In today’s competitive online world, it is essential to have a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy. Regardless of your niche, or the size of your company, high-quality digital marketing is arguably the most efficient way to grow your business.
It is easier said than done, however. You’ll need to incorporate the best digital marketing strategy principles if you want to make the most of your online presence and build your revenue.
So, what are the most relevant digital marketing approaches today, and most importantly, which ones are best for your company? Find out in our breakdown of the four points to create a digital marketing strategy for your brand in 2021.
What Is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Let’s start with the basics. Your digital marketing strategy outlines how you plan to achieve your marketing goals through social media, search engines, and other online channels. A well-made strategy should summarize exactly which digital marketing tactics and online channels you plan to use, as well as how much you plan to invest in each of them.
We asked for an expert’s opinion from a Miami web design company and compiled some examples of digital marketing approaches you could use for your company. These include search engine optimization (SEO), social media campaigns, content marketing strategies, etc. We’ll discuss these in more detail below.
Create Your Digital Marketing Strategy in 8 Steps
Before we move on to the specific aspects of your digital marketing strategy, let’s talk about how to create one in the first place. Here are the eight steps you should follow:
Step 1 — Define your brand: Make sure you understand precisely what makes your brand unique and how to push that message in your digital marketing campaigns. Consider your value proposition, brand voice, and unique selling points.
Step 2 — Create customer personas: Figure out exactly who you want to reach. Think about what would drive people to choose your products, as well as your customer demographics.
Step 3 — Make S.M.A.R.T. goals: Your goals must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Consider both short- and long-term goals in this step.
Step 4 — Choose the aspects of your digital marketing strategy: This is what this post will primarily focus on. You’ll get an overview of digital marketing techniques that offer the most value.
Step 5 — Calculate your budget: Do some research on digital marketing pricing in your area, especially if you plan to outsource and build a realistic digital marketing budget.
Step 6 — Brainstorm: Sit down with your team and develop some general ideas on how to market your brand online. Then, talk to experts on how to get it done.
Step 7 — Launch your campaign: Finally, you’re done planning! It is time to initiate your digital marketing campaigns across all the channels you plan on using. Make sure all the channels are covered by enough tracking information, such as the Google Analytics tracking code on your website, for example.
Step 8 — Analyze the results: You might have thought that your work was done with the launch of the campaigns, but if you want to be successful over the long term, you must measure and monitor the performance of your digital marketing strategy.
Most Important Aspects of Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Now that you know how to create your first online marketing strategy, it is time to look at the four most important points for digital marketing strategies today.
1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of making your site rank highly in search engine results for the specific phrases and keywords related to your line of work, location, company name, etc. The better your SEO, the more traffic you’ll get on your website and social media profiles.
SEO isn’t about attracting just anyone to your website, so more traffic isn’t necessarily the end goal. Instead, the idea is to try to attract as much of your target audience as possible. These users are actively looking for the specific products or services your company offers, making them much more likely to make a purchase.
Why Does SEO Matter?
It is no coincidence that this aspect of digital marketing is the first item on our list. SEO is a requirement for a successful digital marketing strategy. The reason it works so well and why it is so important is that it has the capacity to intercept members of your target demographic regardless of where they are in the conversion funnel.
If you’re wondering about SEO’s usefulness as a digital marketing strategy, all you need to know is that less than 10% of users click through to the second page of search results. If you think back to your Google searches, you’ll likely realize that this reflects your online behavior as well.
This is not because we’re lazy or unwilling to spend a few extra seconds glancing through the next page of results. We don’t tend to go to the second page because, most often, we find what we’re looking for on the first page. Therefore, we don’t need to explain why it is crucial to earn your website or social media profile a spot on the front page.
Another interesting statistic from the post linked above says that more than 30% of users click on the first result. Again, this is not because they are impatient, but because Google’s algorithm does the job well and presents the most helpful results first.
Most helpful is the operative phrase here — you’re not going to get far by trying to game the algorithm either. Internet users nowadays are savvy, and they’re not likely to click on your page if it doesn’t offer value, regardless of its rank.
This brings us to our next point.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is an aspect of digital marketing in which you use content to reach, engage, and connect with your prospects and consumers. This content can assume many forms — infographics, blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. That said, there’s one thing it must always do — bring value to users.
For example, if you run a business that sells bicycles and cycling supplies, you could write about what equipment a beginner cycler needs for their first long-distance cycling trip. You could also write articles about how to take care of a bicycle or which apps one can use to keep track of distance covered and calories burned.
