Digital Marketing Strategy: What it is, Types and How to Create One
A digital marketing strategy includes actions designed, studied and meditated to achieve a specific goal. This strategy can be designed for the short, medium or long term, depending on the objectives of the company or business.
Digital marketing strategies include various value propositions , as well as a competitive advantage within the market.
It is also about constant planning that can be subject to configurations and innovations depending on the needs, not only of an audience, but of the organization itself.
It should be noted that these types of strategies are determined by the commercial objectives that prevail.
Digital marketing objectives
The objectives of digital marketing, as well as its purposes, are visible as long as there is discipline, concentration and time to formulate and carry them out. In this sense, the main purposes of digital marketing are:
- Increase income and sales.
- Justify and support the launch of services and products.
- Improve brand positioning.
- Maximize market share.
- Provide presence and identity to a brand.
- Keep the business constantly updated.
- Win new clients.
- Encourage customers to invest more in a brand or business.
The objectives may vary depending on the needs of each business or brand, as well as the channels through which the digital marketing strategy is carried out.
Types of digital marketing strategies
In the field of digital marketing there are various strategies, which have different purposes and purposes. Likewise, there are strategies that are personalized based on the needs and goals of each business or company.
Although a wide spectrum of strategies can be found, there are some that have transcended due to their effectiveness, such as those shown below.
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Content Marketing
Practices designed to attract customers organically from different channels are known as content marketing . To achieve this action, it is necessary to create valuable and relevant content for people so that the user feels involved or “hooked.”
It is important to mention that several types of marketing do not focus on selling, so they choose to offer other types of benefits to those who view the content produced.
In other words, something more is offered to the public through the content; from articles with useful tips to teaching something new, or simply content designed for entertainment.
SEM
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a marketing strategy that helps optimize the positioning of a site or web page in different search engines. SEM integrates payment techniques and practices into its strategy, which could be considered “advertising” in search engines.
Although most practices within SEM require a monetary investment , it is also important to implement some SEO practices.
SEO
For its part, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) stands out for being a marketing strategy whose practices and methods offer organic results.
It is true that the results take a long time to be visible, however, the ROI is greater if it is considered that the economic investment was minimal.
Like SEM, SEO offers the positioning of websites in the main search engines without the need to invest money. Although SEO and SEM do not offer the same thing, they are not opposing strategies, since they can be combined and achieve the objectives much faster.
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing , more than a strategy, is a methodology that concentrates different marketing techniques and methods to accompany and help a client during the process of acquiring a service or product from a business.
This type of business methodology helps create healthy and meaningful relationships with customers. Likewise, within inbound marketing, all the necessary elements are provided to clients to achieve their goals.
Marketing automation
As the name suggests, it is marketing automation using special software . Different advantages arise with marketing automation, one of the most important is that it offers efficiency in strategies and reduces time and personnel costs.
Likewise, it is possible to obtain greater control over marketing actions, while providing careful monitoring of how it impacts.
To carry out automated marketing it is necessary to have a set of tools that allow this action. When everything is configured and ready, the results can be viewed without any major setbacks.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the longest-standing practices within digital marketing. The essence of this strategy is simple: use email as the primary channel to carry out a marketing strategy or campaign.
This type of strategy is not only one of the most used and popular in digital marketing, it is also one of the most profitable and economical, since it requires less investment for its development and implementation.
Social media marketing
Similar to email marketing, this type of marketing strategy has social platforms as its main channels , such as: Facebook , Instagram, TikTok , Twitter, among others.
Social Media Marketing (SMM), as it is also called, helps form public relations and customer service through strategies that involve the use of social networks.
Digital marketing strategies on social networks
Digital marketing on social networks consists of using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and others to promote your business, product or service.
The purpose is to capture, relate to and retain your target audience, creating value and trust for your brand.
Some digital marketing strategies on social networks that you can apply are:
- Social media ads : These are paid ads that you can create on social networks to reach more people who may be interested in your offer. Social media ads allow you to segment your audience by different criteria, such as age, gender, location, interests, behavior, etc. Additionally, you can measure the performance of your campaigns and optimize them based on the results.
- Listening on social networks : It is the process of monitoring conversations and mentions about your brand, product, service or competition on social networks. Listening on social networks helps you know the opinion and feelings of your audience, identify opportunities for improvement or innovation, resolve doubts or complaints and detect influencers or ambassadors of your brand.
