Create a Digital Marketing Strategy in 2021: A Comprehensive Guide

It's so easy to get digital marketing wrong.?

There are so many different digital channels and tools that it can be tough to know how to structure your digital marketing strategy, or where you should spend your time and resources.?

In order to avoid this issue, it is necessary for businesses of all sizes to create a digital marketing strategy that will help them reach their goals in the digital world.?

This article will walk you through all the steps needed to create an effective digital marketing strategy!

What is a digital marketing strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is a plan of action on how you are going to promote your business across digital platforms, including the use of various channels to reach customers, promote the brand and connect with them over time.?

It's important for businesses of all sizes to have an overall digital marketing plan in order to succeed online.

A digital marketing strategy is not just about social media or blog posts; it needs to consider how you're going to use these different facets of your business and what links they will provide between each other, both onsite and offsite!

Why is it important to create a digital marketing strategy?

Digital marketing is so important for today's digital consumers. It can make or break a business if you're not using digital channels to your advantage.

There are many different digital tools and channels that it can be hard to know how to use all successfully, which creates the need for a digital strategy!?

A digital marketing strategy will help guide businesses of any size on what they should do with these various opportunities online; from social media and blogging to email campaigns or even SEO (search engine optimization).

A good digital marketing plan ensures consistency across all digital platforms in order to strengthen lead generation, conversion rates, engagement levels, and more.?

No one wants their website traffic coming from just organic search results; rather, they want some combination of paid advertising like Google Ads or social media content.

A digital marketing strategy has the potential to be an enormously valuable asset for any modern company; in order to take advantage of it, you need a strategy!

By creating a digital marketing strategy that is tailored specifically to your business goals and needs, you'll have greater success online. Digital channels are ever-changing so it's important to stay on top of them with updated strategizing methods that work best for your situation.

A digital marketing strategist can help answer these questions by providing expert advice about how different companies should approach their digital presence as well as what steps they might want to consider taking next based on various stages in their development.

In this guide, we will walk you through all the steps needed to create a digital marketing strategy tailored specifically for your company's needs, and show you how it can be an enormously valuable asset when done right!

Step One: Identify Your Digital Goals

The first step is identifying which goals matter most and then building strategies that align with them.?

This may seem like common sense, but we often forget that every business has unique brand messaging or customer segments they're trying to target. The digital marketing strategy you create should align with the goals of your business, such as generating leads or building brand recognition and awareness.

It's important to identify what digital channels will work best for achieving these goals before proceeding to step two; we'll talk more about this later in this post!

Set your business digital KPIs

It's important to set digital KPIs for your business.?

These are the metrics that you want to measure in order to determine how successful your digital marketing strategy is. Without these numbers, it would be difficult to tell if you're on track with your goals or not!

It might seem like a simple task, but many companies struggle with this because digital marketing is extremely fluid. You might be doing well on Google Search but not so great with Facebook, or vice versa.?

The digital KPIs you select for your business should reflect the digital channels that align most closely with the goals of your company.

The best way to set these metrics is by asking yourself two questions:

• What digital channels do I use the most?
• What digital channel are my customers using the most?

Answering these two questions will help you determine which digital KPIs to set for your business. Once those metrics are set, it's important to track them and measure how well each digital marketing strategy is working against its respective goals.?

If digital marketing isn't providing enough value for the digital KPIs that your business set, it's time to create new digital strategies.

Perform a SWOT analysis on your current digital marketing strategy

A SWOT analysis entails discovering and understanding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your current digital marketing strategy.?

The SWOT analysis is a great digital marketing strategy tool because it helps you identify areas where your company may be strong or weak. This will allow you to brainstorm digital strategies that are best suited for what the business needs at any given time in its development cycle, from generating leads and increasing conversion rates to building brand awareness and customer loyalty.

A digital strategist can help guide you through this process; they have many years of experience with digital marketing principles which make them valuable resources when determining how different companies should approach their digital presence!

Some questions you might ask during this phase:

• What does our target audience think of us?
• How do we want them thinking about us?
• Is there anything specific we could change to achieve these goals?
• What digital channels are we currently using and how effective have they been?
• How could our digital presence be improved with a new strategy or marketing campaign?
• Are there any digital campaigns that we're not yet doing but should be thinking about launching in the near future?

This SWOT analysis allows you to identify digital strategies that align with your company's needs and goals, plus create the foundations for your digital marketing strategy.

