Even if you’ve been working in the marketing industry for years, there’s still something intimidating about digital marketing. Online users are certainly a lot more fickle and their attention spans are shorter, compared to those whom you can market to face to face or through billboards or print ads.
Along with technology, the different techniques for digital marketing are also dynamic and constantly evolving. What works for one type of audience may not work for another type, what works for selling one product may not work for selling another. In addition, social engagement can also sometimes be mistaken for potential sales in cases where it’s the marketing strategy that the audience is interested in, not the product.
It may seem like there’s a lot of guesswork involved in digital marketing, considering the capricious audience, but these tips are tried and tested ways to ensure you have an airtight digital marketing strategy:
Do a Review of Your Past Work
If it’s your first time doing digital marketing, have a look at your offline marketing strategy history. If you’ve done digital marketing before, look at the latest strategies you’ve worked on and analyze the data. In both cases, find out what worked and what didn’t based on quantitative data. Try not to feel too attached to a specific strategy you used before, and objectively see what aspects of the strategy were effective. Who knows, you may find a lot of processes that you can use for your next digital marketing strategy.
When doing your review, also keep in mind any changes in marketing trends that have occurred between your last marketing strategy and your current one. This allows you to keep your strategy fresh.
Align Your Digital Marketing Strategy with Your Business Goals
Before you formulate a plan for your next marketing strategy, zoom out and look at the business’ goals as a whole. This allows you to get your marketing strategy in sync with the goals of your business. It’s tempting to immediately immerse yourself in an exciting and innovative marketing plan, but you may suddenly be downcast when you learn that the plan you thought of does nothing to further the business’ goals. In this case, as with reviewing your past work, use quantitative data. Use dates, number, percentages and metrics in order to map out the growth that you expect your marketing plan may bring about.
Get to Know Your Audience
Don’t generalize and assume that your market is just one big group. Oftentimes, your market is made up of several groups of people that you can market to differently. To find out who your audience is, have a look at the information of previous buyers or conduct a survey. Survey and tracking tools may seem like they’re invasive, but you’d be surprised at how useful the information they bring can be. One you find out who your audience is, devise a marketing strategy that suits them and reach out to them on a more personal level. In addition, it’s also a good idea to do regular checks on your audience’s demographics, as your audience may also change as your company changes.
Plan the Content Months in Advance
When it comes to content marketing, start by get all the ideas out with a brainstorming session. Consider all possibilities by allowing each member of your team to contribute a few ideas for how you can market your product. Afterwards, gather up all your ideas and formulate your content plan using these steps:
- Understand the purpose of your marketing plan. Find out what business objectives it aims to address.
- Build your business case in order to convince the higher levels of the organization that this plan can help with the business.
- Do some research on current marketing trends. Remember, your demographic may be composed of many different people scattered all around the world. You need to find a marketing plan that can speak to majority, if not all, of them.
- Have examples and case studies. Whether it’s the promotional material you’ll be using or the copy for each aspect of the plan, make sure you have a selection to choose from.
- Be flexible. Know that your plan may not always go as well as you thought it would, so it’s good to have some backup or some alternative plans. This allows you to make changes when you’re already analyzing the results of your marketing strategy.
Choose Your Channels Wisely
Email newsletters, podcasts, social media marketing, infographics and pictures are just some of the channels you can choose to deliver your content. Different audiences require different channels, so most of the time a mix of channels is used to reach out to a wider audience. Not only does this catch the attention of more users, but it also adds a touch of variety to your content. If you have a very specific audience, then it may be best to do some research on what kind of content and what channel gets a positive response from them. Remember, your marketing strategy is aimed at your audience, so no matter how passionately you feel about podcasts or newsletters, these are unlikely to be appealing to an audience that prefers pictures and infographics.
In addition to choosing your channels, a mobile-friendly version of your marketing materials should also be available. Make sure you have versions of each image, video, infographic or newsletter that would fit a wide variety of screen sizes. Don’t forget, lots of people go online on their phones and tablets, so a huge chunk of your audience may actually end up viewing your content via mobile sites.
Measure Your Marketing Plan with Analytics
With Google Analytics, you can see how well you’re doing with regard to the goals that you’ve set for your marketing plan. You can check if you’re driving enough traffic to your homepage or landing page, and you can learn which channel the visitor chose to get there. Set up your dashboard to reflect your weekly or monthly progress and adjust your plan accordingly. You may not always reach your goals, but that’s why flexibility with your marketing plan is so important to its success. Those little tweaks during the analysis phase can keep your marketing plan afloat!
Book your Radarr demo today!
