Wait, What Is “Digital Marketing” Exactly?

It seems obvious until you try to map it out.

“What is digital marketing?” seems like a trivial question. It’s right there, in the name — “marketing that is done with the fingers”, obviously.

To break it down a bit — marketing, which let’s just say means “communicating value of product or service to potential customers”, and “digital” which is like, “using computers and stuff”. Easy, right?

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

What is “Digital”? — A Sidebar

But, hold on, what doesn’t use digital tools in 2021?

Saying “digital marketing” is akin to saying “digital farming”, “digital accountancy”, or “digital shit-shoveling”.

Sure, growing corn and tracking payroll can benefit from the use of computers. It still isn’t really fair to say that doing so is somehow distinct in its nature from doing the accounting on paper or using an old-fashioned dumb tractor. The tacking on of “digital” onto marketing or farming seems superfluous (in 2021, not 2012) because everything is digital, or will be very soon.

A big part of “digital” marketing is its juxtaposition with traditional (analog?) marketing, like newspapers, TV, or a good-ol’ PR stunt.