Successful Website Secrets 101:

Digital Marketing Campaigns

“I spent all this time and money, and I’m not even sure this website is helping my business.”

The period after launching a small business website should be an exciting time. By now, the website should be full of interesting, relevant content while conveying perfectly the business’s core marketing message. New potential clients are discovering the site, and valuable leads are being generated regularly.

For most small business owners, however, the reality is nothing like this. Instead, after launching their site, they feel let down.

“Where are the visitors?” they ask. “It just sits there. I spent all this time and money, and I’m not even sure this website is helping my business.”

For these owners, it is important to understand that building a website is only the first step in a journey. In order for a website to be successful, the site typically needs to run a successful digital marketing campaign. And it’s impossible to run a successful marketing campaign without a plan.

The Missing Piece: Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy

A basic digital marketing plan does not need to be a complex document, filled with marketing jargon. It just needs to outline what actions should be taken, and when they should occur, and what the overall time frame for the campaign is (such as 3 months, 6 months, or one year). In its most basic form, a digital marketing plan should include the following elements:

* Blog Strategy. How often are new articles posted, and what topics do the articles cover?

* Social Media Strategy. Which social media platforms will be used, and how much time will be devoted to using them?

* Email List Strategy. How will subscribers be acquired, what content will be included in newsletters, and how often will the newsletters be sent?

* Search Engine Marketing Strategy. Will the site use Google AdWords, or some other platform? How much money will be spent, what keywords will be targeted, and what landing pages will be used?

* Analytics Strategy. How will the campaign be measured, how often will the results be analyzed, and how will you respond to the data in order to improve the campaign?

Consistency is the Key to Digital Marketing Success

A digital marketing plan doesn’t need to be perfect in the beginning. The important thing is that it provides a reasonable starting point, and that everyone involved is committed to following through on the plan.

Some businesses understand the importance of digital marketing campaigns, and come up with elaborate plans, but fail to execute these plans. Often, this is because they don’t realistically allocate resources to the campaign. In particular, digital marketing campaigns typically require that a lot of high quality content be produced regularly. Teams that lack strong writers may need to either scale back their plans, or find outside help. Otherwise, the campaign is likely to fall apart when the going gets tough.

Abandoned digital marketing campaigns represent a huge waste of resources. For this reason, commitment is vital for any digital marketing campaign. The campaign must not be abandoned or postponed when team members get busy. The campaign must not be scrapped in favor of other projects once it has been launched. While details may be changed, the overall thrust and goal of the campaign should remain consistent. Without this level of commitment, a digital marketing campaign is doomed to failure before it has begun.

Remember though, commitment doesn’t mean unwillingness to change approaches if something isn’t working. While it is a mistake to jump to conclusions based on early and incomplete data, it is important to modify strategies in reasonable ways when data suggests problems or opportunities for improvement.

Digital Marketing Campaigns Should Create New Relationships

In the end, all marketing is about relationships. While digital marketing may sound complicated, it is simply a way to create relationships with new potential clients.

In the beginning, this relationship is based on the interesting and relevant content that the website provides. Over time, as trust is established, some potential clients will become actual clients, and the best clients will even become partners and brand advocates. A well planned and executed digital marketing campaign can play a vital role in this relationship building process.

Thanks for reading, and please stay tuned for more articles in my “Successful Website Secrets” series.