Digital Marketing Strategy: How to Create an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy Framework
Digital Marketing Strategy is such a broad term, right? Especially now with an abundance of digital channels that appear to grow on a daily basis. But, what is the most effective digital marketing strategy for you? And, where do you start?
Marketers need to understand their business, product, and target audience before building the right digital marketing strategy for them. Then, like most things, regardless of a small or large marketing budget, it all starts with a plan.
How to create an effective digital marketing strategy framework
A digital marketing strategy framework is your blueprint for your marketing campaign – how you plan to execute your digital marketing strategy to acquire and retain customers. It doesn’t have to be an overwhelming 50-page presentation, a strategy is best summarized and defined with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound) objectives.
1. Define your short- and long-term marketing goals
The first step of the digital marketing plan is to align your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) with business objectives. Long-term goals could take anywhere from a few months to a few years to achieve, for example, growing website visitors organically through SEO, content marketing and social media. As part of that, your short-term goals will outline the specifics, for example for SEO, conduct keyword research, identify topic areas of interest to your audience, create a blog with an editorial calendar.
2. Understand your target audience
It is a waste of time and valuable marketing dollars to create an entire marketing campaign with video content and social influencers for TikTok if your target audience doesn’t even know what TikTok is. And, while marketing campaigns can be trial and error, some strategies will work better than others if your approach considers your brand, message, and target audience.
Ask yourself questions, who buys your product, and why they buy it. Determine the digital channels that fit your audience, understand their pain points, and make that clear in messaging, consider cultural, social, and political impacts.
It is useful to create buyer personas for your target buyers and influencers to determine the types of messages that resonate with them, the digital channels they use, and the appropriate marketing content for them.
3. Identify your digital promotional channels and content
Now you’ve understood your goals and your target market, it’s time to identify what digital channels to use, the types of content you want to promote, where you want to promote them and what you want your audience to do next. For example, create a topic relevant webinar that you will promote through email marketing, social media, a blog post, and influencer marketing to drive leads and organic website visitors.
Remember, set measurable goals so you can determine the success of the campaign.
4. Make a marketing plan template with actionable steps
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” —Jack Welch
Once you have identified your goals and audience with the digital and promotional channels you’re going to use, it is time to put it into a plan that you can execute and measure against. There are many tools you can use – Basecamp, an excel spreadsheet, Trello, Asana – whatever works for you. Break these digital strategies down and assign actionable, time-bound tasks to ensure you execute. These are your tactics.
5. Prepare to measure and adapt your digital marketing strategy
Your KPIs will measure the success of your digital marketing strategy, and it is important to analyze, understand, and make recommendations for the future of your plan.
With marketing trends constantly shifting, you must constantly monitor your marketing campaigns and be nimble to be effective. What you think is the best digital marketing strategy to reach your target audience, may not be effective a week later. We have all learned this from 2020.
If you would like help with your digital marketing strategy, contact Paradigm Marketing and Design, and one of our digital marketing specialists would be happy to help.
About the Author
Kaitlyn Wilcoxson, Account Group Supervisor, is a data-driven, problem-solving marketing guru who, as one of the firm’s longest employees, has worked with almost every client Paradigm has ever partnered with, and has been instrumental in their success. Kaitlyn ensures Paradigm’s clients and internal teams are positioned for growth. She manages resources, develops team members, monitors the quality of deliverables, and manages process and procedure planning. She was awarded the Gold Level Stevie® Award for Customer Service and Sales Manager of the Year in the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
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