Is it right to assume that digital is a key part of your marketing strategy today? Probably.
Consumers and businesses are almost always online, on the go, and want to be able to reach and observe their behavior and where they spend their time.
But as you grow your business, the ever-changing digital landscape can quickly become overwhelming. How can you efficiently create, fine-tune, and maintain an agile digital marketing strategy, along with many other responsibilities and tasks you need to perform?
We’ve created this guide for marketing strategies that can help you drive digital awareness and grow better.
If you’re a small business and you’re not sure how to start a strategy, this digital marketing strategy template will help. It contains actionable tips and templates for setting up for success.
Now, are you going back to this and confused about the differences between marketing strategies and marketing tactics? We cover it below.
There are three parts to every strategy, marketing or not.
- Assess your challenges
- A policy of guidance to address challenges
- A set of targeted actions required to implement the policy
Depending on the size of your business, your marketing strategy may include several moving parts, each with different goals. It can sometimes be difficult to carry out a strategy.
So if your marketing strategy is overwhelming, use these three steps to stay focused on achieving your goals.
Now let’s take a look at our digital marketing strategy.
What is a digital marketing strategy?
The digital marketing strategy is designed to establish an Internet presence through online channels such as organic search, social media, paid advertising, and other web-based media such as websites. The goal of a digital marketing strategy is to increase awareness of your business and attract new customers to your brand.
A powerful digital marketing strategy helps your business achieve specific digital goals through carefully selected media. Similar to marketing strategies versus marketing tactics, “digital marketing strategies” and “digital marketing campaigns” are often exchanged. If so, how is it different?
This is covered in the next section.
A digital marketing campaign is a building block and action within a digital marketing strategy that moves toward a specific end goal.
For example, if the most important goal of your digital marketing strategy is to generate more leads through social media, you can execute a digital marketing campaign on Twitter. To generate more leads through the channel, Twitter can share some of the best-performing gated content in your business.
How to develop a digital marketing strategy
- Build a buyer persona.
- Identify your goals and the digital marketing tools you need.
- Evaluate existing digital channels and assets.
- Audit and plan your own media campaigns.
- Identify your goals and the digital marketing tools you need.
- Monitor and report.
Build a buyer persona.
For any marketing strategy, digital or not, you need to know who you are marketing to. The best digital marketing strategy is based on detailed buyer personas, and the first step is to create them.
Buyer personas represent ideal customers and can be created by surveying, surveying, and interviewing business targets.
It is important to note that making assumptions about prospects can cause your marketing strategy to move in the wrong direction, so this information should be based on actual data whenever possible.
To get a complete picture of a persona, the Research Pool should have a mix of customers, prospects, and people who match the target audience outside the Contacts database.
But what kind of information do you need to gather for buyer personas to inform your digital marketing strategy?
It depends on your business. This may vary depending on whether you are B2B or B2C, or if you are selling high-cost or low-cost products.
Here are some starting points that you can tailor to your specific business:
Quantitative and demographic information
- Location: Easily identify where your website traffic is coming from using Web analytics tools.
- Age: Depending on the business, this may or may not be relevant. However, it is best to gather this data by identifying trends in your existing database of leads and contacts.
- Income: It is best to collect sensitive information such as personal income through personal research interviews. People may be reluctant to share these details in online forms.
- Position: A high-level idea from an existing customer base, most relevant to a B2B company.
Qualitative and psychological information - Goal: Depending on the issues the product or service addresses, you may already be familiar with the buyer persona’s goals. Talk to real customers, internal sales, and customer service representatives to establish assumptions.
- Challenge: Talk to customers, sales and customer service representatives, and other customer-facing employees to get ideas on common challenges facing your audience.
- Hobbies/interests: Ask people who are aligned with the customer and target audience about their hobbies and interests. For example, a fashion brand can help inform future content and partnerships by ensuring that much of the audience is also interested in fitness and well-being.
- Priority: Talk to your customer and target audience to find out what is most important to them about your business.
For example, it’s valuable information to know that a B2B software company wants to know that its audience needs customer support more than competitive pricing.
All of these details can be combined to create accurate and highly valuable buyer personas to the business.
2. Identify goals and required digital marketing tools
Marketing goals should always be tied to the primary goals of the business.
For example, if your business goal is to increase your online revenue by 20%, your marketing team’s goal 50% might be to generate more leads through your website than in the previous year to contribute to its success.
Whatever your most important digital marketing objectives, you need to be able to measure the success of your strategy using the right digital marketing tools.
For example, HubSpot’s reporting dashboard brings all of your marketing and sales data into one place, so you can quickly decide what is and is not effective to improve your strategy for the future.
3. Evaluate existing digital channels and assets.
When you review your existing digital marketing channels and assets and decide what to incorporate into your strategy, it helps to consider the big picture first. This prevents you from becoming overwhelmed or confused.
Gather what you have and classify each vehicle or asset in a spreadsheet to clearly identify what you already own, acquire, and pay for media.
Proprietary, acquired, paid media Framework
To do this effectively, use the own, acquire, and pay media Framework to classify the digital “vehicles”, assets, or channels already in use and determine what is appropriate for your strategy.
