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The majority of business and marketing executives are aware that they must incorporate digital marketing into their strategies for company expansion. This includes activities like blogging, email marketing, social media marketing, paid to advertise, and website creation.

Depending on the abilities, materials, and financial resources available to complete the work, they frequently already do parts of it; however, gaps in the strategy might result in a disconnected approach that reduces the possible return on investment.

According to a 2018 report, the typical adult user spends 5.9 hours per day using digital media, including computers, smartphones, and other connected devices.

That dependence on screens is unsettling in several ways. However, it gives companies a great chance to actively promote their brand to these constantly connected clients.

That is precisely the situation where a digital marketing plan is useful. According to Elissa Hudson, senior marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand at HubSpot, “Your digital marketing strategy is the series of actions that help you reach your corporate goals through properly selected online marketing channels.”

Here, we’ll explain everything in detail, including what digital marketing is, why it’s important, and some credible case studies you can use as models.

  • What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
  • How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy Example?
  • 5 Digital Marketing Strategy Examples
  • What are the 10 Steps to Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy?

What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is a plan to use your company’s digital marketing channels to accomplish particular objectives. It might include objectives for both paid and unpaid media as well as any of the digital channels, web pages, content assets, or paid advertisements that you have access to. Your digital marketing plan should be distinctive to your company and your goals.

So why do we need it?

The quick answer is that you need an overall strategy to maximize your efforts, just like with any other business activity. By doing so, you can make decisions with the end in mind rather than squandering time on impromptu, random ideas.

Read Also: How Big is the Digital Advertising Market?

Given the variety of marketing strategies used in digital marketing, this is extremely crucial. What sorts of digital marketing are there? They could be, for example:

  • Content marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Search engine marketing (SEM)
  • Search engine optimization (SEO)
  • Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
  • Social media marketing
  • Affiliate marketing

So what is a digital marketing strategy’s primary goal? You can save time, effort, and money by combining all of things into a solid plan that builds on itself.

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy Example?

A sound digital marketing plan strikes a balance among several variables. It must be detailed enough to give precise instructions, but it must also be adaptable enough to adjust if your plan is failing. It’s crucial to pick the appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs). The right KPIs should be linked to the objectives you’re defining, and regular measurements should be taken after that.

Your digital marketing strategies should tell a story in addition to focusing on statistics. It all boils down to doing your homework and learning what appeals to your target market. Your images, videos, and text must emphasize your major competitive advantages in a way that appeals to your target audience.

A successful digital marketing plan should lead your audience through every stage of the sales process. They should progress through the phases of awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty through the channels you pick.

These essential steps are used in successful digital marketing strategies:

  1. Define your brand: Determine the vision and purpose behind your business. Go beyond profits and think about how you can uniquely help your customers thrive.
  2. Research your audience: Dig into your customers’ demographics and what motivates them on a human level.
  3. Research your competitors: Find out what your competition is doing well with their digital marketing and how you can outperform them.
  4. Conduct a SWOT analysis: Lay out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your digital marketing to help guide your future decisions.
  5. Create your brand positioning and messaging strategy: Uncover what makes you uniquely valuable to your audience and shape key messages that will appeal to them.
  6. Determine your digital marketing budget: Figure out what financial investment is required for you to reach your digital marketing goals.
  7. Build your digital marketing project plan: Set out the framework for which key digital marketing activities you’ll choose, your approaches on those platforms, how you’ll measure your KPIs, and the timelines you’ll follow.
  8. Set up your campaigns: Craft your creative assets and launch them on your determined platforms with the right targeting to reach your audience.
  9. Track your results and re-optimize: Monitor your efforts on monthly basis and adapt your efforts based on the insights you glean from the data.

Although they are sometimes used interchangeably, “digital marketing platform” and “digital marketing strategy” refer to distinct ideas. A digital marketing platform is a tool that links you to your audience and aids in the execution of your strategy. What actions you’ll take to succeed on such platforms will depend on your digital marketing plan.

Digital marketing platforms include, as key examples:

  • Google Ads: World’s largest online advertising platform
  • Google Analytics: Data analytics platform for understanding your website users
  • WordPress: Popular website content management system (CMS)
  • HubSpot: Modern customer relationship management (CRM) tool
  • Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok: Top social media platforms
  • Hootsuite: Social media scheduling and analytics platform
  • Screaming Frog: Website crawling tool for search engine optimization (SEO)

5 Digital Marketing Strategy Examples

You are aware of the first actions you must take to begin. But do you still feel perplexed? Sometimes a little motivation is all you need. The following are some instances of well-known companies that excelled in their content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing campaigns.

What digital marketing strategy works the best? These companies demonstrate that there is no concrete response to that query. It all depends on how you carry it out.

1. Buffer

It’s difficult to think about content marketing without conjuring up Buffer, the incredibly well-liked social media scheduling tool. They are typically used as a shining example of effective content marketing.

Here’s how they accomplished that: They depended extensively on guest posting in the beginning. To obtain more attention, they wrote articles that were published on numerous websites. In fact, according to the co-founder of Buffer, they got their first 100,000 clients using this tactic.

