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Digital Strategy

A Strategic Approach to Digital Marketing

By June 6, 2014No Comments

So SWOT Digital is our new company.  Mark and Myself are excited.  We are driven. We are focused.  We are results orientated.  We know what success looks like.  We have a plan.  We have a strategy.

I thought in this first post, I’d discuss a strategic approach to digital marketing.  I am not trying to be all high and mighty here and I don’t profess to be a know-all.  However I do get strategy, I understand it’s huge importance in business, in digital marketing and many aspects of every day life!

Without a strategy, without a plan we’re fairly stuffed as human beings.  Our businesses processes will not be efficient and our organisations will just not work and succeed as well as they might.

The components of a Digital marketing strategy

So we will consider digital marketing strategy here but the takeaways can be applied elsewhere.

So where do we start?  First, we get a handle on where we are right now in the market place.  What we are doing, what our competitors are doing, the products and services we offer how they are priced and delivered.  We look at out existing customers, our potential clients and other stakeholders.  We examine our website and what we are doing right now digitally.  Our advertising, our marketing, our PR, our SEO, our social and all the other inputs.  Now we look at our outputs,  What are the current results of our existing endeavours – for what we put in, what do we get out.

There’s a lot in it, but it’s logical.  Think to yourself and brainstorm these things in detail identifying exactly where you are right now.

Okay, now skip forward in time, to your happy place of success and to where you want to be.  Your digital marketing is working for you and you are reaping the rewards of the resources you have invested.

Now define this success.  Define it in terms of Goals for you site.  Start off like this: Goal 1: In 12 months our company will [fill in the blank].  Now repeat four more times so you have five written goals.

Each goal must contain specific elements:

  • A goal must be Smart
  • A goal must be Measurable
  • A goal must be Attainable
  • A goal must be Realisitc
  • A goal must be Timely

In other words a goal must be SMART.

Here’s a ridiculous goal:  I want someone to buy my website off me and make me rich (although a decent aspiration!)

And here’s a proper goal:  In 12 months time, I want to have achieved 200K of online sales through my website with a profit margin of 22% and forecasted growth for the following 12 months of 50%.

Your goals could be anything, they just need to be defined and written down in such a way to you have something to work towards.

And now comes the best bit.  The fun bit.  The hardest bit.  But the most rewarding bit.  And that is to work out a strategic plan to get you from where you are right now, to where you want to be at that certain point in the future.

Lots of consideration needs to be given to what you are going to do.  Consider why it is you want to do these things and do they move you towards your goals.  If they don’t don’t do them.  Forget about them, or at the very least get someone else to do these things whilst you concentrate on achieving your goals.  Your focus, at all times must be on reaching your goals.

Know what success looks like

So you have followed the steps in the process above.  And you think you are moving towards your goals, but are you?  Are you really on course to achieving your goal or have you been blown off course. Milestones are crucial to plotting your success and regular review of your performance against your strategy are critical.  Don’t be afraid to tweak your strategy.  Or even re-write it where you have to, changing your goals if necessary.  Adopting an emergent strategy adapting it to changing conditions is a great approach.

The strategy is yours after all just ensure it encompasses everything you need it to, to achieve those SMART goals.

 

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