Bonafide Marketing Genius

Watch Building an Integrated Online Marketing Plan

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital marketing, there are commonalities that can be applied to create an effective and efficient strategy.

One of the most important things you can do is to integrate all of your online platforms and campaigns to create a more cohesive picture of the types of content and campaigns that are delivering value to your target audience. This involves analyzing what is working well and identifying the next steps to take this output to the next level.

Here, we explore how to build an online marketing plan that is fully integrated and effective using Google Analytics, Content Marketing, E-commerce, and more.

Analyze Your Online Performance With Google Analytics

Whether you are just getting started or you are already familiar with the platform, Google Analytics is an essential tool for any digital marketer.

Its insights can help you understand the motivations of your web visitors and the actions they are taking as they navigate your website.

The platform can also be configured to track visitors across all of your digital properties (i.e. websites, e-commerce stores, and social media channels).

This allows you to gain a 360-degree view of your web traffic and the effectiveness of your various online channels.

Use This Data To Form Growth Habits

Google Analytics can be used to analyze traffic to your site over time as well as compare this to previous periods to identify trends and patterns. You can then use this intel to form growth habits.

For example, you might identify that video content is performing well and decide to replicate this strategy. Or, you might notice that readership is increasing most among consumers who are located in the United Kingdom. This is valuable information that you can use to target European consumers for future campaigns.

Plan Your Content In Advance

Google Analytics can also be configured to track the content that is performing best. This allows you to plan your content strategy well in advance.

For example, you might see that blogging is a popular strategy among your customers. Based on this insight, you can then decide to focus your future content on this area.

Combine Blogging With Other Content Marketing Channels

Now that you know what content strategy is performing well, you can determine the next step for this content to take in order to achieve the greatest impact. This involves combining it with other content marketing channels.

You can integrate your blog content into other communication platforms (i.e. e-mail marketing, social media, and display ads) to create more effective content that will attract, engage, and convert traffic.

Create E-commerce Stores

If your product offering is centered around selling a single product or offering a limited selection of products, consider creating an online store. Even if you are just getting started, there are several e-commerce platforms that can be used to launch a basic store.

The most popular ones are Shopify, WooCommerce, and Volusion.

These platforms are very easy to use and allow for fully equipped online stores to be created in a matter of minutes.

However, if you decide to move forward with this strategy, be sure to invest in a good quality web host that can provide the infrastructure for an effective and professional-looking e-commerce store.

Use Your E-commerce Store To Test Products And Promotions

Once you have established an e-commerce store, you can use it to test products and promotions. Just remember that this is a costly tactic, so be sure to use this tool sparingly.

Just as you would with any other marketing channel, you should integrate social media platforms into your e-commerce store to allow for product testing and validation. In addition to this, many e-commerce platforms allow for ‘showrooms’ to be set up within the store. These are virtual showrooms that allow for customers to physically view and interact with the products that are on offer.

Build A Portfolio Of Web Content

With Google Analytics, it is easy to see the content that is performing well. However, this is just the beginning.

Just like any other channel, you can expand your content strategy to include other mediums (i.e. social media, SEO, and paid advertising) to create a comprehensive and fully-rounded marketing plan.

In doing so, you can build a portfolio of content that you can draw upon when creating new marketing material.

Measure The Success Of Your Overall Strategy

With all of this content planned and strategized, the next step is to measure the success of this entire plan.

There are several important metrics that you can use to gauge the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy.

  • Unique Visitors
  • Landing Page Views
  • Bounce Rate (i.e. percentage of visitors that enter the site and then leave without making a purchase)
  • Conversion Rate (i.e. ratio of visitors who make a purchase to the total number of visitors)
  • Average Order Value
  • Average Order Value (i.e. USD)
  • Product Visitor
  • Product Visitor (i.e. percentage of total site visitors who view at least one product)
  • Lifetime Value (TVR)
  • Lifetime Value (TVR)
  • Demographics (i.e. location, gender)
  • Affiliate Sales
  • Clicks (i.e. number of times a product page was viewed without making a purchase)
  • Exclusive Deals
  • Referral Traffic (i.e. visitors who came from a specific free source)
  • Product Reviews (i.e. number of reviews)
  • Product Reviews (i.e. average review rating)
  • Fulfillment (i.e. percentage of ordered products that were shipped on time)
  • Rating (i.e. average review rating)
  • Shopping Behavior (i.e. number of shopping basket completions, average order value, etc)
  • Market Share (i.e. percentage of overall market [Product Reviews and Orders] occupied by your product)
  • Search Visits (i.e. number of times the product or service name was searched)
  • Social Visits (i.e. number of times someone visited your website or used your social media accounts while engaging with your content)
  • Tracking Code (i.e. unique identifier that allows you to track the path of an individual user through your site)
  • Time On Site (i.e. average time spent on a site before leaving)
  • Content Performance (i.e. content that performed best based on audience demographics)
  • Content Performance (i.e. CTR, CAWI, and UNSORT)
  • Content Performance (i.e. average review rating for blog posts)
  • Content Performance (i.e. average orders values of all e-commerce stores)
  • Content Performance (i.e. percentage of product reviews that are 5-star reviews)
  • Content Performance (i.e. bounce rate for blog posts)
  • Content Performance (i.e. average review rating for product videos)
  • Content Performance (i.e. conversion rate for online stores)

As you can see, there are several important metrics that you can track to determine the success of your content marketing strategy. Mapping these metrics against various benchmark levels will then allow you to determine the overall effectiveness of this plan.