“What Should your Digital Marketing Strategy Look Like?” I get asked this question a lot! It’s a great question, but unfortunately there is no straightforward answer.
It comes in different guises and phrases. “How do I get onto the first page on Google?” “Should I be using Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat/Facebook/ LinkedIn/[insert social media platform here]?” “Should I be doing PPC or Google Adwords?” “How many hits should my website be getting?” “Do I need a new website?” “Should I have a mailing list?” “How often should I blogging?” “Should I be holding webinars?” “What is a webinar?”
A friend of mine, who wants to promote his band, asked me the question half an hour before I starting writing this post. His particular phrasing was “If you fancy helping giving my band a push on the ‘tinter web, feel free!” Ok, more suggestion than a question, but I get a fair bit of these too. I know that he wants is for me to say “Sure, let me play around with Google’s Algorithingummy and I’ll make sure you appear ahead of Justin Beiber in just a few clicks and a scroll of the mousewheel”.
OK – so what should your Digital Marketing Strategy like?
The answer is typically, “it depends”. I know it sounds like a cop out but it’s true, but that’s what makes it so interesting and that’s why I’ve really enjoyed this line of work!
Since I set up Kobestarr Digital as a Digital Marketing Agency it has been clear to me that there is no one size fits all when it comes to your digital marketing strategy. What is clear is that if it is done well and implemented thoughtfully, it can be the most efficient and effective way of attracting new customers.
I thought that the best way to structure the rest of this post was to give an overview of some of the key steps and what you should be thinking about at each one:
So many people sidestep or hop over this stage but I urge you not to! It may sound boring but I cannot stress enough how important this part is. This is where you get to find out everything about your buyer persona or target market. Where do they hang out online? If they are exclusively on LinkedIn then your Pinterest account may just be costing you time and money. What are they typing into Google? What is their typical age/sex/location?
Then focus your sights on your competitors. How are they spending their time online? What keywords do they rank on Google for? Do they spend money on PPC? Do they blog and if so how often? What kind of content do they produce? Who are they following on Twitter?
Once you know what your competitors are doing you can look to outsmart them with your digital marketing strategy rather than outspend them.
The list of what you can and should find out is endless and it is all gold. The outcome, if done properly, will be a well-formed map of what is going on in your digital realm that will inform ALL of your next steps.
Based on your research you will now know what content to produce for whom and when. So if you’re an independent hairdresser in North London, there may be little benefit in producing content for a global or national audience – especially if resources are limited. The truth is your customers will appreciate the relevancy of your location and niche. Your marketing strategy will be also a hell of a lot more efficient and effective, as the people that visit you online will be better poised to become customers.
Once you know the demographics of your buyer persona you can start occupying space in the social media platforms that they hang out in.
The content that you produce should tie in with your target market but also your brand, company and personality. If you like making short video clips and are naturally trigger happy with a camera phone then Instagram may well be your calling!
There is more than one way to skin a cat here. Your website should look good and be easy to understand, navigate, underpin your brand and depending on your business model, be set up to convert the visitors into leads.
Make sure that your site looks great on mobile and tablet. You can no longer ignore the amount of mobile web visits and Google rewards you for it. This no longer needs to add extra cost to your website build.
Once you have your customer, don’t neglect them! These guys can be your brand champions in the form of shout outs on LinkedIn, Google My Business reviews, testimonials on your website, direct referrals or even reuse/re-buy from you. So don’t become a stranger.
Let’s get this straight – I’m a heavyweight geek. I’m one of the few people in the world that has a Masters Degree in Engineering and a Masters Degree in Social Media. Maybe that “accolade” is unique to me?
This means that I love data and the benefit of digital is that you can and should be collecting the data for EVERYTHING you do and analysing it. I think that it’s one reason I took to this like a duck to water.
The upshot is that you want to prove the ROI of your digital marketing efforts. Having this data will also give you the ability to concentrate your efforts on the most effective parts of your digital marketing strategy and cut out the least effective.
Your digital marketing strategy should always be evolving. Come up with theories and tests and take action on the results and rinse and repeat.
You goals should be based on your inputs rather than the outcomes. See what happens to the number of visitors to your site when you blog twice a week rather than saying “I need 10 000 visitors per day”.
The long and the short is that these steps and more are all intertwined and for the most positive effect should considered and performed together and not in isolation.
This blog post is so much longer than I thought it would be so thank you for getting this far! It just goes to show that there is a lot more to the question no matter how you want to phrase it. There are no silver bullets and results are unlikely to be instantaneous.
The good news is there will be a way that works for you that you are comfortable with, you may just have to put a bit of elbow grease in. That’s where I can help you out for sure! It’s important to honest from the outset. It’s easy to be gung-ho at the start and say that you’ll be writing a daily blog and tweeting 3 times an hour but is that sustainable? If it is great! Then maybe you could do more ☺!
If you want to hit me up about anything just give me a shout. Head over to the Kobestarr Digital Website to find my contact details or come and tap me on the shoulder next time “Bon Iver” comes on the airwaves at work.life Camden. If you’re not based in work.life in Camden then shame on you!
