Much like martial arts, online marketing takes many forms.

Because there are so many different forms, each requiring it’s own set of skills, it would only make sense to call them disciplines.

Some choose to master one discipline, others choose to study many. And just like with martial arts, there are many more who pretend they know when they really don’t.

The 14 disciplines of online marketing

Pay per click

As a discipline, pay per click‘s main focus is to entice users to click on an advertisement to bring them to another destination on the web. In this regard, Pay per click is much like the internet’s form of classified ads. Pay per click ads can displayed on search engines, within niche websites, or on social networks. They are targeted, either by search term, profile interest, or on the website on which the pay per click ad is displayed.

A pay per click ad is most commonly made of text or images, or a combination of both, and the pay per click model can also be applied to video (depending on the platform). Regardless of the form a pay per click ad takes, the goal is always the same. Get the click.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving rankings of a website or web page in the unpaid “organic” search results. The path of the SEO is to make webpages rank higher in the search engine results pages (aka serp) to increase visibility. The higher a page ranks, the more visible it is, and therefore will receive more . Most commonly the SEO will go after keyword specific vertical searches, but  the SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and video search.

An SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Increasing a site’s inbound (aka backlinks) is another common tactic used by the SEO to increase search rankings.

For the most in-depth understanding of SEO. Seobook by Aaron Wall is a must read!

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Email

The Internet’s version of direct mail. The email marketer uses email to enhance the relationship with it’s s, by encouraging loyalty and repeat business. Some methods e-mail marketers will use to enhance  loyalty include company newsletters that give relevant company news,  exclusive discounts to those who are on the email list, and cross advertising affiliate products that may be of interest to those who are on the list.

Email is a popular form of marketing because an exact return on investment can be tracked, and has proven to be high when done properly. Advertisers messaging can also reach a substantial number of people through email, as many are willing to opt-in to receive exclusive content, and over half of the world’s Internet users check their email at least once daily.

One major disadvantage for email marketers is the constant evolution of spam filters in email programs. Companies must also make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States’ Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM)

Video Marketing

With the rise of Youtube, the use of video online has quickly become a popular way to market online. While it may seem that a standard commercial might be the easiest way for a business to engage in video marketing, due to the peer-to-peer nature of the modern internet, this is not the case. It may be for this reason alone that Online video has revolutionized the way video as a marketing tool is used. Common formats a video marketer will use are “How to“, “Product review“, and “Genuine reaction“.

Many video marketers are quickly learning to truly be successful the video itself must have a sharable quality to it. Because of this, the most successful branded videos in recent memory have used over the top characters or scenarios that appeal to many. See Old Spice Guy and WalMart Clown

Recent trends in video marketing also include unicast ads and take over ads in which video is displayed either before the intended video (unicast) or before the webpage can be viewed, or in during breaks in longer video content (take over)

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Blogging

Many of the online marketing disciplines on this list can be applied in blogging, and for that reason, blogging in itself is it’s own discipline. A blogger can use a blog as a personal or company diary. A blog can also be used to cover news topics in a particular niche. Blogs are also commonly to sell affiliate advertising, provide instruction or insight.

Common blog genres include:  political, travel, fashion, project work, education, niche, music, quizzing, legal, dreams, art, and gossip.

The ability for readers to leave comments is one of the main interactive aspect of a blog, and as a marketing tool, maybe the most important. Most blogs are primarily text based, however depending on the blogs subject matter, some may focus more heavily on art, photographs, videos, music, and audio (podcasts)

If you’re considering following the path of the blogger, the “Problogger” book is an absolute essential read.

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Article Marketing/Online PR

Practitioners of these disciplines will write short articles related to their industry to be distributed through free article distribution channels. The key to this discipline is to subtly advertise products or services in a way that encourages readers to:

A.) click on the bio links to be brought back to the authors website

B.) redistribute the content and

C.) become a new .

Many practitioners of these techniques will submit their articles to multiple authority directories, in hopes of gaining more exposure. Due to most search engines filtering out duplicate content, one article may be written several times, to avoid being filtered out and penalized. This technique is known as article spinning.

This discipline is split into two parts because while the application of the technique is similar, the directories in which articles are submitted and style of which articles are written may vary between the Article Marketer and Online PR practitioner.

Social Media

While one true unified definition of Social Media marketing exists, many have embraced the use of social platforms to promote their brand. Depending on the goals of the Social Media marketer, this discipline should be treated as a combination of advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion to create messaging that is focused on the first.

Content, Frequency, Timing, and how users interact with a particular platform are all important considerations for a social media marketer to consider. Common uses of social media include:

• Customer service, e.g. direct response to complaints
• Broadcasting updates, announcements, news, e.g. additional PR resource
• Promotions
• Behind the scenes look at the organization
• Advertising

Social media marketing at a certain level is the art of crafting posts or “updates” designed to encourage a large groups of  people to interact with.

At the time of this writing, “Who should be in control of social media?” is a widely debated topic. Realistically, this depends on the goals the establishment has set for the use of the medium.

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Viral/Network Marketing

While some may argue that Network Marketing and social media marketing are the same, a network marketer knows very differently. Network marketers focus on building one on one relationships with people who are most likely to use their product or service. If social media marketing is like a representative of a company giving a public speech to a group of prospective s, network marketers are the ones who are taking their s out for coffee,  intending on bringing them to the speech.

