Digital marketing strategy plan
Marketing strategies are wide and varied and when it comes to choosing one that is right it can prove a challenge.
Discovering the perfect market strategy requires marketers to have an in-depth understanding of the business and their product or service as well as the target market.
Once they have identified all of this, only then will they have the scope to choose a digital marketing strategy that is both effective and rewarding.
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In terms of digital marketing for the future, digital strategy, as well as planning, are considered to be key but when it comes to choosing digital marketing campaigns, it’s about working efficiently.
Developing a digital marketing strategy
Implementing a marketing strategy that misses the mark is going to prove costly.
What’s more, it’s going to be crucial that marketers also stay ahead of lead generation activities in order to move with the ever-changing landscape.
So, if you are looking to push customer engagement forward and drive brand awareness while also generating leads then you are going to need to implement the right strategies.
Contents
- The strategies that are most effective
- Flexibility is vital
- The right strategy understands the customer
- Place a focus on your end goal
- Lead generation driven by content
- Connect by going live and by using audio
- Mobile-friendly is a key factor
- Authority and authenticity are vital
- Review, tweak and adapt
- How to create a digital marketing strategy
- Digital marketing strategy template
- Digital marketing strategy PDF
- FAQ
The strategies that are most effective
In recent times, the most effective strategies have involved media marketing with content marketing following closely behind. SEO was also included in there while data marketing has fallen behind but that does not mean that it has lost its importance within the whole scope of marketing strategies.
This is not set in stone because as we know, some strategies are far more effective than others although that is dependent on a range of variables.
However, what it provides an insight into those methods are likely to achieve the most success in terms of lead generation.
Integrated digital marketing strategy
Whatever the industry might be, it’s been identified that both video and email are highly effective but content marketing and social media marketing edge ahead of them both.
Despite this, what is more important than the marketing you are carrying out is whether the entire approach aligns itself with the message you want to send out and your brand.
So, in terms of finding the most effective marketing campaign that works with your business, there are some considerations that you are going to have to make.
Flexibility is vital
The thing with digital marketing is that it is very much a case of trialling certain approaches and seeing what works. So, while having a plan can help you, you’re going to need to remain flexible and agile because the world of marketing is constantly moving.
This means that you’ll need to monitor the ever-changing SEO patterns and potential future trends while you’ll need to actively manage your content calendar and timelines.
An active social media presence across several channels works best allowing you to choose the ones that work more successfully while you will need to identify the KPIs to focus on.
You’ll also need to identify when you need to obtain progress reports, giving you the ability to discuss and strategise the next move.
A strategy that is a success will always need to adapt and change and so, proactive monitoring and adjusting are pivotal to its success.
This can prove to be a significant task and might not be something that can be carried out alone and so, it might help to use consultants to assist you with changing goals and analysing metrics if things are not going as smoothly as you had expected them too.
The right strategy understands the customer
An effective understanding of the target audience is vital if you want your marketing strategy to be a true success.
The best marketing strategies will identify who purchases the products or services as well as why they carry out their purchase.
Along with this, other important factors include how they make their purchase and where.
An understanding of the demographics is crucial as this will provide an understanding of why they want to purchase but also understand their social, cultural and political links.
So, to create an insightful profile of your target audience and to create tactics that drive results, you will need to define the channels that target your key demographics effectively while also creating a tone or a language that resonates with them.
A successful strategy will also understand what causes them to take action through evoking emotions and avoiding pain points while you can predict purchasing patterns through creating personas for each of the demographics.
You can also ensure that you are culturally aware while creating partnerships with influencers is a great way of making in-roads when building relationships.
Finally, automation tools can help create detailed segmentation and targeting, helping you to identify what works and how to target the audience efficiently.
Place a focus on your end goal
Too often, marketers place a focus on profits and the product or service but what’s more important is how the product or service is going to fulfil the needs of the audience.
What is really significant is who you are targeting and why.
A successful marketing strategy will incorporate a further understanding of the audience and their triggers as well as their pain points as a way of understanding how they are using your product or service.
What this means is that when you demonstrate what happens after they have made a purchase you can remind them of why they need it.
Lead generation driven by content
Lead generation can be achieved in many ways but content that is well written, engaging and valuable really does work.
With blogs and articles, you can connect them to specific offers through a landing page to enhance the potential of turning visitors into conversions.
What’s more, when done correctly, bloggers are more likely to have a positive impact on the ROI and businesses can benefit from this too.
Connect by going live and by using audio
Any valuable digital marketing strategy will work to connect and establish authority.
This can be achieved by incorporating events and live webinars that can be delivered in a relaxed environment if required.
Creating content that allows users to form an image of your brand and business will enable them to form an emotional connection.
Make the content high quality and you can educate your audience, ensuring they won’t forget your brand or business.
Mobile-friendly is a key factor
Mobile devices now play a significant role in every aspect of our lives.
In fact, around 40% of shoppers now research products using some form of search channel, while 80% of shoppers will turn to their smart device as part of the daily consumption habits.
We are now at a point where this form of behaviour is now a normal part of life.
