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The prevalence of digital marketing is evident. According to recent statistics, internet penetration in Zimbabwe is just over 50 percent, with the majority being youths who spend most of their time online.

Digital marketing, the promotion of products/services using various forms of electronic media mainly via the internet, refers to most online marketing efforts designed to build stronger brands and connect with consumers and customers effectively. Nowadays, even small firms with small Brand Marketing Investments have an equal share of voice through the digital space.

Digital marketing is about creating content and promoting that content to the right person and finally making efforts to build a community that has engaging conversations around the brand; conversations that form part of their daily lives.

Information is not one-way, it is rather more engaging and conversational and as such, customers give instant feedback and contribute to the content creation. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing content is tailored and personalised to suit the target customer. It involves the use of channels and methods for a proper understanding of customer attributes in the real-time scenario and thus, organisations can analyse marketing campaigns and implement necessary steps accordingly.

When digital marketing is successfully implemented, customers become brand advocates in their social circles, through for example shares on Facebook or re-tweets on tweeter.

Regardless of what your company sells, digital marketing can work effectively for any industry. With digital marketing, you can see results much faster than you might with offline marketing. The interactive nature of digital marketing strategies helps companies to grow their client base in a short space of time.

Misconceptions demystified
People often mistake Digital Marketing as merely tweeting about the brand or posting on Facebook. It is more than that! Below are a few concepts that form part of digital marketing:

Website Creation and Optimisation – this entails creating rich information, easy to read and easy to navigate through websites. Marketing managers may not create websites, however they should have the knowledge in order to manage, monitor and ensure in compliance with brand values and mission of their organisation.

Social Media -This involves promoting and building brands through social media platforms such as Facebook, Tweeter, and Instagram among others.

However, social media platforms should direct people to the main website to get more information on the brand.

Search Engine Optimisation — Websites should be developed in such a way that when a customer searches for key words via google or any search engine, the website should appear at the top of the search results.

Portability — People mostly access internet from the mobile phone, hence websites should be responsive to adjust the size to fit to that of a mobile phone.

Marketing Managers should know and assess the look and feel as well as the responsiveness of the site, via the mobile phone.

Benefits of upskilling in digital marketing

Creates Opportunities
Nowadays people are spending more than 45 percent of their time on internet and more than 63,6 percent of the time on their mobile phones. This therefore creates an excellent opportunity to reach out to and connect with your customers and consumers.

Management skills are enhanced
The digital marketing space is ever changing at a fast pace with new applications developed and uploaded, and new device versions launched every year. In the absence of this requisite skill, it is difficult to understand the language used and the KPIs tracked in the digital marketing space.

Helps protect brand image
Social media can help build stronger brands by connecting with consumers and customers fast in a short space of time. It helps get instant feedback from marketing efforts. However, if any adverse event occurs, the incompetent handling of social media issues can almost instantaneously tarnish the image built over decades. It is therefore important for marketing managers and principals to have the requisite skill to respond accordingly, in a way that can turn around the negative publicity created to a more valuable trait of the brand.

Heightens awareness
Learning can no longer be isolated to a certain period of life. The beauty of continuous learning is that it can prove valuable at any stage of a career.

Awareness and knowledge go hand in hand. By learning new skills or updating old ones, managers can become aware of the latest trends and developments in their industry.

You can get an internationally accredited Professional Digital Marketing qualification, by contacting us on email: [email protected]; visit our website: www.digitalmarketinginstitute.com; No. 55 Five Avenue, Avenues Harare; Telephone number +263 719 704 728.