Introduction to Digital Marketing Section 4

Importance of Digital Marketing Strategy

(Section 1 Section 2 Section 3)

1. Competitive advantage over peers

Digital marketing strategy helps businesses take over their business peers. It suggests ways to evoke creativity and innovation in product design, development, and promotion, eliminating competition. (peers are customers who recommend a business or brand to their friends, family, or work associates. This is known as peer-to-peer (P2P) marketing)

2. Staying relevant

In the current business milieu, (the social environment that you live or work in) staying relevant (connected) is the number one priority of business organizations as it helps them (the company) to keep on top of new competition.

Digital marketing strategy helps companies achieve that will the help of modern tools and techniques.

3. Reaching a global audience

Digital marketing channels connect brands to a global audience by giving them the medium and exposure required to expand their business. (exposure-making something public)

Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy?

Step 1: Identify Target Audience and Build Personas (character)

A digital marketing strategy will only be as good as the target audience behind it. (Your target audience refers to the specific group of consumers most likely to want your product or service, and therefore, the group of people who should see your ad campaigns. Target audience may be dictated by age, gender, income, location, interests or a myriad of other factors) After all, they’re the ones who purchase your brand’s products and services. When identifying a target persona, consider the following items:

• Demographics: After identifying where to sell your products/services, determine if any key geographic areas may outperform others. Other demographic categories are age, parental status, household income, and more.

• Interests: What kinds of hobbies does your ideal persona have? This information can help shape content for the customer.

• Behaviours: How (and where) do these users consume content on the internet? Are they impulse shoppers? (making an unplanned purchase) What social platforms do they frequent?

Pain points: What problems are users trying to solve? This is the key area to focus on. By providing your target audience with a solution to their pain points and speaking to them in a way they understand, you’ll likely win a customer for life.

Step 2: Conduct Competitor Landscape Analysis

It’s important to understand the digital landscape before diving into digital channels. A competitive landscape analysis is a structured way to identify and evaluate competitors to gain a competitive edge. It can help businesses make informed decisions and develop strategies to grow their bottom line. (example-Google's main competitors are Yahoo!, Microsoft, Swiftype, and Inflow)

Some of the key components of conducting a competitor analysis include:

• Which competitors are bidding on relevant keywords you’d like to target?

• How are competitors messaging their target audience?

• Which channels are competitors advertising on?

• How do competitors rank organically compared to you?

• How much are competitors’ monthly digital ad budgets?

Third-party tools like SEMrush, SpyFu, Google Keyword Planner, and Google Trends can help answer many of these questions.

Step 3: Determine Necessary Digital Marketing Channels

Once you’ve figured out who your target audience is and where they hang out online, it’s time to determine the key digital marketing channels.

Ideally, a mix of channels will be chosen as it’s not best practice to choose one or two and put all your eggs in one basket.

The key is to diversify the digital channels and meet your customers where they’re online at any given point in time.

These channels will likely include any of the above in the digital strategy examples section.

Each channel identified should include its own set of KPIs. These are set by the marketers and greater business teams. (KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are quantifiable metrics that help businesses measure their performance against goals and objectives)

Be sure not to set the same KPIs and measurement goals for each channel, as they all serve different purposes.

Creating realistic measurement goals ensures that awareness channels are measured against awareness KPIs, such as brand lift instead of direct conversions. (free tool for measuring the effectiveness of your video ads, which you can use to adjust and improve your Video)

As with any digital channel, it’s important to understand how they can be measured. This step should include identifying a proper measurement platform, such as Google Analytics or another tool, to ensure that marketing dollars and channels can be measured. (understand the customer journey and improve marketing ROI)

Step 4: Create Content and Unique Value Proposition Plan

Once the digital channels have been identified, it’s time to plan your content for each channel.

The key is creating a consistent (standarad) messaging framework that can be reused and reworked in each channel. That way, you’re not starting from scratch each time.

For example, if you want to introduce your brand on YouTube or the Google Display Network, the content should not be focused on a direct conversion or a “Buy Now” CTA. That’s simply asking for too much on an initial brand awareness touchpoint. (A call to action (CTA) is a prompt on a website that asks users to perform a specific action like signing up for a newsletter, downloading a demo, or buying a product. A CTA can appear as a clickable button or as hyperlinked text, and is often seen directly on the page, in pop-up form, or in a digital marketing ad.)

On the other hand, for someone well on their search journey and looking for specific products and services, that could be a time to introduce discounts and special offers.

Lastly, make sure that what you’re providing your customers is unique and differentiated in the market. Conducting a competitor analysis first will help identify what’s currently being offered in the market.

Even if your product or service is similar to your competitors, it’s important to find a way to differentiate your brand.

Step 5: Execute and Optimize Digital Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve defined steps 1-4, it’s time to launch your digital marketing strategy. However, the work is not done yet. Your digital marketing strategy should be ongoing and fluid based on performance and the changing market landscape.

Digital marketing channels and campaigns should be continuously monitored and analyzed to ensure that marketing budgets and resources are utilized most effectively.

This should include daily, weekly, and monthly checkpoints in each channel. Monthly reports and quarterly business reviews (QBRs) should be conducted to provide opportunities to shift and pivot strategy based on findings. (A pivot strategy is a new approach a business uses when making a major change to its operations, such as a new product or service, or entering a new market.)

Summary

Digital marketing strategies are not a “one size fits all.” They also should not be the only strategy a brand has.

While it’s important to think about “digital-first” when it comes to strategies, it needs to align with the overarching business goals. (very important)

Don’t confuse strategy and tactics and end up rushing into a tactics-first approach.

By taking the time to create a solid digital marketing strategy, you’re setting the brand up for long-term success and the ability to pivot based on performance. 

 (Section 1 Section 2 Section 3)