Eras never align neatly with your calendar. Especially with the advent of the internet, we are now operating a world where forces of innovation, technology and globalization are coming together at such a rapid rate.

This new era of business has created many new opportunities, but also many unprecedented challenges. In the past, venturing into any business took a lot of hard work because of the lack of access to the technical knowledge behind a business.

However, once you are in the business, you could easily be in the industry for years.

Now? The powers of the Internet has enabled people as young as 18-year-olds to learn how to start a business. In such a fast-paced environment, it is no longer just about who moves the first. 10% of startups fail within the first year, and another 70% between years two through five. In order for you to succeed in this new era of business, you will need to be able to stand out from the rest.

In the last couple of years, digital marketing has altered the course of the marketing sphere and transformed many obscure startups into tremendously successful businesses. Among them are the likes of AirBnB, Etsy and Uber. These firms have provided valuable service to millions across the world, all thanks to digital marketing.

But what exactly is digital marketing?

Essentially, digital marketing is the use of the internet to promote a brand’s products or services. It encompasses marketing techniques such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing and so forth.

So why digital marketing?

One – digital marketing is efficient.

In the past, when you place an ad in a magazine, you can only hope that your message will reach its intended audience. With digital marketing, you can ensure that the right customers are viewing your content. Target traffic offers bigger chances for conversion. Through digital marketing, you can reach out to your customers at any time of the day, without disturbing them during their work hours. Furthermore, feedback is instantaneous through likes, comments and shares. This helps you gauge the effectiveness of your campaign and tweak it accordingly to optimize your success.

Two – digital marketing is a whole lot cheaper than traditional marketing.

If you are a small business, you are likely not to have the funds to market your business through traditional means. Advertising budgets can rack up to 10s or 100s of thousands; with digital marketing, you pay only a fraction of the price to get substantial results. Not only that, the reach of a digital campaign is significantly higher. This levels the playing field and allows your business to be more competitive even if you have limited budgets and resources.

Three – digital marketing is trackable.

With digital marketing, these valuable data tools and analytics are at your disposal. You can see the number of people visiting your landing page, how much time they spend on your site, how much your traffic changes over time. This real-time data analysis helps you understand your marketing strategy better and how best to use your resources. With smarter branding and increased conversion rates, watch your ROI spike to levels you’ve never seen before.

Our digitally interconnected world has not only made advertising processes more efficient, inexpensive and trackable, but also expedited serious results. In today’s fast paced world, you need to embrace changes and leverage on technology in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Traditional marketing is a thing of the person – embrace digital marketing today.