It takes a lot more than picking whether to post on LinkedIn or Facebook or use Shopify or WordPress as your website CMS to get started with digital marketing.
It’s all about getting the big picture right for digital marketing. You can concentrate on the details and tactical things you’ll do to attain the results you want once you’ve got a strategy in place and know who you’re talking to.
So, before you dive right in, make sure you’ve gone through these steps.
1. Begin with your target audience
If you want to succeed with digital marketing, you must focus on the client. Putting your consumers at the center of your strategy will ensure that every activity you undertake, whether social media marketing, email marketing, or blog material, meets their demands. People are more likely to regard you as a business they want to deal with if they find your material engaging, informative, and inspiring. Begin by figuring out your potential consumers, where they go for information, what they’re interested in, and what problems they have (read our blog on creating user personas to learn how to do this). A customer journey map can help you understand the steps these customers take from the first time they interact with you to the point where they make a purchase, so you can discover crucial opportunities to engage them along the way.
2. Develop a strategy
Installing a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy is the next step on your path to digital marketing success. This strategy uses well-selected online marketing channels to assist your company reach specified digital goals.
Your goals, the measurable objectives you’ll employ to attain them, your target audience and their customer journey, how you’ll define success, and possibly a competitor analysis, budget, and time frame should all be included in the plan. Many digital marketing campaigns will consist of a “test and learn” phase where you can adjust as you learn what works and what doesn’t.
3. Align your website with your plan by building (or rebuilding) it
All of your digital marketing efforts revolve around your website. Everything should point back to it, whether to contact you, obtain a free guide, or make a payment.
If your website isn’t generating the traffic or conversions you’d want, it’s time to do a website audit to determine what needs to be changed. Sometimes all that’s required are a few minor adjustments. You might want to consider switching CMS platforms or renewing the web design from time to time. To boost your exposure on Google’s search engine results pages, have a look at your SEO. According to HubSpot, the best technical SEO technique is optimizing your mobile site.
4. Create a tactical action
The next stage is to establish a strategy for what kind of digital marketing you’ll do, what channels/platforms you’ll use, and how much money you’ll need to execute it. Are you unsure if podcasts or blogs will be more effective in reaching out to your target audience? It all boils down to your objectives. Choose your channels carefully, ensuring that they will reach the individuals you want to talk to in the way they prefer to interact with businesses.
5. Establish a reliable reporting system
Finally, before you begin any digital marketing campaign, be sure you know how you’ll evaluate its effectiveness. It’s pointless to do anything if you don’t know how effective it is, so create a reporting system to keep you updated and guarantee you’re making data-driven decisions.
Consider how much time you’ll need to review the data and whether you’ll be able to make changes or enhancements as you go.