5 Things to Know When Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy
Would it be right to assume a major part of your marketing strategy today is digital? Most definitely.
Companies need to have a presence online as much as one in the physical world to survive. And that goes without saying that you have to have a digital marketing strategy. Especially when we consider the effects of the ongoing pandemic, supply chain issues, and various global events, we see that more businesses and consumers are online than pre-pandemic. E-commerce has boomed, with COVID-19 adding $219 billion to US e-commerce sales in 2020–2021. And we’re not even talking about the entire world.
Crafting effective digital marketing strategies is essential to creating unique experiences for consumers, improving ROI, and staying afloat in the crowded marketplace.
Here are the 5 most important things to know before creating a digital marketing strategy.
1. An SEO Strategy
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is optimizing your website with targeted keywords so that your site and its web pages rank higher in search results, which increases traffic to your website.
By implementing an SEO strategy that follows best practices, your business has a higher chance of placing among the top results based on targeted keywords. This will improve the visibility of your website and increase the likelihood that prospective customers will engage with your brand. SEO can also help to boost overall brand awareness, position your brand as a leading authority in your industry, and generate leads.
More people are online than ever due to lockdowns and the exponential increase in online commerce, social media, and internet usage. However, accompanying this shift is more online presence from businesses. The more crowded the market space, the harder you will need to capture consumers’ attention, and having an effective SEO strategy will help get you to the top.
2. Create a Content Plan
After you’ve defined what channels you will be on, you will need to develop a specific marketing strategy for each one to attract your customers. So, what kind of content do you need to achieve your digital marketing goals for each channel?
Your strategy will be a series of actions that respond to specific goals. Some actions in your content plan may be:
- Create a content calendar. Doing so will allow you to view long-term and traceable goals. Your content calendar should be specific, including items such as author, publication date, keywords, topic, and potential tags.
- Create a goal for each month. For example, you will post bi-weekly blogs about a certain topic starting in April.
- Post on social media. Determine what kind of content you should post on which social media channels and how often.
- Use CTA’s. It’s crucial to include CTA’s in your digital marketing content to give customers an incentive and the ability to engage with your products easily.
3. Develop a Great Website UX With Engaging Content
The first place prospective customers will learn more about your business is your website. Your site is the foundational component of any marketing strategy. To maximize engagement, your website should follow best practices such as being responsive, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate with clear CTAs. Incorporating user-friendly UX is critical to the customer journey on your site, the customer experience, and the likelihood that they will engage in a CTA or purchase.
In addition, your website should contain a blog with engaging, relevant, and educational content. This will help drive more traffic to your website and ultimately convert those leads into customers. Blogging can also position your brand as an industry thought leader, improve search engine optimization (SEO), and be repurposed across multiple other marketing channels such as social media and email. Businesses with a blog generated 55% more website visitors than those without one.
4. Determine Your KPIs
When creating a digital marketing strategy, something else to consider is to measure your results through the definition of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Compare the outcomes of your marketing efforts to the original goals. If the results are underwhelming, adjust, optimize, and measure again.
Good KPIs are smart (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). When setting these goals, be as concrete as possible. Include specific numbers and timeframes that can serve as benchmarks for your progress.
An example of a KPI is double organic search traffic in the next 12 months. This provides you with a deadline, a framework for setting milestone goals, and specific actions, such as optimizing the site, creating content, and conducting strategic outreach for SEO.
Don’t Forget about Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an amazing tool to help brands determine the impact of their online presence. With the help of Google Analytics, you can track the number of visitors to your website daily and how they landed on your site. Information like this is vital in helping businesses develop better online strategies. It can also determine the impact of a change in the website design or introduction of a new product or service (A/B testing is a great way to test this).
5. First-Party Data
The technological changes caused by removing third-party cookies and the growing number of new tighter privacy regulations are forcing companies to rethink their data collection strategies. The shift from third- to first-party data will take time and will be challenging.
First-party data gives marketers a better understanding of their customers and a better way to personalize marketing messages and offers. Accuracy and relevancy help marketers provide more meaningful and engaging customer experiences across multiple channels (essential in a multiple-channel digital marketing strategy).
Knowing how to use first-party data is crucial. In our increasingly cookie-less world, it’s expensive to acquire new customers. To maintain the ROI of digital programs, marketers must focus on creating long-term customer engagements that increase acquired customers' customer lifetime value (CLV). And the best way to do that is to use first-party data to create unique, engaging experiences.
