There are a plethora of marketing solutions and opportunities that allow you to connect with customers, build your brand, and market at scale. The biggest problem we see in our day to day are clients without a clear digital strategy. Without a strategy in place, how can you invest any money into digital marketing? If you did invest with a strategy or a poor one it will be hard (if not impossible) to gauge return on your marketing investment. We hear time and again that there are no quality results from digital marketing – we always ask, well what was your strategy before you started investing?
If you are operating with a clear and defined digital marketing strategy, don’t worry, you are not alone. A recent study by Smart Insights found that 47 percent of businesses are operating without a clear digital marketing strategy. However, you should not take too much comfort in that fact. How can a company successfully navigate today’s digital marketing environment and come out the other side thinking it was money and time well spent? Here’s a closer look at why companies need to invest in a digital marketing strategy.
What are your most critical business goals, and how can digital marketing help you reach them? That’s the question that drives us when creating any digital strategy. Are you focused on acquiring new customers, taking your products or services into new markets, or building brand awareness for your company? A digital strategy provides the map you need. Your goals determine tactics, channels, messages, and partners you need to focus and work with to generate real results.
Digital marketing today requires the right tools and the right partners, from web design to social media marketing to search engine optimization tools. Without a clear strategy, it’s impossible to prioritize which tools and partnerships to invest in to achieve the best return and deliver an outstanding customer experience.
A successful digital strategy starts with knowing your customers. However, with all the data available today, it’s possible to collect infinite amounts of information without clear insights. A digital strategy helps companies focus on key performance indicators (KPIs), data-collection methods, and technology systems that will provide the deepest insights on customers.
Digital transformations are great because they allow the brand to control the user experience. A digital strategy defines what your ideal customer experience looks like and provides the roadmap to get there – so your UI/UX can follow suit. As Forrester Research notes, a digital strategy lets companies take “a user-centered approach to understanding the needs and behaviors of their omni-channel customers and filling in the experience gaps in a disciplined manner.”
Measuring the ROI of your digital marketing efforts is key to making ongoing investments and knowing when it’s time to pivot your approach. In your digital marketing strategy, you’ll define the KPIs that matter most to your business. Different are important for different goals – KPIs such as traffic, channel-specific traffic, conversions, and search trends all have different connotations. Knowing what matters most for your goals helps you put the right analytics technology in place to create smart, data-driven feedback.
Digital marketing is constantly evolving. New technologies like wearable devices and expanding social platforms such as live streaming apps like Vine are constantly being introduced – or in Vine’s case shut down. Brands, large and small, need to stay on top of trends and proactively experiment with different formats, channels, and approaches to see what resonates with their audience. A digital strategy helps brands find out what’s working and what’s not.
Digital marketing is no longer optional and no matter where you are your customers are looking for you online. They are seeking basic information to looking for customer support. Don’t become (or continue to be) a brand without a clear strategy. It’s time you define your goals, focus your resources behind your most important business objectives, and start setting up your digital marketing efforts to work for you.
Need help creating a digital marketing strategy or want more insight? Please, feel free to get in touch. We can’t wait to help you.