There is no exact science to marketing, but there are general guidelines that hold true for nearly all businesses.

The first and most basic guideline is to always have a strategy. You can’t expect to stumble into effective online marketing and then perform a double-back flip and land on your feet. You have to have a plan, you can’t simply wing it. Thinking you’ll magically become skilled in marketing and then perform feats of brilliance is typically not the way things work in reality. The world is a complex place and you have to remember that every interaction you have along the way — from engaging with customers to pitching potential partners — will affect your bottom line. That’s a lot of pressure, which is why you need to make sure that you’re putting in the right planning and consideration into every phase of your digital marketing effort.

Find Out What Works

To start with, you have to identify what type of content works best for your business and marketing goals. This is especially important if you’re not familiar with SEO or content marketing. You can’t just flip a switch and expect your site to start performing well. Instead, you need to invest in learning what type of content performs well for your particular industry and then build upon it. There are also a variety of tools that can help you find this out quickly and easily. You can use free tools like Google Analytics to track the success of different types of content on your site. In the same way, you can use HubSpot to discover what resonates with your audience and drives the most engagement.

Use Analytics To Track Impact

One of the most important things to consider when planning your digital marketing strategy is to use analytics to track the success of your various efforts. You need to make sure that you’re not just guessing when it comes to what’s working and what’s not. You need to have metrics and you need to be checking in on a regular basis to see how your strategy is performing. Analytics will help you find this out quickly and easily. For instance, you can set up Google Analytics on your website and see an overview of the traffic that comes to your site on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. From here you can determine what content is performing well and use this as a guideline to build new initiatives and strategies around. You can’t run an effective marketing department without measuring and analyzing the results of your work. Even if you work remotely, analytics will still play a critical role in your success. Without it, it’s easy to drift into ineffective behavior and then wonder why you’re not seeing the results you’re aiming for. Analytics can help keep you focused on the right channels while also providing you with the metrics you need to know if you’re on track or need to make changes to course.

Determine The ROI Of Your Marketing Efforts

In addition to having a plan, you also need to make sure that you’re accounting for the return on investment (ROI) of your digital marketing efforts. In other words, you need to determine how much money you’re likely to make and how much money you’re likely to lose based on the strategies you implement. This way, you can determine the true value of your marketing efforts and whether or not they’re worth the investment. To do this, you need to look at things like cost per lead, cost per acquisition, and so on. These are the types of metrics you need to track and consider when evaluating the success of your marketing campaign. You can use free tools like ROI calculator from Google and Web Analytics to help you determine the value of your marketing efforts quickly and easily.

Track Short-Lived Trends

One of the things that always makes marketing so difficult is that today’s marketing trends change quicker than you can keep up with. This is especially true when it comes to digital marketing. The most successful businesses are the ones that adapt the most effectively to these changes and that use analytics to accurately track results. For example, if you’re using Snapchat to reach your audience, you’ll need to make sure that you track the results of your efforts using Google Analytics. This way you can determine what type of content your audience responds to best and use this insight to shape your future content production. If you want to stay competitive, it’s important to adapt your strategy and tactics to these changes quickly and efficiently. To do this you need to make sure that you’re using the right tools and that you’re analyzing the data that these tools are providing you correctly. Without this you’ll simply be flying blind, which is why this is one of the most important things you need to keep in mind when planning your digital marketing strategy.

Understand Digital Marketing In A GLOBAL CONTEXT

If you’re serious about digital marketing, you have to understand that you’re operating within a global context. This is especially important if you’re operating a site, social media account, or email list on a global scale. To make sure your efforts are being received and noticed by the right people, it’s important to operate in a local context. For example, if you’re trying to sell your products or provide your services to people in Germany, it’s important that you tailor your strategies to fit the cultural norms and preferences of German consumers. The same goes for other countries and regions too. This type of understanding allows you to put the best possible spin on your efforts and to make them more effective than if you were operating in a vacuum. With a little effort, research, and planning you can ensure that your international efforts are going to create the maximum impact possible.

Use SEM To Grow Your Audience And List

One of the best ways to grow your audience is through search engine marketing (SEM). This is the process of getting your website or blog mentioned on the organic results of a search engine like Google. The simplest and most effective way to do this is to use free tools like Google Adwords to generate targeted keywords for your niche. With these keywords you can then use display ads (such as Adsense) on Google to promote your products and services to people looking for what you offer. The beauty of this is that you’re not relying on expensive and labor-intensive paid ads to achieve this. You’re providing the content and the opportunities for people to choose your products and services, but the work still has to do its part. This is a great option for small businesses that want to make the most of their digital marketing efforts while also keeping a limited budget.

Avoid The Pitfalls

Just because your business is online and just because you have a website or blog, this does not mean that you’re cut out for digital marketing. There are a number of pitfalls that you need to avoid if you want to ensure that your marketing strategies are effective and efficient. You can start by making sure that you have a clearly defined C-Suite role at hand. This is someone who is responsible for the daily operations of the organization, the financial wellbeing, and the marketing strategy. It is also important to have a COO who can take over when the Executive Chair is absent. In addition to this you need to have a marketing department that is fully staffed and equipped to handle digital marketing tasks. When planning your digital marketing strategy, make sure that you’re considering all of the above so that you can avoid these pitfalls and maximize the effectiveness of your efforts. This is also where using an online marketing consultant comes in handy. You can hire someone to help you map out the strategy and to manage the day-to-day operations of your marketing team. The person/company who provides this service should be equipped with the right mix of skills that you’re looking for and should be able to bring insight and creativity to your strategy planning process. This way you can ensure the maximum impact and the best possible results from your efforts. Avoid falling into bad habits and making the same mistakes over and over again. Instead, build a solid foundation for the future and then allow your marketing department to grow and adapt as your business does.