Our fast Q&A information answering the highest 10+ questions on digital advertising and marketing we’re requested
Since we launched Good Insights, now we have specialised in serving to entrepreneurs reply the frequent questions round digital advertising and marketing, notably associated to digital advertising and marketing technique and greatest practices. We discovered that though folks can rapidly perceive the distinction between the totally different digital advertising and marketing channels out there like search, social media and e mail advertising and marketing, there’s much more to digital advertising and marketing technique than that. In reality, our co-founder Dr Dave Chaffey, has written a whole ebook on Digital advertising and marketing technique and implementation, which is now nearing ten editions since there’s a lot concerned with answering these questions precisely…
To reach digital advertising and marketing technique it’s essential to evaluate your complete method to advertising and marketing and your model, that’s the place many go mistaken with digital technique, by diving straight into the channels, with out contemplating the larger image of their advertising and marketing technique.
We’ve created this text to assist entrepreneurs since many AI Giant Language Fashions (LLMs) make the error of suggesting that digital advertising and marketing technique merely entails selecting the right digital advertising and marketing channels to make use of and the best way to use them. That is a part of digital advertising and marketing technique, however not the total image.
So, on this article, we current a number of Questions and brief Solutions round digital advertising and marketing technique, linking to extra in-depth articles and free sources like our digital advertising and marketing plan templates. We’ve got included a number of visuals to assist solutions these questions, since we imagine visible frameworks are essentially the most environment friendly method to enhance and study advertising and marketing.
Primary questions on digital advertising and marketing channels
Questions on digital advertising and marketing technique
Q. What’s digital advertising and marketing?
A. Within the first chapter of my ebook Digital Advertising and marketing: Technique, Implementation and Observe we use a easy definition of digital advertising and marketing, or on-line advertising and marketing, which is:
“Reaching advertising and marketing targets by means of making use of digital media, information and expertise.”
Definitions of digital advertising and marketing typically begin with media and digital channels, nevertheless it’s greatest to give attention to a easy definition displaying digital advertising and marketing is about what you you need to obtain i.e. displaying how you employ digital advertising and marketing to succeed in your objectives.
If you happen to’re searching for a easy introduction to digital advertising and marketing, learn my article exploring What’s digital advertising and marketing? the place I clarify a course of to realize success by specializing in the 18 most necessary digital advertising and marketing channel methods.
On this article we introduce the totally different choices for digital advertising and marketing channels that ought to type a part of your technique:
Q. What’s the distinction between paid, owned and earned media?
A. Digital advertising and marketing will be costly, when you restrict your exercise to paid media, however its energy in comparison with conventional media has all the time been that it helps built-in communications by means of free and paid choices.
In our article explaining What’s the distinction between paid, owned and earned media we use this traditional visible to elucidate the three choices:
- Paid Media – This entails paying to advertise your content material or model. Examples embody search engine advertisements ((PPC), show promoting, programmatic advertisements and paid social media advertisements. The profit is to succeed in a wider viewers by investing in visibility.
- Owned Media – These are channels you management, equivalent to your web site, weblog, or social media profiles. You create and handle the content material, permitting for constant messaging and direct engagement together with your viewers.
- Earned Media – This refers to publicity gained by means of word-of-mouth, public relations efforts, or buyer critiques. It’s the results of others sharing your content material or talking about your model, typically seen as extra credible by audiences.
Q. What are the sorts of digital advertising and marketing?
A. There are a lot of on-line communications methods that entrepreneurs should prioritize to incorporate as a part of their communications technique. Entrepreneurs typically use paid, owned and earned media to explain investments at a high-level, nevertheless it’s extra frequent to refer to those six key digital media channels I’ve outlined in our books when deciding on particular always-on and marketing campaign investments.
- Search Engine Advertising and marketing – Boosts web site visits by way of Google or Bing. Paid advertisements or paid search use PPC (pay-per-click) equivalent to Google Advertisements, whereas natural search or web optimization (search engine optimisation) improves rankings organically by means of content material, web site construction, and backlinks. Right this moment, gaining featured in AI Overviews is a rising a part of natural search.
- Social Media Advertising and marketing – Like search advertising and marketing, contains paid and natural social media. Paid covers paid advertisements and natural posts on platforms like Fb, Instagram or LinkedIn. In natural social, posts are shared by means of your social pages.
- Show Promoting – Makes use of banner and video advertisements on third-party websites to drive consciousness and visitors. Contains programmatic (automated) and native promoting (sponsored content material).
