Marketing strategy is like a puzzle: It doesn’t work with only 1 piece

When was the last time you did a jigsaw puzzle? Have you ever worked on a puzzle only to find pieces missing at the end? Think of digital marketing strategy as a puzzle: It has many pieces (social media, website, email marketing, etc) that must work together to achieve your ideal outcome (sales, downloads, webpage views, etc) that need to work together to get you your ideal outcome. 

Marketing Strategy isn’t just a document or plan. We approach marketing strategy much like a jigsaw puzzle. We look at our clients’ business goals and then pull together the pieces to make a completed jigsaw puzzle. 

In this article, we’ll discuss what makes a successful digital marketing strategy, how each “puzzle piece” needs to fit together, and how to use your plan to reach your business goals. 

What is a digital marketing strategy?

Digital marketing is how you use online channels to achieve your marketing goals. Your 

 strategy includes identifying your target audience, setting goals, and determining which activities and channels will help you reach those goals. It will also include how you plan to measure your success (your Key Performance Indicators or KPIs)

You may use online channels, including:

• Social media
• Your website
• Ecommerce platforms
• Search engines

Your online tactics to use in the channels above may include:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Online ads
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• Email marketing

The best digital marketing strategies include an interconnected web of channels, tactics, and content.

Why all businesses need a digital marketing strategy

A digital marketing strategy helps you stay on track and not get distracted by shiny or new channels and techniques. Your marketing strategy becomes a guidepost to ensure you meet your target customers’ needs and work on the right path toward your goals.

A detailed digital marketing strategy helps you:

• Plan content to align with your business goals
• Engage in the channels where your customers are
• Respond to customers and prospects online
• Get leads and a positive ROI

5 Steps to create your digital marketing strategy

Let’s break it down. Here are the five steps to creating your digital marketing strategy (remember, you may already have some of this information in your business plan or existing marketing documents):

Step 1: Research and analysis

With thorough research into your target audience, market dynamics and competitors, you can ensure your marketing plan will be well-received in your market. This also includes a detailed SWOT analysis of your business to uncover your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.   

Step 2: Goals and messaging

Perhaps you’ve already drafted some business objectives in your business plan or other document? Bring those in now and modify them to suit your digital marketing. 

For example, if your overall business goal is to increase sales by 10%, and you know you win 50% of the leads you capture, your marketing goal would be to increase your leads by 20%. 

You can create general online marketing goals or break them down by channel or campaign to get more specific. 

Step 3: Audience personas and journey

Next, have a clear understanding of your target customers. You may already know or have written this in your business plan. Build a complete and detailed profile that includes:

• Demographic information (age, gender)
• Where they live, work, and vacation
• Business details (if you are a B2B business)
• Psychographics (like their personality and lifestyle habits)
• Behavioural notes (websites they use, online browsing habits, product use, buying habits)

Take special note of how they behave online (since that will be most relevant to your digital marketing strategy). Knowing where they “hang out” online, what content they consume or need, and what prompts them to buy helps you design content on channels they’re most likely to frequent.  

To help you build detailed buyer personas, here are 36 questions to ask of your ideal customers. 

Step 4: Choose channels and tactics

Now that you know your market, goals, and audience, it’s time to see where they intersect. There are many online marketing activities you can use, but you don’t need to use them all. Choose the ones that your audience frequents and where you can post content or ads that support or lead people to your goal. 

For example, if you have data that shows your audience enjoys videos, choose platforms that allow video uploads (like YouTube or many social media sites). However, if your audience enjoys reading more, your company blog is better than a visual media website like YouTube. 

Do your best to use various platforms and content types to help cater to different audiences. 

Step 5: Implement, monitor, revise

Once you have a plan, begin implementing your strategies and campaigns. Along the way, track the key KPIs that relate to your marketing goals (such as sales, downloads, or views). Many channels will have built-in analytics (like social media websites). For others, consider setting up a trackable URL (called a UTM link)  to help identify when leads or traffic come from each site. 

(Tip: Use the Campaign URL builder from Google to help generate UTM links, or use a site like Bit.ly or TinyURL for click tracking.)

Monitor your UTM links in Google Tag Manager, GA4 (Google’s analytics platform or the site you created the tracking link). If you’re not achieving your desired results, change different elements of your campaign content, targeting audiences, or other variables to improve your results. Slowly scale your investment and effort to find your sweet spot of spend vs ROI. 

Where a digital marketing consultant can help

The good news is that there are marketing specialists (like us!) who can help you create an effective digital strategy and assist with its execution. 

Here are a few services a digital marketing agency (like Out-Smarts Marketing) can provide: 

Market Analysis
In addition to understanding your target customer, you should be acutely familiar with the market landscape. A digital marketing agency can help you discover what areas you should focus on to get an edge on the competition (a competitor audit). Your market analysis will dig deep to learn more about your current market, competitors, industry, and all related trends.

Customer Personas and the Buyer’s Journey
Your digital marketing success is founded on understanding your customer’s buying journey. A digital marketing agency can help you develop detailed customer personas, including a customer needs assessment, detailed buyer demographics, buyer’s habits and motivation, and more. Once you know your customers, you can align your digital marketing to meet their needs. 

Website Performance Strategy
As the hub of your online presence, your website needs to look and function perfectly to attract your ideal customers and meet your goals. A marketing agency will create a strategy to optimize your website for visitors, search engines, and business goals. This may also include website usability research and testing to ensure your website design, content, and functionality are easily accessible for your target audience. 

Content Marketing Strategy
Content is key! The content you post on your website, social media, ads, and elsewhere online must be consistent and on-brand. If not, you risk prospects getting confused and heading to your competitors with stronger messaging. A content marketing strategist can help you develop your messaging and content for social media, blogs, newsletters, advertising, and more. 

Connect the puzzle pieces with your digital marketing strategy 

Is your digital presence helping you attract customers, clients, and cheerleaders for your organization?

The team of marketing professionals at Out-Smarts Marketing can help you solve the digital marketing puzzle for your organization. We can help ensure you have all the pieces and that they’re working together to help you reach your business goals. With over 20 years of experience, we’re experts at getting in your customer’s heads. We create marketing strategies to help you stay ahead of the game and give your audience what they want, when they want it. 

Learn more about our Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning services. Book a free discovery call to discover your unique strategy to grow your business and build your brand.