I recently found myself explaining to a business development consultant what was digital marketing.

I was struggling as he repeatedly kept saying “so you manage social media accounts for businesses” to the point where I asked him to stop saying the words, social media.

I don’t know what frustated me more –

  1. The fact that this person could call himself a business development advisor yet didn’t understand nor appreciate the value of strategic digital marketing
  2. The thought that he felt digital marketing was just social media
  3. Or, that this person was advising businesses on how to develop their business online yet he had no idea what he was talking about and businesses are taking his word as gospel

Either way, how can one be considered as a business development advisor if they don’t understand the difference between digital marketing and social media?

Digital marketing is more than social media.  Digital marketing is a term to describe many different marketing techniques such as SEO, email, advertising, content etc.

Following this meeting with the business development advisor I purposely removed social media as a provided service from my website  as any effective B2B or B2C communication and digital marketing strategy will and should include this as a given.

However, I was still left wondering if this persons idea of digital marketing was the common perception within other businesses?

While I believe their will be businesses who will share his opinion,  I firmly believe that are many more who appreciate digital marketing at a higher strategic level.   Which is why I remain passionate about strategic digital marketing and how when implemented effectively can deliver significant results for businesses.

In my experience of creating and delivering digital marketing strategies for businesses across many sectors it’s evident that there is no one size fits all.

I have worked with organisations where their primary goal is to create a social media strategy to increase social engagement and lead generation mainly because their product and service is not stuitable to markets outside of Ireland.

However at the other side of the coin I have worked with businesses to deliver holistic digital marketing strategies using many marketing techniques to increase referral traffic, brand awareness , conversions, lead generation and yes increase engagement within social media.

So yes while I provide managed social media and training services I will try educate my clients that social media should be part of a digital strategy which includes many martketing techniques as it will provide greater results, over a longer period of time and will ensure maximum ROI from their initial investment.