According to a study by Smart Insights on Managing Digital Marketing, 46% of businesses have adopted a digital marketing strategy in their marketing plans. Most companies still have a broken digital marketing strategy.

Digital marketing is fast evolving and opens doors of opportunities for savvy marketers to build a rock-solid online presence for their businesses. And promote their companies while reaping a goldmine on their return on investment.

An effective digital marketing strategy helps you to reduce the time you spend presuming business data whether your marketing tactics are effective.

 

What is Digital Marketing Strategy?

Digital marketing is that familiar term we think we fully understand but becomes quite daunting when it comes to nailing it down.

Digital marketing strategy is a set of integrated actions via targeted online marketing channels which when effectively implemented ensure you meet your business objectives. An effective digital marketing strategy enables you to:

  • Position your marketing in the right channels.
  • Appeal to the ideal audience.
  • Structure your marketing to appear at the perfect timing.

Having an effective strategy in place can help you focus on meeting your goals.

Here is a breakdown of the types of digital marketing you can include in your strategy and the scope of these marketing channels.

 

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing focuses on using social media platforms to enhance your marketing campaigns.

According to research by Statista, 2.34 billion people use social media globally, and the number is expected to grow to 2.95 billion by 2020. Having access to this buffet of customers can help boost traffic for your business.

To succeed with social media marketing, you need to understand the scope of the media platforms you intend to adopt in your digital marketing strategies. An active social presence is key to connecting with leads, clients, and partners. Plus you get to spy on the success strategies utilized by your competitors. Create a customized buyer persona profile and target your engagement to the right audience.

 

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a long-term strategic approach to marketing which focuses on building trust with a defined audience and fostering a strong relationship with them through developing and providing your audience with valuable, consistent and relevant content which ultimately drives sales for your products/ services.

Does your content engage and captivate your audience? Attention is priceless. You want to create content that captures your readers’ attention while solving their most vital needs.
60% of B2B content marketers feel stuck creating captivating content and measuring the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. To ensure your content is customer focused, you need to create a customized and detailed customer avatar.

 

Search Engine Optimization

Guess what? WordPress users alone publish 24 blog posts each second.  And the numbers keep skyrocketing if you include other publishing platforms. This makes it quite daunting to get your content to stand out.

Ranking high at the front page of search engines can mean a life or death affair for your business to thrive.  Find a balance for your content. It should be ideal for your readers while satisfying search engine demands.

But what’s all the fuss about the buzzword SEO?

SEO is a technique of optimizing your online content so that it ranks as the top result for specific and relevant keyword searches. With 93% of online interactions beginning with search engines, SEO is a goldmine.

You need to use the right keywords in your content for it to rank high in search results. There are multiple strategies you can adopt for search-friendly optimized content. Some are acceptable while some are downright shady and can earn you a penalty slap by Google.

 

Search Engine Marketing

SEM is one of the most effective approaches to a thriving business in a fast-paced and competitive business space. 96% of marketers adopt search engine marketing into their digital strategy to provide relevant and quality content to their prospects.

SEM focuses on increasing your brand’s visibility through paid advertising. The ads are visible on search engine results pages (SERPs) when users key in specific keyword phrases within a particular niche.

SEM’s selling point is that it ensures your ads are visible to a motivated audience that is ready to buy your products or services. This makes it a very efficient approach to growing a thriving business.  Keywords are the building blocks of SEM. Search engines are the soul of digital marketing.

 

Email Marketing

Email marketing is an effective and affordable way to engage with your customers and prospects. Without an effective email marketing strategy, your business will not survive for long. An ideal email marketing strategy is composed of 3 core elements:

  • Building your email list.
  • Nurturing your relationships.
  • Optimizing your emails for a positive ROI.

You need to build a stream of valuable content that you send out to your readers on a regular basis. Build trust with your readers. Only then can you convert them to customers. Email marketing trends are constantly evolving. According to Salesforce, for every dollar you invest in email marketing your average return is $38. And according to Statista, there will be 4.1 billion email users by 2021.

To be successful with email marketing, focus on creating personalized content for your readers. Target your emails to suit their preferences. Segment your email list to boost your open rates. According to a report by MailChimp, segmented email campaigns attract 14.64% higher email opens and 59.99% higher clicks than non-segmented email campaigns. According to Mailigen, customized emails drive 18 times more revenue than general emails.

Consider adopting video in your email marketing efforts. According to Monitor, appealing and engaging videos can increase your email open rate by 19% and double your click-through rate by 15%.

 

Conclusion

Managing a thriving business without a documented and effective digital marketing strategy can be a tall order. Whichever digital marketing channel you adopt in your marketing strategy, it is crucial you define your business goals and monitor performance metrics on a regular basis.
You need to fine tune your strategy on a constant basis to be in tandem with your business objectives and other key metrics.