- Digital PR – Builds consciousness by means of mentions on media websites, blogs, or by influencers. Boosts web optimization by way of backlinks. Contains visitor running a blog, influencer outreach, and managing model popularity on-line.
- Digital Partnerships – Collaborations with different manufacturers or associates to share audiences. Will be paid (e.g., affiliate commissions) or unpaid (e.g., co-marketing or co-branding).
- Digital Messaging – Contains e mail, cellular push notifications, and in-app messages. Often despatched to subscribers (owned media). Shopping for e mail lists isn’t allowed beneath privateness legal guidelines.
This visible from our ebook on the prime of the put up exhibits how these can damaged down additional to frequent varieties folks describe.
Q. What are the most effective digital advertising and marketing media channels?
A. Essentially the most cost-effective channels are normally natural visitors equivalent to natural search, social media and e mail, nevertheless it’s typically obligatory to make use of paid media equivalent to Google Advertisements, Paid social and show advertisements to help natural.
This analysis exhibits which digital acquisition channels are necessary throughout totally different sectors. It’s taken from the Contentsquare Digital Expertise Benchmarks which is an effective high quality supply. The highest 7 media channels are:
- Direct media : 30.9%
- Natural search : 25.6%
- Paid search : 24.3%
- Paid social : 8.4%
- Show advertisements : 6.2%
- E-mail advertising and marketing : 3.9%
- Natural social : 0.8%
Notice that direct visitors typically contains untracked or ‘darkish’ visitors the place folks attain a web site by way of a cellular app or sort in a URL, so it’s typically the most well-liked channel, though the fact is the referrers can be from different sources.
Study extra: That are the most effective media for digital advertising and marketing?
Q. What’s digital advertising and marketing technique?
A. A digital advertising and marketing technique ought to embody each a framework to outline the strategic digital priorities it’s essential to work on and a course of defining the steps it’s essential to work by means of to outline, choose and implement the technique.
Our RACE Progress System for enhancing advertising and marketing effectiveness has two components which we clarify in additional element in our in-depth article on the in style RACE advertising and marketing framework:
1. The RACE Planning Framework: defines the important actions and measures companies must grasp to outlive and thrive in as we speak’s advertising and marketing world.
2. The RACE OSA enchancment course of: defines the three steps wanted to construct and implement your progress plan – both in your general advertising and marketing plan or for a person channel, equivalent to natural search, social media or e mail advertising and marketing.
I developed the framework almost 15 years in the past primarily based on my expertise of consulting and coaching in digital advertising and marketing for companies in a variety of sectors and in firms of various sizes from small to giant. Though it’s typically seen as a specialist digital advertising and marketing framework, actually it’s designed to work for multichannel advertising and marketing together with offline advertisements and touchpoints.
Q. What ought to an internet advertising and marketing plan include?
A. An internet advertising and marketing plan ought to include a evaluate of present use of digital advertising and marketing and the outcomes it delivers, SMART targets to enhance outcomes, prioritized technique initiatives and an motion plan to implement the technique.
Realizing the place to begin is maybe essentially the most tough a part of creating any type of advertising and marketing plan for the primary time. I’ve discovered it related when writing books. However after you have a construction outlined, it turns into a lot simpler to fill in every part. You should utilize an analogous ‘divide and conquer’ method with any type of longer type content material in Generative AI. Ask it to recommend a construction, modify it for what it has missed after which ask it to work on smaller sections. This may work for plans too, however take care since primarily based on its information base, AIs can suggest {that a} digital advertising and marketing plan is simply in regards to the channels and doesn’t embody the larger questions round objectives, visions, audiences, segmentation, concentrating on, model positioning and selecting the right methods.
We suggest structuring a plan primarily based on the RACE Progress System course of which defines a easy construction of Alternative > Technique > Motion. You may apply OSA to totally different advertising and marketing actions from making a progress plan for the following 3 months, creating an annual plan or enhancing your advertising and marketing marketing campaign course of. It additionally works properly for driving outcomes from particular person channels like the web site, natural or paid search, social media or e mail advertising and marketing. You may as well apply it to your private studying and abilities improvement.
