Having your business online is one thing, but having a well thought out digital marketing strategy is another.
But with the digital landscape changing every day, where is the best place to start creating and optimizing your strategy?.
Digital marketing has become an inseparable part of modern businesses. The rapid advancement of the internet and technology has led companies to devise new strategies and tools to effectively promote their products and services in the online realm.
What is a digital marketing strategy?
A digital marketing strategy is a plan for using digital channels to reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals. It should include a mix of online marketing tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing.
It must be tailored toward specific company key performance indicators (KPIs). Core elements of creating a successful strategy include:
- Digital channels.
- Target audience and regions.
- Core messaging components.
- Budgets.
How do I create a digital marketing strategy?
Define Your Target Audience. Who are you trying to reach with your marketing efforts? Once you know who your target audience is, you can start to develop a plan for reaching them.
Set Your Marketing Goals. What do you want to achieve with your digital marketing efforts? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your goals, you can start to develop a plan for how to achieve them.
Choose The Right Digital Marketing Tactics. There are a variety of online marketing tactics available, so you need to choose the ones that will be most effective for reaching your target audience and achieving your goals.
Below are detailed examples of digital marketing strategies and exemplary companies that have shown remarkable success, enabling businesses to gain valuable insights and implement similar approaches in their marketing campaigns.
1.SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimizing a website’s content and structure to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This strategy involves researching relevant keywords, creating high-quality content, building backlinks, and improving website performance. By improving your website’s SEO, you can increase organic traffic and generate leads.
A good example here is Airbnb who leveraged the power of SEO to drive organic traffic to their website by optimizing their platform for specific keywords related to travel and accommodations. They conducted thorough keyword research, optimized their web pages with relevant meta tags, and created high-quality, informative content to attract potential customers. This strategic SEO approach helped the company become a leading player in the travel industry, with a significant increase in their organic reach.
2.CONTENT MARKETING
Content marketing involves creating and distributing high-quality content to attract and engage your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, eBooks, and more. A successful content marketing strategy requires identifying your audience’s needs, creating relevant content, and promoting it across multiple channels. Content marketing can help build brand awareness, establish thought leadership, and drive conversions.
OPEN FORUM, is an example of a content platform created by American Express, which focuses on delivering valuable and actionable insights for small business owners. By providing high-quality, shareable content on topics like finance, sales, and marketing, American Express successfully positioned themselves as a resource for SME owners, simultaneously fueling its brand reputation and image.
3.SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and LinkedIn can be powerful marketing tools. A successful social media marketing strategy involves creating engaging content, targeting specific audiences, and measuring performance metrics. Social media can help increase brand awareness, generate leads, and provide customer support.
WENDY’s, a popular fast-food chain, named after Thomas dave in 1969, leverages social media marketing to strengthen its brand presence and engage with customers. The company’s Twitter account is known for its witty, humorous, and engaging tweets, which often go viral. Wendy’s has mastered the art of creating shareable content that resonates with their target audience, boosting both customer engagement and brand loyalty.
4.EMAIL MARKETING
Email marketing involves sending promotional messages or newsletters to your subscribers’ email inboxes. An effective email marketing strategy requires building a list of subscribers, segmenting the list, creating personalized content, and measuring engagement metrics. Email marketing can be used to generate leads, improve customer retention, and drive sales.
BUZZFEED, an American media platform, has perfected its email marketing strategy by creating well-tailored, highly engaging newsletters for their subscribers. By segmenting their audience list into specific categories (e.g., lifestyle, entertainment, news, etc.), BuzzFeed delivers relevant and personalized content, which results in high open rates and increased engagement from recipients
5.PAY-PER-CLICK ADVERTISEMENT (PPC)
Pay-per-click advertising is a powerful online marketing tool that lets you reach potential customers by bidding on keywords related to your business. Essentially, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad – and can be highly effective in driving conversions if done correctly.
Pay-per-click ads are a way to drive targeted traffic to your website by placing ads on search engines, social media platforms, or other relevant websites. Typically PPC campaigns are run in Google and Microsoft Ads.
ZAPPOS, a Footwear and clothing retailer uses PPC campaigns on Google Ads to target potential buyers searching for related products. Through keyword research and optimization, the company develops effective ads that align with users’ search intent. This well-executed PPC strategy has allowed Zappos consistently to attract a highly-converting user base.
Digital marketing strategies are not a “one size fits all.” They also should not be the only strategy a brand has. While it’s important to think about “digital-first” when it comes to strategies, it needs to align with the overall business goals. By understanding which strategies align with your business goals, you can create a comprehensive digital marketing plan that will help you reach and engage your target audience.
By analyzing examples of successful campaigns like Airbnb, American Express OPEN Forum, Wendy’s, Daniel Wellington, BuzzFeed, and Zappos, businesses can understand the variations and techniques behind these strategies, allowing them to develop and implement their own effective digital marketing initiatives.
Lastly, it is important to track your results so that you can see what is working and what is not. This will help you to improve your digital marketing strategy and get better results.
