Top 5 elements of a top-notch digital marketing plan

Research shows that customers complete more than 60% of their buyer's journey before they meet the sales representative. But what are they doing if they are not talking to the sales team? Answer: They are spending time researching brands online and comparing the products based on their strengths and weaknesses.?

In the years spent researching brands, communicating with clients and understanding the customer journey, there’s been a few key artefacts that we keep in mind. It’s important to have an effective digital marketing plan in hand if you want to influence the buying decision of the consumer. To make your way through the buyer's journey, your digital marketing plan must have the following top five elements.

Website

“57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile.”

Web development and digital marketing are the two sides of the same coin. If you want to run a successful digital marketing campaign, you will have to invest in a good website development plan.?

The website is the foundation of your digital strategy and serves as the brand’s digital face. Consumers usually visit a business’s website to find out more about the company and its products or services. It can influence potential customers’ perception of the brand. Thus, you need a website that is mobile-friendly, responsive, and accessible to everyone who wants to browse your content with ease.

If you want your business to be competitive, you need to make sure that your website is up-to-date with the latest best practices. This means that you need to implement responsive design elements on your website so that it can be viewed properly on any device. It is also crucial to make sure that your website has a user-friendly interface so that visitors can easily navigate through all of your content without difficulty.

A good website can increase the visibility of your brand online and generate more leads for your business. In addition, it can also help to build a strong relationship with your audience. As you continue to get more visitors, you can further promote your content to convert them into customers.

Content marketing strategy

About 70% of marketers are investing in content marketing.?

Content is the reason users visit your website or follow your brand on social media and that makes content marketing the next top element of your digital marketing plan. The consumers of today are constantly looking out for rich digital resources that guide them through the buyer's journey and empower them to make the final decision.?

A good content marketing strategy includes sharing relevant and meaningful content that clearly reflects the values and vision of your brand. There are various types of content but it is important to choose the ones that align with your brand platform as well as your marketing goals.

Content can be shared in the form of:

? blog posts?

? ebooks?

? case studies?

? infographics

? videos?

? newsletters?

? webinars?

? press releases?

? landing pages?

? and more…

While infographics are the best way to convert complicated material into easy to consume visual content, content like an ebook gives an opportunity to educate the customers at a deeper level. In the same way, blogging is another important aspect of content marketing that is considered one of the most trusted forms of information that helps establish trust with the customers.?

Content marketing is all about creating valuable, targeted and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action.?

Are you reaching your customers with relevant information in order to acquire new customers or keep existing ones engaged?

Search Engine Optimisation

“93% of all online interactions begin with a search engine.”

The search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies you use will make all the difference in how your consumers can find you.?

A clear, concise and updated SEO strategy allows you to rank higher in search results, improving your brand's visibility to potential customers.

Moreover, optimising your website for search engines means that you are also making it easier for users to find you in the first place. Most users start their buyer's journey by looking out for products and services on the search engine. If a customer is looking for a product or service from your brand, will they be able to find your page in the search list??

In order to attract them, however, you need to make sure that your website is optimised for the search engine results page (SERP). This means, among other things, making sure that it features the right keywords and content so that it ranks highly on relevant queries. SEO is an ongoing process, which means that you have to constantly monitor and update your strategies. It is important to note that SEO strategies need to evolve based on changing trends and user behaviour.

Before you start planning your SEO strategy, it is important to identify what you want from it. Consider things like how much traffic do you want on your site? Would you prefer more clicks or conversions? Are you looking forward to improving your brand image or increasing sales? Once you know what exactly you want from SEO, it will help in prioritising your efforts in the right direction.?

Social media

“98% of sales representatives achieve their quotas through social selling.”

Social media is a great way to spread the word about your business and attract new clients. In fact, research shows that more than 85% of buyers use social media as an important part of their decision-making process – and that number continues to grow!?

Here’s how a strong social media presence can benefit your organisation:

1. Get involved - Social media can be used as a tool for building new relationships with existing customers and potential customers, but it also makes it easy to find out what they think about your products and services.?

The key is to get involved with your clients and make them feel part of the team - so they will be more likely to share their experiences with you on social media.

2. Stay agile - Research shows that a strong presence on social media is highly valuable, but in order for your business to stay ahead, you need to monitor which trends are emerging and adapt quickly.

3. Measure results - Social media monitoring tools can help you understand how well you are doing in terms of obtaining leads from social media channels and converting these into sales leads. With this information, you will be able to identify which campaigns are most successful and which ones can be improved.

Analytics

“75% of the marketing leaders make decisions based on data analytics.”

The digital marketing plan is incomplete without analytics tools that help you measure the different metrics, monitor the results and optimise your digital media strategy in order to maximise your ROI.?

Interpreting the data and measuring the key metrics can give you a deeper insight into the evolving customer behaviour and their needs. It will help gain insight into the preferences of different customers based on their:?

? age group;

? location;

? gender;

?? and other demographics.?

For instance, if you have an e-commerce site, you can figure out which type of products are purchased by which age group or gender by looking at their previous buying history. Based on that information, you can create targeted email campaigns or purchase ads that display specific types of products to specific people based on their demographic information.

It has been observed that many companies are not completely aware of what they should be analysing. One must understand that there isn't one standard metric that can be used to analyse the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts. Various industries will have different metrics, depending on their business goals. Here are 3 tips to keep in mind while using analytics:

1) Set a goal

2) Identify your KPIs

3) Monitor, measure and improve

These are the 5 key artefacts that we keep in mind when evaluating our clients. What are yours??