This article was last updated with relevant content in July 2024
As a business in today’s digital landscape, you are likely allocating a significant portion of your advertising budget toward online ad channels. With a heavy focus on digital, it’s important to establish a marketing strategy that is focused on the correct channels and makes the largest impact possible.
Today, we will help you create and implement a digital marketing strategy by answering five important questions:
- Why is digital marketing so important?
- Who should I focus my efforts on?
- What digital channels should I utilize?
- When should I utilize my digital marketing?
- How will I find the time to establish and implement a digital marketing strategy?
As business owners, we can all relate to the frustration of having long lists of great ideas that never get implemented. We’ll go to a conference, meet with a colleague, or have a great brainstorming session and leave with ideas that we know will propel our business forward, yet they sit there on a list that slowly becomes buried.
Establishing a digital marketing strategy is too important to be stuck on a to-do list, so here’s a quick guide to get you started. If you devote time to each of the questions below, you’ll likely be miles ahead of your competition.
Why Is Digital Marketing So Important?
A great marketing strategy adapts to your consumer, and it’s no secret that media consumption has greatly shifted to digital platforms over the last decade. Datareportal recently released a report performed by Meltwater and We Are Social that looks deeply into the status and demographics of digital media consumption and compares digital media usage to traditional media usage. Taking a look at the amount of time people spend on various types of media, the average internet user between the ages of 16 and 64 spends:
- Six hours and 40 minutes using the internet
- Three hours and six minutes watching broadcast or streaming television
- Two hours and 23 minutes on social media
- One hour and 41 minutes reading press media, either online or in print
- One hour and 25 minutes listening to streaming music
- 50 minutes listening to broadcast radio
- 49 minutes listening to podcasts
- One hour and two minutes using a gaming console
All told, that’s an enormous amount of time spent engaging with various media, the lion’s share of which are digital channels. With so many social media platforms, streaming services, and other forms of digital media available at our fingertips or by the push of a button on the remote, it’s only logical to optimize your marketing plan and focus on the most strategic digital channels for your business.
Still not convinced? Here are a few more reasons why you should set a digital marketing strategy:
- Digital marketing is much more trackable than traditional media through the use of GA4 (Google Analytics) and other analytical tools. Today’s solutions provide specific data and insights that reveal just how effective your digital marketing efforts are. Track your performances on Google and Microsoft ads, social media ads, landing pages, and others.
- Digital media is often more cost-efficient than television, radio, and other traditional platforms.
- Digital marketing allows for better interactions with your customers, and some channels let you engage in an actual conversation. As you listen to your audience and track your performances, you’ll learn valuable information about their habits.
- Your competition is most likely definitely advertising digitally.
Who Should I Focus My Efforts On?
With digital media, you have the opportunity to establish multiple target markets and adjust your channels and messaging to each group. Most companies have various groups of people that they need to nurture relationships with. If you’re having trouble identifying those groups, here are a few questions to get you started:
- How do I obtain most of my clients?
- Are there key industries that I work in most often?
- Who can I be a resource to?
Of course, your leads will be a top priority for you, both those you’ve already established and those you are attempting to get in front of. However, your clients should also be a primary focus. Keeping your clients engaged will promote repeat business and increase referrals. Staying top-of-mind with your clients will pay huge dividends.
Colleagues are another great referral stream. You likely have an attorney, CPA, banker, business consultant, and multiple vendors. Each of these people interacts with other businesses that likely have a need for your services.
Lastly, don’t overlook your industry associations or memberships. Finding ways to provide resources to them can help establish you as a thought leader within your industry.
What Digital Channels Should I Utilize?
With so many digital channels available and the limited resources of time and money, it’s important to be efficient and strategic. For instance, just because a new social platform comes out doesn’t mean it’s right for your company. Before deciding which platforms to use, you should first discover the best forms of communication for your clients.
Take LinkedIn and Facebook, for example. LinkedIn is more of a networking-focused social media platform that many businesspeople use, from CEOs and entrepreneurs to young professionals and even college students. It’s the place to connect with other business- and career-focused users on a more professional level. While there are business professionals on Facebook, Facebook is generally the platform people use for more relaxed social connections. Again, this is a general summation, but users flock to Facebook to see life updates from friends and family, the latest pop-culture news, entertaining reels, and more.
For some businesses, their LinkedIn ads will need to have a different strategy than their Facebook ads. For other companies, advertising on both platforms would be a waste of money—they should prioritize the platform where the majority of their audience is. As an example, LinkedIn may be the best option for a business litigation firm, while Facebook is a more practical option for a pediatric doctor looking to target young moms and dads, as well as grandparents.
Knowing your audience and where they spend their time online is a huge component of choosing which digital channels to use.
Here are just a few highly effective digital marketing channels you can consider using:
- Social Media Ads – Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
- Social Media Management – Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
- YouTube Ads
- Hulu Ads
- Email Marketing
- Search Engine Marketing – Google Ads and Bing Ads
- Geofencing
- Web Article Development
When Should I Utilize My Digital Marketing?
Once you’ve selected your digital channels, it’s important that you actually use them. There’s nothing worse than an outdated social page or an old, unmanaged website blog. Consistency is important, both in your messaging and in your frequency of posting. If you are stressing over your posting, remember that digital media has a shorter shelf life than most traditional media, such as print and television. It’s also much easier to edit should there be an error. So, don’t obsess over every single detail to the point that it prevents you from getting your message out there.
Here are some frequency guidelines:
- For social media, we recommend posting 3-5 times per week.
- For email marketing, one to two eNewsletters a month is a fine strategy.
- For article development and blog management, one article per month should be the minimum. If time allows, two to three articles per month will significantly impact your Search Engine Optimization.
For a full digital recommendation, talk to our team today! 478-621-4491
How Will I Find the Time to Establish and Implement a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Now that it’s time to start implementing your strategy, you’ll be faced with the most difficult question—how? If you have a marketing department, this is the most natural assignment for managing your digital marketing strategy. In this situation, it’s important to provide clear instructions on your strategy and expectations.
Once assignments have been made, creating firm calendar appointments can be incredibly helpful. If the responsibility resides with you as the business owner, creating a calendar appointment with yourself each week can be a revolutionary exercise. During this time, you can commit to working on the business rather than in the business. This time can be used to schedule social media posts and write articles for your eNewsletter and blog.
Need Help Getting Started?
Establishing and implementing a digital marketing strategy is incredibly important but can be difficult for multiple reasons. Maybe you don’t have enough time, maybe it’s not your expertise, or maybe your time is better spent on other aspects of your business.
At M&R Marketing Group, we manage digital marketing strategies for many of our clients. Our in-house team includes graphic designers, web developers, social media managers, copywriters, and account managers who can expertly establish and implement a digital marketing strategy for your business.
If you’d like a free consultation regarding your strategy, one of our account managers would love to speak with you. Email us at hey@mandr-group.com or call 478-621-4491.
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