Every other week in Downtown Tempe, we celebrate Hump Day by gathering with local business owners, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals for marketing insight that is typically very time consuming to gather and study, or fairly expensive to obtain from industry professionals. We recently had the pleasure of noshing on Delice Bistro's perfectly boxed lunches while getting a glimpse into the world of Digital Marketing from Lucid Agency's very own, Stefanie Conroy. Before I get into the nuts and bolts, I'd like to congratulate Stefanie on her recent marriage to her high school sweetheart <3

So, what exactly are we talking about when we refer to digital marketing? We see acronyms like PPC and SEO, but what do those really mean beyond Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization? This may seem elementary to those in the marketing field, but for some, those terms might be obscure or even meaningless. Stefanie explained "digital marketing" simply in the following 4  ways:

1. Communicating with the appropriate target audiences online in a meaningful way.

2. An umbrella term for targeted, measurable and interactive marketing of products and services using digital technologies to reach users and convert them into customers or clients. 

3. The promotion of products, brands and services via one or more forms of online advertising.

4. A broad term that refers to various and different promotional techniques deployed to reach users via digital technologies. 

The whole purpose of the class was to let us (advertisers) know how we can make the most of our marketing and advertising dollars in the digital realm. I know when I hear things like PPC, SEO, Retargeting, Display, Social Media and Email Marketing, my mind immediately goes to, "that sounds really expensive and there's no way we can afford that." Turns out that digital marketing doesn't have to be expensive at all ...time consuming or difficult (especially when you're getting the scoop from industry professionals in the Marketing Symposiums). 

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the 90 minute digital marketing binge was that there's no denying that digital marketing is king when it comes to connecting with consumers. Think about how much time we spend online. With the average adult in the US spending 6 hours a day online, 54% percent of consumers buying products online weekly or monthly and 67% of consumers reading or writing social media reviews, it's obvious that the digital world is where we need to be -- because that's where our consumers are. 

In order to make meaningful connections with customers and really impact your business, digital marketing has to be done right...just like anything else. 

Until next time ... don't let your Nomophobia get the best of you! 

Thank you again to our sponsor, APS, for making this Marketing Symposium series possible. #ThanksAPS