History of Digital Marketing

The term 'digital marketing' was first used in the 1990s.

In the 2000s and the 2010s, digital marketing became more sophisticated as an effective way to create a relationship with the consumer that has depth and
relevance. 

While the term 'digital marketing'
may not have been used until the 1990s, digital marketing itself has roots to the mid-1980s when the SoftAd Group, now ChannelNet developed advertising
campaigns for several major automobile companies, wherein people would send in reader reply cards found in magazines and receive in return floppy disks that contained multimedia content promoting various cars and offering free test drives.

The rapid evolution of digital media has created new opportunities and avenues for advertising and marketing.

Fueled by the proliferation of devices to
access digital media, this has led to the exponential growth of digital advertising.
In 2012 and 2013 statistics showed digital marketing remained a growing field.

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.

Though an innovative resource, OBA raises concern with regards to consumer privacy and data protection.

Such implications are important considerations for responsible communications.

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 is referred as 'web
marketing' but in the UK and worldwide, 'digital marketing' has become the most common term, especially after the year 2013.