By Imoh Etuk
The changes in technology has changed the way we do virtually everything including the way we give our products out in exchange for money- selling. It is a well-known fact that, the way deliveries in marketing are made nowadays has undoubtedly moved from the traditional way of showcasing what we have for sale to a more digitalized way. It’s all about going digital if you want to reach a global heights in whatever you have for sale.
Needless to say, regardless of the alarming improvement in the way we sale what we have to sale via digital medium, there are still some views that, marketing activities should not only be restricted to a digital medium alone but should also have its structures linked to physical stores as this will instill confidence in those in doubt of digital marketing reality.
Nowadays, almost all the information we share is technological information such among these are; when we communicate with our friends and loved ones, workplace information, information on the street, political information, religious information and social gathering information.
Digital Marketing as a concept
There is no question that in the modern marketing system, almost all your buyers are always online and this makes a big part of your marketing activities digital. Whenever the term, “Digital Marketing” is mentioned, the first thing that comes into mind is — virtual bonding. Virtual bonding is a way of relating with people online and before this could be successful, there must be a strategy. In simple terms, a strategy is just a plan of action to achieve a desired goal, or multiple goals. For example, your pressing goal might be to generate 30% more leads via your website this year than you drove last year.
Depending on the scale of your business, your digital marketing strategy might involve multiple goals and a lot of moving parts, but coming back to this simple way of thinking about strategy can help you stay focused on meeting those objectives.
The use of digital technologies to market goods and service mainly on the internet is a digital marketing. The act involves strategies because without strategies, you will not know if your target is achieved or not.
Digital marketing is real and appealing way of reaching a larger audience who will buy your products or services. Nowadays, the number of people who prefers to stay in their corners to purchase your products on a click are becoming far greater than the number of people who might want to work up to you in your physical stock.
It is not also easy to get someone to purchase whatever you are offering as a product or service on the click, why because if your ads are not strategic-having the ability to capture and win the minds of your potential buyers, it will be very hard for them to patronize you online. No matter the reality of digital marketing there is still so much doubt in minds of many potential buyers.
You have to choose between the various methods of digital marketing and tailor your brand to meet the needs of those customers out there. Digital marketing methods such as search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games are becoming more common in our advancing technology. In fact, digital marketing now extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callback, and on-hold mobile ring tones.
The idea is, if you want your brand to be well known to those you don’t and they don’t know you, you must try as much as possible to do something newer than others. One such thing is, carrying out competitors’ analysis to determine your return on investment through your online marketing activities.
Steps to a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy
It’s all about going digital if you want your business to reach global heights!
Today, it is very easy to reach global audiences and mark your successful presence on the internet — thanks to certain advancements in technology. However, most businesses are not utilizing this opportunity. Numerous studies have confirmed that at least 46% of brands don’t have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy. 16% out of the remaining 54% businesses have a digital marketing strategy but it is not integrated into their business marketing plan. Without a proper digital marketing plan, no business can climb up the stairs of search engine rankings.
It is time to lace up your shoes and craft a plan that can pack a powerful punch. We have selected 7 most important steps you should follow to ensure your digital marketing strategy creates a lasting impact.
Step 1 — Set the Objectives
Behind every great plan, there is an idea. You cannot achieve the desired results from your digital marketing strategy without knowing what you actually want. It is vital to define your business’ overall mission first so that the marketing campaign can be synced up accordingly. For example, you should ask yourself what you want for your digital marketing efforts to be achieved. If you can find an answer to that, it’s a good start and that means you have just identified your mission.
Identify and Measure Your KPIs
- Try to be specific with your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by identifying the figures you want to achieve.
- Set realistic expectations/goals for your KPIs. This will help you measure your performance by comparing your present and past results and show you your current progress.
- Set a method that can help you measure each of your KPIs. There are different tools you can use to do that. For example, Google Analytics can help you measure conversions and social media analytics tools can help you keep a track of your engagements.
Step 2 — Analyze Your Past Performance
In order to create a successful digital marketing strategy, you should analyze what went wrong previously. It is a nice way to know what your weaknesses are and how you can overcome them. This step requires a lot of time and energy. The success of your future digital marketing strategy depends a lot on this step. Please note that you don’t have to analyze all your past record; just analyze a certain time period. When you have determined the time period you want to analyze, try to look for loopholes in your previous marketing strategy that you would not want in your current campaign. Moreover, comparing your strategy with that of your competitor can also be very fruitful.
Create Thoughtful Personas
- Gather all the information about your target customers including age, gender, and location.
- Think of problems your personas can solve.
- Identify the people who will be influenced by the personas. These are the persons whom your marketing strategy will target.
Step 4 — Identify Your Resources
The success of a marketing strategy depends on the careful allocation and utilization of available resources. Three things are of high importance for the identification of your means: these are digital channels, finance, and workforce. Before moving forward, take notes of all your resources before deciding what else you may need for the next period. In other words, you have to conduct an audit of your current marketing channels so that you can know if there are some areas that can be outsourced.
How to Discover Your Means
- Start with defining your budget that you will spend on digital marketing.
- Try to look for previous channels that worked at a low cost.
- Make up your mind if you want to use paid promotion services like paid ads on social media networks.
- Divide your budget to each marketing channel. Once you start getting returns, you can revise your strategy to allocate more finance to channels generating more value.
- Assess your team to decide the most capable person to lead the job.
- Figure out if you want more members of your team.
- Ask your team to give reviews about the strategy to know if there is something missing that can be added.
- Go through all your marketing channels to know if it is feasible to invest in more.
- Try to attach one KPI to each digital marketing channel.
Step 5 — Make the Plan and Review It Periodically
Some may think that, what is the point of making plans when you have to review it. The reason is, nothing is perfect and there is always room for improvement. When a marketing strategy is in practice, you can always try to take it to the next level. Even though you have invested a lot of time in devising a marketing plan, when the results start coming in, you will get a chance to improve it further. It is, therefore, essential to monitor and measure the performance of your digital marketing strategy on a regular basis and change it whenever it is necessary to do so.
Using the steps above, you can create a successful digital marketing strategy. Digital marketing has evolved wonderfully and the business community is using it to transform their businesses into a brand. Since there is no shortcut to experience, it is strongly recommended to seek professional help. TransData boasts a reliable team of professionals who can offer maximum growth at minimum cost. Besides digital marketing virtual assistant services, TransData is also offering managed IT services, SEO virtual assistant services, mobile app development services, and others. You can contact them for a chance to make your business popular among the global audience.
In conclusion, digital marketing is an e-commerce (electronic commerce). It is necessary for futuristic goals to be set for digital marketing business. By this I mean your strategies must align with your objectives so that the set goals can be achieved. It is not enough to set goals and feel relaxed after setting them. You should to take time to measure your goals with your return on investment (ROV). This will help you to know what next to do, why you should do it, when to do it, and how you should do it.
The reality of digital marketing is actualized when are strategies are properly aligned with the objectives for the realization of set goals.
