Digital Marketing Strategy
Planning Your Digital Marketing System
The result is the ability to pinpoint mobile devices that are able to receive ads within geographic zones as small as 100 meters square.
Digital Marketing Planning is a term used in marketing management. It describes the first stage of forming a digital marketing strategy for the wider digital marketing system. The difference between digital and traditional marketing planning is that it uses digitally based communication tools and technology such as Apps, Social, Web, Mobile, Games, and AI (Artificial Intelligence). Nevertheless, both are aligned with the same standard vision; the mission of the company and the underlying business strategy.
Stages of planning
Digital Marketing Planning (DMP) has three (3) main stages; Opportunity, Strategy and Action. I strongly suggest that any business looking to implement a successful Digital Marketing Strategy must structure their plan by looking at opportunity, strategy and action. This generic strategic approach often has phases of situation review, goal setting, strategy formulation, resource allocation as well as continual monitoring.
1) Opportunity
To create an effective DMP, your business first needs to review the marketplace and set ‘SMART’ (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Time-Bound) objectives. You can set SMART objectives by reviewing the current benchmarks and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of your company and competitors. It is pertinent that the analytics used for the KPIs be customized to the type, objectives, mission and vision of your company.
Companies can scan for marketing and sales opportunities by reviewing their own outreach as well as influencer outreach. This means that they have competitive advantages because they are able to analyze their co-marketers influence and brand associations.
In order to seize opportunity, your firm should summarize the current customer’s personas and purchase habits. This will allow you to be able to deduce their digital marketing capability. This means that you need to form a clear picture of where your customers are currently and how many resources they can allocate for their digital marketing strategy i.e. labor, time etc. By summarizing the purchase habits, you can also recognize gaps and growth for future marketing opportunities that will either meet your objectives or propose new objectives and increase profits.
2) Strategy
To create a planned digital strategy, your company must review your digital proposition (what you are offering to consumers) and effectively communicate it using digital customer targeting techniques. You must define the online value proposition (OVP), this means that your company must express clearly what you are offering consumers online e.g. brand positioning.
Your company should also re-target market segments, personas, and define digital targeting approaches that have proven to be lucrative.
After doing this effectively, it is imperative to review the marketing mix for all online options. The marketing mix comprises the 4Ps – Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Some academics have added three additional elements to the traditional 4Ps of marketing Process, Place and Physical appearance making it 7Ps of marketing.
3) Action
The third and final stage requires your business to set a budget and implement management systems; these must be measurable touchpoints such as audience reach across all digital platforms. Furthermore, marketers must ensure the budget and management systems are integrating the paid, owned and earned media of your company. The Action and final stage of planning also requires that your company have set in place measurable content creation e.g. audio, visual or written online media.
After confirming your Digital Marketing Plan, a scheduled format of digital communications e.g. a Gantt Chart should be encoded throughout the internal operations of your business. This ensures that all platforms used fall in line and compliment each other for the succeeding stages of your Digital Marketing Strategy.