In many respects digital marketing strategy is similar to traditional marketing. Customer segmentation, targeting, positioning, objective setting and resource auditing are all key elements of strategy creation for digital and traditional marketing.
When you are planning a digital marketing strategy you should select a target audience appropriate to your positioning, brand and product and then decide on how best to reach that group in the most effective way possible. Digital marketing strategy essentially involves researching your market, setting objectives and then putting in place processes in order to reach those objectives.
If you are planning a through the line campaign, digital marketing must be integrated to create a multi-channel marketing strategy. Like any other marketing approach, digital marketing must be in alignment with the overall business strategy in order to provide any tangible value.
Your strategy must include clear targets and objectives, so it can be measured and analysed in terms of performance. As well as this the strategy and approach must be consistent with the behaviour of the target audience and the message delivery platform whether mobile, search or email. After all there is no sense in trying to communicate with users who aren’t there to begin with.
As with most marketing campaigns and this applies to digital as well, it’s important to clearly communicate your intended message and differentiate yourself. Nowadays, marketing campaigns use a number of different avenues to drive traffic to a website. You will often see or hear URL’s on outdoor ads as well as on TV and Radio.
One of the key strengths of online is the extent of interaction available. It provides the opportunity to take more control of managing and refining the customer journey and user experience; right through from the buying process all the way to after sales and all other parts of the customer life cycle. All of these aspects should be integrated into the digital marketing strategy. This will effectively provide a more coherent message, which is consistently backed up and delivered throughout the customer’s exposure to your company.
Planning a digital marketing strategy is often more of a strategic decision than traditional marketing. This is because the various means used are usually continuous in activity. For example search engine optimisation, affiliate marketing and customer relationship management are long term strategies used to drive traffic, revenue and improve retention. As a result it’s important to establish a formal strategy which is backed by research and supporting information. By being diligent you reduce the risk of wasting money, resource and time.
The foundations of a digital marketing strategy should begin with setting objectives and key performance indicators (KPI). Objectives include such things as, what needs to be achieved whether it is greater market share, brand awareness or customer retention. KPIs on the other hand involve actual targets by which performance will be measured. It’s important at this stage to consider and determine the level of investment required to reach these KPIs. Conducting internal evaluations based on what needs to be achieved and the amount of budget required is integral to creating a realistic strategy. This will help later when it’s time to allocate financial resource based on priorities and objectives.
The next step should then be to understand and plan how to reach these goals and objectives. The best way to do this is to understand your own offering and position within the market and identify your target audience accordingly. These are all vital ingredients when formulating and implementing an effective digital marketing strategy. Understanding user behaviour where they go, what they do and when they do it is very important and allows you to successfully identify the most suitable digital marketing methods.
For a digital marketing strategy to be successful the correct amount of resource must be given. This includes staff, finance and technology. The best way to do this is to establish internal capabilities in order to see if the knowledge and skill is available in-house or needs to be outsourced.
Once the most appropriate form of digital marketing has been chosen whether this be display, PPC, SEO or email; it’s important to establish the most suitable way to track and measure effectiveness. The correct tracking technology should fulfil all of your needs and help you assess and report on progress towards your KPIs. Tracking and measurement are what make digital marketing so appealing and effective. By using technology to track activity and performance it’s possible to obtain learnings and insights to take forward to optimise and refine current and future campaigns.
Marketing strategies work best when they support specific business objectives. A digital marketing strategy must usually be developed separately from offline marketing. This is because digital differs from most other forms of traditional marketing in the way it engages with audiences and generates a response. However, the digital strategy must still be consistent and complementing with all other marketing activities.
Tags: Marketing Digital
