Digital Marketing Definition and types.

Digital marketing refers to any form of marketing or advertising delivered through traditional and 
new digital channels such as websites, social media, mobile applications, email or search engines,
 among others.
 

Its development during the 1990s and 2000s changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing. 
As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life and
 as people increasingly use digital devices instead of visiting physical shops.

Digital marketing is traditionally done online and offline and it includes different types of paid and 
non-paid digital marketing strategies such as:

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Email marketing

Content marketing

Mobile marketing

Social media marketing

Forum marketing

Affiliate marketing

Marketing automation

Influencer marketing

Referral marketing

Digital marketing challenges:

Digital marketing poses special challenges for its purveyors. Digital channels are proliferating rapidly, 
and digital marketers have to keep up with how these channels work, how they're used by receivers,
 and how to use these channels to effectively market their products or services. In addition,
 it's becoming more difficult to capture receivers' attention, because receivers are increasingly inundated with competing ads.
 

Digital marketers also find it challenging to analyze the vast troves of data they capture and
 then exploit this information in new marketing efforts.
The challenge of capturing and using data effectively highlights that digital marketing requires an
 approach to marketing based on a deep understanding of consumer behavior. 
For example, it may require a company to analyze new forms of consumer behavior, 
such as using website heatmaps to learn more about the customer journey.