The truth is, mobile devices have become an integral part of life and so when it comes to making sure that your digital marketing strategy works, you should ensure that your website is optimised for desktop devices and smart devices.
This is not just for users but also Google which now considers this to be an important aspect when ranking websites.
It’s also vital to ensure that all details such as phone number, addresses and CTAs are clickable and easily identifiable on maps.
What’s also important is that the website is slick and loads quickly while social media ads are always accurately reviewed.
Authority and authenticity are vital
It’s not just a case of using social media to connect with your audience through regular posts because that won’t be enough alone to build authority and authenticity.
Whatever the channel or method, you need to make sure that you make it possible for your audience to engage with and understand your values and mission.
The best marketing strategies will utilise live videos that deliver greater insight into your product or your business.
It can also help to introduce podcasts as well as written interviews that help to bolster your content in a way that converses with your audience.
It’s also essential to ensure that it is SEO optimised to help enhance your online authority.
Video is vastly influential and is considered to be one of the top ways of converting users to so make sure you utilise their full potential by adding them to your website and even embed them in ads.
Consumers want to feel as though they have a personal connection with your brand.
So, create content that allows them to learn about your business and the people within it.
This helps to give your business a more personable appearance that will also make it more approachable and that will build trust.
Review, tweak and adapt
Even the best and most effective marketing strategies require amendments and tweaking because it’s about discovering what works and what doesn’t. So, you’re going to need to include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that align with the goals of your business.
A plan will allow you to identify your goals and what you want to achieve, Once you have gained an understanding of these, you can then monitor the metrics that provide clear information that relates to the most important KPIs.
You must avoid paying attention to metrics that do not contribute to the long-term success of your business and use KPIs to measure success but ensure that they remain flexible.
Regular monitoring can help you to analyse the figures, understand them and measure them before creating reports that help you to isolate vital metrics, allowing you to identify whether something is working or not.
The best digital marketing strategy is about focusing on the core purpose and not simply focusing on specific products.
The aim is to identify the needs of the client and understand what resonates with them.
Social trends will also feed into overall success when it comes to influencing different demographics.
Essentially, the best digital marketing strategy will be adaptable and flexible enough to meet the needs of the customer instead of it expecting the customer to meet the needs of the business.
How to create a digital marketing strategy
How to create a digital marketing strategy
- Define your company overview and goals
First, you need to make sure that your business purpose is clear. If you speak to different members of your team, you might be surprised at the variety of answers you receive to this question. Writing down your business goals ensures that all of your staff are on the same page.
- Research your industry
Your business is unlikely to thrive if you don’t have a thorough understanding of how your products and services sit within a wider industry.
- Define your target market and buying cycle
Who are your target customers? What are their buying habits? How can your offering provide something of value to them?
- Conduct competitive analysis and market research
You should examine what existing products and services are already available to your target audience. Try to define where your competitors have been successful, and any opportunities to do better than they are.
- Be clear on your USP
It’s crucial to define how your market offering is unique and superior to anything else available, and ensure that this forms a central part of your marketing messaging.
- Write your marketing plan
A marketing plan and a marketing strategy are sometimes referred to as the same thing, but they’re not. Your marketing plan should explain how your strategy will be applied and put into practice.
- Write your operational plan
Your digital marketing strategy provides a high-level strategic approach, but you need an operational plan which breaks down the strategy into roles and responsibilities for your team.
- Decide on your KPIs (and how to measure them)
It’s important to decide on your digital marketing strategy KPIs and also define specifically how they will be measured. This will give some data which will allow you to objectively review your success over time.
Digital marketing strategy template
Your digital marketing strategy should be uniquely written to satisfy the needs of your business. But to get you started, here is a digital marketing plan template:
- Executive summary
- Company overview and business goals
- Industry analysis
- Target market
- Buying cycle
- Competitive analysis and market research
- Unique Selling Proposition
- Marketing plan (channels, brand, website)
- Operational plan
- KPIs
Digital marketing strategy PDF
Do you need a digital marketing strategy in PDF format? Just send us an email to [email protected] and we will be able to help you.
FAQ
A digital marketing strategy is simply the plan that you form for marketing your products and services using digital channels. A digital marketing plan is usually a document which details the approach that you business will take to conduct its marketing. This often includes analysis of your industry and competitors, and outlines your strategic route to ensuring your business thrives.
Follow our 8-step process to create your digital marketing strategy. We also provide a template which you and your team can complete in order to started quickly with your digital marketing strategy.
Once you’ve created and launched your digital marketing strategy, the next step is to develop it over time to ensure it stays relevant and useful. Your strategy should contain a set of KPIs, and a starting point to further develop your digital marketing strategy is to look at your KPI data and assess your success.
If your business doesn’t have a digital marketing strategy, how can you accurately assess your performance? A digital marketing strategy is essential in making sure that your team members are all pulling towards common goals and driving your business towards success.
A marketing strategy can cost from £1,000 to more than £10,000 in planning, and depends a lot on the requirements of the business. If you’d like help with your marketing strategy, contact us to discuss in more detail.