Does it work? Digital marketing = spamming?

Lately lots of people have been asking me what actually is digital marketing. Here I clarify and debunk conceptions / misconceptions on it.

What is Digital Marketing?

In a sentence: Effective communication to your audience through technology.

For instance…

Just a few months ago I visited PitStop Cafe with some of my friends. Enjoyable time. You can literally see / feel their attentiveness to details, with the sole purpose of making your experience there a memorable one. This was topped off with our cute waitress shooting a photo of my entire group of friends at the end of the games session. Next she printed the photo immediately, got my signature on it, (playing on my narcistic desires) and proudly pasted it on one of their walls of PitStop!!!!

What has Digital Marketing got to do with this cute waitress? A simple extension like the following. Imagine this scenerio. We are at Pitstop. The cute waitress has just finished taking a photo of us. She approaches me, smiles and asks:

Cute Waitress: Would you like a soft copy of this photograph? (Coyly)

Me: Sure. I would love to.

Cute Waitress: Perhaps you can leave your email with me? I’ll email it to you?

Me: Oh okies. my email is xxx. (Great. Does this mean I’ll get her email?)

Cute Waitress: If there are any promotions or discounts at Pitstop, would you mind if I inform you about them? (million dollar smile!!!)

Me: Hmm okies. As long as you are waitering on those nights (smiling back)

So what’s so great about getting my email?

Essentially, they will be starting to build their own relevant and targeted database. For one, they have someone on their list who loves to play board games. Or at least someone on their list who loves to flirt with their waitress. With my email on that list, they can easily inform me of any new games / upcoming promotions / new waitresses etc.

Hey, then issit it just spamming?

Of course not! Spamming is emails from Nigeria asking for your kind help, or emails informing you of the latest pills to enlarge certain portions of your anatomy. Here, what PitStop can be doing is sending me targeted information which I will appreciate and deem helpful. Of course the conversion rate would not be 100%. Yet this is a free and effective form of marketing.