What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Whether for our daily routines through weekly tasks or for our businesses, planning is a part of everything we do. In preparation, we often create a plan of attack, aka “a strategy.” When we are putting together something as easy as a family dinner or as extravagant as a wedding, we are creating a strategy for how we will be putting these events together.
So the question remains, why wouldn’t you want to have a strategy for your business? Why wouldn’t you want to reach your ideal audience online? A digital marketing strategy can then be described as a plan for how you will achieve your overall or long-term goals online.
Our goal is to educate community members on the importance of a digital marketing strategy, which is essential to the success of your business goals.
Why Strategies Matter
To understand why strategies are essential, it is necessary first to understand what strategies are. Strategy is a “series of actions meant to help achieve your desired goal(s). A strategy can often be considered a plan, hence why businesses of all sizes start developing a plan to ensure they have a strategy in place to succeed.
Strategies, then, matter for many reasons. However, one of the biggest reasons is that you cannot produce a product or service and believe your customers will flock to purchase from you without question. You cannot sell to those who do not know your products or services exist—however, strategies for placing your product or service directly in front of an ideal customer. Plans also force you to think about your competitors because part of your a well thought strategy will consider your place in the market and how well you are competing with it.
Business executives, entrepreneurs, and individuals use digital marketing strategies as part of their digital marketing efforts to build their brands, build trust, and relate to their audience. This is why you always want to be a step ahead of your competitors, continually evolving and continuously innovating your services menu or product line. A famous quote by Michael E. Porter reads:
This is true in many business areas, but when applied to marketing, even more so. As you find competitors vying for the same space online, you will see that standing out will be more critical than ever. This is where factors like proper brand alignment come into effect. Regardless of whether you have a strong competitor presence in your market, it would help if you had a strategy. This is not an option.
Three Key Factors To Consider
There are many steps to creating your digital marketing strategy. From building your buyer personas – these personas represent your “ideal” customer(s). These are described, then, by those who will benefit the most from buying your product or service. You will focus on reaching out to them through your content marketing initiatives. They are the ones you will engage with via your social media community-building strategies. They are the ones you will continue to nurture through your email marketing relationship-building plans. You see, the point here is that the in creating your digital marketing strategy, you are, in essence, creating the framework for three key factors essential to making your digital footprint.
To break down these key factors, you ask yourself: Who?, Why?, and Where? The definition of these can be determined as follows:
- Who? These are your potential clients, customers, and buyers. These can be B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer).
- Why? These are the reasons your potential customers need your services and products. This question answers the needs within their pain points.
- Where? This question helps you determine where your potential customers are located online.
Understanding these points will allow you to formulate the game plan for the success of your business. A prime example is social media; knowing where to find your ideal client on social media is critical. With over 2.01 billion active monthly Facebook users to date, for example, it’s safe to say that your target audience could be found there. By implementing your strategy to social, you are then maximizing your digital footprint. To recap, we’ll examine the three main reasons you need a digital marketing strategy.
3 Main Reasons Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy
1 | It allows you to hyper-focus on who your ideal audience is.
You can produce the content they need by focusing on your ideal client. This content will identify their pain points and how your products and services can help them.
2 | It allows you to pursue and implement your marketing goals.
When you create a digital marketing strategy, you create a roadmap for reaching your overall marketing and business goals.
3 | It allows you to formulate a plan for how to compete in the market.
A digital marketing strategy will keep you competitive in your market and allow you to fill voids left open by your competitors.
In conclusion, your strategy should be organized and revisited as often as necessary. These should neither be rushed nor duplicated from another small business owner’s direct strategy. Always remember that organic and authentic strategies are best grown within your organization. Many small business owners find it hard to determine why a digital marketing strategy is and therefore have a hard time taking the necessary steps to create one for their business.
Have you already started to recognize who your ideal customer is? If so, how are you implementing your digital marketing strategy now? We would love to hear about your most significant obstacles with creating your digital marketing strategy. Lastly, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at @_soverve.