A digital marketing plan is one of the most important tools you need in order to promote your business online and help it reach that next level. With the right plan, you will find it easy to adapt to the requirements and acquire new clients in a professional manner. There are several ways to achieve that; here are some of the main steps to help you create a digital marketing plan.
Analyze the Digital Sales Funnel
The digital sales funnel is a process of steps that buyers generally complete before making a purchase. The steps include:
- Awareness – Visitors to your online channels learn of your company for the first time.
- Consideration – Prospective buyers may be considering purchasing from you, but may still research your competitor’s products/services.
- Purchase – At this stage, prospective buyers are ready to make a purchase from you.
- Loyalty – Customers who return to make a repeat purchase show loyalty to your brand.
Prospective buyers at different stages of the digital sales funnel will respond differently to your digital marketing efforts. Your digital marketing strategy needs to be tailored to the different stages.
Setting objectives
The first thing you need to do is establish objectives for your digital marketing plan. For example, do you want to increase brand recognition, increase email subscribers, generate leads and/or increase sales? According to the internet marketing agency Onecore Media, the digital marketing plan needs to follow the SMART objectives framework, which means objectives need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. That will make it easier to boost sales, increase profits, optimize the conversion funnel while also generating loyalty among your clients.
Establishing a buyer persona
One of the top things to focus on for the OnecoreMedia digital strategy company at this point is to help you create a buyer persona. The buyer persona is your ideal client and it’s a great way to segment the customer base too. The persona will include things like demographics e.g. married women ages 30-40, work and online behavior, the relationship with your brand, aspirations and needs, etc. If your business is involved in several verticals or industries, you should create a buyer profile for each one.
Creating a content plan
The digital marketing plan needs to include a content plan. At this stage, you must define the content formats you want to use and also set up the content calendar. Your content calendar should be established for a set period of time e.g. 3-6 months and should include article topic, author, keywords and date of publication. Create content based on your buyer persona and his/her needs. You might also want to include the social media where you will share your content, as well as the links and hashtags to be used. You can also include how often you will send out an email newsletter. Keep in mind that if your company has several buyer personas, you should vary your marketing content to suit each buyer’s persona. That way, your content will satisfy a broad range of preferences and you will maximize your sales and profits.
Think about SEO
SEO means search engine optimization. If your website is optimized for SEO, the search engines e.g. Google will tend to prioritize your website and hopefully locate your website content on the first page results. Factors that can help improve your SEO include accelerating your website speed, as well as using keywords that will draw buyers to your site. Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Jaaxy, Moz Keyword Explorer to obtain relevant keywords for your business and evaluate performance of these keywords to see which ones work best for you. Factors you should consider when doing your keyword research include keyword relevance, search volume, competence level and user intention regarding that keyword.
Social Media Platforms
You must determine which social media platforms are the most suitable for your buyer persona(s) and you should also study key metrics of your social media platforms to determine which social media garner the best results for your business. Setting up a contingency plan is a good idea because social media platforms make changes frequently which can affect traffic to your social media and website.
Using the above tips should help you create a solid digital marketing plan from which to launch your online marketing efforts. The key to success is to follow your plan faithfully and make sure to make amendments to the plan based on what works for your business.