- Interaction on social networks : It is the level of interaction you generate with your audience on social networks. Interaction on social networks is measured by the number of likes, comments, shares, reactions, mentions, etc. who receive your publications. Interaction on social networks helps you create a close and lasting relationship with your audience, improve your reputation and increase your organic reach.
- Narrative on social networks : It is the art of telling stories about your brand, product or service on social networks. Narrative on social networks helps you connect emotionally with your audience, transmit your values and purpose, differentiate yourself from the competition and generate loyalty.
- Analysis on social networks : It is the analysis of the data and indicators that you obtain from your actions on social networks. Social media analysis helps you evaluate the impact and effectiveness of your strategy, understand the behavior and preferences of your audience, make evidence-based decisions, and optimize your resources.
- Optimization on social networks : It is the set of techniques that you apply to improve the presence and performance of your brand on social networks. Social media optimization helps you increase the visibility and traffic of your website, improve SEO positioning, generate more leads and conversions, and maximize return on investment.
How to make a digital marketing strategy
The creation of a digital marketing strategy is based on 6 axes, which have variables that depend on the type of business or company that requires the strategy.
In this sense, to create a digital marketing strategy it is important to take into account the following elements:
Segmentation
It refers to the action of focusing on a much more limited or determined audience . This is done with the purpose of addressing the public that is truly interested in the proposal that is being created. It is possible to segment an audience based on age, gender, demographics, interests, among others. Segmentation can be as detailed and specific as desired.
Establishing a budget
It is important to have an estimate of how much you intend to invest and how to do it. In this sense, a comparison must be made between the investment and the advantage that will be obtained, or, in other words, one must ensure that the ROI is adequate.
Return on investment is one of the most important elements when carrying out a marketing strategy, since it shows how feasible it was to implement a strategy.
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Define audience
To create an appropriate marketing strategy, it is important to find the audience towards which the planning will be directed. The definition of the audience is broadly related to segmentation, so various elements must be taken into account, such as:
- Age.
- Interests.
- Preferences.
- Location.
- Needs.
With these and other items it is possible to adequately define the audience, trying to have the desired reach and reception.
Establish the correct communication channels
Depending on the audience, it is important to integrate into the communication channels that are used by the target being sought or the Buyer Persona.
It is important to define what type of channels will be used, since this will give greater strength to the messages, campaigns or methods that are planned.
It should be emphasized that, if the appropriate channels are chosen, the performance will be partially organic.
Definition of contents
Now that you have the target audience and communication channels, it is important to design content programs that represent the essence of the business.
To do a better job, it is advisable to start with simple campaigns that allow you to present the voice and personality of the company, as well as those who make it up.
Likewise, it is important to mention that it is possible to create a mixed plan when starting out, that is, integrate organic and paid factors to ensure better positioning of the content.
When you have the content and the ground prepared in the communication channels, it is time to start putting everything into practice.
Behavior analysis and results
It is always recommended to invest in metrics and behavioral measurement systems, since these will be the programs that will account for the results that are being achieved.
It is important to measure the interaction with the audience, as well as analyze whether the objective of the strategy or campaign is being met.
If the systems present discouraging data for the strategy, all that will be needed is an adjustment and configuration to the campaign or strategy.
Difference between digital marketing strategy and campaign
The difference between strategy and campaign does not only lie in the definition of each concept, but transcends the practice and structure of each one.
While a strategy is characterized by encompassing a series of certain actions (previously thought out and analyzed) to meet a goal , a campaign (within marketing) is responsible for collecting the activities to achieve a purpose in a given period of time.
In order not to confuse the terms, it can be said that a marketing campaign is part of a strategy; That is, the campaign represents the operational part of the strategy .
Likewise, in each strategy there may be various campaigns that share the same goal of the original strategy. In short, the main difference lies in the way of operating to fulfill the purpose of a business or company to obtain a common purpose.
Written by Moises Hamui Abadi : I am an entrepreneur, founding partner of Viceversa and SoyMacho. After leading several digital businesses and advising several other businesses; I decided to form MHA Consulting, a digital marketing consultancy dedicated to growing and enhancing digital businesses in more than 7 countries and generating more than 1,500 million pesos.
If you want more information on this topic or are looking for other options to profile your ideal client, at MHA you will find the solution you need. Schedule a call.