Digital Marketing Plan in 8 Steps

Digital Marketing Plan in 8 Steps 

Digital marketing's importance grows each month and year. Increasingly, people are turning to the internet for information and solutions to their needs. With so many options in digital marketing, it's tempting to jump into action mode before developing a viable plan. But investing in your approach is one of the finest ways to increase your digital ROI. A clear approach cuts waste, reduces time, focuses resources, and builds on what works. 

Create a solid digital marketing strategy by following the following eight steps: 

1. Look around and evaluate your findings

A good approach often starts with research. This helps you understand your starting place, your competition, and your customers. Evaluate your work. Begin by assessing your last year's performance. Analyze what worked and why it worked or didn’t work. 

Examine your rivals or competition. Examine your competitors' digital presence. The beautiful thing about digital marketing is that it is all public and very fast to find. Get to know them. Insights on your Facebook audience, including size, demographics, activities, and interests, are available for free. Google has free tools to track search trends and topics related to your product or service. 

2. Create a strategy

Create a strategy that outlines your goals and how you plan to attain them. The GSOT strategy framework helps you align your goals, strategies, objectives, and tactics. 

• Goals are what you desire to attain. For example, increase sales by 5% or get 200 people to sign up for an event. 
• Strategy is your plan to achieve your goals. This is commonly described by the marketing funnel stages: awareness, interest, desire, and action. 

A goal is a measurable quantity. For example, if I want to increase sales by 5% this year, I may aim to generate 200 leads or reach 400 individuals. 

• Tactics support your goals. If I need 200 new clients, I may use a landing page with a webinar and social media to attract them.

These are a few ways to build a strategy for increasing sales.

3. Settle on a strategy

Settling on a strategy will help you focus your efforts on areas that will help your company flourish. The issue in digital marketing is deciding what to do and set your target market. 

Digital marketing allows for highly targeted efforts. Be as specific as possible with your demographic targeting. Create buyer personas for your ideal consumer. 

4. Make a content plan

Make a content plan based on your marketing goals and target demographic. This should help you decide what stuff to include in your execution. 

Here are five content ideas: 

In phase one, look for ideas from competitors and customer research. 

• Visit Answer the Public to see what people are searching for. 
• Use Instagram hashtags to see what's hot. Instagram is a terrific source of visual inspiration. 
• Search for ideas on Google. This shows relevant searches to your category. 
• Explore Pinterest's viral, visual, and shareable content. 

5. Pick your techniques and channels

Choose the channels that will provide you the best results after you know what content your audience likes.  Consider all possible digital channels, tools, and techniques. Then prioritize using your step two technique. Consider how each channel contributes to your goal. 

6. Establish KPIs and performance standards

Too often, firms start executing but struggle to measure achievements. Each investment should have a clear KPI, which is your success metric. Next, set goals. Your goal is your benchmark. For email marketing, my KPI might be my email open rate, and my benchmark might be 25% or higher.

7. Follow best practices for optimal results

Details are often the devil. If you miss executional steps, you may not receive the desired results. Make sure you are following best practices. Digital marketing is constantly evolving, so what worked last year may not work now. It is preferable to accomplish fewer things poorly. 

8. Assess and adapt

Digital marketing's capacity to pivot and adjust is one of its many strengths. You don't have to stick to a strict schedule. If an ad isn't working, pause it and try something fresh. Analyze your website's conversion rate by comparing two different calls to action. For example, compare the performance of "learn more" and "sign up now." 

With digital marketing, it's easy to get caught up in the latest ideas and tools. To improve your results, create a plan and stay focused. With a laser-focused strategy, you know exactly how each component contributes to your goals and moves your company ahead.