If your company is like most, you’re probably spending a hefty sum each year trying to earn new business and engage your customers. You definitely understand how important it is to have systems in place, like budgets, calendars, and reporting tools, that will help you get the most bang for your marketing buck.
Hopefully you also belong to the 51% of companies that have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy in place. If not, I highly recommend making that a priority for your executives and marketing team. Creating and maintaining a digital marketing strategy is crucial to ensuring your marketing efforts and dollars are reaching their full potential.
So, what should your digital marketing strategy do?
In order to guide your marketing efforts effectively and maximize the return on your time and investment, your digital marketing strategy should:
1. Drive your campaigns
Don’t spend a dime on a marketing campaign unless it ties directly back to a business goal and is measurable.
2. Connect your business goals to tactical initiatives
Hyper-target the right people with the right message at the right time, and bridge these tactics to specific goals such as “Increase check-out conversion by 15% for our top spending customers.”
3. Serve as the hub for all direct marketing channels
Channels should never operate in a silo; effectively use cross-channel, multi-channel, and omni-channel approaches.
4. Give purpose behind channel choices
Digital marketing channels help you with either acquisition, engagement, or retention, and your strategy should explain the goals for each of these channels.
5. Explain how acquisition, engagement, and retention work throughout the customer journey
When you understand where and how to interact with the right people at the right time with the right content, you can begin anticipating and exceeding their needs to solidify customer loyalty.
For more information about digital marketing strategies, why your business needs one, and how to create it, take a look at our free guide.