A savvy network marketer will not only build relationships that they are able to benefit from, but will often spend a good portion of time as a go between to fulfill the needs of the people in their network.

The most notable trait of the network marketer is they always know the right person for any job, and at a moment’s notice can recommend a handful of service providers of different skill levels and price ranges. Network marketer’s commonly spend a lot of time commenting on blogs, interacting in forums, and spending time on Twitter.

The network marketer also realizes that for any piece of content to “Go Viral”, the content must not only be good, but there must also be a group of people who will interact with and share the content. Because of their vast network, the network marketer has a pretty solid understanding of what content will gain the attention of a particular network , and if they don’t create the content itself, you can bet they know the best person for the job.

Community Building

Community building is a field of practices directed toward the creation or enhancement of community among individuals around a common interest. The primary belief of community managers is to use brand properties as a “hub” to facilitate the conversation between users. Doing this increases brand loyalty, and builds a core group of enthusiasts that will be the first to interact with and share brand’s content.

If network marketers build relationships on the individual level, and Social media marketers are focus more on mass communication, Community managers are those who set the stage for interacting with the brand and with each other.

Much of community building is reliant on trust. Chris Brogan and Julian Smith’s Trust Agents will help you learn how to build that trust.

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Location Based Marketing

At the time of this writing, one of the fastest emerging trends in online marketing. The popular philosophy held by location based marketers is to reward users for “checking-in” to a companies physical location. Rewards can include discounts for the person who “check-in” the most and promotional merchendice for those who “check-in”. Popular “check-in” style platforms include Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt.

Another quickly rising trend in location based platforms is focused on the “Group-Buying” platform, as made popular by Groupon. The idea behind group buying is that a company will offer a substantial discount on a product or service, provided a pre-determined amount of people purchase the discount by a deadline.

Contextual Advertising

The mis-conception behind contextual advertising is that it is limited to only one discipline or another (i.e linking in context, displaying a banner on a niche website) but the contextual advertiser knows better. Contextual advertisers will look for different opportunities to promote their business, regardless of the medium being used to do it. This could take the form of product placement in a video, a niche website, inserting a take-over ad before a particular video (or in between breaks)or joint contests with other companies that may have an overlap in their target market. A contextual advertiser is the closest thing the internet has to traditional media firms, because the contextual advertiser looks for every opportunity to promote their brand.

A contextual advertiser has a lot in common with the network marketer in the sense that they are constantly seeking to expand their network. The primary difference between the two is the contextual marketer is focused on sheer numbers and conversion by volume where as the network marketer chooses to build relationships with the individuals who would actually be using the product.

Affiliate (performance based) Marketing

The act of selling someone elses product, or having someone else sell your product for you. This is the internet equilivant of having a commissioned sales job.

The person who is selling the product may use one or all of the techniques on this list in order to sell an affiliate product. What makes this a discipline on it’s own is that oftentimes an individual is not selling their own product. Because of this, each affiliate program has it’s own rules, regulations, and requirements for a seller to be accepted into the program. For that reason, selling affiliate products can prove to be an interesting and fun challenge for the person selling the product. Many affiliate advertisers will provide their own unique content in addition to the affiliate product to build the value of the sale

The person, or company who produces the affiliate product also faces their own unique set of challenges. First, they must create a product is useful, then find the right people to sell their product and offer a commission that is enticing. Because of the variety of standards, and the sheer volume of different affiliate products available, multiple services such as ShareaSale, Clickbank, 2Checkout, and Commission Junction but that doesn’t stop some companies from creating their own in-house affiliate program.

User Experience Branding (UxB)

Followers of this path deal exclusively with the look and feel of web properties owned by the company or client.

The goal of a user experience disciple is to develop web experiences that are intuitive and “sticky”, keeping the user on the site for as long as possible. The thought is that by making websites easy to navigate, fun to use, and interesting to look at will encourage the sites users to share with others. The UxB disciple is constantly pushing the boundaries of web development and seeking not to create websites, but a truly unique and immersive web experience.

Graphic Design, User interface design, Information Architecture and web development are all branches of this discipline. To be truly effective, one should choose to study all 4 branches of UxB or focus on one branch while working on a team with others that complement their skills.

Interactive Advertising

With web technologies evolving every day, an emerging group of marketers take to creating advertising that requires users to interact, typically by uploading a photo, video or audio that features the user in some way.

Interactive marketing is truly unique and must be experienced in order to fully grasp just how powerful it can be.

Interactive advertising isn’t just limited to pictures and video either. Due to the increased availability of Augmented Reality, advertising is becoming even more interactive by merging the real world with computer graphics. There are many different applications of Augmented reality, and where the technology is really still in it’s infancy, common uses have yet to really be established. Just as with Interactive advertising though, the best campaigns rely heavily on user input.

Here’s an example of how BMW uses Augmented Reality to create a truly unique experience.

And that’s it!

The 14 disciplines of online marketing. If there is any branch of online marketing that was missed, please feel free to leave it in the comments below. This article is intended to be updated on a periodic basis as online marketing changes and evolves.