Step Two: Understand the Digital Sales Funnel

The digital sales funnel is a framework that defines how marketing messages are delivered and the metrics marketers use to measure success.?

It's important for digital marketers to understand this concept because it will help them identify what digital channels work best at each stage of the process.

Specifically, understanding your goals and who they're targeting will allow you to tailor strategies accordingly, this means focusing on digital campaigns or tactics that align with those goals!

If you're looking for more leads, then focus on generating traffic from social media platforms like Facebook; if brand awareness is your goal then create blog content about specific topics relevant to your company's industry in order to capture attention!

It can be difficult as an entrepreneur just starting out but once you have some experience under your belt, digital marketing strategies will become more natural and easier to identify.

The digital sales funnel can be summarized in the following steps:

1. Generating traffic.
2. Capturing leads.
3. Qualifying potential customers into prospects.
4. Turning qualified prospects into buyers or clients.

In order to create an effective digital marketing strategy that utilizes this framework, a company must first know its goals for digital growth!?

This means creating content focused on generating traffic, as well as knowing where your target audience is spending their time online so you can reach them there with ads (more on this later).?

It also requires understanding how many visitors are being converted into leads which eventually turn those conversions into actual buyers of whatever product/service you're offering. Identifying digital marketing strategies which are best suited for the next step in this process will help you grow your business!

So, how do we know if digital channels are working?

The metrics discussed in SWOT give us a good idea of what digital channels work and don't work, but there's another way to tell.?

Your digital strategist can track conversion rates on any given website captured by Google Analytics or some other tracking software (we'll talk more about this later). This allows businesses to see how many visitors end up becoming leads/conversions after clicking through from an ad or being directed there via social media posts.?

If it seems like not too many people are converting, then either the landing page doesn't provide enough information and isn't interesting enough or digital marketers are having a hard time getting people to click through. This means that they need to re-evaluate their digital marketing strategies and how they can be improved!

Step Three: Build Your Digital Personas

It's important to know your digital personas because they'll dictate how you're going to reach and engage with different groups of digital consumers.

There are two types: digital ‘buyers’ who are actively seeking out a new product or service, and digital 'browsers' who want more information before making any purchase decisions but may be influenced by what they see online.

The most effective digital marketing strategies will speak directly to this persona - which is where our next step comes in!

How do you create a digital marketing persona?

You can start creating your perfect audience personas by identifying your digital personas based on their level of engagement, how often they visit digital channels, and where they're coming from.

For instance, if you have a blog that targets new moms who are looking for information about child-rearing then you'll want to know the demographic data about these women - their age range, what sources they read online (blogs vs. magazines), popular keywords in their posts or comments, etc., all of which will help shape your digital persona's personality!

It can be helpful to use tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Audience Insights so that you can get an idea of what other businesses' digital customers look like before creating one for yourself! It also helps to consider things such as:

• What topics do we want to be digital leaders in?
• Which digital channels are the most relevant for our business and why?

Step Four: Evaluate Your Current Digital Presence

The fourth step is evaluating how well your digital presence can meet your company's objectives and where it falls short if necessary.?

It's good practice at any point in a digital plan to re-evaluate the situation so that when changes are made, they're an improvement on what has come before.

There are many ways businesses evaluate their current digital presence; some of the most popular digital marketing benchmarks are evaluating your site's SEO ranking, what social media channels you're on, and how many followers or active users those platforms have.

Step Five: Develop a Content Marketing Strategy

The fifth step is deciding which content types will be best for achieving your digital goals and developing a strategy around them.?

A lot of companies overlook this crucial step in their digital plans, but it can make all the difference! It's important to come up with an insightful digital content plan that aligns with current trends as well as has staying power while still meeting customer needs (more about digital content later!).

Content marketing strategies should include topics such as industry news, company developments, client profiles, events coverage, etc., and digital channels to distribute content such as emails, blogs, social media posts, etc.

It is also important to identify different types of digital assets that will be created for publicizing your company's digital marketing strategy.?

These can include case studies or testimonials about successful tactics you have used in the past; tutorials on how to use certain tools (like a CRM) or handouts with expert advice on topics like lead generation strategies.

What are the best forms of content marketing?

Businesses should start by assessing which digital channels are relevant for their business and then determine how much time they can dedicate to a digital content marketing plan.?

The best digital strategy is one that's aligned with the company goals, so it always helps to think about what you want from your digital presence before deciding on the type of digital asset or channel that will work best.