They weren’t content to simply neglect their own site, either. Since then, they have developed a reputation as thought leaders in the marketing industry by creating excellent material for their own blogs.

Buffer demonstrates that this marketing tactic goes far beyond the written word, despite the fact that content marketing often conjures images of blog posts and eBooks. Additionally, they started a podcast called “The Science of Social Media” where they discuss social media-related concepts and observations.

2. Airbnb

Once more, Airbnb demonstrates that content marketing isn’t only limited to tried-and-true blog articles.

The finest illustration is their neighborhood guides, which offer excellent value for clients wishing to stay in a specific kind of region.

Users can locate monuments, activities, dining establishments, and other area favorites using these recommendations. Additionally, Airbnb makes excellent use of user-generated content, including reviews, suggestions, and insider information that present a true image of a location.

Of course, Airbnb hopes guests will schedule a trip and stay in one of its accommodations. Therefore, guests are directed to top-rated Airbnbs where they can stay in that neighborhood using those local recommendations. It is the ideal illustration of promotional content that is also quite beneficial.

Airbnb provides users with the knowledge and tools they’ll need to develop high-quality content for the property listings, which make up the majority of the site, in addition to the material they produce on their own.

According to Marissa Phillips, Head of Content Strategy at Airbnb, “for instance, when a host lists their space on Airbnb, we’re there every step of the way with helpful tips about writing a description of their home, prices for similar listings in their neighborhood, ideas around the kind of hospitality our guests look for, and so much more.”

3. Glossier

Numerous elements go into the unquestionable success of the millennial beauty company Glossier. But there’s no denying that social media has played a significant role.

Before any of their products had even been released, the firm managed to amass an incredible 13,000 Instagram followers because to their early emphasis on social media, particularly Instagram.

Yet how? As a result, they are able to create social media postings that connect with their fans, which is part of what makes their social media presence so outstanding.

The modern woman only has five minutes to prepare her face before she has to go out the door. Although that is the case, Emily Weiss, the founder of Glossier, stated in an interview with Entrepreneur that she still wants to look beautiful and needs to make as little effort as possible.

They all exhibit that personality in their posts. Images depict genuine individuals in real circumstances rather than being too stylized or untouchable (babies, dogs, airplane windows, and all).

And while other companies shell out thousands of dollars to pay well-known influencers to talk about and advertise their goods, Glossier takes a different tact by interacting with loyal clients and followers.

500 superfans (those who had previously made purchases or were very active with the business on social media) of one successful product launch were given the product in exchange for promoting it on their own accounts. The outcome? a really successful and authentic social media campaign.

4. BuzzFeed

When it comes to digital marketing, BuzzFeed excels so much that at times it seems as though they have monopolized the internet. However, one aspect of their various marketing strategies that they excel at is email marketing.

Email marketing is a tremendous difficulty today because we are all buried in our inboxes. How do you encourage recipients to read and respond to your emails as opposed to instantly deleting them (or, worse, unsubscribing from your list)?

The secret, as demonstrated by BuzzFeed, is tremendous personalization. They are motivated to interact with the emails they receive because they are aware that they must supply content that users genuinely want. However, if you’re communicating to your entire audience at once, it can be difficult to give targeted content.

For precisely this reason, BuzzFeed has focused its email marketing efforts down to extremely particular interests (yep, you can even subscribe to receive one adorable dog photo per day).

Users may sign up for dozens of different newsletters, and they are clear about the type of material readers can expect from them as well as how frequently they will receive updates. Additionally, they provide a range of challenges that users may sign up for in order to make tiny improvements to themselves.

The outcome? User-friendly, precisely targeted information that they can’t wait to see.

5. Adobe

Segmentation has considerable power. But having a wide variety of newsletters available may appear excessive if your following isn’t quite as large as BuzzFeed’s.

The good news is that there are other ways to send customized email content and find out more about your readers. A notable illustration of this approach is Adobe. Despite the fact that they have a sizable audience as well, they approach personalization in a slightly different way.

Take a look at this illustration of one of their email newsletters, where they placed two calls to action side by side. In a sense, this allowed subscribers to choose their own experience, and it also allowed Adobe to discover more about the interests and needs of that particular client.

What are the 10 Steps to Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy?

There are several factors that can help or impede the effectiveness of your digital marketing plan, from personas to the appropriate technologies. Here is the groundwork you need to do to make sure your approach is successful, along with some of our go-to tools and programs.

Step 1: Create a customer persona

Prior to now, digital marketers gathered demographic data about the target market, such as age, gender, occupation, interests, and geography. With buyer personas gaining hold, the idea of the potential client has recently been expanded upon. Today, without them, even the best digital marketing techniques fall short.

The phrase “buyer personas” refers to the ideal client that can be identified through research and direct contact with the pre-selected target market. The foundation of the newest digital marketing approaches is creating your own distinctive buyer personas. To get started, check online for a variety of free templates.

