People are spending more and more time on the web, which has led to a dramatic shift in the way local businesses distribute their budgets. It’s no surprise that business owners are realizing digital marketing can make a large impact with a small budget. But for many businesses, getting started with digital is the hardest part. Creating a strategy is the best way to get the ball rolling!
Follow this 5 step process to create a digital strategy for your business.
1) Define Your Target Audience
How old are they? What location do they live in or spend most of their time at?
What forms of social media are they using most?
Thinking about these things now will increase your digital marketing campaign’s success tenfold!
2) Establish Your Goals
What types of things do you want to accomplish with digital marketing? Common goals include:
- Increase overall brand awareness
- Build your following
- Boost your online search result ranking
- Drive more people to contact your business
- Increase online sales
Setting goals will determine the best plan of action for your business.
3) Set Up Website Analytics
Did I lose you? Hold on, I’ll explain! This is how you’ll measure success and determine whether you’re getting the most out of your budget. The first step is to find out if your website is using Google Analytics. Email your web developer and ask to have access, or set it up yourself. 1 year from now you’ll give the person beside you a big high five for getting access, trust me!
4) Get Creative
You need content to share. Based on the goals you’ve established for your campaign, start thinking about what you want to put out there for your audience to see. The key to creating long lasting value with digital marketing is to always drive traffic back to your own website. Your content should be published on your own site in the form of a blog post, landing page, event calendar, sign-up form, infographic, meme, the list goes on….
5) Choose Your Marketing Channels
So you’ve already defined your audience and started planning out the creative for your digital campaign. Now you need to put together your plan of attack. How and where do you want to share your content?
- Social media
- Banner advertising
- Youtube pre-rolls
- Google AdWords
- Local influencers
- Remarketing
Stick To The Strategy
It’s your marketing play book. If you complete the 5 steps listed in this article, you’ll be on your way to success on the web. Digital marketing doesn’t have to have a dark cloud around it – your new digital strategy will help make everything clear. If you’d like to learn more about how to implement your strategy and reach your goals on the web, please feel free to contact us for more info.
