Think of your digital marketing strategy as your plan for how consumers are going to learn about your brand.  Now, more than ever, consumers rely on digital marketing content to determine the decisions they make about which brand to use. We know that the majority of customers spend their time online so, in this sense, digital marketing strategies are a vital part of your business development and plan.  

If you’re considering creating your own digital marketing strategy, firstly, consider your overall business goals and how your marketing efforts will work on achieving these. Digital marketing strategies are often complex and require research, so it helps to break down the process into its most important parts.

Here are the five main components that should be considered when planning a successful digital marketing campaign:

1. Understand your audience

Understanding your audience is the first step to developing an effective digital marketing strategy. You need to understand who your customers are, where they live, how old they are, and what motivates them to buy.  In addition, gauging where in their buyer journey your target audience sits. Are they ready to purchase now, or are they only at the beginning of their buyer journey, the stage where they might recognise they need something but are yet to enter the information searching stage. 

You need to understand both these aspects of your target audience. When you do, this will then determine what kind of content works best. For example, first-time fathers will likely have different priorities than their newly graduated counterparts; messaging should reflect that as their priorities are different.  A first-time father might have less time to browse content and social media; thus, messaging should be succinct and to the point.  Whereas a new graduate may have more time on their hands to browse and make decisions - they might prefer engaging with lots of content before making a decision.  Thus your audience must be understood, and your digital marketing strategy adapted accordingly.  

2. Create an effective brand identity

Your brand identity is the visual representation of your company or organisation. It includes everything from logos to colours to fonts and images.  In short, it should represent your business’s values and personality. Your brand identity also conveys ideas about your company - and you - to consumers.  As such, it should reflect who you are and what your company is about.

For example, if you love bold colours and motifs, then incorporate that into your branding - it is reflective of who you are.  If, however, you feel that you want to use a particular branding simply because it is eye-catching but not necessarily reflective of you, then be cautious.  As already said, your brand identity isn’t just static imaging; it also conveys ideas about you.  If you are not those things, it is difficult to be authentic when you are perhaps called upon to represent your brand.  

3. Develop a compelling value proposition

A value proposition is the promise you make to your customers - some marketing gurus suggest this is the most important aspect of digital marketing strategy. A value proposition is the reason why people choose to do business with you instead of your competitors. In other words, it’s the benefit your product or service provides to your customer over the benefit a competitor might provide - the benefit of your product compared to others is obvious. 

For example, in his blog, Dan Shewin points out how Uber has managed its value proposition and, in doing so, provides an argument for using Uber over traditional taxi services; that is, that Uber is a simple, effective and hassle-free option and doubly so when compared to traditional taxi services.      

4. Build trust with consumers

A compelling value proposition links to building trust with consumers.  As consumers engage with your value proposition, they are also engaging with your business’ values and seeking to understand whether your product or service will help them achieve their goals. In this sense, consumers are asking whether your business can be trusted to provide the service or product they need.  

In an increasingly digital age, trust is built through committed and long-standing relationships; even with technology expanding the distance between product and consumer, consumers still look to companies whose values align with their own.  Again your value proposition builds into this as you can provide a point of difference to your competitors as you seek long-lasting and committed relationships with your clients.  This is your point of difference - you clearly value the relationship between you and your clients.  The practicalities of this come down to every communication with your client or with consumers. Every interaction counts, whether it is through the online medium of your value proposition or through the ongoing conversations you have.  

5. Measure results

Results are analysed and measured as it helps clients to see how their goals are being met—in this sense, measuring results are not an afterthought but are linked to the goals of any digital marketing strategy.  For example, a teacher sets learning outcomes (goals) at the beginning of a unit of work and knows (when the work is undertaken) how they will assess the learning outcomes. 

It is from there that the next goals are formulated.  Similarly, measuring goals in digital marketing strategies are inherently linked - you shouldn’t have one without the other.  In addition, as today’s consumers are moving across platforms and with different media, careful measurement can track how and where consumers are interacting with your business.  Again, this is valuable information for setting future goals and determining if your digital marketing strategy is effective.  

To measure results, you should use analytics tools such as Google Analytics. These tools allow you to track user behaviour and understand where people come from when visiting your website. They also allow you to see how users interact with different parts of your site. Make sure you are using a reliable and valid measure and not comparing results across different providers - this can muddy the results and present a confusing picture to your clients.