So you want to get into digital marketing…but you don’t know where to start?
If you’re reading this, I assume you’re either:
- Already working in digital marketing and want to create a strategy
- Just got your first job in digital marketing and want to know what to do
If that’s you, then congratulations! You’re in the right place. In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps to create a strategy for your business’ digital marketing efforts.
Set A Deadline
It’s essential to set a deadline for yourself when planning your strategy. Set a time frame for the entire project and stick to it. You don’t want to be scrambling at the last minute to meet the deadline. And you definitely don’t want to miss it either. Setting a deadline also helps you to prioritize what’s most important. Digitally marketing a business can be a lot of work, so it’s important to know what your priorities are.
Gather People With Insight
You’ll need people with expertise in digital marketing for this strategy to be effective. People who have already worked in the field and know what they’re doing. Ideally, you want to work with people who have experience in marketing for similar businesses or industries to your own. This is a great way to get an overview of how other businesses operate and what works and doesn’t work for them. You can also see how competitors are approaching digital marketing and draw inspiration from their methods.
Create A Plan
Now that you have your deadline, it’s time to create a plan. Start by making a list of everything you need to do. This may include everything from creating content to growing your social media following. You’ll need to put everything in writing, so make sure you cover all the bases. Once you have everything written down, it’ll be much easier to follow-through.
Determine The Most Effective Channels
The next step is to determine the most effective channels for your business. There are six main channels that I recommend you focus on:
- YouTube
If your business is brand new, I would recommend you start with Facebook and Instagram. These are the two biggest social media platforms out there, and they’re both free. You can use tools like Google Analytics to find out which channels are the most effective for your business. Once you know which ones, it’s time to move onto step three.
Find Your Brand’s Voice
Having a clear brand voice will help you stand out from the crowd and make your business stand out specifically. A lot of businesses get this wrong and end up falling into the trap of sounding too much like everyone else or using too many buzzwords. It’s important to find your own voice and create content that will encourage your ideal customer to connect with your brand. Having a clear brand voice will also guide your choice of words and help your team to understand what you’re trying to achieve with your content. It’ll make things much easier for everyone involved.
Decide How You’re Going To Approach Each Channel
Every channel is different, and each one has it’s own set of rules. Before you start creating content, it’s important to decide how you’re going to approach each channel. This will be different for each channel. For example, you might decide to focus mainly on Instagram and use Facebook and Twitter just to build awareness of your brand. It depends on your goals and the resources you have available. Think about what worked (and didn’t work) for you in the past when marketing similar businesses, and apply it to your own strategy.
Choose The Right Platforms For Your Content
With your plan in place, it’s time to choose the right platforms for your content. Just because your business is based on internet marketing doesn’t mean that all of your content has to be online. You can use various platforms to reach your audience including:
- Mobile phones
- Tablets
- IOS
- Android
- SMS
With each of these platforms, you have a different user base and method of interacting with content. It’s important to understand what works (and doesn’t work) on each one. When choosing your platforms, think about the reach of your target audience, how you’ll be able to engage with them, and what tools you have available to make your content more engaging.
Create & Tweak Content
Once you have your chosen platforms, it’s time to create and tweak content for each platform. If you’re using a content creation tool like Buzzsumo, you can enter your keywords and top-level domains (TLDs) to get detailed information on the content that’s already out there. Looking for content that’s relevant to your niche and has already been proven to work? Choose a platform that offers a content curation tool like Pulse or Storybird and use their resources to find content that’s perfect for your business.
There’s a lot more that goes into a digital marketing strategy. Things like SEO, content creation, email marketing, and social media marketing. All of these are important, and it’s important to learn them all. However, if you’re new to this field, it can be difficult to know where to start. By following the six steps mentioned above, you’ll be able to create a solid foundation for your business’ digital marketing efforts.