There’s no question that a digital content marketing strategy is a vital part of any successful business. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a brand manager for a well-established company, you need to know how to effectively market your product or services to customers.
In today’s world, that means placing your brand front-and-center on the digital platforms where people live. Digital marketing encompasses email marketing, search engine marketing, social media, or any form of marketing online. It’s great for smaller businesses, especially, because you can get started with just a few clicks. You don’t need a giant budget for producing television ads or buying billboard spots.
But just because digital marketing is more accessible doesn’t mean it’s easy. You need a clear, focused strategy, otherwise you’ll waste countless hours – and your marketing budget. Depending on your goals, it’s often more efficient to save yourself the headache and outsource your marketing to an agency.
However, even if you work with an agency, it helps to have your own in-house plan as a starting point. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of developing a digital marketing strategy that meets your business’ needs.
Step 1. Define Clear, Concrete Goals
Before diving into any digital marketing, you need to define success metrics for your company. “More sales” is a great goal, but it’s not enough for an entire campaign.
Get specific and define clear, concrete goals that you can assign to a timeline and break down into smaller action items. (Remember, you can always adjust these goals later.) Once you know your goals, you can “reverse engineer” your marketing strategy to support them.
For example, let’s say one of your goals is to increase online sales by 20% over the next two quarters. This can guide your digital marketing plan toward initiatives to improve your website’s conversion rate, as well as PPC and organic search marketing.
Step 2. Research Your Audience
In many cases, your product or service might be for “everyone.” However, an audience that’s too broad is very difficult to market to – especially if you have limited resources for your marketing.
As you develop your digital content marketing strategy, you need to narrow your focus to target the people most likely to convert from website browsers into loyal customers.
Research your digital marketing audience based on questions such as:
- What are the demographics of your current customers?
- Who is your ideal new customer?
- Does your ideal customer’s profile match your current demographic?
- Where do your ideal customers spend time online?
- What problems or concerns do your customers have?
- What motivates them to take action?
If audience research sounds daunting, consider reaching out to a marketing agency to streamline the process. An agency can analyze sales data, run user surveys, and develop a “buyer persona” to guide your digital content marketing strategy toward success.
Step 3. Choose the Right Channels
Digital marketing is often a mixed bag. The good news is that it offers almost unlimited options. The bad news? It offers almost unlimited options! If you’re trying to create a digital marketing plan on your own, it can feel overwhelming.
At Mandzok Marketing, we often hear from clients whose strategy failed because they had no idea where to start – and they spread their budget too thin targeting too many channels. Learn from these clients’ digital marketing mistakes. Just like your goals and your audience, specificity is always a stronger strategy than going too broad.
You don’t need to use every digital marketing channel, especially at the beginning. Instead, focus on a handful of channels based on your audience research. For example, if your target demographic skews older, it may make more sense to focus on paid search and email marketing rather than social media.
Step 4. Create a Realistic Content Plan
Content is critical to digital marketing. Whether it’s blogs, ad copy, social media posts, or an email newsletter, you’ll need to develop assets to use in your campaigns. However, your digital content marketing strategy needs to remain realistic. Don’t set yourself up for failure with a publishing schedule you can’t keep up.
If you’re launching a blog, can you realistically publish new articles twice a month? If you want to post daily on Instagram, do you have enough videos, images, and captions ready to go? Often, many companies developing their own digital marketing plan run into trouble because they over-commit and under-deliver.
A successful marketing campaign requires consistency. If you and your team aren’t able to establish a solid content calendar, consider working with an agency who can create content for you.
Step 5. Set the Right Budget
Even if you’re not running ads, digital marketing isn’t free. You’ll need to invest a lot of time into your campaign. You may also find yourself with costs for various software and publishing tools such as:
- Design software
- Analytics tools
- Social media schedulers
- Emailing marketing platforms
- SEO tools
If you run paid search campaigns, boosted social media posts, or other initiatives that require a fee, even a generous monthly budget can quickly run out if you’re not careful. Before you launch your marketing plan, determine how much time and money you can dedicate.
Whatever number you land on, we recommend padding it. If you’re creating a digital marketing plan for the first time, you’re probably underestimating how many resources you’ll truly need to launch a smooth campaign. Remember, time is short and mistakes can be expensive; often, hiring a pro is a smarter choice because they’ll skip the trial-and-errors and launch an effective marketing campaign from the start.
Step 6. Track Your Metrics
When your digital content marketing campaign is ready to launch, make sure you set up the right analytics tools to track your metrics. These metrics – also known as Key Performance Indicators or KPIs – will largely be determined by the goals you set in Step 1.
While you don’t necessarily need to track everything, every day, it’s important to understand what common KPIs mean and how they reflect your campaign’s progress. Consider monitoring KPIs like:
- Sessions: How many people are visiting your website
- Conversion Rates: The percentage of people who complete a desired action, such as buying your product or service, or filling out a form
- Click-Through Rates: The rate at which people click on your PPC ads or organic search engine listings
- Cost Per Click/Cost Per Acquisition: The amount you pay to get someone to click or convert
You may also need to track platform-specific metrics, such as social media engagements or an email newsletter open-rate, depending on the scope of your campaign.
Don’t DIY It Forever
Creating your own marketing plan is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with different aspects of digital marketing and what you need to grow your business online. It can provide clarity and shape your goals. However, creating a digital marketing plan is a steep learning curve that can be costly.
Don’t waste your budget – and your time – with endless trial-and-errors and guessing games. Instead, find a digital agency that understands your business and fits into your marketing plan with the care and attention of an in-house team.
At Mandzok Marketing, we’ve helped businesses big and small for over 25 years. Whether you’re struggling to get a new digital marketing plan off the ground or you just need help streamlining what you’ve already built, we’ve got you covered. Reach out today for a free consultation.