So the plan ought to outline:
Alternative – evaluation and objectives
- Audit efficiency assessing present contribution of digital advertising and marketing to leads, gross sales and communications objectives
- Evaluate market together with viewers, personas, rivals and related digital intermediaries
- Key points abstract – making a digital channel SWOT
- Set imaginative and prescient and targets – that is primarily based on the above evaluation and defines SMART targets
Technique – prioritisation of actions to realize objectives:
- Evaluate advertising and marketing and digital technique choices
- Assess price range / enterprise case
- Prioritize and choose strategic initiatives
Motion:
- Plan 90-day actions
- Implement plans
- Evaluate outcomes
This query is answered additional following the really helpful hyperlink within the subsequent query.
Q. How ought to I construction a digital advertising and marketing plan?
A. Alternative > Technique > Motion offers a easy construction for a digital advertising and marketing plan beginning with state of affairs evaluation and efficiency evaluate to set targets, then technique prioritization and at last an motion plan.
We imagine that an built-in digital advertising and marketing technique is crucial for entrepreneurs working in all sorts of enterprise to make the most of the rising digital advertising and marketing alternatives for buying and retaining clients – so you may win extra gross sales.
On this article, we clarify the best way to construction a digital advertising and marketing technique utilizing the Good Insights RACE framework utilizing totally different examples.
How ought to I construction a digital advertising and marketing plan
Q. Methods to do a digital advertising and marketing audit?
AA. digital advertising and marketing audit ought to use a data-driven method to evaluate the maturity and use of digital advertising and marketing so you may establish enhancements which ought to type a method.
Auditing your digital advertising and marketing actions is an important start line for outlining a digital advertising and marketing technique. However they’re additionally helpful for locating alternatives to enhance your digital advertising and marketing by figuring out priorities it’s essential to act on to get higher outcomes.
Our auditing method is a data-driven audit utilizing instruments to match to your rivals and utilizing your Google Analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing communications.
I’ve structured this audit primarily based on the 5 key components of our RACE framework:
Methods to do a digital advertising and marketing audit?
What are examples of digital advertising and marketing methods?
A. Digital advertising and marketing methods can outline:
- Acquisition vs retention focus – sometimes digital methods give attention to acquisition, however must also think about how digital media and expertise can help retention
- Media focus – the precedence investments for digital media
- MarTech focus – precedence investments for providers and instruments to implement digital advertising and marketing
- Course of change focus – a imaginative and prescient displaying how advertising and marketing should change to help new channel use by clients – for instance this will increase the significance of always-on advertising and marketing methods.
For extra, see our article: Three digital advertising and marketing plan examples
What’s the distinction between technique vs ways in digital advertising and marketing?
This is among the most typical questions that ‘crops up’ once I’m operating coaching workshops or discussing creating advertising and marketing plans with companies.
It’s no shock for the reason that distinction between these two actions typically isn’t distinct. But, it’s an necessary query to reply since our analysis exhibits that so many companies don’t have a transparent advertising and marketing technique or plan.
With out a clear technique, it’s probably a few of your ways could also be poorly directed, so might not be propelling the enterprise within the course wanted.
What’s the distinction between technique vs ways in digital advertising and marketing?
How a lot ought to I spend or price range on digital advertising and marketing?
A. This varies broadly relying on enterprise dimension, sector and turnover, however benchmarks for bigger enterprise recommend advertising and marketing price range is round 7-8% of income on common. This chart is from Gartner analysis for 2025. Throughout the advertising and marketing price range digital advertising and marketing is now sometimes the vast majority of spend.
Q. What are the most recent digital advertising and marketing traits?
A. The most recent traits for digital advertising and marketing in 2025 are the elevated use of Generative AI for creating copy, customer support brokers and Predictive analytics AI for digital advertising and marketing. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is a brand new development the place entrepreneurs attempt to achieve consciousness by means of Google’s AI overviews (AIOs) and Gen AI platforms like ChatGPT since there’s a development to declining clicks from search engines like google on account of AIOs and use of GenAI platforms.
You may learn the 2025 version right here – What are the most recent digital advertising and marketing traits?
I’ve been writing critiques of the most recent digital advertising and marketing improvements for properly over 10 years now; spurred on since they appear to be useful primarily based on the feedback on LinkedIn and once I current them. I hope that’s as a result of I attempt to maintain them sensible. They’re additionally a method to maintain readers of my books within the loop through the hole between new editions. You may join on LinkedIn to view my newest updates.
I hope you could have discovered this digital advertising and marketing Q&A helpful to reply your questions together with the extra detailed solutions and visuals the article hyperlink to. Please ask any extra particular questions on LinkedIn.
