Making money through digital marketing has been at the top of many of our to-do lists for quite some time. And especially since the pandemic hit us, numerous businesses have ventured into selling their products and services through online channels. Further proof that digital marketing has become a must-have money-maker is that numerous jobs in the field have seen tremendous growth and increased demand. This is a profitable avenue, undoubtedly. Let's talk more about how to make money with digital marketing.

First, What Do We Mean When We Say Digital Marketing?

When we say "digital marketing," we're talking about facets including email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, content writing, and paid advertising. Now, how can you monetize this?

There are numerous ways, so we're going to focus on some of the more powerful ones.

Making Money Through Digital Marketing

Content Writing

Content writing involves publishing different forms of online communication like blogs, articles, news pieces, landing pages, product reviews, and video transcriptions. Content helps customers understand what the product or service that you’re selling is all about. It also promotes thought leadership, trust, and authority with the brand that published it.

You might be thinking, "Well, how is writing content going to make me money?" True, it's more of a long-term approach. But where content excels is that it's powerful in nurturing your relationship with your audience.

Drive traffic to your content using methods like SEO (which increases your visibility in search engines), spend time letting your readers to get to know you, and then direct them with a strong call-to-action (CTA). You might ask them to subscribe to your email list, which you can monetize. (More on that later.) Or you might send them to a product page, where they can purchase from you.

Psst! If content creation makes your head spin, you might like our article on how to batch your blog posts.

Paid Social Media Ads

"Social media is dead," you might be saying. False! False on all counts!

Has social media gotten more competitive, more challenging, more saturated over time? Of course. Can you still monetize it? Again, of course.

While you can pull this off organically (meaning using content that you post on social media for free), many brands opt to run ads, understandably. When you run a paid ad on a platform like Facebook or Instagram, you essentially buy your way into people's news feeds. This means that you have less competition, and thus, you're likelier to be seen.

We want to note that while it's easy to throw a few hundred bucks at a Facebook ad, you really need to educate yourself on how to create effective ad copy, images/videos, and how to properly set your targeting. Otherwise, you'll likely hear crickets.

However, if you play your cards right, paid ads can be insanely profitable. There are indeed brands pouring five and six figures a month into their ads, because these ads make them far more in return.

Email Marketing

We're in love with email marketing, and we don't care who knows it. Email content is yet another way to make money with digital marketing.

Here's why it's so powerful.

In order for someone to get on your email list, they have to voluntarily opt in. If you have something like a lead magnet, it can be a great way to get new subs. And, once those people land on your list, they're warm leads. They're already interested in your brand and what you have to offer.

And guess what? This means they're going to be far easier to sell to.

It's important that you put the effort into nurturing these subscribers. If they opt into your lead magnet, you send them your freebie, and then you never communicate with them again — or worse, you only communicate with them when you have something to sell — it's not going to work. Use emails as an opportunity for them to get to know, like, and trust you. Turn them into loyal fans. Then, when you do ask for the sale, you're going to see nothing but dollar signs.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a business model where a brand earns a commission when it generates sales for a company it's promoting.

For example, let's say that LSM is a ConvertKit affiliate. ConvertKit gives us a unique link that's ours and ours only. Maybe we write a blog about email marketing, mentioning and linking to ConvertKit with that unique URL. If any of our readers use that URL and sign up for a paid plan with the company, then ConvertKit gives us a cut of that sale.

Now, imagine this... times infinity. There are countless affiliate programs. Can you picture the passive revenue rolling in every single month? Sounds pretty sweet, right?

Here are a few points to keep in mind.

• Only become an affiliate for products and services that you can get behind. If you recommend them to your readers, and the experience is awful, this will come back to bite you.
• Be sure you disclose that it's an affiliate link, and that if someone uses that link to purchase, you make a small commission. Transparency matters.
• You need a lot of traffic for this to be fruitful.

Like we said earlier, this list isn't exhaustive. Truthfully, there are probably infinite ways to monetize your digital marketing. This blog serves to familiarize you with the concept so that you can get started on the right foot.

Better yet, let us make money with digital marketing for you. If your brand is trying to monetize its online presence, contact LSM today and book a free consultation.