Proprietary media
This refers to digital assets owned by a brand or company, such as websites, social media profiles, blog content, and images. The owning channel is completely within the business’s control.
This may also include some off-site content that you own that is not hosted on your website (for example, blogs that you post on Medium).
Acquisition media
Acquired media represents exposure gained through word-of-mouth marketing. Whether it is content you have distributed on other websites (e.g. guest posts), PR work you have done, or customer experience you have provided. The winning media is the recognition you receive as a result of these efforts.
Get media by receiving press comments and positive reviews, and people sharing content through networks (e.g. social media channels).
Paid media
Paid media refers to any means or channel by which you spend money to attract buyer personas.
This includes Google AdWords, paid social media posts, basic advertising (such as sponsored posts on other websites), or other media that you pay for in exchange for visibility.
Now that you have a better understanding of what this Framework entails, let’s look at an example.
Suppose you have content that you own on the landing page of a website that you created to help you generate leads. I understand that I would like to integrate other parts of the Framework rather than work alone on owned, acquired, or paid media.
To increase the number of leads your content generates, you should try to share your content so that your prospects can distribute it through their social media profiles. In return, traffic to the landing page increases. The acquired media component.
To help your content succeed, you can post it on your Facebook page and pay for it to be viewed by more people at your target audience.
This is how the three parts of the Framework can work together. However, it is not necessary for success. For example, if both proprietary and acquired media are already successful, you may not need to invest in paid media. Evaluate the best solutions to help you achieve your goals, and then incorporate the channels that are best for your business into your digital marketing strategy.
Now that you know what you’re already using, you can think about what you need to keep and what you need to cut.
4. Audit and plan owned media campaigns.
The key to digital marketing is proprietary media which is almost always delivered in the form of content. About us site pages, product descriptions, blog posts, e-books, infographics, and Almost every message a brand broadcasts, such as podcasts and social media posts, can be categorized as content.
Content can help you transform your website visitors into leads and customers while increasing your brand’s online presence. And when this content is optimized for search engines (SEO), search and organic traffic can increase.
Whatever your digital marketing strategy goals, you want to incorporate proprietary content. To get started, decide what content you want to help you achieve your goal.
If your goal is to generate more leads for 50% through your website than last year, your strategy is likely not to include your company landing page if it was not a lead generation system in the past.
The following is a simple process you can follow to identify the owning content you need to achieve your digital marketing strategy goals.
Audit existing content.
Create a list of previously owned content and rank each item according to what you did best in relation to your current goal.
For example, if your goal is lead generation, rank your content according to where you generated the most leads in the past year (for example, blog posts, ebooks, or site pages).
The idea here is to identify what works now and what doesn’t so that you can be successful in planning your content in the future.
Identifies gaps in existing content.
Verify that the content has spaces based on the buyer persona.
For example, if you are a maths extracurricular company and you know that your research is about finding effective learning methods as a major challenge for a persona, create a few.
If you look at the content audit, you’ll find that the eBook hosted on certain types of landing pages is very well converted (for example, better than the webinar)
For this maths extracurricular company, you might decide to add an e-book about “How to make your studies more effective” to your content creation plan.
Create a content creation plan.
Based on your findings and the gaps you identify, create a content production plan that outlines content that will help you achieve your goals.
This should include:
- In the subject
- Stay
- To your goal
- Promotional channel
- Why create content
- Priority level of content
- This can be a simple spreadsheet, and if you plan to outsource your content production, you should include budget information, and if you create it yourself, include estimated time.
5.Audit and plan any acquired media campaigns.
Evaluating previously acquired media against your current goals will give you an idea of where to focus your time. Determine where the traffic and leads come from (if this is the goal) and rank each acquired media source from most effective to least effective.
You can use tools such as source reports in HubSpot’s traffic analysis tools to get this information.
You may find that certain articles you have contributed to industry press have increased conversion rates by driving a lot of qualifying traffic to your website. Or you’ll find that linking-ins are where most people share content, increasing traffic.
The idea is to build a picture of what type of acquisition media will help (and if not) achieve your goals based on historical data. But if there is something new you want to experiment with, don’t rule it out just because you have never done it.
6.Audit and plan paid media campaigns.
This process involves almost the same process. You should evaluate your existing paid media on each platform (e.g. Google AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to determine what will best help you achieve your current goals.
If you spend a lot of money on AdWords but don’t get the results you want, it’s time to modify or retire your approach and focus on other platforms that seem to deliver better results.
Use this free guide to learn more about using AdWords in your digital marketing strategy.
At the end of the process, there should be a clear idea of what paid media platform you would like to continue to use and remove (if any) from your strategy.
7.do your digital marketing campaigns together.
You have completed your planning and research, and now you have a clear vision of what makes up your digital marketing strategy.
To review, you should have established the following:
- Clear the profile of a buyer persona
- One or more digital marketing-specific goals
- Inventory of existing owned, acquired, and paid media
- Existing owned, acquired, and paid media audits
- Content creation plans or wish lists you own
- To better understand what a digital strategy entails, check out the following list of primary marketing strategies that are commonly used by teams across various industries.
