Digital marketing and online marketing: where the line falls

In planning meetings, "digital marketing" and "online marketing" are treated as the same thing. Most of the time that causes no confusion — but the moment budget allocation comes up, the boundary between them starts to matter.

Online marketing: it needs a connection

Online marketing, or internet marketing, covers everything that only works with an internet connection. Websites, search, social media, email, display advertising on news sites, e-commerce marketplaces — all of it sits in this group.

What these channels share is fine-grained measurement: every impression, every click, every order can be recorded and traced back to a single source of reporting.

Digital marketing: one step wider

Digital marketing takes in all of online marketing, plus the digital channels that reach an audience without needing the internet at all.

• SMS sent to mobile subscribers.
• Digital screens in lifts, shopping centres and airports.
• Advertising on digital television and radio.
• Apps preloaded on a device that keep working offline.

Put another way: all online marketing is digital marketing, but not the other way round.

Why the boundary is worth knowing

First, they are measured differently. A campaign on a website and on social media can be traced through to the order. A screen in a lift cannot: its effect has to be read indirectly, through awareness or branded search volume.

Second, they do different jobs in the purchase journey. Digital channels outside the internet tend to be strongest at building awareness; online channels are strongest at consideration and conversion. Sequencing both properly works better than pushing the whole budget to one side.

Third, reports have to be read for what they are. When a plan simply says "digital", ask which channels that covers. Cost per result across these two groups is not a like-for-like comparison.

Choose channels by objective, not by label

Rather than deciding what to call the plan, start from the objective: more people aware of the brand, more people considering it, or more orders.

Each objective has its own set of suitable channels. Once the objective is clear, channel choice becomes a budget allocation question — and what the plan is called stops mattering.