Digital marketing is the process to market products and services to targeted customers. To put it simply, digital marketing is a source to grow your business online. While establishing a name in the industry, business owners tend to consider increasing reach at online sources. It allows them to increase the scope of their business on an international level. Digital marketing has transformed the idea of doing business and it is growing since the day it has launched. But when did digital marketing begin? What is the history and evolution of digital marketing? This question is the focus of this blog. The history and evolution of digital marketing went through different phases where the world has seen incredible developments and growth of online resources. Let’s understand who used digital marketing as an idea and when did it take place in the digital world?

History of Digital Marketing

In the 1990s, the digital marketing term was used for the first time. But who pioneered this term? This idea remains debatable. Because people associate it with Marconi. He was the first person to send radio signals. Whereas some associate it with Tomlinson who sent the first email. But in e-commerce literature, you will find Philip Kotler as a father of digital marketing. Since this idea is debatable and has many extensions to offer. Let’s look at how digital marketing practically started. With the advent of the internet and the development of the web, 1.0 platform people were able to find the desired searches online. Back in the day, there were limited options as far as digital marketing is concerned. People can only search for a few options and cannot share them.

In 1993, the internet published the first clickable ad and thus the process of digital marketing started practically. HotWired purchased a few banners for marketing. But the evolutionary development began in 1994. Where digital marketing increased the horizon and included new technologies as a means of digital marketing. In the same year 1994, yahoo was launched. Since then, the evolution has gone through many phases and kept introducing and including new technologies.

Evolution of Resources and Social platforms

The evolution of digital marketing went through different phases and introduced many social media platforms. The launch of Yahoo saw huge progress within a year and people started using search engines for browsing the internet. While Yahoo was there as a search engine, in 1998, Google launched MSN. After this, Yahoo launched Yahoo Web Search. Hence, the resources kept increasing. But a huge transformation occur when the 2.0 web platform came into being.

Digital Cookies

The digital cookies are created by web servers. These are small data packets to track the user’s behavior when visiting a website. Because the cookies are the source to understand the interest of users. Therefore, the website owners customize digital options in order to attract potential customers and leads.

Super Information Highway

The 2.0 web platform was an evolutionary shift from consuming data to sharing it digitally. This evolutionary change is called the super information highway. Now, the problem occurs where computers could not bear sudden shifts in the digital arena. On the other side, many search engines were wiped off from the display and left developing opportunities for search engines to take over.

Social Networking

The evolutionary changes continued and thus introduced new sites. In 2000, social networking took place. MySpace, was the first social networking site. After MySpace, Facebook appeared and provided more digital options. Meanwhile, LinkedIn introduced professional networking. These social networking sites and search engines generated $3 billion. Thus, it establishes a social position of digital marketing. Becuase it made people know its presence and permanence of this presence. In 2005, Youtube appeared and to this day it is the biggest platform for uploading video content

Pro Version in the evolution of Digital Marketing

In 2008, China emerged as an economic and digital power and replaced the USA in the digital sources. In 2006, Microsoft replaced MSN, and this brought huge changes in search engines working. From 2006 to 2011, Google launched several resources such as real-time search results, Google+, and Google panda. It also overtook Tv viewership while people transformed to google apps and digital means. To this day, Google is continuously evolving and introducing new ideas and platforms to market its products digitally.

In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook bought Instagram and WhatsApp. Recently, he launched Metaverse. It is the pro version of digital options available for marketing and entertainment. Because the world is a digital place now. Every person uses technology to get things done. Almost 97% of marketers use Facebook to market products and services. Mobile users have access to every social media platform and Google search results. Therefore, it has become easy for people to access their desired search results and products online. To this day, technology has undergone many changes and it will keep evolving. What is the best approach to all these development is to learn how digital marketing strategies and tools you can use to increase your potential clients and leads.