Step 2: Identify your goals and tools

Every seasoned marketer is aware of how crucial this phase is. Setting goals is your essential responsibility because a digital marketing strategy simply cannot succeed without them. Make sure the objectives you created are appropriate and measurable.

A poor marketing objective example is:

Next year, increase website conversions and develop two promotional offers.

Why is this objective flawed? Yes, it is immeasurable. How will you gauge your success in achieving this goal?

It should have been phrased as follows:

In the first quarter of 2022, increase website conversions by 20% and develop two promotional offerings, a free marketing report and a marketing book. By February and March, respectively, have them online. There, it is now feasible to gauge the progress. It deals with how to develop a successful digital marketing plan.

Step 3: Focus on blogging

Even though blogs have been present since the 1990s, they are still a part of the most recent digital marketing strategy. Why? Because every successful digital marketing strategy must focus on producing high-quality content, and blogging is one method to do this and increase your audience.

In addition to increasing website traffic, blogging also strengthens social media presence, positions your business against rivals, and ranks all those long-tail search terms and keywords.

Your website will be easily accessible through search engines if you have a frequently updated blog that your visitors find valuable. This means that your website may be used as a platform for your online advertising tactics and marketing efforts. If you lack the resources to manage blogs internally, you might look into blog writing services for assistance.

Step 4:  Evaluate existing digital marketing channels

Analyze the digital resources and channels you already employ, such as your website, blog posts, social network pages, word-of-mouth campaigns, native advertising, Google Adwords, sponsored advertising, etc. How successful were they, and how may they be improved upon for the next year? Which online advertising tactics can be improved upon or abandoned?

Your next digital marketing plan process can exclude some of these components, but it must use the ones that were most successful the year before. For instance, if a landing page you recently made was successful in generating leads, use it again while making as many improvements as you can. The same holds true for additional assets and channels.

Step 5: Automate marketing

With the latest software and technology being incorporated into digital marketing tactics, marketing automation is massive and only growing better.

Leading marketing automation solutions available today make it simple to automate tasks like content marketing, email marketing, lead generation, and more, which may do wonders for your digital marketing approach. Additionally, it’s simple to locate marketing automation programs that interface with the sales CRM of your business, which enhances the complete sales procedure.

Make sure to include automated lead generation in your digital marketing strategy this year if your business is still on the fence about it.

Step 6: Nail mobile optimization

The key to developing a digital marketing plan that is fully prepared for 2022 is to take into account mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. In this mobile-first era, there is no justification for not making improvements to your website to provide a fantastic mobile experience.

Read Also: What Does SOV Mean in Digital Marketing?

To guarantee that visitors who access your site via a mobile device have a positive experience, mobile optimization comprises page speed, site design, and several other search engine optimization techniques.

To make sure you are utilizing the most recent techniques and providing only the most recent and relevant info, review your email templates and mobile responsive design.

Step 7: Make it easy for customers to reach you

Connecting with potential consumers is the foundation of online business, hence high website traffic is essential for success. Therefore, you should make sure that your leads and visitors aren’t making extra effort to engage with you using your digital marketing plan. Engaging with customers benefits your company greatly.

You should make sure that landing pages do not request superfluous information in order to reduce wasted time and effort. Make CTAs prominently visible on the website’s landing page and other pages.

Step 8: Use the right technology

If an ineffective or improper technology is used, a marketing effort is wasted.

The most effective digital marketing strategies make use of solutions like marketing automation software and sales intelligence tools like Vendasta’s Snapshot Report. Every step of your strategy process can be aided by the use of some technologies, such as those that assist you define your objectives and keep tabs on the sources of your visitors.

Step 9: Confirm your differentiators

You shouldn’t anticipate huge earnings if your business is similar to those of your rivals. Asking your consumers why they chose your business will help you change (or reinforce) how you stand out from the competition.

Every business has a USP, or something that makes you stand out from the competitors. Making the effort to learn what that is and conducting the necessary research are important components of your digital marketing plan. Then, if necessary, fix your current differentiators. Include this message in your strategy for digital marketing.

The key to developing a digital marketing plan that is actually suited to your business is to confirm differentiators.

Step 10: Track your process

To ensure that your digital marketing plan is successful, you should offer continuous monitoring. This is accomplished by assigning teams to complete this duty. Never forget to find methods to grow, and always remember to learn from your failures!

Designing a digital marketing strategy process involves a lot of work, but a strong and well-thought-out plan will make it much simpler.

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MegaIncomeStream is a global resource for Business Owners, Marketers, Bloggers, Investors, Personal Finance Experts, Entrepreneurs, Financial and Tax Pundits, available online. egaIncomeStream has attracted millions of visits since 2012 when it started publishing its resources online through their seasoned editorial team. The Megaincomestream is arguably a potential Pulitzer Prize-winning source of breaking news, videos, features, and information, as well as a highly engaged global community for updates and niche conversation. The platform has diverse visitors, ranging from, bloggers, webmasters, students and internet marketers to web designers, entrepreneur and search engine experts.