Digital marketing strategy
1. Write on a blog.
Blogging is one of the key ways to digitally market your business. Some objections claim blogging is “a waste of time,” but blogging remains an important part of any business that wants to attract customers who are genuinely interested in products and services.
Why? Well-written and well-researched blog posts often answer prospects’ urgent needs. For example, HubSpot is a marketing professional who sells marketing software and typically creates plans, campaigns, and editorial schedules for employers. For this reason, the topics in the blog directly address the following requirements:
2. Advertise on a specific platform (e.g. Google Ads, Facebook ads, or Instagram ads).
An organic blogging strategy is only part of the story. It’s just as important as implementing non-organic plays like paid advertising. This not only helps to build brand awareness, but also helps you reach prospects who do not yet have a business organic.
There are several types of ads that you need to add to your digital strategy.
- Social media advertising
- Pay-per-click (PPC)
- Google Advertising
- Online advertising
Almost all platforms have the option to advertise via display networks (such as Google) or embedded advertising systems (such as Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn’s self-service advertising portals).
3. Provide free training resources.
Digital marketing efforts don’t stop when people visit your website or click on your ads. You must also provide additional value in return for the email. Gate content is free, but users “pay” with their contact information. This practice is called lead generation and is essential if you want the opportunity to nurture visitors as end customers.
To provide free resources, create a landing page that provides a single training resource, such as an eBook, guide, template, or kit. Think about what your customers need every day to be successful. Create resources to help them do that.
4. Search engines optimize digital content.
Seo is one of the most important roles you can play in your digital strategy. Rank keywords related to your products, and see more blog content and training suggestions.
Seo is the best way to show a product page to people who search for that product and service, unless the page is experiencing traffic. It’s important to invest in on-page SEO strategies to ensure your content is engaging and moving.
5. Create online prizes and/or contests.
Prizes and contests are another way to increase brand awareness and strengthen your digital strategy online. You get new followers and leads that could be customers in return for the free product.
This is especially useful when selling consumer products or serving them as actual deliverables. For example, a beauty brand can give away beauty products and a photographer can give you a free portrait photo session. Businesses that may not benefit from this strategy include B2B businesses or manufacturers. However, as the first customer includes one box of products that can be registered on a mailing list for free, you can certainly rotate as needed.
6. Organize webinars.
If you don’t think a contest is right for your business, a webinar is the next best option. Especially for B2B companies. It is essential to educate the public about products and services and to provide an opportunity for interested leads to hear about the product directly from the company representative. This allows you to ask questions and get answers in real time.
Selling complex products? We recommend that you then create a dedicated webinar page on your website that lists both upcoming and past webinars. Customers have access to training content that will help them, and prospects can learn more about products in an interactive format than a simple blog post or case study.
7. Create a podcast.
Audio marketing is growing. All you have to do is take a look at how the Clubhouse and Twitter spaces have done one-on-one to take share. Platforms like the Clubhouse are different from podcasting, but the idea is the same. Train and engage your audience on the go. All they need is a device that plays audio.
Podcasts become an integral part of your digital strategy, enabling you to reach people from platforms other than search engines and social media channels. It is also a much more unplanned natural medium. Of course, each episode should be carefully planned and content that actually helps the reader.
8. Create an email marketing campaign.
Email marketing is one of the most important digital strategies you can implement today. We offer you many opportunities to nurture interested customers. As a result, you will not subscribe to newsletters from brands that are not interested in you, and companies should not send emails to customers who have not registered on the mailing list anyway. This is not the case, unless you take the risk of reducing the likelihood of an email being delivered.
Get subscribers through blogs, contests, and webinars. Each time someone provides you with an email and each time they agree to receive communications from you, you have full authority to target those targets through an email marketing campaign.
Digital marketing strategy template
Spreadsheets can be an efficient format for mapping digital marketing strategies, but this approach can be quickly messy and overwhelming.
Planning a long-term strategy, usually between six and 12 months, requires a reliable digital marketing strategy document. But where do you start? Use the free digital marketing plan template.
This template guides you through business summaries and initiatives, helps you build target market and competitor information, and shapes your marketing strategy, including budgets, specific channels, and metrics.
Use this digital strategy template to build your annual digital marketing strategy and tactics. By planning this annual plan, you can overlay when you and your team will execute each task. For example:
- In January, we will launch a blog that is continuously updated once a week, throughout the year.
- In March, we’ll be launching a new eBook with paid promotions.
- We will be preparing for our biggest business month in July. What is expected to affect the content you create to support this at this point?
- In September, we will focus on acquisition media in PR format to drive additional traffic during the preparation period.
This approach helps you communicate plans among your colleagues by providing a structured schedule for activities.
Grow better with marketing strategies that enhance your digital presence
Because your strategy documents are very personal to your business, it is almost impossible for us to create a versatile digital marketing strategy template.
Remember that the purpose of the strategy document is to plan the actions you need to take to achieve your goals over a period of time.