As the name suggests, whenever marketing is done by digital means it is referred to as digital marketing. Digital marketing is a very broad topic and has several spectrums under it. Starting from pop-up ads on the internet to Google Adsense, every such thing falls under the category of digital marketing.

History of Digital Marketing:
Digital marketing has been there for almost 4 decades now. Following is a brief timeline on the world of digital marketing:

 1990: The term ‘Digital Marketing' was coined and "Archie" the first search engine was launched.

 1993: The first clickable, interactive web banner was launched.

 1994: The launch of the "Yahoo!", which revolutionized the internet.

 1997: The launch of the first social media site – "sixDegrees.com".

 1998: The birth of "GOOGLE" and Microsoft launched "MSN".

 2001: Universal Music conducted the first mobile marketing campaign ever witnessed.

 2002: Launch of "LinkedIn".

 2004: The launch of "Gmail" and Facebook introduces "Facebook live".

 2005: Launch of "YouTube".

 2010: Launch of "WhatsApp".
These above technological developments paved the way for the current generation of Digital Marketing.

Spectrums of Digital Marketing:
Digital marketing is a very broad topic and covers a lot of content. It has 10 specific ways or "faces" as called by some experts. These "faces" of digital marketing are-

I. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – SEO refers to the ranking of a given website in search engine results. Better the rank means higher traffic and thus higher sales through marketing. Thus SEO plays an important role in digital marketing.

II. Content Marketing – The creation and promotion of actual content through Blog Posts, Ebooks and Infographics is what Content Marketing entails.

III. Social Media Marketing – The practice of promoting quality content for a business through a social media site like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc. is called Social Media Marketing.

IV. Pay Per Click (PPC) – This practice generally counts the number of clicks on a particular web Ad, advertised on a social media site and pays accordingly.

V. Affiliate Marketing – This refers to the promotion of one's articles and goods through a website like YouTube or social media and from which one can earn a commission.

VI. Native Advertising – This particular type of advertisement refers to display of ads related to the parent service in the same media. This is mostly non-paid stuff. Eg – advertisements of Facebook on Facebook.

VII. Marketing Automation – This is the most developed type of marketing where advertisements and brochures are sent by the software that needs no human interaction.

VIII. Email Marketing – Blog subscriptions, follow-up emails, holiday promotions, etc. are a few types of marketing schemes followed through emails.

IX. Online PR – This refers to the use of customer sympathy to guide them to a certain product and compel them to buy it.

X. Inbound Marketing – A complete package generally followed to lure, attract and compel customers to buy a certain product. Video marketing is the most used way to attract customers using inbound marketing.

As already discussed, Digital marketing is a huge playground and there are several teams to play from.

Resource Box-
If you have humor and can compel people to buy things, then digital marketing can be an alluring stop for you. These digital marketing courses in Pune will help you to learn all the tips and tricks required to face the tough competition in the world of digital marketing.