What is Digital Marketing? Part 1

Sebrinia Welch
Sep 15, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Sep 21, 2023

This is your story, right? You have created an organization built from a passion you have...

Perhaps you are someone who loves creating and was told over and over again by friends and family that you could sell your products.
Or maybe you saw someone you care about struggle from a lack of services or resources, so you’ve decided to create a nonprofit to offer access and bridge the gap.
Maybe you saw an opportunity to design a product or service because no one else had done it before.

And immediately after launching your small business and nonprofit, without doing anything like posting to social media, printing flyers, or sharing with family and friends, flocks of people came straight to your front door, cash and credit cards in hand, to purchase or donate.

If so, that is AMAZING and I want to know your secrets (for real!). Unfortunately, I think that the majority of us are/were sitting in the boat of “after launching, we realized that people need to know about us.” This is essentially the foundation of marketing - “activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service.”1

There are a number of ways to promote your nonprofit and business, however a huge component of marketing is understanding who your audience is and where they are at. Hopefully you have an understanding of who you are targeting with your services and products, which is key to knowing where they live, spend their time, and how they best get information.

Even if you are still working on researching this information for your organization, we can learn from some data already collected to help us understand where people are at:

Social Media stats: According to a May 2023 study, 68% of U.S. adults use Facebook, 61% use YouTube, 40% use Instagram, and 34% use TikTok.2
Mobile Marketing stats: As of July 2023, 56% of web traffic searches take place on mobile. 54% of consumers use their phones over any other device when looking up a question on a search engine.3
Email/Newsletter Marketing stats: 74% of Americans receive between 1 to 10 digital newsletters. 97% of Americans check their email inbox at least once a day, with 56% saying they check it at least 3 times a day.4
SEO stats: 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine and 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search.5

I think it is really safe to assume that most of our audience members are spending time, doing their own research and making decisions ONLINE. Which is why it is so important that small businesses and nonprofits these days need to have a presence online and consider digital marketing.

Digital marketing is promoting products, services, messages, and brands by using digital channels, like search engines, social media, email, mobile apps, and websites.6

If you think back to some of the decisions you made when you first started your business or nonprofit, you probably were already planning and implementing some digital marketing strategies: building a website, starting a business page on social media, posting products on an ecommerce platform (like Etsy or Facebook Marketplace). This is a great start to broadening your reach to audiences online, however there are other digital channels and strategies to consider:

Creating a website with persuasive copy and engaging content to draw audiences in and position your nonprofit or small business as an expert.
Optimizing your product descriptions and images so future customers can find what they are looking for more easily.
Expand your community and connection with them through email or newsletters.
Organizing your strategy for social media so that you are posting content that is relevant, valuable and timely.

These examples are just a small snapshot of opportunities that a small business or nonprofit could implement to market their offerings online. Does it seem like a lot of work and time? Yes, especially for those of us with micro-teams, where we may be an organization of just 1 or a few people. But even just focusing on 1 or 2 things at a time could make a huge difference, which is why for the next few months, this Resource page will be focusing on digital marketing topics through a series model:

Sep 25th: Websites
Oct 9th: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Oct 27th: Social Media
Nov 6th: Product Optimization (just in time for the Holiday season!)
Nov 15th: Content Marketing
Dec 11th: Digital Marketing Analytics

In today's digital-first world, understanding the fundamentals of digital marketing is no longer optional but essential for businesses of all sizes. Next week, we’ll dive deeper into digital marketing, exploring tips you can use to increase your online presence. And though the landscape continues to evolve, the core principle remains the same: providing genuine value to your audience. So we will also discuss more about the Customer Journey and how you can use this concept to help build your strategy around who and where your future customers and members are.