Digital marketing has become the preferred method of reaching clients and customers. While it hasn’t usurped traditional marketing methods such as print, radio, or television, digital marketing is a necessary portion of an overarching marketing plan. By putting together a successful digital marketing strategy, you can increase your reach and, hopefully, your sales.
Here are a few tips to build a successful digital marketing strategy for your business.
1. Build a Brand
The first step of any successful digital marketing strategy is building your brand. This process gives your business a distinctive personality and stance in your industry, as well as defines your target market. To build your brand, you’ll need to start with a SWOT analysis.
This analysis looks at strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities in your industry to help you determine where you can differentiate and excel. Once you’ve determined your stance through the SWOT analysis, it will enable you to build a brand that’s unlike anything else in your market or improve upon an existing business model.
2. Pinpoint Your Goals
Once you’ve created a brand, the next step is to identify or pinpoint your precise goals. The idea is to make these goals measurable in ways that make sense for your business model. For example, if you want to drive 40 percent more people to your website, you need a way to quantify if you’re reaching that goal.
One proven method is through OKRs, or objectives and key results. OKRs establish an objective you have and then put forth measurable results that push your business and employees to perform above and beyond. These OKRs can be changed each month or quarter to accommodate your specific goals, making them versatile and a necessity for your business.
3. Choose the Perfect Combination of Digital Marketing Tools
Now that you’ve defined your brand and come up with marketing goals, it’s time to put some of the top digital marketing tools to the test. Social media is a great place to start. Interaction with customers is an excellent way to build your brand and leads, making Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram strong options. You should also consider starting a YouTube channel, as video content is 50 times more likely to drive organic traffic to your site.
In addition, you should consider taking a course or hiring a professional in search engine optimization (SEO). Fine-tuning the content on your website will help push it to the top of search engine results pages. The better your content and the more you tweak it with SEO, the better your organic marketing strategy.
4. Combine with Traditional Methods
Although the digital realm is an essential part of your marketing strategy, it’s still important to incorporate aspects of traditional marketing. Print and radio ads still have relevance, although you may need a larger budget to accommodate them. That said, direct mail is an affordable way to add a personal touch to your marketing campaign while adding differentiation. These personalized communications can forge a strong connection with customers, improve the overall customer experience, and encourage repeat business.
There is no one-size-fits-all digital marketing strategy, so you can adjust and tweak methods as necessary. Armed with these tips, you can build your brand, define a goal, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
