Digital Media - Definition, Importance, Types & Example
What is Digital Media?
Digital media is any kind of media which can be processed, analyzed, stored and distributed by electronic digital machines or devices. Digital media is a type of media which covers content & promotions delivered through digital platforms including electronic media, mobile phones, computers, podcasts, applications etc. Companies & people use digital media for various purposes including information source, entertainment, games, business etc. It provides a very useful platform from the business perspective. Majority of the customers are now using digital media extensively. In some industry sectors, this number is very high hence from business perspective, understanding and use of digital media becomes very important.
Digital Media is similar to traditional media in terms of its ability to deliver content and value to audience or potential customers but it differs in the fact that it is totally digital in nature, its effectiveness can be measures easily and it is highly interactive and shareable.
Importance of Digital Media
With growing technology and dependence on machines our interaction with machines is increasing and hence the role of digital media is also increasing in everyone’s life. Every minute there is addition of something new over the digital sources and the user base to explore this information is also on the rise. Through the last decade there has been a significant rise of businesses based on digital platforms such as upcoming radio stations, e retail websites, logistic companies, search engines etc. and so is the use of marketing in digital platforms increasing.
Digital media provides a very substantial customer base for the marketers. The speed of content delivery is fast and highly customizable as in the case of social media marketing whereas it is reachable to common masses through television advertisements. Email marketing and SMS services provide yet another medium for promoting marketing content to the customers.
In traditional media like print and TV, measurement of the effectiveness and interactivity was limited to sampling or surveys but in digital media, the effectiveness can be measured and observed in real time. Subscribers of a video channel or listeners of a podcast can be measured in real time helping the publishers improve the content instantly.
The interactivity and social media aspect of digital media makes it really important for businesses to start using them effectively in addition to traditional channels. Digital media is just not used for marketing but also it has become a sales channel as well. Customers are buying directly from the digital channels.
Digital Media Types
As a reason for its variety of offerings, digital media is proving to be the pioneer in marketing platforms as it is highly cost effective and the turnover ratio of customers is relatively high compared to other platforms. It is also highly effective because in today’s times the buying behavior of customers is highly dependent on internet and multimedia sources over various platforms. A decent digital media marketing approach starts from a very smaller yet largely impactful perspective of a user’s life. The different digital media channels are:
1. TV & Radio
Generally the primary advertisements are either aired over TV or radio, shown through search engine advertisement, in-video campaigns, in-application campaigns etc., where the content delivered by the marketer is rather small and contains a link for the detailed description of the offering.
2. Websites & Social Media
The second most important part of digital media marketing which is the website. Websites can be interactive, loaded with content and user friendly. This helps in making the visitor or the user comfortable with the content, easily understandable and the value addition the offering can give. A decent pricing content is also made available with the differentiating points, if any, to the visitor.
3. Email & SMS
Digital media marketing includes the email and the SMS services. Often to either attract or to remind people about the website they visited for a purchase or actually made a purchase from, marketers use the platform of email and SMS services. Emails and SMS can be highly customizable, cost effective and informative.
Emails tend to contain multimedia messages as well which the SMS cannot deliver but the rate of content delivery is higher in case of an SMS than an email.
4. Blogs
The fourth type of digital media marketing is the interactive blogs or review panels. Generally before making a buying decision any customer wishes to get a review from the current user of the product or service.
Also there are certain doubts which can be cleared by the company or the current users through blogging websites where question and answer conveyance is very high.
5. Mobile Apps
With the growing presence of smartphones, mobile apps have become an important digital media option for businesses to work. Interactive apps help build a strong connect with its customers offering ease of use and instant updates.
6. Modern Formats (AR, 3D)
There are newer types of digital media coming up in the ecosystem like Augmented Reality, 3D (three dimensional), Podcasts, Stories which can help customers connect even better with a company and at the same time experience the product or service at much detailed and interactive levels.
Digital media has been proven to provide a very effective means of communication for the businesses and the customers. With the coming future the dependency of human on machines is definitely going to increase and the usage of digital media will rise by many folds. Marketers can harness this opportunity and can reap benefits if the strategies are used properly.
Advantages of Digital Media
There are several advantages of digital media in marketing:
1. Digital media helps companies connect with its target audience.
2. Use digital and big data, the accurate target customers can be targeted.
3. It helps increase sales & business.
4. Using digital media helps establish the brand using all the channels that customers use.
Examples of Digital Media
A podcast is a good example of digital media. Using podcasts companies can talk about anything related to a topic, trend or a product. Audience or Customers can access them whenever they want and if they like it, they can share it as well with others expanding the reach. Also videos are another example of digital media. There are upcoming digital media formats as well like 3D, Augmented reality through which potential customers can not only see the product but can also interact and perceive it well.
Another example is Augmented Reality. Imagine a car company using a AR 3D model of a car for displaying the overall car and its features. Similarly phone companies are using similar technologies to show smartphones to customers before they can buy given a lot of customers are going online to buy products. Digital Media is replacing traditional media pretty quickly given its nature, flexibility, interactivity and nature.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Digital Media along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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