Here are some of the most popular:

Blog post: (these provide an opportunity for in-depth storytelling) - Blogs are an important form of content because they offer a digital space to tell an in-depth story that might not make it into the mainstream media. They also give you the opportunity to engage with readers and allow them to comment on your work, which can lead to more feedback and conversations!

Infographics: (these are visually appealing pieces of information) - The best content has some sort of visual appeal so think about what types of graphics will be most effective at conveying your message or delivering key messages, like how many people use Google Maps? And where is their digital marketing headquarters located?

Videos: (video marketing allows for storytelling in a different way than text) - Video marketing provides opportunities for storytelling in another format; this makes sense considering how much time humans spend watching videos online.

Social Media Platforms: (Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Instagram) - Since these offer direct opportunities for two-way engagement with potential customers.

Email Newsletters: Email is still a primary digital channel-especially for a company with an established customer base.

What do you need to create a digital marketing strategy?

A digital marketing strategy entails a lot more than just digital content.?

Key components to include in your digital plan are social media strategies, online visibility (including SEO), lead generation, customer service and retention plans, competitive analysis for digital platforms, plus what their strengths and weaknesses are.

What are the different types of digital marketing strategies?

There are digital marketing strategies for all budgets and goals. Here are some of the most popular digital marketing tactics:

• Social media strategy - think about how your company can use this space to build relationships with customers.

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• SEO (search engine optimization) - this gets your website ranked higher in Google searches, however, it requires a lot of work!

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• Lead generation campaigns - create digital assets like email marketing, landing pages, webinars, etc. These campaigns require you have an audience or customer base already established.

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• Digital advertisements - such as banner ads on websites, mobile ads through text messages and apps; usually paid advertising methods cost money but they allow businesses to reach more people than other types of content do, at a quicker rate.

Step Six: Implement Your Digital Marketing Strategy

The sixth step is implementing your digital strategy and tracking its success.?

Depending on the company's goals, this may involve launching a new website or blog; developing social media profiles for specific purposes; creating lead generation campaigns that focus on different customer segments with targeted digital assets to generate leads in these markets.?

It is important to evaluate how well you are doing throughout the implementation phase by measuring conversion rates of various digital channels as well as engagement levels which we will talk about in the next step.

Step Seven: Evaluate Your Digital Marketing Strategy

After you begin implementing your newly formed digital marketing strategy, you can evaluate it by measuring digital conversion rates and digital engagement levels.?

Conversion rates are the number of people who take a digital action like visiting your website or signing up for an email newsletter. Digital engagement is the level to which customers are interacting with your digital content, this includes aspects like how much time they spend on your blog post, how many times they share it, etc.

This type of data allows you to gauge customer interest levels in digital assets and digital channels.

If you are not getting the results that you want, then it is important to make any necessary changes at this stage before continuing with your digital marketing strategy.

You can measure these metrics by using digital tools such as Google Analytics or marketing automation software.

Google Analytics allows your website to track digital traffic and conversion rates of any digital channels that you implement. It also allows for digital engagement levels by tracking how many people are viewing certain pages on your website, engaging with your social media posts, or clicking through to other digital assets from one place (for example, a blog post).

On the other hand, marketing automation software provides another way to track the success of digital marketing strategies in terms of goals as well as customer segmentation.?

Marketing automation platforms allow companies to create automated lead nurturing campaigns that can be customized based on who is interacting with your content, at what stage they engage with it, and when their behaviour changes.?

This technology helps marketers automate time-consuming tasks, so they have more time available to do higher-value work like developing effective digital strategies!

By using digital tools like digital marketing automation software and Google Analytics, companies can measure the success of their digital strategies.

How to evaluate your digital marketing strategy?

It is important to evaluate your digital marketing presence after implementing your newly formed digital marketing strategy because digital marketing is constantly evolving.

Evaluating digital channels and digital tools that you are using within your digital strategy will help to ensure you are maximizing the potential of these digital marketing approaches.

The following list includes some important questions and areas to explore such as:

• How effective was this social media campaign?
• Did we reach our goals for the blog post?
• What happens if I don't use a particular channel or tool, such as Twitter?
• Are there other digital marketing opportunities we should be exploring right now (e.g., Facebook Live)?
• How do they align with my company's needs at this time?

Conclusion

The digital marketing strategy is a key component for any business looking to increase its sales and reach more customers.?

If you’ve been wondering how to increase your sales with marketing, it’s time for a digital strategy. It's important to evaluate your digital channels, the digital tools being used within the plan, and how they align with what you need as a company at this time.