More and more people are discovering the benefits of online marketing, which can be quite satisfying for marketers who are listening. The advantage of the digital realm is that you can constantly be reviewing performance and adjusting your strategy accordingly. As a business owner, manager, or marketer, it’s your job to ensure that your online marketing strategy is working towards supporting your business goals. You may be wondering how you can do this. Luckily, we are here to help with six steps that will assist you in creating a successful strategy.

Step one: Set a benchmark for your online marketing strategy

The first step to creating a winning online marketing strategy is to set a benchmark and review why you are where you are in terms of performance. To do this, you will want to analyze the metrics that are the most relevant to your business. These metrics will guide your strategy moving forward. Consider analyzing organic search traffic, social media activity, and website traffic along with a host of others.

Step two: Determining the goals of your strategy

Determining your business’ goals will help you benchmark performance and set a direction for your strategy. For example, if your top goal is to increase web traffic to your site, you may want to consider creating content that will attract the attention of the search engines. Having a clear understanding of your business’ goals will also provide you with a clearer picture of what is going on, both digitally and within the business.

Step three: Identify the key metrics that will allow you to measure your progress

To fully comprehend the performance of your strategy and establish a clear connection between your actions and results, you will need to consider collecting data and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs will alert you to changes in your performance and allow you to determine if the strategy is working or needs adjustment. With this step in mind, make a list of the key performance metrics that you can track directly relevant to your business.

Step four: Choose the right metrics to track

Choose metrics that are relevant to your business goals. For example, if your goal is to increase website traffic, you may want to consider using unique metrics to measure this, such as the number of times someone visits a specific area of your site, the average time spent on a page, and the like.

Step five: Track your metrics consistently

Once you have established a benchmark for your online marketing strategy, you will need to consider how you are going to go about achieving these results. To do this, you need to track your metrics consistently and accurately. Achieving this will take time, so be patient and dedicated. When you are developing a strategy for your business, you will need a process to follow, otherwise, you may find yourself aimlessly changing direction frequently – which is never a good idea when creating a strategy.

Step six: Consider the end game

To create a successful strategy, you need to consider what is happening at the end game. As a marketer, you will want to ensure that your strategy is reaching its intended audience and promoting engagement.

To do this, you need to take a few more steps. Firstly, measure the reach of your strategy by looking at the numbers of people that you have directly reached via a particular channel. Additionally, you can identify whether your strategy is having an effect by looking at how others are behaving (such as purchasing a specific product or service) and if this is connecting with your target audience.

To conclude, developing an online marketing strategy for your business is an essential step in ensuring that you are reaching the right audience – and that you are connecting with them. As a digitally-savvy marketer, you will want to consider looking at performance in terms of engagement, action, and conversion – keeping in mind that the goal is to increase business, not just to increase engagement or action.