By Savanna Heishman
Implementing a digital marketing strategy for your business is essential in generating leads, traffic, and growth. If you are wondering what the difference is between a marketing strategy and a digital marketing strategy, well, it is pretty simple. A digital marketing strategy is a plan you put into place in order to achieve specific digital goals. This includes online marketing channels such as paid, earned, and owned media.
Surprisingly, about half of all companies do not have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy set in place. Why is this? We know that digital marketing can leave you feeling overwhelmed, especially if you are new to using online strategies. At Next Level, we can provide you with a strategic blueprint to help you begin or readjust your current digital marketing strategy based on a few major components.
1. Who are your buyers?
When implementing your digital marketing strategy, it is a good idea to first begin by building your detailed buyer personas. That way, you will know exactly who you are marketing to and what to expect from your target audience. As a whole, buyer personas represent your most ideal customer(s). Doing thorough research on your target audience will help you create these personas. It is important that this information is based on real, raw data; you never want to make assumptions about your target audience.
Based on your business, there are different kinds of information you should be gathering to create your buyer personas. You can start by gathering quantitative and demographic information such as location, age, income, and job title. You may also want to gather qualitative and psychographic information such as goals, challenges, interests, and priorities. By combining all of the data that you have collected, you will be able to successfully create your buyer personas, which is the first step in implementing a strategic digital marketing strategy.
2. Identify your goals
There is nothing more crucial in any digital marketing strategy than identifying the marketing goals of your business. Your marketing goals should always be tied back to the fundamental goals of your company and your vision for the business. When identifying your digital marketing goals, you should also identify the tools that you will need to use in order to reach and measure these goals.
3. Create an engaging and responsive website
Almost everyone nowadays is glued to their phones, tablets, and laptops. This is great for businesses that are trying to generate more traffic on their websites. While your website may be up and running, have you ever wondered what your users experience when they visit your website? This is something to keep in mind when creating your digital marketing strategy. It is extremely important for your business to have a website that is engaging, responsive, and easy to navigate. This is where finding a Web Designer, Coder, or UX Designer will come in handy. If you find yourself needing help creating a responsive web page for your business, consider using Next Level to boost your sales and traffic through a highly responsive and engaging website created by our team!
4. SEO is alive and well
Another important component to consider along with your website is Search Engine Optimization. Did you know that a staggering 90% of people don’t look past the first page of search results? This is where SEO comes in. SEO is the process of increasing the visibility of your website and website traffic through organic search engine results. To put it simply, SEO is effective because it uses keywords and phrases to successfully bring your website forward as a result of a search without having to pay for an ad. This means that the results are only going to be sites that are optimized to the specific search.
For SEO to work successfully, you need to generate content frequently and upkeep your business’ digital platforms. Now, we know this sounds a little tricky, but it is important for every business owner to delve into the world of SEO. SEO is one of the most successful ways of generating traffic on your website, web page, and other digital platforms. Search Engine Optimization can be a beast with a wealth of information and ways to tackle it but our team at Next Level is here to help you.
5. Pay-Per-Click
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is the fastest way to increase sales for your business. Without it, you are probably missing out on a lot of revenue. PPC ads draw attention by showing up at the top of the first page . Visibility may be the main goal for organic search, but leads are the main goal for PPC platforms. Exposure alone may not always pay the bills, which is why implementing PPC advertising is the quickest and easiest way to generate leads for your business.
The main objective while running PPC advertising campaigns is to send specific adverts to a hyper-targeted audience (hence, building your buyer personas. See, everything comes full circle). If implemented correctly, PPC can be extremely successful. In our experience at Next Level we have found that by using data, an appropriate budget, and intuitive approaches, you will see a sharp increase in sales.
6. Utilize Social Media & Email Marketing
As we mentioned before in our article about Social Media for Businesses, social media is not a passing trend. Social media is used everyday by billions of people around the world. What better way to reach out and market to your target audience than through social media? Social media analytics have evolved into understanding the likes and habits of its users. These analytics examine everything from age, gender, interests, location, liked posts, and accounts that the user follows. Because this information is so readily available through social media, social media has become an integral part of many businesses’ digital marketing strategies.
Another component to consider is Email Marketing. The customers that opt-in to receive email updates from your company are the specific people that you need to target because they are the ones that are interested in your products and services. Then, through segmentation, you can personalize your emails based on subscribers’ needs and interests. That way you can deliver content that resonates most with them. This is just another way to narrow down your target audience and it can be easily integrated into your digital marketing strategy.
While there are countless ways to create a digital marketing strategy tailored to your business, these major components should be strongly considered for your blueprint. Implementing these components into your digital marketing strategy will take your business to the next level by increasing sales. Now, go get your business on that front page!
Sources
Cater, Emily. (2019). 7 Components of a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy. WebFX. https://www.webfx.com/blog/marketing/digital-marketing-components-5-elements-of-a-successful-digital-marketing-strategy/.
Hudson, Elissa. The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategies & How to Improve Your Digital Presence. Hubspot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/digital-strategy-guide.
Baldwin, Cheryl. (2020). Digital Marketing Strategy Elements for Success. WSI. https://www.wsiworld.com/blog/6-essential-elements-successful-digital-marketing-strategy.
