To achieve certain goals and objectives online, you need to launch a digital campaign. This could be a digital marketing campaign or any other campaign that leads to people taking the action you would like them to. A digital marketing campaign leverages marketing strategies across online and digital channels to help customers know about and engage with the brand, improve sales, increase customer numbers and much more. Whether it is increasing sales, lead generation, or leading people to a cause, the overall aim of digital marketing is to improve conversion rates. In this article, we will be looking at how businesses can leverage technology for digital campaigning to drive change, whether that be in marketing or otherwise.

What Does a Digital Campaign Entail?

A digital campaign has several parts. The first one is the audience. Any business or entity should seek to understand its target audience before launching any campaign. Failure to do so will lead to the use of the wrong strategies which can cause the campaign’s failure. It is at this point that the business should seek to understand the level of engagement, so it can tailor its messaging and outreach campaign better.

The second is taking action depending on the insights gathered. This includes insights into how the audience will respond to the messaging. Gathering insights is a continuous process as it can help inform future campaigns depending on how current campaigns perform.

Lastly, it is choosing the right messaging and channels to reach the target audience. This is a make-or-break scenario because marketing to an audience on a channel they do not use could be disastrous.

Digital Campaigning Pillars

Digital campaigning and marketing are propped up by several pillars that we will look at below.

Content Marketing

Regardless of the campaign you are running or engaged in, you need content for it to be effective. Marketers, businesses, and other stakeholders must produce content that entertains, enlightens, educates, and engages the target audience. Not doing so diminishes your reach and your message and makes you less likely to achieve your aims.

The internet has made it possible for you to distribute your content so that it reaches as many people as possible. Your business website is crucial for this as it is the primary anchor for your campaign. Blogs, e-books, white papers, social media, videos, conferences, and email are just some of the channels used in modern digital campaigning and marketing.

Email Marketing

Email remains an essential communication tool, especially for businesses. Creating a great email list and knowing how to use email marketing to achieve your goals requires strategic thinking and planning, but the work that goes into it pays a high return on investment.

Mobile Marketing

Although still considered relatively new, mobile marketing has become an important pillar of digital campaigns. It entails reaching people through their mobile devices, whether that be through notifications or SMS.

Mobile marketing is about providing your audience with value through their mobile device, whether that is through content marketing or overall promotional marketing.

Inbound Marketing

Although the term “inbound marketing” is sometimes used as a stand-in for digital marketing, common use dictates that it is just a part of the latter. Inbound marketing is a strategy that entails creating content and distributing it so that it is found by search engines and interested audiences. This content should also be created in a way that makes it easy to share so it can spread as far as possible.

Lastly, this content should contain appropriate calls to action so it can convert a portion of the people who encounter it.

Some strategies and tactics used for inbound marketing include blogging, pay-per-click advertising, SEO, and social media marketing.

Social Media Marketing

Being such an important part of digital marketing, the term “social media marketing” is becoming obsolete. However, it is important to understand what it entails if you are to leverage it.

Social media is an aggregate of all online channels that users leverage in different ways. For example, some of these channels are for staying in touch with family and friends while some are for keeping up with the latest news.

The social media channels a business uses for its campaigns will vary, but it depends on the type of business and type of campaign. Also, businesses should view social media as a means to an end – something they use to achieve other aims. For example, businesses can use social media marketing to distribute content so that it becomes a channel for that.

Digital Campaign Beyond Businesses

The pillars we have discussed above can be used beyond a business for digital campaigning. They have been very effective in certain activities such as raising awareness for causes and charities and driving donations for these important organizations. Email, social media, and mobile marketing have come out as some of the most potent tools used to achieve the aims of these organizations beyond their marketing.

Digital campaigning has also become an integral part of any political campaign. Politicians and parties now understand that we live in a digital world, and they need to reach people using more modern channels. President Obama was the first candidate to truly leverage digital campaigns, and we have since seen them used all over the world to help leaders get elected.

Digital campaign tools are not only critical for messaging, but they are also important for the amplification of voices and messaging. As in a business, the use of digital campaigning strategies can lead to broader reach and the recognition of the charity, cause, or candidate behind a campaign.

Gauging Success

It is important to continuously gauge the success of a digital campaign to see how well it is doing. Organizers and marketers can use various technological tools available to have visibility across whole campaigns. This level of visibility will help them see whether they are achieving their goals, whether that be driving engagement, getting more people to sign up for a campaign or increasing donations for an important cause.

While typically used for business, digital campaigning has uses beyond that realm. Regardless, the underlying principles and pillars used can apply to a wide variety of settings, it only depends on how well they are leveraged.