Is digital marketing dead?

With Google controlling the Internet, content is king.

[cnvi]

i’ve been reading on Reddit and other forums that digital marketing is becoming dead because Google frontloads its first page results with ads and unless you’re selling a very unique widget, you won’t get results.

Digital marketing comes in many forms but if you aren’t producing high quality content (which many website owners won’t pay for they just want immediate results), Where is the future for digital marketing?

Discuss.

[cnvi]

side note meant to mention earlier. On Reddit and some other similar boards, Hundreds of thousands of digital marketing manager jobs go on un filled because no one wants to do it anymore in a Google controlled world. thoughts?

[martinibuster]

Given how much money companies like SEMRush and others are making and how many tool companies are out there, which is proof of how alive the digital marketing space is, the answer is resoundingly no, digital marketing is not dead.

Also, Google does not control the Internet. Anyone who believes online success begins and ends with Search doesn't realize how big digital marketing is.

There are many companies that are wild successes that do not focus on search.

[Kendo]

Spamvertising is digital marketing and that is not dead!

[tangor]

Not dead, just not as successful as long as there's an elephant in the room and the landscape keeps changing. :)

[engine]

BTW, from your sub-title, Google is not controlling the Internet, as martinibuster said.

Anyone that believes digital marketing is dead should just leave the industry, imho: They have a blinkered approach which won't help their future prospects.
When Henry Ford manufactured the Model T, what did other manufactures do? They realised Ford's way was the way forward. When robotics came in they used robotics in production. Now, there's different technologies to power vehicles. The car manufacturers are shifting production from ICEs through hybrid to BEVs, amongst other technologies. If you're still making cars pre-Ford Model T, then you must have a niche, and to expect the relevant sales opportunities in that niche. Nothing wrong with that, imho, it's just that a manufacturer making hand-made vehicles should not be expecting sales in the league of General Motors, Toyota, Honda, etc.
Be better at what you do for your market, or move on, imho.

[robzilla]

Digital marketing comes in many forms but if you aren’t producing high quality content (which many website owners won’t pay for they just want immediate results), Where is the future for digital marketing?

Why should there be a future for anyone only interested in creating low-quality content? Content has always been king, but previously you could still get good results with poorer quality content. That's becoming more and more difficult... and that's a good thing.

These "digital marketers" blaming Google for poor results (because they supposedly "control the internet") are just not very good at their job. You'll find them here as well, and it's been the same complaints and theories for at least a decade, and yet SEO / digital marketing... still not dead.

[cnvi]

how is it not dead? What gives a fishing pole website first page results when Google frontloads that result with ads?

[robzilla]

Strictly speaking, digital marketing encompasses those ads. Anyway, just because there are ads (and cards, etc.) doesn't mean there's not still a significant amount of traffic flowing to the organic results. This has been a reality for over 20 years now. Why would it suddenly be "dead"?

If the fishing pole site cannot advertise, and does not get sufficient traffic from organic results, they'll have to get creative. That, too, is digital marketing. People who say it's dead usually just want it to be easy. It's not.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

"Hey siri, how do I...."

There, now all your sites are obsolete. Voice is here, who needs content.

All kidding aside, informational content is harder to rank, yes, but if you make it fun it becomes entertainment and that's a voracious bottoless pit that will always draw eyeballs... and dollars.

I cringe when I hear "quality content"... even siri can serve it up but can she make you laugh/smile/get excited while doing it? People want to be entertained and have their problems solved immediately, the fewer words the better.... perfect for voice since they have to read zero words, lol.