What's the Difference Between Digital Marketing and Inbound Marketing?

Digital marketing is a broad term for any marketing done online. This includes:

• Search engine optimization (SEO),
• Content marketing,
• Pay-per-click advertising (PPC), 
• Social media marketing and email marketing.

Inbound marketing is customer-oriented and customer-driven. Simply put, inbound marketing starts with valuable content that your target audience wants, instead of just advertising your services. With inbound marketing, you focus on providing valuable information or items your customers can use. 

For example, you might start with an ebook, a quiz, a checklist or a blog that your ideal customer might find useful. You dangle that content offer to get nibbles in exchange for a form fill or phone call, and then follow-up with more direct advertising.

1. Set SMART goals – Define what “success” is to you in order to guide your strategy.
2. Define your ideal customer – Create buyer personas to determine who exactly you want to reach in the attract stage.
3. Research – Once you know your customer, figure out what language they use to search online & what behaviors they take.
4. Create assets – Create the specific content offers.
5. Set it live – Turn on your advertising, set up automation, plan & schedule content pieces.
6. Analyze – Make sure to consistently monitor your performance, adapt your strategy as needed.

• Both digital marketing and inbound marketing are ways of promoting your brand online. 
• Digital marketing is better for brand awareness while inbound marketing is better for qualified leads.
• It’s important to remember that inbound marketing is an arm of digital marketing and that you need to have a solid digital strategy before building an inbound marketing strategy. 
• In an ideal world, your online marketing will consist of both digital marketing and inbound marketing efforts, often in conjunction with each other.