As a web developer, it is good to have some knowledge of digital marketing. Digital marketing can help you in the following ways as a developer:

1. Increase your value as a web developer by enabling you to create conversion-centred web pages.

2. It can be a source of recurrent income when you take over a client’s digital marketing after creating their website or by simply offering digital marketing services to businesses.

In digital marketing, buyers can be taken through what is called a customer value journey. The customer value journey has the following stages:

1. Awareness

2. Engagement

3. Subscribe

4. Convert

5. Excite

6. Ascend

7. Advocate

8. Promote

The customer value journey is not linear and there is usually going back to some stages or the prospect jumps some. For instance, engagement will happen throughout the customer value journey.

During each stage of the customer value journey we can apply the following digital marketing tactics depending on which works best for that particular stage and other factors dictated by the business:

1. Content Marketing.

2. Digital advertising

3. Email marketing

4. Copywriting

5. Search marketing

6. Social media marketing.

7. Community management

Content marketing

Content marketing involves creating and sharing materials such as blogs or useful information on web pages to provide useful information to prospects depending on which stage of the customer value journey they are at. Content marketing is not just about blogging (although it is the main), Even pricing information on a landing page is content marketing.

Digital advertising

Digital advertising involves all kinds of digital channels and platforms such as social media ads which help a business get the attention of prospects, therefore, enabling the business to put the prospect on a customer value journey.

Email marketing

Email marketing involves sending a message to prospects or existing customers through their email accounts. Email marketing is very good for deliberately moving a particular prospect from one stage of the customer value journey to another.

Copywriting

Copywriting enables the other tactics of digital marketing. It is through copywriting where the other forms of digital marketing get the right words to convince a prospective customer to take action. This action can move a prospect from one stage of the customer value journey to another.

Search marketing

Search marketing involves tactics made to increase the visibility of a website on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. This can be beneficial in increasing the traffic to a website or landing page (read increasing awareness). Nowadays when people are looking for something the first thing is, in most cases, to search online, therefore search marketing can easily give you prospects who will move through the entire customer value journey.

Social media marketing

Social Media Marketing involves using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to create engagement with existing customers and also reach new ones. This can help in delivering leads and even close sales. Through re-targeting a prospect who got aware of the business through search marketing can be moved to the engagement stage and possibly to other stages of customer value journey through social media marketing.

Community Management

community management is maintaining a relationship with your prospects and existing customers spread throughout the various social media sites. Community management is what goes beyond social medial marketing. Community management allows brands to listen to customer complaints, engage in topics about their brand, get feedback from their customers and it can help a business turn customers into loyal fans.

Next, I will go deep on what happens at each stage of the customer value journey.