Digital marketing
Digital marketing is marketing done in digital channels. Sofokus works as your technology partner. We build the web services, analytics and integrations that make marketing results measurable.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing refers to marketing actions done through digital channels. Digital marketing includes all forms of online marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, keyword advertising, social media marketing, and similar forms of marketing. Digital marketing is integral to your day-to-day marketing if your goal is to get measurable results for your business.
What does a technology partner do in digital marketing?
A technology partner builds and develops the technical foundation of digital marketing: the web service, analytics and conversion tracking, and integrations with systems such as the CRM and marketing automation. A marketing agency usually handles campaigns and media buying. The technology partner makes sure campaign traffic lands on a fast, working service and that enquiries and orders are recorded in the data.
Sofokus does not buy media and is not an advertising agency. In digital marketing our role is technical delivery and measurability: web services, analytics, search engine optimisation and conversion optimisation. Larger organisations usually buy digital marketing from more than one supplier, and we work alongside the client’s marketing partner.
Gramex
WordPress website renewal, UX/UI design and integrations with Gramex's other systems
How is digital marketing different from traditional marketing?
Digital marketing differs from traditional marketing in two ways: you can measure the results, and you can keep improving what you do. The range of methods and tools keeps growing, and as with traditional marketing, results only come once you have identified the methods that suit your business. Measurement needs a technical base. Analytics, event tracking and conversion recording have to be built into the web service before there is any data to work with.
Continuous improvement of digital marketing is the norm. For example, A/B testing and conversion optimization improve the results little by little over time through experimentation. Patience and continuous improvement are an essential part of the digital marketing toolbox.
Order a free digital visibility audit If you are planning to improve your website, why not start with our free digital visibility audit.
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What channels and methods does digital marketing include?
The main methods of digital marketing are content marketing, search engine optimisation, keyword advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, marketing automation and conversion optimisation. Every one of them sends traffic to the website, which makes the site’s technical condition part of each method’s results.
Nowadays, a website is an almost obligatory part of the digital strategy of any company or other organization. Instead of a static business card, it is a constantly evolving digital footprint.
Content marketing is an effective way to build thought leadership, but it requires a lot of work and understanding of how to integrate other digital marketing tools.
Different digital marketing services
The goal of digital marketing should be to create measurable business value. Therefore, we recommend focusing on the business and customers and defining objectives. While experimentation is a big part of digital development, it can be challenging to manage experiments effectively if objectives are not defined. The starting and target situation will help you to determine the means to achieve results.
Similarly, the industry’s overall competitive situation and competitors’ digital maturity have a significant impact on how much to invest in digital marketing. The less mature the market, the faster and cheaper the results tend to be. Gone are the golden days of the early 2000s, when most segments lacked proper competition. For example, paid advertising (keyword advertising) is now very competitive, and the low-hanging fruit was picked long ago.
Read more about areas of digital marketing:
- Keyword advertising
- Search engine optimization
- Content marketing
- Conversion optimisation
- Inbound marketing
Digital marketing is not a silver bullet
Success in digital marketing requires expertise, experimentation, time, and investment. From the outset, shake off the traditional “get it done right and finished in one go” marketing mindset.
Digital marketers must be patient, willing to experiment, courageous, and persistent. The above list may explain why the effectiveness of digital marketing has not yet been revealed to everyone.
Advertising that doesn’t work should not be seen as a failure but as a valuable lesson. This is why digital marketing usually takes months or even years to deliver results, but on the other hand, (cost) efficiency is constantly increasing due to learning.
At the same time, the longer and better you practise digital marketing, the easier it becomes to use, and the lower the threshold for results becomes, for example, through an improved digital footprint.
The digital footprint shows how your brand is seen
One of the key terms is the digital footprint, which is how an organization or individual is seen in the digital channels. For example, a common thread in content marketing is to increase your digital footprint by writing blog posts. The bigger the footprint, the more likely a potential customer is to find what you have to offer inside your website.
How do SEO and GEO relate to each other?
GEO extends search engine optimisation (SEO) to AI search. Both aim to make sure customers find your company when they look for information. SEO lifts pages in the organic results of search engines. GEO, generative engine optimisation, aims to get services such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI answers to use your content as a source and name it. The goal shifts from the click to the mention: when a buyer asks an AI assistant, the answer is assembled from sources that search engines and AI crawlers can read and trust.
That is why the same fundamentals serve both. The site is technically readable and indexed, the content answers the question at the start, and the structure is clear. In web service projects we build this foundation as part of delivery, together with software development and user experience design. Read more about search engine optimisation in our digital business glossary and about GEO in our AI glossary.
Technical delivery for digital marketing
Example solutions
Hyundai.fi: a website renewal built for search
Sofokus renewed the website of Hyundai Motor Finland, which operates under Bassadone Automotive Nordic, on WordPress. Search engine friendliness metrics improved by 120% and accessibility metrics by 110%. With the block editor, Hyundai's team builds new pages without a developer.
Stora Enso Metsä: website and enquiry tracking with HubSpot
We renewed the Stora Enso Metsä website, where forest owners find information on forest management and request quotes for services. With the HubSpot integration, the team creates forms itself and tracks enquiries more efficiently.
We demanded a site built to perfection, and that is exactly what we got. The work was done quality first, and the best possible solution was always found for us.
Frequently asked questions about digital marketing
Mostly, yes. Online marketing usually means marketing on the internet: search, social media, email and websites. The broader term is digital marketing, which also covers digital channels outside the open web, such as mobile apps and digital screens. In everyday use the two terms are often treated as synonyms.
A digital marketing strategy starts from business goals and customers. First decide what marketing has to deliver: leads, online sales or awareness. Agree at the same time on the metrics you will use to follow progress. Then assess where you are now, for example how findable the website is and where visitors drop off. Channels and budget come last, based on the gap between the starting point and the goal.
Digital marketing usually takes months, sometimes years, to show results. Paid advertising brings traffic straight away, but its efficiency only improves through testing and optimisation. Search engine optimisation and content marketing take longer, as visibility grows while content builds up. The competitive situation in your industry affects how much you need to invest to get results.
Web analytics and conversion tracking are the main tools for measuring digital marketing. Visitor numbers alone say little. Track leads, sales, conversion rate and customer acquisition cost as well. Reliable measurement needs a technical base, for example event tracking and an integration with the CRM. Without it, the effect of a campaign on sales remains an estimate.
A marketing agency plans campaigns and buys media. The technology partner is responsible for the web service the campaigns point to, along with its analytics and integrations. When the roles sit with different suppliers, agree in writing who owns the tracking setup and the landing pages. Otherwise errors easily fall between the two suppliers and neither of them fixes them.
Partly: Sofokus delivers the technical side of digital marketing, but it does not run advertising campaigns or buy media. We build web services and analytics, and the technical solutions behind search engine optimisation and conversion optimisation. Campaigns are the responsibility of the client’s marketing partner, and we work alongside them. If you want to know how your website is found in search today, start with a digital visibility audit.
Run your own key questions through different AI search tools by hand and log whether your company is mentioned and its pages are cited. There are also tools for monitoring, both as add-ons to search engine optimisation platforms and as dedicated services. Because answers are generated afresh each time, track progress as a trend rather than as individual hits.
Get in touch
Tell us about your project, and let’s talk more. We’ll go through your organisation’s situation and goals and assess together where the project should start.