A Quick Guide to Planning a Digital Marketing Strategy and Essential Tools to Use
Having a digital marketing plan will enable marketers to plan activities and execute them in a structured way. This will help find loopholes and measure progress in an effective manner. Almost every company today has made digital marketing a part of their marketing strategy. Considering the rise in usage of the internet and the widespread connectivity, having an online presence has become essential for every brand. Digital marketing isn’t just about advertising and posting online. It doesn’t reap benefits until a brand has a strong digital marketing strategy to follow and execute. Marketing the product blindly without any solid planning won’t really be effective. Plus tracking progress becomes difficult too.
So, today, we bring you a quick guide to planning a powerful digital marketing strategy. Alongside this, we would also introduce you to some of the most popular and effective digital marketing tools for better returns.
Let’s get started.
How to create your digital marketing strategy
Research
The research lays a strong foundation for the entire plan. It is essential to know what the best digital networks to invest in are and what platforms are expected to bring more exposure to the brand.
After thorough research, finalizing the budget amount based on the marketing mediums chosen for advertising the product should be done.
Updates and Trends
Understand the target audience and be aware of the trends. Staying abreast of the changing trends and updates in the online marketing field is very essential. Observing these changes will make it easier to understand the requirements of a set of audience which helps curate your product in line with their needs.
Plan a profitable PPC campaign
When crafted strategically, a PPC campaign can be highly effective. It brings large amounts of traffic, quality leads and of course higher conversion rates. This, again, requires careful planning and research. For a successful campaign, knowing what the customer wants and how he/she is searching for it is important. Find the terms that are most commonly used while looking for a product similar to yours. These terms become your targeted words that can be included in your Ads.
To find the most effective keywords for your campaign based on your audience’s search query, you can use keyword tools. Some of the most popular and widely used keyword research tools are:
Google keyword console
Moz keyword explorer
Ahrefs keyword explorer
Keyword In
Soovle
Now, run research on some competitors and after taking everything into account, invest in the finalized keywords. Be sure to stick to the budget as you don’t want to end up overspending on Ads. The Ad copy should be precise and effective. It should seem genuine and be able to call for action. Also, once the visitor lands on your page, make sure it isn’t disappointing. The page should be welcoming and informative. This increases chances of the visit turning into a conversion.
Social Media Marketing Channels
It is no secret that digital marketing mostly comprises of marketing through social media platforms. We have concluded our first step of planning i.e., research with a list of social media platforms that seem to be most effective. Now, marketing through these channels might seem like an easy task but the amount of effort it requires is huge. So, if you are a beginner, we suggest you start off by targeting one social media platform and go on to expand your reach later. For instance, start by Facebook marketing. Let us say you set a budget of amount x and expect an ROI of two times of x. When you reach your target, take a part of that amount and use it for marketing on another channel; Instagram, Google Ads or others. In this way, you will be able to build a strong online presence without losing money. Rushing things and marketing the product on all the channels at once might seem tempting but it often ends in disappointment. Avoid that by taking small but effective steps toward building your brand.
Email marketing
Email marketing is one major way of marketing that many marketers swear by. Get an official email for your website or product if you don’t already have one as it allows you to stay connected with the frequent visitors on your page. Building an email list is proven to be very useful; especially when you are expanding your business or launching new products. Email marketing helps inform existing customers about your newly launched products and also keeps the potential customers in the loop.
Write compelling blog posts
Content is king. There’s no doubt about that considering the fact that every marketing plan circles around content. The content you display on your website, Ads, and social media handles can either make or break a deal. Not to forget the blog posts on your website play a vital role in selling your product. Google search results rely majorly on the relevancy of the content. For driving good organic traffic and appearing on the first page of Google when certain terms are searched for, writing SEO friendly and compelling blog posts is necessary.
Besides this, you can also create and post content on third party websites that’ll help you gain exposure. It increases interaction with the audience that is likely to be interested in what you are offering.
Now, let’s look at some of the widely used digital marketing tools:
Google Analytics – Helps you understand visitor behavior and track progress (conversions) from campaigns.
Google Keyword Planner – To find the most effective keywords.
SumoMe – To track the behavior of the user visiting your site and make changes accordingly.
Grammarly – This isn’t exactly a digital marketing tool but comes handy while writing content as it ensures there are no errors in the post.
Active Campaign – Serves well for Email marketing. It acts as an all-rounder helping you share automated welcome messages, responses and enabling you to follow-up with potential customers with ease.
Platform-based social media analytics – Gives valuable insights on activities from each social media platform.
Yoast – It is a plugin that adds extra search engine data to the content displayed on your blog.
In conclusion, having a solid digital marketing strategy goes a long way when compared to marketing the product randomly without a structured framework. The online world is evolving rapidly and there are new trends coming into the picture every single day. Being flexible with the marketing plan is suggested as adapting to customer’s behavior and paying heed to their needs is the ultimate secret to successful marketing.
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