A successful digital marketing strategy is part of any successful business.
Creating a strategy is one thing, but implementing it is just as important, if not more.
But with the digital landscape changing daily, where is the best place to start building and improving your strategy?
Read on to learn how to create a successful digital marketing strategy for your brand.
What is digital marketing strategy?
Inevitably, digital must be a pillar of your overall marketing strategy.
It takes an average of 12 touchpoints for a customer to go from awareness to sale, and within months many of those touchpoints will be digital.
Although there is no single clear definition of what digital marketing strategy is, it can be summarized as follows.
A digital marketing strategy is part of a larger business plan that outlines how to achieve overall business goals using digital channels.
The digital marketing strategy should be tailored to company-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The essential elements for creating a successful strategy are:
- Digital channel.
- public and territory.
- Main message unit.
- Budget
As part of the digital marketing strategy, channels are defined to target the company's ideal customers and drive conversions.
These channels may include (but are not limited to):
- Search for programs.
- Social media platforms.
- website
- apps
Channel identification is an integral part of a digital marketing strategy. The second most important key is to send a consistent and relevant message to your target audience.
While the overall message should be consistent across all channels, how brands approach and communicate with consumers will and should vary by platform.
Digital strategy vs strategy
Many brands mix and match strategies and tactics.
Although both are important parts of a marketing plan, strategies and tactics have different definitions and serve different purposes.
As mentioned above, strategy is part of a larger business plan to help brands achieve corporate goals.
In contrast, strategies are planned activities to achieve a larger marketing strategy.
Main difference between digital strategy and methodology
| strategy | strategy |
|---|---|
| Focus on long-term goals | Focus on short-term goals |
| Part of a larger business plan | They can be measurable goals. |
| specific channel | Targeted campaigns |
| Addressed to the public | directed task |
| Provides a roadmap for strategies |
An example of a digital strategy would be paid media marketing. Strategies consistent with paid media marketing may include:
- Show paid search ads on Google or Microsoft.
- Audience testing on the Google Display Network (GDN).
- Test your landing page or ad creation to improve conversion rates.
In short: strategies are not the same as tactics. Strategies are developed to inform which methods to use.
Examples of digital strategies
Although digital marketing strategies may have similar characteristics from brand to brand, each strategy and technique will be different. Techniques are not "for everyone".
Here are some popular digital marketing strategies used by brands around the world
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
- Content marketing.
- Ecommerce
- Advertise by e-mail.
- Social media marketing.
PPC advertising
PPC marketing is a form of online advertising where brands pay each time an ad is clicked and redirected to the company's website. PPC campaigns are usually run on Google and Microsoft ads.
Between these two PPC platforms, there are many campaign types to choose from depending on the advertiser's goals These can be:
- Look for ads.
- Post ads.
- Purchase announcement.
- YouTube Ads.
- Advertisements in the application.
- Watch for announcements.
- High performance
- and others
Pay-per-click advertising can target a very specific audience or target audience, depending on the brand's goals. PPC is commonly used to increase brand traffic, sales and conversions.
Below is an example of a PPC search ad on Google
seo
An SEO strategy involves optimizing a brand's website, app or content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
When a website is optimized and contains branded content, optimized (non-paid) organic search visibility helps increase, which ultimately leads to increased website traffic.
SEO is a long-term strategy, and while there are no "direct" costs (eg pay-per-click advertising), it does include indirect costs such as:
- Employee or agency hours and fees.
- Third-party platform or technology costs.
One benefit of having a solid SEO strategy is that over time, your reliance on pay-per-click marketing can decrease, making your budget more efficient.
Below is a sample organic Google SERP listing and answer box using the same sample search query [ppc program].
Content Marketing
This technique works more "behind the scenes" if you will. It involves creating (and sharing) unique and valuable content with the company's target audience.
Part of your content marketing strategy includes creating different types of content for each digital platform.
For example, if a brand wants to create content for the Tik Tok platform, the content will be in the form of short videos (up to three minutes).
Conversely, if a brand wants to increase brand authority, it can create a feature article and blog strategy to live on their website.
The goal of content marketing is to build trust with your target audience and convert them into long-term customers.
