Welcome to the world of digital marketing planning and execution! If you’re just starting, it can feel overwhelming to figure out the best way to reach your audience online. But don’t worry; we’ve broken it down into six easy steps to help you get started.
Step 1: Set Your Goals
Before you do anything else, you need to know what you’re working towards. Are you trying to increase brand recognition, boost website traffic, or drive sales? Whatever your goals may be, make sure they’re clear and achievable. Think of your goals as your destination – without a destination in mind, you won’t know how to get there.
Step 2: Identify Your Audience
Whom are you trying to reach with your digital marketing efforts? In order to create content that resonates with your audience, you need to know who they are and what they’re interested in. You can gather this information through surveys, interviews with existing customers, and data analysis from your website, social media channels, and email campaigns. Then, use this information to create customer profiles or “personas” keep them in mind as you develop your marketing strategy.
Step 3: Choose Your Marketing Channels
There are so many different platforms to choose from when it comes to digital marketing – websites, social media, emails, advertising, content marketing, public relations, and more. It’s important to choose the channels that will be most effective for reaching your audience and staying within budget.
For example, if your target audience is primarily on Facebook, you’ll want to focus your efforts there rather than spreading yourself too thin across multiple platforms. Pro-Tip: Everything you learned to build your personas can be applied here to illustrate specific social media platforms are more popular among different generations. LinkedIn is an excellent B2B tool, while TikTok has a higher youth market.
Step 4: Create Engaging Content
Now that you know whom you’re trying to reach and where you’ll be reaching them, it’s time to start creating content. Your message needs to be interesting, informative, and relevant to your audience. Consider using videos, podcasts, infographics, and shorter posts for social media, and repurpose or create fun visuals to help convey your message. Consider how people are going to consume the content as well as what to make. The most engaging content you can create will always be the content that gives consumers the desired outcome.
Step 5: Plan and Execute Your Marketing Calendar
Creating content is only half the battle – you also need to figure out when and where you’ll publish it. That’s where planning and execution come in. Develop a marketing calendar for the next 12 months to stay organized, and use scheduling tools to help you plan, track, and manage posts across all of your channels in one place. Marketing calendars can be as simple as a word document to as complex as project management software. Just be sure that whatever tool you choose, everyone on your team uses the same one.
Step 6: Track and Monitor Your Results
Don’t forget to measure the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts through analytics and metrics. Use tools like web analytics platforms and CRMs (customer relationship managers) to track web traffic, lead generation, and social media engagement, and make adjustments as needed to increase the effectiveness of your strategy. And remember to stay up to date on industry trends and customer feedback to refine your strategy and continue improving your results.
Final Thoughts
Digital marketing requires time and effort, but it is manageable with a structured plan and, in the end, will help you achieve your goals.
Contact Fat Guy Media today for a free consultation and see how we can help you reach your digital marketing goals.