5 Critical Components To A Dazzling Digital Marketing Strategy

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, one thing that was top of mind for family, friends, and businesses alike was finding a way to stay connected. I remember going to my grandma’s house to teach her how to FaceTime before the world officially shut down knowing it might be the only way we could “see” each other for who knew how long. My grandma wasn’t the only person who had to adapt to the “new normal” which was very digital heavy, but marketers needed to make sure they could continue to target their audience and effectively communicate online to stay afloat.

A digital strategy goes far beyond posting on Instagram or sending email blasts. Every element of your digital marketing strategy must be backed by data that will predict future trends leading to success. With that in mind, here are important concepts to keep in mind when fleshing out your digital marketing strategy.

1- Be Ready To Adapt

Since the pandemic struck, digital consumption has increased by over 30%. Knowing screen time has been on the rise and many American’s began working from home, it’s time to adapt to the new platforms and systems that are being used more frequently. Below are a few examples of sudden shifts in platforms and technology usage that marketers need to quickly adapt to. Considering their growth in a little over one year, marketers must be prepared for this trend to continue and for new opportunities to arise.

• TikTok was the social winner of 2020 with user activity doubling and brands upping their investment in content on the platform.
• The utilization of virtual and augmented reality also shot up. In 2020, 32% of consumers used AR for shopping and businesses began implementing it to create a more collaborative environment when working from home.
• QR Codes are here to stay. Who would have thought that a majority of restaurants would make the switch to QR code menus? The spread of the codes has also let businesses integrate more tools for tracking, targeting and analytics, raising red flags for privacy experts. That’s because QR codes can store digital information such as when, where and how often a scan occurs. They can also open an app or a website that then tracks people’s personal information or requires them to input it.

2- Create Engaging and Authentic Content

It’s one thing to post a picture of your product on social media, it’s another to post a picture that your audience finds relatable enough to share with their network. Your content should do more than try to make a sale; it should tell a story that helps your audience understand your brand’s values, mission, tone and goals. Extra Gum consistently comes out with high quality relatable content- take a look at their commercial focusing on getting a fresh start following the pandemic that’s garnered nearly 7 million views on YouTube.

In a previous blog post, I provided 7 steps to create an engaging content marketing strategy. In addition to these steps, there are external factors that can impact your content marketing strategy. It’s important to know the current culture to ensure what you’re posting is timely and inoffensive. While many immediately think of social media when it comes to content, what can’t be ignored is the power of blogs, podcasts, and content that lives on your company website considering that social media is an unpredictable world.

3- Take Advantage Of The Power Of Social Media

There’s no doubt that social media is a very vital marketing tool if your goals include engaging and connecting with your audience, providing real time customer service, building brand awareness, and ultimately driving profit. According to eMarketer all social platforms grew more than expected in 2020, because of the pandemic and other factors. TikTok and Reddit will be the strongest gainers in 2021.

When deciding what platforms you want to put most of your social media efforts into, it’s important to determine where your audience is living. Regardless of the platform you are sharing your content to, it’s vital that your brand’s tone and essence is consistent throughout. Wend’y does an impeccable job of maintaining a consistent tone across all platforms- and have particularly gained popularity on Twitter for their sassy responses to competitors and fans. A content calendar is a great way to plan your content in advance to draft out the content and copy. Make sure you are ready to measure vital social metrics including reach, impressions, engagement and follower count.

4- Treat Your Website As Your Home Base

If a consumer wants to learn more about your brand or business, it’s very likely that they will turn to your website first. Even if they stumble upon your Instagram account first, if you create successful content it will hopefully drive them to your website to make a purchase. Besides making a purchase, here they may hope to find your contact information, product offerings, return policies, a chatbot for customer service, your mission statement, or links to your social media. UX should be positive and seamless both on desktop and mobile from beginning to end.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to ensure that your website provides a positive UX while fulfilling your business goals:

• What is the purpose of your website? What is the conversion you’re looking for?
• Is it designed to be responsive?
• How does the site perform in terms of speed?
• Do the aesthetics reflect the brand personality?
• Is it optimized for SEO? Are there keywords in the content?
• Does it state your privacy policy clearly?
• Does it delight?

Patagonia has an excellent website that hits the nail on the head when it comes to a positive and informative UX journey. Check it out!

5- Prioritize Email Marketing

Before we dive into email marketing, let’s take a look at these stats from Sender:

• 28% of users check their email inbox more than 10 times a day.
• Overall, 65% of respondents noted checking their email more than 3 times a day.

Those times users are checking their emails are countless opportunities for you to further educate and remind your target audience about your latest product offerings. With great conversion rates for things such as newsletters (2.80%), follow-up emails (4.30%), and abandoned cart emails (7.40% — a significant increase from 5.90% in 2019), it’s no wonder why email marketing is as important as ever before.

Here are a few benefits to email marketing:

• It’s an owned channel
• It’s permission based
• It’s relatively inexpensive
• It has the ability to be personalized
• It’s an alternative in a third-party cookie-less future

By keeping these 5 concepts in mind, you can ensure that your digital touch points are strategically created with your customers’ needs in mind. Always amplify your data and insights, and stay true to you brands values.