There are many companies that still don’t believe they need to have a strong digital marketing plan to be successful, or perhaps they don’t know what digital marketing is and why it’s important. While you may be able to retain current revenues, these customers are gradually moving to the internet to make buying decisions. This is why companies without strong digital strategies are not only leaving money on the table, but potentially losing customers to those that do.
That’s right… even you need a digital marketing strategy.
No matter how big or small or what industry your company is from, everyone can benefit from a strong digital marketing strategy. In this article, I will present a simple overview of the best practices in putting together a digital marketing plan that will allow you to out perform your competition and create the results you desire as a business owner.
Where do I begin?
Digital marketing is like all forms of business, it is best to have your strategy defined before you jump into implementation. Too often I see companies jump feet first into creating a Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube videos without a strategy and a plan for why and what they are communicating. Here are the things you need to think through:
- Your target market and the pains you are solving
- Differentiation, branding and your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
- Competitive analysis
- Your tactical plan
- Results and measurement
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Targeting your customers
The first step in most marketing strategies is to figure out who your target customers are. It allows you to focus your message, differentiate your product and figure out how you will reach the people who might buy your product or service. Unfortunately, many companies approach this step incorrectly. In an attempt not to exclude any potential revenue, too many companies open their target market to include anyone and everyone that may be interested.
Differentiation, Branding and your USP
Contrary to what many believe, branding isn’t about your logo. Branding is about how your company makes your target customers feel. It can be extremely difficult, but very powerful once mastered. One major key to effective branding is whether or not you are differentiated. What do you do different or more memorable from your competition? To maintain your differentiation, you need to be focused and consistent with your messaging. It is important to always portray the same brand character and message within the minds of your target customers.
Competitive Analysis
Conducting thorough and useful competitive analysis is a challenge, but well worth the time. It is important to put together a competitor spreadsheet that identifies critical customer characteristics and service specialties that help you to differentiate. Another huge factor that many businesses fail to take into account in strategy is to consider what the industry time-line looks like in the future. In order to have a strong and timely response to competitive actions, you must construct a hypothetical prediction of what they will be doing in the future. This helps you realize that if there is a catastrophic industry shift coming in the near future, you need to start acting now to be ready.
Digital Marketing Tactical Plan
After you have considered your competition, your customer, and your brand; it is time to determine which digital marketing channels you will use. Every tactical plan is different. The reason why marketing on the internet is so powerful is that there are a huge amount of channels to use, and almost every potential customer is online for one reason or another. So there is a lot of room for creativity.
Here is a partial list of potential online channels you could use to reach your customers: Social media, rich media, email campaigns, search optimization (organic & paid), micro blogs (e.g. Twitter), Blogs, PR/Article marketing, online stores etc.
Results and Measurement
There are a variety of tools that allow businesses to measure the success of their digital marketing execution. Today it is very easy to determine whether or not marketing campaigns are successful by tracking the amount of visitors to your site. You can test your site design with A/B tests and see where potential customers are exiting your sites. This is how you will judge how well your digital marketing is performing, so become familiar with the variety of tools and options you have.
To learn the ropes of Digital Marketing, give us a call at ecentric for a free consultation and evaluation of the activities and options you have as a business in todays digital marketing environment.
