As the owner of a small business, you know it takes all kinds of resources, effort, time, and money to run a business that will thrive in the online space. But if you want to succeed, you need a digital marketing strategy.
When it comes to digital marketing, a well-conceived and executed strategy will produce the best results. Whether your goal is to generate leads, improve SEO, or just drive traffic to your site, it’s important to put together a strong strategy to maximize your efforts and achieve measurable goals.
When you’re building your first online marketing strategy, you may feel like you need to learn a lot about the ins and outs of digital marketing.
But in reality, there are seven important factors you need to know to get started. Once you know these seven, you’ll be able to dive right in and start using the strategies you’ve learned to start earning revenue.
You’ll see just how easy it is to get going when you understand the basics of marketing. You’ll know exactly how to keep your brand name top of mind, and how to market yourself to a large audience. And you’ll know what to do next when you want to take it further.
To make sure you don’t miss out on the next big trend, it’s vital to have a solid digital marketing strategy. Here are seven steps to help you get started.
1. Develop a Brand Vision Statement
A brand vision statement is your company’s guiding mission, purpose, and values that help define who you are and what you want to stand for.
While a brand vision statement can include all aspects of a business, it’s typically the first thing prospective buyer sees when they visit your website or meet you.
2. Set Goals and a Strategy
There is no way to avoid setting goals. Goals don’t help you succeed if you don’t define how you plan to reach them. It’s critical that every strategy and tactic you employ in your business are clearly outlined and based on realistic expectations.
But don’t just talk about your goals, define them and break down exactly what you’ll need to do to achieve those goals. Write them down.
3. Launch a Social Campaign
Now that you’ve gotten everyone onboard with your vision, launch a social campaign to communicate your mission. Use social media to share your brand message, announce your launch, and spread the word about your new brand.
Be sure to tell people who don’t already follow you on Twitter or Facebook that you’re launching something new. You never know who could be the first to share your news.
4. Build a Content Marketing Plan
The content marketing plan is a roadmap that lays out all of the steps needed to get from Point A (previously, your marketing efforts) to Point B (the launch of your content campaign).
The first step in building a content marketing plan is identifying what you’ll need to do in order to complete each step. Think about it like you’re making a long road trip. At the very start of the trip, you need a map and directions.
Once you arrive, you need a set of directions. After you’ve completed each step, you can have the map that shows you where you are, what you need to do next, and how far you still have to drive.
Think of content marketing as having a map for your content journey. It’s how you plan your content production and distribution strategy.
You need to have a specific destination in mind: the place that your prospects will be when they finish reading the content. If you don’t already know that place, use content marketing tools and strategies to figure it out.
5. Engage with Influencers
An influencer is someone whose opinion carries a lot of weight with a particular group of people. These days, you don’t need to be famous to become an influencer.
Influencer marketing focuses on building relationships with people who have a strong online presence.
These individuals are already familiar with the brand you are trying to reach and may share content that you can use to build your brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website.
Influencer marketing allows brands to engage with people who influence and are influential to their target audience.
You can even leverage influencers to reach their target audience and build brand loyalty. Influencer marketing can take place in various ways — including paid ads, sponsored content, in-store events, social media posts, and more.
6. Measure and Optimize
Measuring and optimizing is a must if you want to be successful. No matter how many emails you send, if you don’t measure and optimize your response, you’ll just keep sending more messages. That’s a waste of time and resources. It will also fail to get the results you’re looking for.
7. Repeat the Cycle
When it comes to marketing, you need to be aware that it never ends. You can keep up the momentum and stay ahead of your competition if you take action consistently.
And while consistency will ensure you get noticed, you should be mindful not to be boring and repetitive.
A steady stream of content that doesn’t vary from your original campaign isn’t sustainable. If you find yourself spinning your wheels, it may be time to change your strategy or reevaluate your goals.
If you want to build a successful digital marketing strategy, you need to understand the market you’re trying to reach, consider what you want your audience to do, identify which channels you use and which ones aren’t working, identify your target customers, and choose the right channels.
