and help…

Now, let’s begin this free online Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners.  One of the major components of Digital Marketing is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a multi-faceted Digital Marketing topic in and of itself. So let’s start this Digital Marketing Tutorial there:

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

And here’s a link to the Digital Marketing Tutorial Table of Contents

Thanks for dropping by my free online Digital Marketing Tutorial for Beginners.

Note: My name is Dave Ingalls. If you need help with your SEO and/or Digital Marketing tasks, please review the B2B SEO Services and B2B Digital Marketing Services I offer.