Tom posted an article this month on the difference between inbound and outbound marketing which explains some applications of each technique as part of a digital strategy. In this post I’d like to give you some helpful tips on how to plan your own digital marketing campaign.
1. Set goals
Your digital strategy should be built based on what it is you’re trying to achieve. If you have ambitious aims you need to invest the right amount of time and effort needed to achieve them. If they are less ambitious then you may be able to allocate a lower budget. You need to know where you’re going to work out how to get there!
2. Know your sales cycle
An inbound marketing campaign aims to fill the top of your sales funnel and to move your leads down through the funnel at the right time, in the right way. Analyse your sales cycles to find out how your content can educate and nurture leads at each individual stage.
3. Use your strengths
Work out what you’re good at and what you aren’t. There’s no sense in investing in things you don’t do well. Play to your strengths to get the most from your digital marketing campaigns.
4. Gather your assets
If you’ve been in business for a while, you may have produced guides, brochures and other documents you can use as assets. Create a list of all your available resources to work out how you can use them, squeezing as much value as possible from each piece of content.
5. Find your proposition
Why should people buy from you? If you can’t answer this question your visitors won’t be able to either. This message should be reinforced throughout your website and campaign content.
6. Set KPI’s
I can’t reinforce this point strongly enough. Digital marketing thrives on it’s ability to be measured. Unlike traditional broadcast based campaigns, you can tweak your strategy on an ongoing basis according to what’s working and what isn’t. Here are some handy guides on how to measure your digital channels:
7. Create a content strategy
It’s important to develop a sustainable content strategy to produce content on an ongoing basis. You need to be able to commit to it and maintain it, even when you’re being showered with new business. If you can’t sustain it in the long-term then you’ll need to have a plan for outsourcing it, or adding new staff to your roster to make sure you don’t disappoint your (now huge) audience.
8. Create buyer personas
Buyer personas will allow you to segment your target audiences and create strategies to hit each user group. It’s crucial in helping you understand who it is you’re selling to. Here’s a great resource on how to create buyer personas.