The term digital marketing was first used in the 1990s, but digital marketing has roots in the mid-1980s, when the SoftAd Group, now ChannelNet, developed advertising campaigns for automobile companies:

 People sent in reader reply cards found in magazines and received in return floppy disks that contained multi media content promoting various cars and free test drives.

In 2000 a survey in the United Kingdom found that most retailers had not registered their own domain address.

Digital marketing became more sophisticated in the 2000s and the 2010s, when the proliferation of devices' capability to access digital media at almost any given time led to great growth.

 Statistics produced in 2012 and 2013 showed that digital marketing was still a growing field.

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 online marketing is still prevalent. In Italy, digital marketing is referred to as web marketing. In the UK and worldwide, however, digital marketing has become the most common term, especially after the year 2013.

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 Behavioural Advertising (OBA) to tailor advertising for internet users, but OBA raises the concern of consumer privacy and data protection.

In an ever more complex retail environment, customer engagement is essential but challenging.

 Retailers must shift from a linear marketing approach of one-way communication to a value exchange model of mutual dialogue and benefit-sharing between provider and consumer.

 Exchanges are more nonlinear, free flowing, and both one-to-many or one-on-one

.The spread of information and awareness can occur across numerous channels, such as the blogosphere, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and a variety of other platforms.

 Online communities and social networks allow individuals to easily create content and publicly publish their opinions, experiences, and thoughts and feelings about many topics and products, hyper-accelerating the diffusion of information.

The Nielsen Global Connected Commerce Survey conducted interviews in 26 countries to observe how consumers are using the Internet to make shopping decisions in stores and online.

 Online shoppers are increasingly looking to purchase internationally, with over 50% in the study who purchased online in the last six months stating they bought from an overseas retailer.

Using an omnichannel strategy is becoming increasingly important for enterprises who must adapt to the changing expectations of consumers who want ever-more sophisticated offerings throughout the purchasing journey.

Retailers are increasingly focusing on their online presence, including online shops that operate alongside existing store-based outlets. The "endless aisle" within the retail space can lead consumers to purchase products online that fit their needs while retailers do not have to carry the inventory within the physical location of the store. 

Solely Internet-based retailers are also entering the market; some are establishing corresponding store-based outlets to provide personal services, professional help, and tangible experiences with their products.

An omnichannel approach not only benefits consumers but also benefits business bottom line:

 Research suggests that customers spend more than double when purchasing through an omnichannel retailer as opposed to a single-channel retailer, and are often more loyal. This could be due to the ease of purchase and the wider availability of products.

Customers are often researching online and then buying in stores and also browsing in stores and then searching for other options online.

 Online customer research into products is particularly popular for higher-priced items as well as consumable goods like groceries and makeup. 

Consumers are increasingly using the Internet to look up product information, compare prices, and search for deals and promotions.

There are a number of ways brands can use digital marketing to benefit their marketing efforts. 

The use of digital marketing in the digital era not only allows for brands to market their products and services but also allows for online customer support through 24/7 services to make customers feel supported and valued.

 The use of social media interaction allows brands to receive both positive and negative feedback from their customers as well as determining what media platforms work well for them.

 As such, digital marketing has become an increased advantage for brands and businesses. It is now common for consumers to post feedback online through social media sources, blogs and websites on their experience with a product or brand. 

It has become increasingly popular for businesses to utilize and encourage these conversations through their social media channels to have direct contact with the customers and manage the feedback they receive appropriately.

Word of mouth communications and peer-to-peer dialogue often have a greater effect on customers, since they are not sent directly from the company and are therefore not planned.

 Customers are more likely to trust other customers’ experiences. It is increasingly advantageous for companies to utilize social media platforms to connect with their customers and create these dialogues and discussions. 

The potential reach of social media is indicated by the fact that in 2015, each month the Facebook app had more than 126 million average unique users and YouTube had over 97 million average unique users.

A key objective is engaging digital marketing customers and allowing them to interact with the brand through servicing and delivery of digital media. Information is easy to access at a fast rate through the use of digital communications. Users with access to the Internet can use many digital mediums, such as Facebook, YouTube, Forums, and Email etc. Through Digital communications it creates a Multi-communication channel where information can be quickly exchanged around the world by anyone without any regard to whom they are. 

Social segregation plays no part through social mediums due to lack of face to face communication and information being wide spread instead to a selective audience. This interactive nature allows consumers create conversation in which the targeted audience is able to ask questions about the brand and get familiar with it which traditional forms of Marketing may not offer.

By using Internet platforms, businesses can create competitive advantage through various means. To reach the maximum potential of digital marketing, firms use social media as its main tool to create a channel of information. Through this, a business can create a system in which they are able to pinpoint behavioral patterns of clients and feedback on their needs. 

This means of content has shown to have a larger impingement on those who have a long-standing relationship with the firm and with consumers who are relatively active social media users. 

Relative to this, creating a social media page will further increase relation quality between new consumers and existing consumers as well as consistent brand reinforcement, therefore improving brand awareness resulting in a possible rise for consumers up the Brand Awareness Pyramid. Although there may be inconstancy with product images; maintaining a 

successful social media presence requires a business to be consistent in interactions through creating a two way feed of information; firms consider their content based on the feedback received through this channel, this is a result of the environment being dynamic due to the global nature of the internet. 

Effective use of digital marketing can result in relatively lowered costs in relation to traditional means of marketing; Lowered external service costs, advertising costs, promotion costs, processing costs, interface design costs and control costs.

Brand awareness has been proven to work with more effectiveness in countries that are high in uncertainty avoidance, also these countries that have uncertainty avoidance; social media marketing works effectively. 

Yet brands must be careful not to be excessive in the use of this type of marketing, as well as solely relying on it as it may have implications that could negatively harness their image. Brands that represent themselves in an anthropomorphizing manner are more likely to succeed in situations where a brand is marketing to this demographic.

 "Since social media use can enhance the knowledge of the brand and thus decrease the uncertainty, it is possible that people with high uncertainty avoidance, such as the French, will particularly appreciate the high social media interaction with an anthropomorphized brand." Moreover, the digital platform provides an ease to the brand and its customers to interact directly and exchange their motives virtually.

Digital marketing (also known as data-driven marketing) is an umbrella term for the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium. 

Digital marketing's development since the 1990s and 2000s has changed the way brands and businesses utilize technology for marketing. As digital platforms are increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people use digital devices instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns are becoming more prevalent and efficient.

Digital marketing techniques such as search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing  and e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games are becoming more common in our advancing technology. In fact, digital marketing now extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callback, and on-hold mobile ring tones.