6.1 Digital marketing communications tools

The sections that follow will introduce some of the main digital marketing communications tools, including:

• digital adverts
• digital promotions using mobile
• online public relations
• direct marketing using email
• online word-of-mouth and viral marketing
• social media marketing.

Like with all marketing communications, you can deploy digital marketing communications for a range of different purposes (Hanlon, 2019). These purposes include:

• Raising awareness, i.e. making potential customers aware of an organisation, product or brand.
• Achieving conversion, i.e. encouraging potential customers whose awareness and interest has been raised to click through to an organisation’s website and to make a purchase or carry out another desired action, such as leaving contact details.
• Retention, i.e. ensuring that customers who have bought from the organisation once come back for repeat purchases. Retention depends on customer satisfaction but also on repeat marketing communications to keep the organisation, its products and brands in the customer’s mind.