What Is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
A good digital marketing strategy is vitally critical to organizational success in the contemporary age of business and technology. Companies that prosper in the digital era often invest heavily in the creation of digital marketing strategies. Organizations may contact clients across several digital channels as a result of this strategy, resulting in more revenue and lower conversion rates.
Marketing strategy, at a high level, is the process of determining particular marketing goals. A comprehensive marketing plan will emphasize attainable objectives for both conventional (print, radio, and television) and digital platforms. Using pre-established objectives and goals, persuasive marketers will assess the different marketing approaches required to attain those strategic goals.
What Does a Digital Marketing Strategy Look Like?
A digital marketing plan entails assessing particular goals that may be achieved through online media. A well-executed digital marketing plan can be critical to organizational success in an era when many customers conduct business on their mobile devices.
In this context, it is critical to conduct an audit of an organization's media assets. From a broad perspective, this implies that marketers must assess their organization's owned, paid, and earned media.
Owned Media — Owned media refers to any communication channels that an organization owns and controls completely. Organizations may use owned media to match almost any marketing strategy or method, from websites and blogs to podcasts and video channels.
Paid Media — Paid media is material that is shown by third parties in exchange for remuneration from the owner. Paid media is ubiquitous in many digital marketing techniques, from sponsored content to influencer marketing and digital advertising.
Earned Media – Earned media is third-party material that is unrelated to the company or brand. This sort of exposure is frequently seen in the digital realm in the form of awards, testimonials, reviews, or user-submitted content.
A digital marketing strategy will ultimately strive to optimize the effect of owned, paid, and earned media in the digital environment. As a result, these marketing tactics will cover a wide range of channels and techniques, including website content and blogs, as well as online advertising, testimonials, and reviews. At the end of the day, a digital marketing strategy will differ depending on the sort of organization and sector.
How Is Marketing Strategy Different from Marketing Tactics or Campaigns?
Whereas marketing strategy entails defining objectives, marketing tactics reflect the exact activities or actions required to attain those objectives. In order to define the plan and timetables, it is required to develop tactics as part of the marketing strategy development process. Otherwise, successfully executing a marketing plan and meeting marketing objectives may be challenging, if not impossible.
Digital marketing campaigns are also vital to evaluate in this discussion. These digital campaigns involve the execution of marketing strategies across all of an organization’s digital channels. The marketing tactics used to execute these campaigns often vary by channel, audience, and other factors. But an effective digital marketing campaign will reflect a substantially similar message across multiple channels.
What Are Several Common Examples of Digital Marketing Tactics?
There are countless digital marketing tactics in existence, often adjusting to meet the varying organizational goals and marketing strategies. But there are several common digital marketing tactics that many organizations employ successfully, including:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — SEO refers to the practice of optimizing content to improve rankings in major search engines. By following established SEO practices with all digital content, organizations can better reach prospective customers through major search engines.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) — SMM is the practice of utilizing social media networks to reach customers and communicate corporate messaging. Businesses that leverage SMM tactics effectively can reach customers directly through their preferred social channel.
Digital advertising is the placing of corporate advertisements in numerous online sites, such as search engines and social media networks. Digital advertising includes paid placement in search results and pop-up advertisements.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising – PPC advertising is a type of digital advertising in which businesses put advertisements on third-party websites in order to drive internet traffic. Companies, however, only pay for PPC advertising when a user clicks on the link, as opposed to other kinds of advertising.
Content Marketing — Content marketing is the process of targeting prospective consumers using a company's owned media platforms. Companies that generate and publish high-quality content on a regular basis can enhance their rankings and attract traffic to their website.
Website Marketing – A company's website is a very effective instrument in the realm of content marketing. An firm may become a thought leader in their sector and entice potential consumers with strong call-to-action messages by designing geo-targeted and optimized landing pages.
Email marketing is used to increase interaction with a present or potential audience base, as well as to strengthen client connections. Email marketing services are a powerful tool with a track record of success.
Downloadable Material – A subset of website strategy, downloadable content is an effective method of generating leads. Companies may provide high-quality material that prospects can download for free while also offering vital contact information.
Taken as a whole, firms use a wide range of marketing strategies on a daily basis. Successful marketers can clearly establish goals and then select acceptable strategies to attain those goals, all while keeping an eye on overall strategy, company demands, and budget limits.
How Can I Devise an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy?
As discussed further below, it is feasible to develop a successful digital marketing strategy by following this five-step process: (1) Conduct a SWOT analysis; (2) Set SMART company goals; (3) Engage in market segmentation; (4) Develop buyer personas; and (5) Determine financial limits.
1. Perform a SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis, a cornerstone of marketing strategy, is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. SWOT consists of both internal (strengths/weaknesses) and external (opportunities/threats) components:
Strengths – Strengths are internal qualities that assist businesses in meeting and perhaps exceeding their objectives. High sales and profitability, customer loyalty, long-term staff, and an appealing brand/culture are all examples of strengths.
