Ask a marketer where they plan to spend their marketing budget and the chances are high that digital marketing avenues are going to feature in their plan. This is with good reason: as more people spend more time online, it’s prudent for a marketer to design a strategy that maximizes the opportunities presented in the digital space. However, it’s also easy to get into execution mode when it comes to digital marketing, hence the need for a clear process for creating a strategy.
The benefits of following a structured process are immense. As longtime entrepreneur Razi Salih knows, part of delivering successful projects requires establishing a strategic marketing plan. Mr Salih’s experience in business has enabled him to understand the value of the process, something that has ensured his projects move in the right direction and make the most of the digital marketing resources available.
A clear strategy provides focus to digital marketing efforts, and creating one needs to keep the following considerations in mind.
Situational Analysis
A situational analysis of a brand requires undertaking an internal and external look at it and determining various aspects including its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). A digital marketer requires awareness and understanding of the market they operate in, as this helps to provide valuable information on how to approach customers, which brand aspects to focus on, and what competitive threats to consider.
Further aspects to consider in this analysis include the brand’s past performance to determine what did or didn’t work. Evaluating competitors is also relatively easy thanks to the digital age as a lot of content is publicly available. Understanding customers, on the other hand, may require spending time on analytics tools that can provide details about a brand’s audience.
Part of the output of a comprehensive situational analysis is a defined buyer persona and audience segmentation. The former is a detailed description of the ideal customer, while the latter can help to break down the target market into smaller segments based on various aspects.
Define the Goals and Strategy
With a strong understanding of the ecosystem, a digital marketer should establish clear goals that provide a basis for the resulting actions. Goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound), as these form the basis for the strategies, which essentially define the “how” of accomplishing them. These strategies encompass a range of aspects, from channels to the tools and workflows that will be used to convert brand interest into clients.