Not long ago, marketing was all about spending money. If a business could outspend its competition, its chances increased of taking over a lion’s share of the market. Yes, creativity did play a part, but only a small role. The limelight was always on the money spent.

Today, however, things are different and marketing is a lot more complex. People want to build relationships; they don’t just want to be marketed to. From traditional advertising media, such as TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, the focus is now on the Internet and the myriad digital channels – search engines, emails, mobile apps, social media networking sites and so on.

There are millions of people today designing a website or starting a blog, opening accounts on dozens of social media platforms, and there are enough acronyms to give you a headache – SEO, SEM, PPC, CTA, CRO and more.

If you are just getting started with online marketing, all of this can lead to information overload. It can even make you feel overwhelmed, confused and lost. So, cut the noise and know the 5 basic digital marketing tactics to start with. You can chart the rest of your path as you get comfortable with these.

1. Email marketing

Email is considered to be one of the best converting online channels, and email marketing strategy is regarded as one of the most affordable and results-driven digital marketing strategies. By sending daily updates to your email subscribers, you can develop and nurture a strong relationship. By ensuring that the email updates are valuable and relevant to your subscribers, you can build trust. Eventually, you will succeed in turning a percentage of your audience into actual customers.

Note that email marketing strategy is not about purchasing an email list and bombarding them with emails containing promotional messages or a one-time advertising spot in somebody else’s email newsletter. For the best results from email marketing, you will have to maintain a list of subscribers that you have earned and nurtured personally. Only then your email list will turn into an asset and your email campaigns will drive sales.

Email marketing has a distinct advantage over other online marketing channels, i.e., you own the email list. While your social media audience might disappear with the shutdown of your Facebook ads account or suspension of your Twitter account, and your search traffic might drastically fall one day if Google penalizes your website, the email subscriber list that you’ve personally built will be yours. You can decide how often you send emails, how you treat them and what you send them.

2. Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is the method of optimizing websites or content so that they easily show up in search results of Google and other search engines. Search engines determine which websites to show for a particular search query and this is based on the search terms provided by the users. The search engine crawlers match these terms with the keywords mentioned on the content or websites and then, show them on the SERPs. Needless to say, SEO has a lot to do with keyword research and the use of the right keywords. If you want your website to appear in the organic search results, you have to start with keyword research.

But, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are other strategies for optimizing your website for the search engines. For instance, getting high-quality backlinks from trusted, authoritative third-party websites, creating original content to keep the audience engaged and being active on social media.

With SEO, there are no shortcuts. You should never be tempted by black hat SEO tactics to reach the top quickly because Google algorithms are smart and once they detect any kind of spammy activity, they will ban your website and you will lose everything.

3. Content marketing

The art of using valuable information and storytelling to enhance brand awareness and attract the attention of the audience is referred to as content marketing. This strategy is aimed at building relationships with prospective customers and becoming a partner, instead of just an advertiser. Content marketing is often used as a part of inbound marketing tactics to provide value to customers and keep them updated about the brand, products or services.

This strategy strongly relies on the development and distribution of content. Content marketing can rarely be seen completely separated from other digital marketing strategies as content is required everywhere – websites, social media platforms, emails and so on. Even link building strategies are made stronger when it is supported by original, unique and informative content.

4. Social media marketing

Social media marketing refers to the use of social media platforms to promote a brand, product or service. Over the years, social media platforms have rightfully earned their place in the list of most effective and basic digital marketing strategies. As a part of online marketing, the goal is to make sure of the social media channels to share information, engage with followers and convince them to spread the word. Also, social media marketing can be used to drive traffic to your website and entice them to make a purchase. You can use the platforms to build your brand, spread awareness or to boost your revenue and sales. Thanks to the introduction of Facebook Marketplace, you can even sell your products directly on Facebook. It is the same with Facebook-owned Instagram.

But, you have to be careful with social media marketing. Each social media network have their unique features, content that they like and communication best practices. Some social networking sites will work great for your brand while others might not. So, make sure to study each social media platform before making a decision.

5. Search engine marketing or SEM

While SEO takes care of the organic search traffic and ranking, SEM refers to paid traffic and ranking. Google Ads is probably the most common form of SEM because by far, Google is the most used search engine. However, you can also check out Bing Ads.

In SEM, marketers pay the search engine a predefined amount for showing marketing messages to the audience. The marketing messages are optimized with the help of specific keywords and catchphrases. Also, the paid ads are customized as per the location, demographics and so on. Paid search is also referred to as PPC or CPC and this gives marketers an opportunity to showcase their ads above the organic search results.

In addition to search engines, social media networks are also offering paid advertising opportunities that are worth checking out.

Foraying into the world of digital marketing might seem challenging, but once you understand how it works, you can tailor the strategies to suit your brand. The above-mentioned are the basic approaches to digital marketing that you can consider mastering before moving onto other tactics like, video marketing, affiliate marketing, SMS marketing and so on.