Weaknesses —Weaknesses are internal problems that impede firms from achieving their objectives. Inadequately advertised products or services, frequent consumer complaints, high levels of personnel turnover, insufficient funding, or supply chain concerns are all examples of shortcomings.
Opportunities — Opportunities are potentially beneficial, external conditions that may aid an organization's future success. Opportunities include shifting views or goals, new rules or legislation, trade agreements, and the elimination of tariffs/sanctions.
Threats – Threats are potentially unfavorable, external occurrences that may cause future harm to an organization. Shifts in the labor market, rising supplier prices, and new competition/technology are all examples of risks.
2. Establish SMART Business Goals
SMART objectives are company goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely, according to another prominent acronym in the marketing strategy environment. Organizations can assist guarantee that their marketing plan moves ahead in a favorable direction by defining SMART business goals.
Marketers and leaders should consider the following questions when developing SMART business goals:
Specific — What am I attempting to do, why is it critical, and what will be required?
Measurable – How will I measure and track progress in order to fulfill deadlines and achieve the final goal?
Attainable – Is the final aim genuinely attainable given the current resources and existing constraints?
Relevant — Is the final aim beneficial at this moment in light of current company needs/reality and the general environment?
Timely — When can I expect to see progress toward my ultimate goal? What advantages may be expected right now vs in the short, medium, or long term?
3. Engage in Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is often an important component of an efficient digital marketing plan. This approach entails segmenting a company's target market or audience into smaller segments. It is simpler to design distinct marketing techniques to each market segment when an entire client base is segmented into digestible chunks.
Organizations often begin with four categories in the realm of market segmentation:
Demographic Segmentation In the business-to-consumer (B2C) setting, demographic segmentation focuses on human traits. Demographic segmentation divides clients into segments based on criteria such as age, education, gender, or region.
Firmographic — In the business-to-business (B2B) environment, firmographic segmentation focuses on organizational features. Firmographic segmentation divides enterprises into divisions based on variables such as revenue, industry, location, or staff count.
Psychographic segmentation can take place in either B2C or B2B scenarios. Psychographic segmentation considers aspects such as personality, attitudes, aspirations, and lifestyle to categorize prospects.
Behavioral segmentation can occur in both B2C and B2B scenarios. To categorize prospects, behavioral segmentation considers elements like purchase history, brand loyalty, and usage behaviors.
4. Create Buyer Personas
Buyer personas are fictitious profiles that reflect the client and are frequently used in combination with market segmentation. Buyer personas are very useful for understanding a company's consumers, whether present, prospective or wanted. Buyer personas differ widely from industry to industry and organization to organization.
As previously stated, marketers frequently combine consumer personas with market segmentation attempts. Marketers aim to develop profiles of ideal consumers based on demographic, firmographic, psychographic, and behavioral data in this manner. As a result, organizations may uniquely tailor their messaging, goods, and services to each consumer persona and market area.
5. Identify Budget Constraints
Fundamentally, all commercial and nonprofit organizations must guarantee that they fund correctly in order to implement an efficient digital marketing plan. Even the most effective marketing strategy and approaches are contingent on sustainable financial flow. As a result, it is critical for businesses to consider their budget realistically in order to evaluate which marketing methods are feasible and cheap.
What Type of Digital Marketing Strategy Is Best for My Organization?
The components of an excellent digital marketing plan might differ substantially from one firm to the next. After all, the general business objectives and specialized marketing objectives will reflect variations, which are frequently based on culture, product offers, revenue targets, and the like.
Businesses of all sizes, however, may reap the benefits of digital marketing by aligning diverse strategies and approaches with SMART business objectives and differentiated customer personas. The specific rewards, however, vary depending on the number of resources devoted to digital marketing techniques and approaches.
Digital marketing strategies for startups and small organizations would most likely rely on cost-effective techniques to accomplish organizational goals. These firms can achieve digital marketing objectives at a cheap cost by leveraging SEO, SMM, and content marketing. Because of the decreased barrier to entry and expense for these techniques, companies of all shapes and sizes can benefit.
Marketing and advertising spending often develop in lockstep with an organization's growth. As a result, the potential advantages of good marketing approaches may be multiplied enormously by combining marketing, advertising, and public/investor relations initiatives. When all of this is considered, firms who devote substantial cash and resources to digital marketing may reap enormous benefits.
Do You Need Help Rolling Out a Digital Marketing Strategy?
If you need help developing or implementing a digital marketing plan, joining the American Marketing Association might be quite beneficial (AMA). The AMA, as a major voice in the marketing industry, aids its members through analytical publications, certifications, networking, and a variety of other membership perks. Join AMA today if you want to improve your marketing abilities and network!
