Owning a business in this era means you need to invest in digital marketing.
But with so many digital tools, channels, and tactics available at your fingertips, it’s easy to lose your sense of purpose.
And that’s why you need to have a digital marketing strategy in place.
Without a plan, you’ll just be shooting in the dark. That too at the risk of losing all your precious time and money in the process.
The problem is, most marketers fear the task is too complex.
According to Smart Insights, 46% of businesses don’t have a defined digital strategy, while 16% do but haven’t integrated it into their marketing yet.
But don’t worry. That’s exactly why we’ve created this step-by-step guide to simplify the process for you.
Having a well-researched plan not only minimizes the risk of wasting away your investment, it also helps you learn from your mistakes and constantly grow, improve, and execute better.
Here is a 5-step approach to creating a powerful digital marketing strategy that gets you real results:
1. Know What You Want
The first step to developing a strategy is to know why you’re creating one in the first place.
Before anything else, revisit the purpose of your organization.
- Start with defining the overriding objective/goal of your company. For example, your ultimate aim could be to become the leading online bookstore in the country.
- Next, think about how your new digital marketing strategy is going to fit into the big picture. How is it going to contribute towards your end goal?
It’s important to know right from the start why you’re doing this. If you forget the end goal, your plan will be all over the place, and it will be very difficult to get the right results.
2. Do Your Research
Simply knowing what you want isn’t enough. You also need to do your homework.
Without proper research, it’ll be very difficult to set the specific goals and objectives of your strategy to help you approach your ultimate aim.
In-depth research into the different aspects of your business will enable you to develop a realistic, achievable, and powerful strategy that actually has an impact.
Study Your Competition
Remember, your business does not function in isolation.
Even if you sell a highly unique, one-of-a-kind product, there’s bound to be an alternative out there.
Study your competition and try to understand where exactly you stand:
- How big (or small) is your competition?
- What strategies and tactics are they using?
- What channels are they dominating?
You should also set benchmarks for your business by comparing industry averages, such as revenue and expenses. Google’s Benchmarking Reports are a great tool to help you do that.
Conduct a SWOT Analysis
Along with studying your competitors, you need to spend some time learning about your own organization.
A SWOT analysis will help you understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business.
Source: WordStream
You might think you know your organization better than anyone else, but things change over time. You need to stay updated and get your facts straight.
Once you find out where you stand as an organization and how you fit into the competitive landscape, it will be easier to set realistic goals and plan out actionable tactics.
Learn About Your Customers
Your digital marketing plan will never be effective if it isn’t designed specifically for your customers.
Every business caters to a different audience. And what works for someone else might not work for you.
- Get to know who your buyer is – learn about their demographics (e.g. age, gender, location, and ethnicity) and psychographics (e.g. interests, likes/dislikes, values, opinions, and lifestyle).
- Understand their buying behavior and how they interact with your brand – find out how they journey through your website. What pages do they visit the most? What kind of products do they buy? What are their clicking habits?
- Find out how to reach them – what platforms do they use? How do they interact with digital technology?
Knowing your customers lets you speak their language and tailor your marketing plan according to what they really want.
Know Your Technology
An effective digital marketing strategy typically requires the use of multiple technologies, tools, and channels.
- Know what options you have, what their pros and cons are, and how much they cost.
- Learn about which technology caters best to your business type.
It’s also good to do a bit of research on what’s new in the marketing technology world, so you stay updated with the latest trends and don’t miss out on any opportunity.
Analyze Your Past
It’s not enough to just know about your present situation.
You should also consider what worked for you in the past and what didn’t, so you can learn from your mistakes.
- Set a timeframe and analyze your marketing efforts and results. How effective were they? What should you have done instead?
- Also, consider the customer feedback you’ve received in the past. Identify the areas you need to work on (e.g. customer support).
You can use several different tools to analyze your past marketing efforts, like by setting up a custom date range in your Google Analytics reports.
3. Set Clear Goals
Now that you’ve done your research, you can finally set specific goals for your strategy.
Ask yourself: Where do I want to go and how do I plan to get there?
Setting goals is the process of answering that question. They help define what success means to you, and lay out the foundation for your action plan.
By this point, you should be aware of new opportunities for your brand, and know exactly what’s realistically achievable (and what isn’t).
