Digital Marketing- Getting it Right
Strategy

Digital Marketing- Getting it Right

Jaime Escott - 4 Min read

Digital Marketing- Getting it Right

Digital marketing has burst into an increasingly diverse field, encompassing a vast range of techniques and strategies. By now, marketers are aware of the need to include digital marketing into their blueprint, but many are still scratching their heads as to why exactly they need it and how to begin. Digital Marketing allows businesses to curate their strategy to fit their exact needs like never before. With the flexibility of so many channels to choose from, increasingly engaging formats, innovative tracking tools, and most importantly all generations moving online, there is no question that it's necessary. But with Digital marketing’s continued expansion, it can be overwhelming to dive right in. What success in digital marketing boils down to is selecting the right channels, the right metrics, and having the right mix of content and technology.  

What Channel Should You Use?

You don’t want all your hard work falling on deaf ears. In the digital age, the channel options are as abundant as the audiences that companies are trying to target. The challenge is that there is no one size fits all channel strategy, there isn’t a perfect mix that all industries should follow. Each organization must develop its own optimized mix of channels that generates leads and nurtures them down the funnel. But how do you identify which tactics to emphasize? The channels that will benefit your business will depend on your predetermined goal, your target audience, and your budget.

Different channels will give you different results. If your goal is to solidify yourself as an expert in your industry, then you should have a different plan of action than if your goal was brand recognition. While running an Instagram campaign is a great way to increase awareness and generate leads, investing in pay-per-click for your whitepaper is better equipped to help you establish yourself as a thought leader. This knowledge, paired with knowledge of your target audience will guide your selection. Every generation is online these days, but knowing this much is not enough. Research where your audience is spending their time online and what are they hoping to accomplish. Are they looking for a quick-step process to buying your product online or are they looking to develop a long-term business partnership? The answer to these questions paired with a decision on your desired spend will help you weed through the numerous options and select the channels that will lead your campaign to success.

Are you asking the right questions?

Digital marketing is only beneficial if you know how to track its success. In traditional marketing, the exact success of your radio ad or print campaign can be blurry. However, digital analytics are a key aspect of digital marketing. You can see the number of likes, comments, views, percent engagement, clicks, even as far as where your viewers are located. But with so many detailed insights, how do you determine if your campaign was actually successful?

The first step is to ensure you are asking the right questions. Who is being measured, what are you measuring, and is this helping your bottom line? If you’re producing a social media campaign for your local ice cream shop, it’s important to note the location of the users engaging with your posts. But if a location is not a constant amongst your customers, it can be dangerous to collect data for the sake of collecting data. Instead-focus on the metrics that directly affect the success of your campaigns. key analytics for all industries to consider are traffic source, sales revenue, and conversion rate. Knowing where your leads are coming from will tell you which channels are driving success and ultimately where you should be investing your time and money. Traffic sources to focus on are direct visitors, organic search, referrals, and social media. To ensure your efforts are bringing the right people to your site, you need to analyze your conversion rate. If your ad is generating a high volume of traffic on the site but low numbers are completing the desired goal, then you may not be capturing the right leads. Lastly, the foundation of marketing is to generate sales so it's crucial to understand if your efforts are paying off. Utilizing a software system or a third party that specializes in measuring this data will help you to associate your sales increases with your marketing initiatives. When digital marketing analytics are used successfully, they provide detailed insight into your consumer base and open the doors for innovation.

Find the perfect mix

An effective mix of content and technology is a driving factor for the success of your digital marketing strategy. A killer rotation of blogs and whitepapers may go unread if not optimized by marketing on platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook or boosted by investment in SEO. The same outcome can be found on the other side of the spectrum. A pay-per-click campaign could drive all the traffic in the world, but they won’t convert to leads unless the site hosts meaningful content. When utilizing digital marketing to boost your content, speak to what the audience needs- throughout every step of their process down the funnel. Capture leads by utilizing digital marketing strategies to generate brand awareness, then provide them with the in-depth content that gives them the confidence to complete their goal.