Today, the majority of our content consumption takes place in the digital world. To keep up with our reliance on technology, marketing has also gone digital. This shift requires your brand to have a presence in the digital world. In order to build a successful digital presence for your brand, you need to have a solid digital marketing strategy.
So, what is digital marketing and why do you need a strategy for it? “Digital marketing strategy” is a term that encompasses a whole lot. It can be overwhelming to tackle it on your own. This is why we’ve created this practical guide to help you build a solid digital marketing strategy in 7 clear steps:
What exactly is a digital marketing strategy?
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A digital marketing strategy is a step by step, actionable process that works towards achieving the digital marketing goals of your company.
Digital marketing is accomplished through digital marketing channels. These channels include social media, digital publishing and paid, earned or owned media.
A digital marketing strategy involves a very deliberate decision-making process regarding your digital marketing goals and the most appropriate channels that will help you achieve them.
7 steps to building a digital marketing strategy
Here are the fundamental steps to building a solid digital marketing strategy for your brand:
1. Set a goal
Before you start strategizing, you must ask yourself what it is that you hope to achieve with your marketing strategy. Sounds simple, but this step requires you to come up with a very detailed and specific set of goals.
To do this, you can use the SMART criteria.
SMART is a very helpful and commonly used mnemonic tool for setting objectives. SMART offers the following criteria for setting goals:
Acquiring more views on your website is not a SMART goal.
Generating 10% more visits to your website through ads on X social media platform for the next two months is a SMART goal. All the SMARTer when you outline the exact steps you’ll take to get there.
2. Evaluate your existing digital marketing presence
Even if it’s close to nonexistent, it’s good to understand what you have already accomplished. This step will help you understand what to focus on to achieve your current goals.
First, you need to understand your main marketing channels:
Which of these is driving the most leads and traffic to you? Rank each channel and specific media from most effective to least effective (thus far).
3. Understand the digital sales funnel
The digital sales funnel is the arc of your buyer’s journey from stranger to a repeat, or long term customer. A brand with a strong digital presence can use the funnel to achieve their digital marketing goals. How? By addressing each step of the funnel with the appropriate digital marketing tools.
Understanding the digital sales funnel means that you need to grasp each stage of the funnel and the appropriate digital tools that complements it.
Here is a simplified breakdown of the stages and the appropriate digital marketing responses.
4. Build buyer personas
You need to know who your audience is before you attempt to successfully reach out to them. So how can you understand who your audience is?
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Once you can imagine who a person is then you can make some assumptions about what would appeal to them.
To delve further into this step, take a look at our post: How to create a user persona.
5. Locate your customers on the funnel
You then have to locate your customers at different stages of the funnel. In all likelihood, there will be customers at all stages of the funnel who are open to connecting with you.
For example, let’s say your product is an organic deodorant. Your prospective customer may be:
Once you have this information, you can begin to target distinct groups of customers through different channels.
6. Create a content plan
At this stage, you will develop a specific marketing strategy for every channel that attracts your customers. What sort of content do you need to achieve your digital marketing goals for each of these channels?
Your strategy will be made up of a series of actions that respond to specific goals. It will also have a specific timeline so that the actions can have measurable deadlines.
Some of these actions will be:
7. Analyze results
Once you have a strategy in place, practice this step at intervals (add it to your calendar). How are customers interacting with what you’re sharing with them? How are you progressing toward your goals? These analytics will help you correct course and learn from things that didn’t work out as planned.
By using analytics software you can observe your progress at different stages of the funnel. You want to understand:
Keep up with the latest digital marketing tools, there might be something new on the market that addresses your analysis needs perfectly.
With the results you gather, you can create graphics using data visualization tools which will help with comparisons, goal tracking and presentations.
Focus on your goals and the specific steps that will get you there
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You may have noticed that to create a solid foundation for a successful digital marketing campaign there are two key words you must live by: goals and specifics. Create clear goals and then outline the specific steps you need to take to get there—the more specific, the better!
And now that you’re armed with this guide, you can dive deeper and learn more about the different types of digital marketing and what each one can do for your brand.