Using the same example as the PPC section above, here's a content marketing example. Brand Skai (formerly Kenshoo) publishes blog posts to increase reader engagement.
Ecommerce
If the brand sells physical products, an e-commerce strategy should be part of the company's business goals.
Activating an e-commerce strategy means creating an online storefront for consumers to purchase products.
Some tactics of an e-commerce strategy may include:
- Create an online storefront (DTC) where you sell your brand directly to consumers.
- Sell physical products on online marketplaces like Amazon.
- Create affiliate marketing programs where other people are paid to promote a brand's products.
- Paid shopping ads from Google and Microsoft to drive sales.
- Marketing influencer and brand ambassador.
Advertising by e-mail
This part of the digital strategy involves sending emails to existing and potential customers. The ultimate goal of email marketing is to drive leads, sales or deals throughout the customer journey and create repeat customers.
For example, the bride is looking for the perfect wedding invitations after the wedding.
Once that user signs up to receive email or product marketing communications, an email strategy is created to guide them through the planning process. It could be:
- Promote free samples at weddings.
- Discount wedding invitation packages.
- Free (or discounted) thank you cards after the wedding.
- Referral programs generate word of mouth sales.
Email marketing is a great way to connect with your target audience and build lasting relationships with your customers even after the initial purchase.
Below is an example of a targeted email that sends a promotion to your inbox
Social media marketing
Depending on the brand, your social media marketing strategy will have different use cases and goals.
As part of a larger digital marketing strategy, social platforms should be chosen to promote content or otherwise interact with target audiences.
Here are some strategies that can be used in social media marketing.
- Create organic content for publication.
- Placement of paid advertisements on public platforms.
- Launch influencer marketing campaigns based on a specific objective.
Using the same branding example as the email segment, here's an example of Facebook ad retargeting (meta):
How to Create a Digital Strategy in 5 Steps
As mentioned above, a digital marketing strategy should be created after defining the overall business goals.
Therefore, the steps to creating a successful digital strategy include specific actions that help achieve larger business goals.
Step 1: Define your target audience and create personas
A digital marketing strategy is only good for the target audience behind it. After all, they are the ones who buy your brand's products and services
Consider the following when determining your target audience:
- Demographics : After determining where you will sell your product/service, identify key geographies that others will outsell. Other demographics include age, parental status, household income, and more.
- Interests: What are your ideal man's hobbies? This information helps shape customer content.
- Characteristics: How (and where) do these users consume Internet content? Are they impulse buyers? Which social platforms do you use the most?
- Pain : What problems are users trying to solve? This is a major area to focus on. By addressing the pain points of your target audience and communicating in a way they understand, you can win a customer for life.
Step Two: Conduct a Competitive Landscape Analysis
Before jumping into digital channels, it is important to understand the digital landscape.
Some key elements of competitive analysis are:
- Who are the competitors for the keywords you want to target?
- How do competitors message their target audience?
- On which channels do competitors advertise?
- How does your competition rank organically against you?
- What is the competitor's monthly digital advertising budget?
Third-party tools like Semrush, SpyFu, Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends can help answer many of these questions.
Please note that information provided by any third-party tool cannot be guaranteed to be 100% accurate and should be used as a guide, not exclusively.
Step Three: Identify Important Digital Marketing Sites
Once you know who your target audience is and where they spend their time online, it's time to define your main digital marketing channels.
Ideally, it's not a bad idea to pick one or two and put all your eggs in one basket, so a mix of channels is best.
The key is to maximize your digital channels and reach your customers wherever they are on the Internet.
These channels can include any of the channels mentioned in the Digital Strategy Examples section.
Each specific channel should have its own set of KPIs. They are made by large retailers and trade groups.
Make sure you don't set the same KPIs and measurement goals for each channel, as they all have different goals.
Creating realistic measurement goals ensures that awareness channels are measured against KPIs, not direct conversions such as brand impact.
As with any digital channel, it's important to understand how it's measured.
This step should include selecting the appropriate measurement platform, such as Google Analytics or another tool, to ensure your marketing dollars and channels are measurable.