Each of these individual pieces of content will target specific keywords, bringing more people to your website while still targeting your core demographic.
Your post about bicycle care, for example, may include the phrase bicycle maintenance tips or how to lubricate a bike chain. If these phrases are used in a searches, your website will be more likely to pop up.
As we said in the section dedicated to SEO, it is not enough to stuff your content with keywords. No matter how well you think you can game the system, if your content is not beneficial to your users, you will not get the desired effect.
You want your users to share your content with their fellow enthusiasts, coworkers, families, and friends, so you should make it original and high-quality.
Don’t think of content marketing as a way to attract new customers to your website. Think of it primarily as a way to provide valuable information to your audience. If you do that, traffic and conversions will take care of themselves.
Why Does Content Marketing Matter?
Content marketing’s ability to connect with prospects throughout the conversion funnel and its unprecedented synergy with SEO make this practice an indelible part of any successful digital marketing strategy.
Custom content is considered the future of marketing by 78% of C.M.O.s, while 80% of internet users appreciate learning about a company through original content.
Content marketing is an essential long-term marketing solution that delivers an impressive return-of-investment. It provides remarkable lead generation, increasing your conversion rates by targeting users at every stage of your buying funnel.
Internet users today have a lot of power. They don’t need to sit through your commercial while waiting for their favorite T.V. show to wrap up. They can simply ignore your company’s message if they don’t find it attractive or informative.
That’s why, if you want your prospects to respond to your content, you need to make an effort and make it add value to your customer’s lives.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is about increasing conversions, like most other facets of digital marketing. However, it is mostly about building brand awareness and connecting you to your customers.
Depending on your target demographic and their preferences, your social media marketing campaign will span various social media platforms, and each one will require a slightly different strategy.
As you’re probably aware, the most popular social media marketing platforms include:
The main idea behind social media marketing is increasing brand awareness, as we mentioned above. You will use your social media channels to maintain and improve your company’s reputation, as well as advertise your products and services.
On social media, you will not only publish promotional and informational content but also interact with your audience directly.
Why Does Social Media Marketing Matter?
With over 3.6 billion people using social media worldwide in 2020, we don’t need to emphasize the potential of investing in this marketing channel.
It’s not just about the number of users, however. The value of social media comes from the service it offers — sharing content with family and friends. This means you can use social media to connect with individuals and entire communities through those individuals.
Another handy feature of social media is the ability to communicate with your audience. If your accounts are active, your users will have many options for contacting you. This is crucial, as inconveniencing your prospects can lower your conversion and especially retention rates significantly, directly impacting your long-term revenue.
Regardless of your industry, word-of-mouth is one of the most effective forms of marketing. Thanks to social media, word-of-mouth recommendations are more powerful than ever, and you certainly don’t want consumers to overlook your company because your social media accounts are dead.
4. Email Marketing
One of the most cost-effective digital marketing approaches focuses primarily on communication with existing customers but doesn’t ignore attracting new ones. Email marketing is an excellent way to encourage repeat purchases, keep your company visible, and build brand awareness.
Like content marketing, email marketing is meant to provide users with valuable content and information, which is the only thing keeping them subscribed. That’s why, aside from strategies focused on growing your audience, you must always be working to develop and refine your offer to existing clients.
It’s all about keeping your company top-of-mind — the idea that, while not everyone on your mailing list needs your products right now, they’ll remember your company when the time comes to make a purchase.
One of the significant benefits of email marketing has to do with the ability to personalize your campaigns by segmenting your audience. For example, you can create separate campaigns for users that purchased different products.
Why Does Email Marketing Matter?
There are many benefits to email marketing. Earlier, we mentioned that it was one of the most cost-effective parts of any company’s digital marketing strategy. This is because for every 1$ you invest in email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42 — that is an average R.O.I. of 4200%.
With these kinds of numbers, it is clear that email marketing has no match when it comes to returns. Its impressive R.O.I. shows the potential of this approach to not only retain clients and increase brand awareness but increase your revenue as well.
Email marketing might be the final point on our list, but it is perhaps the digital marketing strategy you should apply first. If you want to generate even more leads, make sure to include all the extra steps, such as personalization, email design, and audience segmentation.
About Author:
Jessie Connor is a passionate writer and researcher from Brisbane, contributor at several business and lifestyle blogs, hooked on yoga and healthy living. She loves to spend her free time travelling, reading and of course – shopping!
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