How to Structure a Digital Marketing Plan | Step-by-Step Guide
Digital marketing has become one of the most preferred modes of connecting with customers nowadays. One way of approaching digital marketing is by spreading yourself thin across several different digital marketing channels, but rolling them out without a devised plan could lead to failure. However, when done right, a good digital marketing plan could be the key factor to success
In this post, we’re going to unpack what a digital marketing plan is, its components and how to craft one that works.
What is a Digital Marketing Plan?
At its core, a digital marketing plan is your only strategy for winning over potential customers online. It’s all about setting clear goals, keeping tabs on progress, and hitting deadlines. The plan outlines how to engage the audience and how to influence them. It’s a blend of paid ads, sponsored content, and organic efforts to boost your brand’s visibility and grow your audience.
7 Critical Components of Digital Marketing
There are seven critical components all vital for your online growth. Let’s explore them!
Advertising
Advertising is about putting your ads where your target audience spends time online, like on blogs or forums. It uses retargeting to target people who have already shown interest in what you’re selling, pushing them a bit closer to making a purchase or taking action. There are all kinds of ads out there; text, banners, pop-ups, images, videos, etc. But don’t get overwhelmed, you don’t need all of them. Just choose the format that best fits your message and don’t overthink it.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the king, you’ve probably heard that one, right? Well, it is true. Content marketing is all valuable materials, like blog posts, ads, newsletters, your online assets. You need to use those not just to connect but to educate your audience and tell them how you or your product can solve their problem. Maintain top-notch quality always! Then, you won’t have to worry about Google algorithm changes or the content licensing deal with Reddit.
Email Marketing
I love email marketing; my newsletter has over 820k readers, and I just adore this channel. Email marketing means sending promotional messages to a segmented group of leads or customers, those closer to you or further along in the funnel. You’re not shouting into the void like with other channels; you’re speaking directly to someone by name. It’s such an effective method for personalization that really hits the spot.
Mobile Marketing
Given the extensive use of mobile devices by everyone (you’re reading this from your phone, right?), it’s a must that the digital content you create, from emails to landing pages and websites, is fully optimized for mobile consumption. You need to be there for your audience when they are scrolling the social media apps, playing games, or switching between apps. Use those opportunities to serve tailored content for easy and engaging consumption.
Paid Search
Paid search propels your brand to the top of the search results via sponsored content. It gets triggered by specific keywords that match your target audience’s queries. This involves bidding on keywords to assure advertising space, enhancing your visibility when someone searches for those keywords. Common formats include:
- Pay-per-click (PPC): You pay each time someone clicks on your ad. Ideal for driving direct engagement with your ads, and
- Cost-per-mille (CPM): You pay per thousand impressions of your ad, regardless of clicks. Suitable for increasing brand visibility.
They allow you to choose the approach that best aligns with your digital marketing goals and budget.
Reputation Marketing
Reputation marketing is all about leveraging online reviews to build your brand’s image. Encouraging customers to share their experiences and making sure those reviews are seen can solidify loyalty among existing clients and attract new ones. It’s a strategic approach to influence customer decisions and enhance the reputation of your brand and products.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Whenever you fire up your browser and type in a search query, you’ll see a ton of results displayed by your search engine (usually Google). These results aren’t just displayed by chance. The top positions are earned through well-crafted and executed SEO strategies. SEO is about improving your website’s organic traffic by optimizing keywords, crosslinks, backlinks, and original content to achieve good rankings on search engines. We’d need to write a whole article on SEO and still not much would be said.
Social Media Marketing
X (former Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, where are you going to spread the word about your brand or product? These platforms aren’t just for organic growth; they also offer paid options to specifically target and engage potential customers. And remember, you don’t have to be omnipresent, choose the channels where your target hangs and create there. You can always repurpose content.
And if you want to dive deeper and learn how to create content that stands out, you must read my Ultimate Guide to Remarkable Content.
Video Marketing
This gets more important by the day. Video marketing presents a way to interact, using visually captivating and engaging material. You can do anything here, you just need to be creative and know who you talk to. Find a way to grab your audience in the first 2 seconds, and afterwards serve value. Don’t make them regret.
Web Analytics
Web analytics collects data to shed light on online behavior and preferences, so important for tailoring digital marketing strategies. Google Analytics is undoubtedly the most popular tool to measure website traffic, yet alternatives like Adobe Analytics, Coremetrics, Crazy Egg, and Hotjar offer varied perspectives and tools for deeper analysis.
Webinars
Webinars are a powerful tool to present valuable knowledge to a wide audience, showcasing your business’s in-depth expertise. They not only help in sharing insights but also in using attendance lists from past marketing efforts, like email campaigns and retargeting ads, to reconnect with former clients and engage new prospects. Win-win!
The world wants you to be vanilla…
How to Structure a Digital Marketing Plan in 5 Steps
Follow these simple 5 steps, and stop procrastinating today:
Step 1: Contextualized analysis
The first thing you need to do when starting a digital marketing plan is to conduct
Internal Analysis: Reviews your company’s strengths, weaknesses, and resources to identify areas for improvement and leverage.
External Analysis: Assesses market trends, competition, and customer needs to pinpoint opportunities and threats outside your company.
Step 2: Set Goals
Work on setting realistic goals to create a clear idea of what the strategy should aim for.
Marketing is super huge, and you may find yourself focusing on deliverables outside of your main goals. Always keep a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely (SMART) goal framework.
Step 3: Define an Effective Plan
Marketing has evolved into hyper-personalized campaigns, and it’s important to define what, who, and how you want to achieve your goals. Segmenting your target audience, positioning, and content strategy are the main topics you need to have in mind when defining your strategy.
Step 4: Strategies and Tactics
You can execute different strategies based on your goals, like SEO & web optimization, email marketing campaigns, social media, paid media advertising, and RM. Still, all these need to fit into the overall marketing framework. If you can’t present the overall picture, working on unconsolidated items may end up hurting your plan.
Step 5: Results & KPIs
It’s necessary to measure how effective the strategy and the actions taken are toward achieving the goals defined. Conducting a comprehensive analysis of the key performance indicators previously defined will help correct what doesn’t work and improve the strategy with data-driven information.
Kickstart Your Digital Marketing Strategy Now
Now that we’ve walked through the essential steps for creating a digital marketing plan, it’s your turn to put this knowledge into action. Start by setting clear goals, understanding your audience, and choosing the right tactics to reach them effectively. Remember, a well-structured digital marketing plan is your roadmap to online success.
If you liked this post, you’d LOVE my Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing
It’s one of the best things I’ve published, and totally free – just tell me where to send it:
Host of Netflix’s “How To Get Rich” NYT Bestselling Author, & Host of the I Will Teach You To Be Rich Podcast. I’ll show you how to take control of your money with my proven strategies so you can live your RICH LIFE.
Ramit Sethi
Host of Netflix’s “How To Get Rich” NYT Bestselling Author, & Host of the I Will Teach You To Be Rich Podcast. I’ll show you how to take control of your money with my proven strategies so you can live your RICH LIFE.
