A strong, focused digital marketing strategy is key to business success. A lot of businesses annually review their marketing strategy and focus on a well-thought-out plan that fits their brand and goals, from their target market to their values, mission, and vision. For small businesses, however, creating a marketing strategy can seem daunting which is why it’s worth enlisting the help of a digital marketing agency. This is because they understand how to plan and produce digital strategies whatever size company you may be.
As a small business, when you’re thinking about your digital marketing strategy, there are three key things to consider about your business:
Business objectives
Your business objectives are probably the most important thing to consider when deciding on your marketing strategy and future campaigns. Understanding what you want to achieve from your marketing plan is important and goes a long way to supporting business success.
For example, if brand awareness is key to your business, you will need to create a digital marketing strategy that focuses on earned media, branding, and increasing your reach and followers.
However, if you want to increase sales, you will need to look at your paid media, customer lifetime value, retargeting and hard sell options.
Start by defining your key performance indicators (KPIs) and then build your digital marketing strategy around these. KPIs are a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a company’s overall long-term performance. They specifically help determine a company’s strategic, financial, and operational achievements, especially compared to those of other businesses within the same sector. So, for example, customer focused KPIs centre on per customer efficiency, customer satisfaction and customer retention.
The most common key performance indicators are as follows:
- Revenue growth
- Revenue per client
- Profit margin
- Client retention rate
- Customer satisfaction
KPIs offer an effective way to measure and track your company’s performance on a variety of different metrics. By understanding exactly what KPIs are and how to implement them properly, you will be better able to optimise your business for long-term success. You can find more information on how performance analytics can help you choose your KPIs for your business here.
Marketing Budget
When you start thinking about the media you want to use then it’s time to consider your marketing budget. Your media choices may change depending on your budget, or you might need to increase your budget on specific elements of your strategy to achieve the KPIs and objectives that you have defined.
It is important to set the right budget to achieve your goals, which means you need to have set realistic KPIs. For example, if your paid advertising budget is £750 a month and your aim is to achieve £750,000 in sales, this might not be a realistic outcome.
There are a lot of marketing automation tools which could help you create and manage successful marketing campaigns regardless of the type of business you run. Click here to learn more about the benefits of using marketing automation software.
Competitors
Your competitors are a vital part of building a successful marketing strategy. By knowing these you are not only able to assess how competitive the space is and what the most successful businesses are doing, but you’ll be able to make a better decision on what your strategy needs to be to compete against them.
By looking at your competitors, you’ll be able to define your target audience and stay on top of trends, pinpointing what’s relevant and what’s not in the eyes of your consumer. Then, you can use all that information to make informed decisions about your digital strategy and marketing campaigns.
Media
There are three types of media to consider when it comes to digital marketing:
- Earned media
- Owned media
- Paid media.
Media strategies that include a paid placement are referred to as paid media. PPC advertising, branded content, and display adverts are all examples of paid media and are an important part of Internet businesses’ revenue development and brand exposure.
Owned media refers to digital marketing platforms over which a firm has complete control, such as a branded website and social media accounts. Email marketing initiatives, such as newsletters, are examples of owned media.
Earned media is third-party marketing that isn’t paid for. This includes public relations, branding, and customer service.
So, in summary, first, look at your business objectives, then your budget and finally look at what your competitors are doing, and then you can make informed decisions about which campaign type is best for your business and brand.
If you need any help or advice on developing a marketing strategy that’s right for your business, then Two Lizards can help. Call us on 01306 621001 or email and we will be delighted to help.