Step 4: Create unique content and a value proposition plan
Once the digital channels are identified, it's time to plan your content for each channel
The key is to create a consistent message structure that can be reused and applied across each channel. এইভাবে আপনি প্রতিবার স্ক্র্যাচ থেকে শুরু করবেন না।
উদাহরণস্বরূপ, আপনি যদি YouTube বা Google ডিসপ্লে নেটওয়ার্কে আপনার ব্র্যান্ডের প্রচার করতে চান, তাহলে আপনার সামগ্রী সরাসরি রূপান্তর বা এখনই কিনুন CTA-তে ফোকাস করা উচিত নয়৷ প্রাথমিক ব্র্যান্ড সচেতনতার সময় জিজ্ঞাসা করা খুব বেশি।
অন্যদিকে, যারা নির্দিষ্ট পণ্য এবং পরিষেবাগুলির সন্ধানে অনুসন্ধানের পথে আরও নীচে, তাদের জন্য সময় হতে পারে ডিল এবং বিশেষগুলি প্রচার করার।
অবশেষে, নিশ্চিত করুন যে আপনি আপনার গ্রাহকদের যা অফার করেন তা অনন্য এবং বাজারে আলাদা। প্রথমত, একটি প্রতিযোগী বিশ্লেষণ পরিচালনা করা বর্তমানে বাজারে কী অফার করা হচ্ছে তা নির্ধারণ করতে সহায়তা করবে।
এমনকি যদি আপনার পণ্য বা পরিষেবা আপনার প্রতিযোগীদের মতো হয়, তবে আপনার ব্র্যান্ডকে আলাদা করার উপায় খুঁজে বের করা গুরুত্বপূর্ণ।
ধাপ 5: আপনার ডিজিটাল মার্কেটিং কৌশল বাস্তবায়ন এবং পরিমার্জন করুন।
একবার আপনি 1-4 ধাপগুলি সম্পন্ন করার পরে, এটি আপনার ডিজিটাল বিপণন কৌশল শুরু করার সময়।
তবে এখনো কাজ শেষ হয়নি। আপনার ডিজিটাল মার্কেটিং কৌশলটি ক্রমাগত এবং চটপটে হওয়া উচিত, কর্মক্ষমতা এবং পরিবর্তিত বাজারের ল্যান্ডস্কেপের উপর ভিত্তি করে।
ডিজিটাল মার্কেটিং চ্যানেল এবং প্রচারাভিযানগুলিকে ক্রমাগত পর্যবেক্ষণ এবং বিশ্লেষণ করা প্রয়োজন যাতে মার্কেটিং বাজেট এবং সংস্থানগুলি সবচেয়ে কার্যকর উপায়ে ব্যবহার করা হয়।
এটি প্রতিটি চ্যানেলের জন্য দৈনিক, সাপ্তাহিক এবং মাসিক চেকপয়েন্ট অন্তর্ভুক্ত করা উচিত।
ফলাফলের উপর ভিত্তি করে কৌশল পরিবর্তন এবং উন্নত করার সুযোগ প্রদানের জন্য মাসিক প্রতিবেদন এবং ত্রৈমাসিক ব্যবসা পর্যালোচনা (QBR) করা উচিত।
সারসংক্ষেপ
ডিজিটাল মার্কেটিং কৌশল "সবার জন্য" নয়। বা এটি একটি ব্র্যান্ডের একমাত্র কৌশল হওয়া উচিত নয়।
কৌশলগুলির ক্ষেত্রে "ডিজিটাল ফার্স্ট" ভাবা গুরুত্বপূর্ণ, এটি সামগ্রিক ব্যবসায়িক লক্ষ্যগুলির সাথেও সামঞ্জস্যপূর্ণ হতে হবে।
কৌশলের সাথে কৌশলকে বিভ্রান্ত করবেন না এবং প্রথমে কৌশলের উপর ফোকাস করুন।
একটি কঠিন ডিজিটাল বিপণন কৌশল তৈরি করতে সময় নেওয়ার মাধ্যমে, আপনি দীর্ঘমেয়াদী সাফল্য এবং কর্মক্ষমতার জন্য আপনার ব্র্যান্ড সেট আপ করেন।
অতিরিক্ত সূত্র:
বৈশিষ্ট্যযুক্ত চিত্র: ইমেজফ্লো / শাটারস্টক
