5 digital marketing strategies: basics and examples of success We all know that the use of digital media is constantly increasing. A 2018 report found that, on average, adults spend around 5.9 hours a day using digital media — whether it’s computers, smartphones, or other connected devices. In some ways, our dependency is almost frightening. However, it also represents an opportunity for companies to digitally bring their brand closer to these always-connected customers. This is where a digital marketing strategy comes into play.
“Your digital marketing strategy is a series of actions designed to help you achieve your business goals through carefully selected online marketing channels,” said Elissa Hudson, HubSpot’s senior marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand. No question – designing your own digital marketing strategy is a big task. That’s why we break down for you what digital marketing actually is, what important role it plays and how you can be inspired by examples of success.
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Why you need a digital marketing strategy
Here’s the short answer: As with any other aspect of your business, you need an overall strategy to stay on course and operate effectively. This way you can always make the right decisions instead of wasting your energy on aimless ad hoc ideas. This is particularly important in digital marketing with its many different forms. What types of digital marketing are there? Here is a small selection:
- Content-Marketing
- E-Mail-Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
- Social-Media-Marketing
- Affiliate-Marketing
So what is the main goal of a digital marketing strategy? In short, it pulls all of these elements together into a coherent plan that can save you effort, time, and money.
How to design your digital marketing strategy
Sounds good doesn’t it? But when it comes to developing your own digital marketing strategy, it suddenly doesn’t look so easy. So let’s start small with five simple steps that can get your digital marketing on the right track: a fundamental framework for your long-term success.
1. Know your target audience
Before you can effectively market your product or service , you need to know who you’re actually trying to target. Therefore, your first step is to get to know your current target audience better. These are some of the most common and effective methods:
- Analytics (evaluating your existing website, email marketing platform and social media accounts)
- Surveys and Feedback Forms
- Discussions with your sales and customer service staff
These actions will give you a lot of clarity about who your customers are, what their intentions are, what their challenges are and where your company can start here. Armed with this information, you can develop different buyer personas : fictional people that you want to target with your marketing and to whom you should therefore tailor your advertising messages.
2. Define your goals
Your digital marketing strategy needs to be aligned with an overarching goal — more specific and motivating than the general intent of “promoting my business” or “getting more customers.” One of the best methods for setting marketing goals is the SMART concept . SMART is the acronym for: