Digital marketing is no longer the only way to grow your business. However, digital marketing is the best way to grow your business in today’s digital world. Social media and video ads have become the norm.
The internet is a massive part of our daily lives. With 59% of the world’s population now having internet access, there is no better place than the internet to promote your company.
Digital marketing can take many forms. There are Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and many other options. It can be overwhelming to figure out the best way to market your business. It could be not easy if you don’t start with a digital marketing plan.
How to make a digital marketing strategy
A marketing agency or brand identity agency may be helpful when you are creating a digital marketing plan. However, if you’re just starting a business or want to keep the process in-house, these are some key points to remember.
1. Set goals
Your goal must be clearly defined. It is crucial to know what you are trying to achieve. It will guide your digital marketing strategy.
Use SMART criteria to achieve this. This tool will allow you to set precise, achievable, and meaningful goals. SMART stands to be specific, measurable, and achievable. It also means relevant, timely, and relevant.
Are you looking to increase your leads? Do you want to sell more products or generate more leads? For example, you might want more people to sign up for your newsletter, or you would like to build brand recognition.
When setting goals, be as specific as you can. It is not enough to say you want more products sold. It is essential to establish that your goal is to increase sales by 10% in the next three months.
2. Evaluate your existing digital marketing presence
After you have decided what you want, it is time to look at how your current digital marketing strategy performs.
Take a look at all your marketing channels to determine which ones are most effective. Your website, social media pages, and email marketing are all possible options. To help you decide where to focus your efforts, analyze what is working and what needs improvement.
Do some research to see if your website is your only digital marketing platform. Which social media platforms are your customers most likely to use? Is email marketing a way to increase sales?
You can look at the work of your competitors if you aren’t sure where to begin. These can give you some ideas for how to reach your target audience.
3. Learn about the digital sales funnel
Now that you have the foundation for your strategy, it is time to start executing your digital marketing strategy. What are the digital sales funnel?
A digital sales funnel depicts the buyer’s journey from being a stranger to your company until becoming a loyal customer. These are the stages of the digital sales funnel:
Discovery
It is where people hear about your company firsthand.
Research
Once a certain level of brand recognition is established, the user will begin to look into your company and products and become a potential client.
Purchase
Potential customers are now customers.
Loyalty
People will connect with you and become long-term customers when they do.
It is possible to better target your messaging by understanding your audience’s stage and their expectations. It is crucial to know this information as users will react differently to ads based on their stage. These stages should be used to create your CTAs and social posts as well as other copies.
4. Build buyer personas
Next, get into the head of your customer. Think about who your customer is. What are their values? What do they do for a living? It will help you gain a better understanding of your audience and how to reach them. This goes beyond just identifying your target market. It also allows you to create a fake buyer persona that will help you envision your ideal customer.
These buyer personas should be precise, just as the goals that we discussed earlier. As a guide, conduct thorough market research and use the steps you have taken to define your sales funnel. Start to meet with your potential customers via forums, social media, or one-on-one interviews.
It will be similar to the validation process that you used when starting your business. However, it will focus more on your online presence, messaging, and digital ads.
5. Find your customers within your digital sales funnel
Once you have identified the type of audience you are looking for, you can now imagine your buyers spread across every stage of the digital sales funnel.
Why? Because buyers react differently depending on their stage. Each stage requires a different marketing strategy.
Let’s suppose you own a car repair shop. You can do everything, from regular maintenance to restoration and fine-tuning. Consider how people will find you based on their stage.
A customer in the discovery phase might be someone who has experienced an unexpected breakdown. They are now looking for a mechanic who can fix the problem immediately.
They will most likely search Google for “car repair shop near me” and may also look at reviews online. You’d want your listing to appear in the search results for “car repair near me” and to have at least a few positive reviews. You will need to optimize SEO for the given term with relevant copy, a well-designed site, and contact information.
A customer looking to have their car painted or add an after-market stereo system may also be part of the research phase. They aren’t in a hurry and will do their research thoroughly before reaching out to you. You want them to see your ads.
Why not create a Facebook campaign to showcase your past restoration projects? For example, it might convince a potential customer to paint his car if you show that your restoration projects have transformed an old car into something new.
6. Create a content strategy
You now need to combine all the pieces and develop a marketing strategy specific to each channel. Blogs, webinars, and eBooks are all possible options for your content strategy. Define your goals, and decide which content types can help you reach them.
If you want to increase your search engine ranking, you might consider a keyword strategy or ask users to review your business on Google. It will help you improve your local SEO score. You can also use social media to increase brand recognition.
These best practices will ensure that your content is consistent with the following guidelines:
- Could you keep it simple: Get to the point? Then, make sure you focus on the critical issues.
- Talk directly to your audience. To connect with them, you need to understand them. What do they want? What can you do to help?
- Your unique value proposition is what you use to tell your customers about your brand. So be sure to write engaging headlines, in addition to valuable copy.
- Be consistent: Ensure your brand remains consistent across all channels. Define your brand’s personality and tone of voice. You must ensure that each piece of content you create reflects your brand.
7. Keep track of your results
After you have your marketing strategy in place, it is time to evaluate and observe how it’s performing. There is always room to improve. You need to keep an eye on the performance of your projects. You can then identify which strategies work well and what needs improvement and make adjustments accordingly.
It is essential to establish the key metrics you wish to track before you start. For example, you could track final transactions, appointment bookings, and even social shares or backlinks. It is possible to quickly identify the most important metrics and then pivot away from any issues that may arise.
Digital marketing is an ongoing process
Be specific in your digital marketing strategy. Know who you are targeting and how they will react to your ads.
It is not something you can do perfectly every time. It may be that your customers don’t like the channel, medium, or imagery you choose. However, it would help if you didn’t let this discourage you. Instead, take the lessons learned and make a new attempt.
If you are successful, the same applies. Keep going. Don’t stop learning from your successes. This is the beauty of digital marketing: there are so many ways to improve, and it’s possible to do it in so many different ways. So it’s not difficult to learn how to approach it.
Disclaimer. The opinions and views expressed in this article are the authors Shalom Lamm.
