History of Digital Marketing

The term 'digital marketing' was first used in the 1990s. In the 2000s and the 2010s, digital marketing became more sophisticated as an effective way to create a relationship with the consumer that has depth and relevance. While the term 'digital marketing' may not have been used until the 1990s, digital marketing itself has roots to the mid-1980s when the Soft Ad Group, now Channel Net, developed advertising campaigns for several major automobile companies, wherein people would send in reader reply cards found in magazines and receive in return floppy disks that contained multimedia content promoting various cars and offering free test drives.

The rapid evolution of digital media has created new opportunities and avenues for advertising and marketing. To give support to increase in number of devices to access digital media, this has led to the exponential growth of digital advertising. In 2012 and 2013 statistics showed digital marketing remained a growing field.

Digital media growth is estimated at 4.5 trillion online ads served annually with digital media spend at 48% growth in 2010. An increasing portion of advertising stems from businesses employing Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA) to tailor advertising for Internet users. Though an innovative resource, OBA raises concern with regards to consumer privacy and data protection. Such implications are important considerations for responsible communications. Digital marketing is often referred to as 'online marketing', 'internet marketing' or 'web marketing'. The term 'digital marketing' has grown in popularity over time, particularly in certain countries. In the USA for example, 'online marketing' is still prevalent, and in Italy it is referred to as 'web marketing,' but in the UK and worldwide, 'digital marketing' has become the most common term, especially after the year 2013.

Digital technologies are becoming increasingly important in most sectors of economic activity. Due to high levels of interconnectivity, the Internet has been likened to the wheel and the airplane in terms of its ability to affect the future development of business and society. Consequently, the Internet has provided the encouragement for many companies to rethink the role of technology, and evidence already indicates the extent of its global impact. An interview was conducted with Mr.Sumit Ghosh, Founder CEO- Globussoft Co-Founder- MarketMongoose, a global marketing company that specializes in online marketing.

In the interview we discussed the importance of digital marketing, and its impact on business. Mr. Ghosh introduced me to the digital marketing world by explaining its primary components, the strategies of good digital marketing plans, as well as the challenges facing this marketing sector. The contents of the interview are analyzed in the next section of this report.