Here’s what you need to do:
Set SMART Goals
There’s no point in proceeding with generic, poorly defined goals, like:
- Get a bigger email list
- Rank number one on Google search
- Improve brand image
Goals like these simply don’t work. They don’t specify a timeframe, they aren’t specific, they lack actionable steps, and there’s no concrete way of measuring them.
You need to set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Timely. In short, you need to set SMART goals.
Here’s a short infographic to help you understand SMART goals better:
Source: Content Marketing Institute
Establish KPIs
Setting KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, is also important to help you measure your progress once you’ve started implementing your strategy.
KPIs are essentially the metrics you’ll need to track to understand how far you’ve traveled on your way to achieving your goals.
For example, if your goal is to increase conversions, one of your KPIs could be a certain number (or rate) of click-throughs.
Here’s a sample KPI template you can steal:
(Your goal, e.g. ‘Increase traffic’) by (figure e.g. 20%) in (number of months)
Remember, your goals and KPIs should always be realistic and achievable. Moreover, find out which metrics matter the most so you can prioritize.
4. Identify Your Resources
This is a crucial step that most marketers often miss out on when developing a strategy.
Before you can actually plan out your tactics, you need to know what resources you have at hand.
- First of all, define your budget.
Just like any other marketing channel, digital media can cost a lot. You need to tailor your marketing plan so it delivers optimal results while staying within your budget.
Also, decide on whether you want to use paid promotion or if you’d rather invest in organic success. Once you do that, it will be easier to allocate your budget to each of the digital channels you’ll be using.
- Next, analyze your team and the skills at hand.
Do you have content strategists/writers in your team? What about web developers, graphic designers, and SEO specialists?
If you don’t have sufficient resources available, how on earth are you going to execute your marketing strategy effectively? You need to have the right talent to actually achieve your end goal.
Note: This is also the point where you identify which resources are missing, so you can hire people if you need to.
Moreover, decide on whether you want an in-house team or if outsourcing seems like a better option. That mostly depends on your budget, your business requirements, and your work culture.
- Lastly, identify the channels you’re going to be using.
It’s nearly impossible to use ALL the digital marketing channels out there at the same time. Find out which ones you CAN use, so you can plan out your tactics accordingly in the next step.
The type of channels you’re going to use also depends on who your business caters to. If your target market is mostly made up of businesses and professionals, LinkedIn will be a much more effective channel for you than, say, Snapchat.
If you’re targeting teens or millennials, Instagram is the place to be.
Moreover, consider the channels you’ve used in the past. Do you want to keep them? Or do you want to invest in new ones?
Also, make sure you clearly define the purpose of each channel you’re going to use.
5. Create an Action Plan
Great, now you know where you want to go. But how are you going to get there?
This is where your action plan comes in; a blueprint to achieving your goals.
Creating an action plan mostly involves laying out the tactics you’re going to execute for each digital channel.
- First of all, you need to create a digital marketing calendar. You can use a collaborative tool like Google Calendars or Sheets to share your timeline with your team.
- Divide responsibilities across multiple teams and make sure you attach at least one KPI to each channel so you can measure how effective your campaigns are.
- Create relevant content and ensure that you integrate it across the different channels you’re using to get optimal response.
A good idea is to come up with a detailed content strategy that fits into your marketing plan and timeline.
Finally, organize and prioritize your executions to ensure you get the maximum ROI from each channel.
Bonus: Consult an Expert
Creating the perfect strategy can be time-consuming. And let’s face it, running a business can get pretty hectic. Not all marketers will have that kind of time to spare.
Consulting an expert can accelerate the process and let you focus on more important things, like actually executing the plan and monitoring its progress.
Moreover, experts know the drill and can give structure and direction to your plan. They can recommend the right tools and technology for your business, and can help out with tactics like content creation, social media marketing, and more.
Sure, it might cost you a bit. But it’s an investment that’s definitely worth it.
What’s Next?
Finally, it’s time to execute your plan!
Don’t forget to always test and measure results not just after execution, but also during the entire process.
Remember, it’s okay to not stick to your strategy. In fact, if you aren’t changing it at all, you’re not doing it right.
There are tons of different internal and external factors that can require you to change your plan, like customer needs, trends, or even economic conditions.
Make sure your strategy is flexible enough to be revisited modified as needed.
What tools do you use for creating your digital strategy? We would love to know! Feel free to leave us your comments and suggestions below!
Need help with creating the perfect digital strategy for your business? We got your back. Get in touch with us today and let the experts handle it for you.