Volumes have been written about the theory and practice of digital marketing. However, at its most fundamental, digital marketing strategy consists of a handful of proven steps to success. Here is a short and sweet checklist of the components of a successful digital marketing strategy:
1) Know Your Goal
If you aim at nothing, you will be sure to hit it. Since digital marketing involves a number of channels and platforms, it is essential to first understand what your objectives are for your marketing campaign. A clear and concise definition of what you hope to accomplish will set you on the right path from the very beginning.
2) Know Your Audience
Once you know what you hope to accomplish, it is time to put some thought into who will benefit most from your product or service. Look at your market research carefully. Use surveys on social media, mobile surveys, marketing analytics, traditional questionnaires, and emails to gather your research. Create buyer personas based on what you discover.
3) Know Your Competition
When you have your target audience clearly in mind, it is time to examine your competition more closely. Common ways to do this include: signing up for their emails, monitoring their keywords and domains, and tracking their current offers. The purpose of monitoring your competition is not to steal a page from their digital marketing playbook, but to find ways in which you can effectively differentiate your brand from theirs for your target audience.
4) Embrace SEO Best Practices
There is no getting around the fact that good SEO technique is a skill you must master to be successful with digital marketing. While you can read and study myriad solid SEO strategies, at its most basic, SEO boils down to a few essential points:
- When choosing your keywords, focus on what your buyer personas would type into a search engine in an effort to find your company.
- Once you have a small list of keywords, use a tool like Google AdWords to research your keywords and narrow them down even further.
- After settling on your keywords, create compelling content that incorporates them in a natural, seamless way.
- Re-visit your keyword strategy often to optimize your chances of success.
5) Create Engaging Content
As search engine algorithms become more and more sophisticated, it becomes more important to create engaging, relevant content than ever before. Every piece of content you put out should:
- Be targeted to a specific segment of your audience.
- Contain information that is relevant to a problem or issue that audience has.
- Be presented in an engaging way that prompts your audience to interact with your brand and share the content with others.
6) Share Content via Multiple Channels
A strong digital campaign involves a multi-channel approach. Finding the right digital channels to connect with your audience is essential. In most cases, it is wise to use a variety of channels to build strong relationships with your customers.
For instance, you might write a blog that will be read by your regular blog subscribers, but you might also want to send an email with a link to the blog to select customers on your email subscription lists. Similarly, you might tweet an interesting snippet of your blog post to attract attention on social media.
7) Measure Results and Make Constant Adjustments
Perhaps one of the most important advantages digital marketing provides is the ability to measure the results of practically every part of your campaign. Looking carefully at these results will inform future marketing campaigns, helping you to align your messaging more and more closely with the needs and pain points of your target audience.
The Takeaway
Though much more can be said about each element of a successful digital marketing campaign, ensuring that your campaigns incorporate these points will help move your digital marketing strategies in the right direction.
How are your current digital marketing campaigns performing? To get a professional opinion, request an assessment of your campaigns today from Connection Model, a leader in digital marketing strategy.