Today, digital marketing is the most crucial facet of any business’s marketing strategy. Using digital channels to market and connect with customers can save money, boost efficiency, and grow your business.

A digital marketing strategy is a process for developing and maintaining a wide range of online activities. It’s an organized way to build your online presence, reach potential customers, and convert them into paying customers.

First of all, let’s start with a “digital strategy” concept. Much like an online marketing campaign, this would be a plan that you’re working on to build your brand through online marketing channels. This “digital strategy” could include websites and blogs, email marketing campaigns, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media efforts, etc.

The idea here is that the digital approach will become your go-to way to market your business.

But it doesn’t stop there. Since the internet has redefined the way people make decisions, your offline business strategy should also include mobile marketing efforts, search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns, etc.

An excellent digital marketing strategy begins with understanding who your target audiences are, what they want, and the goals you want to achieve. Once those needs have been identified, it’s time to get creative!

Carefully consider where you are best positioned to dominate in your industry or niche market, as these will be the focal points of your campaigns.

Okay, so how do I create a digital marketing strategy for my business?

The short answer is that it depends on what your business does, the size of your business and how many customers you have, and how much money you want to make.

The bigger your company, the more likely you need a digital marketing strategy and the less likely you can start advertising online. Big companies need to be more careful about what they do and where they spend money.

A small business can start advertising its business on social media for free, see what happens, and see if customers will buy their products or services. As long as the small business keeps an eye on its customers and learns to adapt to them, it will do well. The best part about a small business is that it can change direction quickly if needed; this is something that large companies cannot do easily.

Here’s how we begin to map out a digital marketing strategy:

The first step is to create a plan that shows all of the channels you’ll be using (online and offline) to market your business. We consider everything from your online social media efforts to your smartphone strategies.

The second part is knowing how you’ll measure your actual results against these channels. It’s a waste of time if you’re not going to measure the effectiveness of what you’re doing.

For example, if you’re going to spend money on a pay-per-click campaign, you need to know how many people are visiting your website. You could tell if you’re gaining some traction with the keyword phrases you’re targeting, but it’s best to use analytics tools to help measure the results of your work.

Once you have your digital marketing plan ready for review, the next step is putting together a timetable for action. Study the program and set milestones for when you’ll be spending money on different parts of your campaign. You’ll want to keep the momentum going and see results each year.

Your strategy will look something like this:

Step 1: Create a full-time marketing team that works exclusively to execute your digital marketing plans. We can work with internal resources or outsource work as needed.

Step 2: Set up a social media presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

Step 3: Create a microsite that you can use to build email lists and generate leads. It could be the same site as your blog or a separate domain.

Step 4: Build out the content on the site. Make sure that you’ve got a solid blog lined up and some killer graphics for your pages and posts. Don’t forget about PDF downloads for e-books and white papers too.

Step 5: Start building the social media strategy. Here you provide training to your employees on using social media effectively.

Step 6: Create a mobile app that reflects your business and brand. Think about what your customers are like and what your business is about. You can also use your mobile app to test out some ideas for future digital campaigns.

The last step is pushing for growth through new channels and platforms as the needs of your community evolve.

It’s important to remember that it’s not just about putting up some web pages and hoping that people will randomly find your website one day. You need to advertise, drive traffic to your site and then convert that traffic into paying customers.