Digital Marketing Concepts
Core concepts
Digital marketing uses digital channels - websites, search, social media, email, display - to reach and convert an audience. Four organising ideas carry most exam weight. The POEM model classifies media as paid (advertising, sponsored posts), owned (your website, blog, email list, brand accounts) and earned (shares, reviews, organic mentions, press coverage). The funnel runs from awareness through consideration and conversion to retention and advocacy; each stage needs different content and different metrics. STP - segmentation, targeting, positioning - explains how audiences are divided by characteristics or behaviour, selected, then addressed with a distinct value proposition. Inbound versus outbound: inbound attracts people already searching (SEO, content, social), outbound interrupts them (display ads, cold email). Objectives should be SMART, and every objective needs a measurable KPI chosen before tactics.
Traps that appear in questions
- Confusing a tactic ("run a contest") with an objective ("generate 200 leads by June").
- Assuming earned media is free; it costs the content that earns it.
- Treating "digital marketing" as a synonym for social media - search and email usually convert better.
- Mixing up reach (people who saw it) with engagement (people who acted).
- Applying awareness-stage metrics (impressions) to a conversion-stage question (cost per acquisition).
Rule of thumb
Write every objective as verb + metric + target + date, then name the single KPI you would check weekly. If you cannot name the KPI, the objective is a wish, not a goal.