How to create a digital marketing strategy? (guide with examples)

We already know 12 key reasons why having a digital marketing strategy is crucial – just to quickly wrap-up: it allows to align marketing efforts with business goals through planned actions and specific objectives. Creating a digital marketing strategy involves several key steps. There also are several marketing strategy frameworks that can guide the process. Let’s dive into today’s guide!

Step-by-step creation of a digital marketing strategy (remember to document everything along the way😎)

Step 1: Recognition aka deeply analyze your current positions

Creating a solid digital marketing strategy starts with an analysis of your current positions. This foundational step involves understanding your target audience, performing a SWOT analysis, conducting a competitor analysis, and reviewing your current digital presence and performance metrics.

If you are just starting, you will not have a website or social media channels to review. However, don’t skip getting to know your audience and competition, nor understanding your own potential (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).

Become a friend of your target audience

Understanding your target audience part means collecting and analyzing data about your audience’s demography, preferences, needs, motivations, challenges, behaviors and engagement patterns. It can be done through online surveys, one-on-one interviews, social media, online forums, and industry reports!

Creating detailed buyer personas is another critical task. These personas are fictional but realistic profiles that represent your ideal customers. They include specific details such as age, gender, occupation, interests, pain points, and buying behaviors. For example, a buyer persona named “Tech-Savvy Tina” could represent a 28-year-old software developer interested in the latest tech gadgets and AI innovations, who values reliable product reviews and tech tutorials.

Perform a SWOT Analysis 🤔

A *SWOT* analysis stands for: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In general it helps identify important aspects from these areas. 

Recognizing your strengths, such as a strong brand reputation, a loyal customer base, or innovative products, highlights areas where you excel. Conversely, acknowledging weaknesses like a limited online presence, an outdated website, or insufficient content can pinpoint areas for improvement.

Opportunities represent external factors that you can leverage for growth, such as emerging market trends, new social media platforms, or potential partnerships. On the other hand, threats are external challenges that could negatively impact your business, such as increasing competition, changing regulations, or economic downturns.

Know yourself but know your oponent better: conduct a competitor analysis

Start by identifying both direct competitors, who offer similar products or services, and indirect competitors, who offer different products that satisfy the same customer need. For example, a direct competitor for a ride-sharing company is another ride-sharing company. Indirect competitors in that case could be public transport, taxi services, car-sharing services etc.

Examine their content to evaluate quality, frequency, and engagement. Assess their social media presence, looking at follower engagement and campaign strategies. Study their SEO activities, including search engine rankings, keyword usage, and backlink profiles. Additionally, scrutinize their paid advertising tactics, such as ad creatives, targeting strategies, and ad spend.

Look for areas where competitors are underperforming or missing out, like a lack of content on specific topics or weak social media engagement. These gaps present opportunities for you to excel, such as creating more engaging content or targeting underserved audience segments.

Review current digital presence and performance metrics

Start with a website audit, focusing on SEO factors like keyword optimization, meta tags, and alt texts. Evaluate the quality of your content for relevance and engagement, and assess user experience elements such as site navigation, mobile responsiveness, and page load speed. Identify and fix any technical issues, including broken links, duplicate content, and security concerns.

Next, perform a social media audit. Review the completeness and consistency of your social media profiles, check engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments, and analyze the effectiveness of past campaigns and follower growth rates.

Finally, conduct a general content audit to ensure your content aligns with current audience interests and market trends. Use analytics to measure the reach, engagement, and conversion rates of your content. Identify pieces that can be updated, repurposed, or retired to maintain a relevant and effective content strategy.

Step 2: Define Clear Objectives

After analyzing your current positions, the next step is to define clear objectives. This step involves aligning digital marketing objectives with broader business goals and establishing SMART goals to ensure you will be able to reach them.

Align digital marketing objectives with broader business goals

Start by revisiting your business goals and understanding the key priorities and targets. For example, if your business goal is to increase revenue by 20% over the next year, your digital marketing objectives should directly support this aim. This might involve increasing website traffic, improving lead generation, or boosting online sales through targeted campaigns. If your business goal is to improve customer engagement and satisfaction, you can do it through social media interactions, which in turn can enhance brand loyalty and drive repeat business.

Establish SMART Goals

By establishing SMART goals, you create a structured and disciplined approach to achieving your digital marketing objectives. This framework not only helps in setting clear and attainable goals but also provides a basis for measuring success and making necessary adjustments along the way.

SMART	Description	Example
S is for Specific	Your goals should be clear and specific, leaving no room for ambiguity. A specific goal answers the questions of what you want to achieve, why it is important, who is involved, where it is located, and which resources are required.	Instead of a vague goal like “increase website traffic,” a specific goal would be “increase organic website traffic by 30% in the next six months by improving SEO and content marketing.”
M stands for Measurable	Goals must be measurable to track progress and determine when they have been achieved. This involves defining concrete criteria for measuring success. Measurable goals include key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, conversion rates, email open rates, and social media engagement metrics.	Increase email open rates from 20% to 30% within three months by optimizing subject lines and email content.
A meaning Achievable	While goals should be ambitious, they must also be realistic and attainable. Consider the resources, time, and capabilities available to achieve the goals. Setting achievable goals involves assessing past performance and industry benchmarks.	“achieve a 15% increase in social media followers over the next quarter by implementing a targeted content and advertising strategy” is an achievable goal if it aligns with your current growth rate and resources.
R = Relevant	Goals should be relevant to your business objectives and aligned with your overall strategy. This ensures that your efforts are focused on what truly matters for the organization. A relevant goal aligns with broader business goals and makes sense within the current economic and market conditions.	“increase online sales by 25% over the next six months by launching a new e-commerce platform and targeted digital ad campaigns” is relevant if increasing revenue through online channels is a primary business goal.
T refers to Time-bound	Every goal needs a deadline to create a sense of urgency and motivate action. Time-bound goals specify when the results should be achieved, providing a clear timeframe for evaluation.	“increase blog readership by 40% in the next quarter by publishing two high-quality articles per week and promoting them through social media and email newsletters” sets a specific time frame for achieving the desired outcome.

Step 3: Plan your actions

With clear objectives in place, the next step in your digital marketing strategy is planning. This phase involves identifying the best digital channels and tools for reaching your audience, planning content creation and distribution strategies, setting your budget, and creating a detailed action plan. Effective planning ensures that all your marketing efforts are cohesive, targeted, and well-coordinated.

Identify the Best Digital Channels and Tools for Reaching Your Audience

Selecting the right digital channels and tools is crucial for effectively reaching and engaging your target audience. This involves leveraging a mix of owned, earned, and paid media, as well as implementing a robust email marketing strategy.

Your owned media includes all the digital assets that your business controls. Examples are: website, blog, newsletter, social media profiles. Your website should be optimized for user experience and SEO to attract and retain visitors. A regularly updated blog can drive traffic, improve SEO rankings, and establish your authority in the industry. Social media profiles on relevant platforms are vital for building and engaging with your audience.

Earned media refers to the organic visibility gained mostly with PR efforts. Public relations efforts, like getting featured in industry publications or news outlets, can also significantly boost your brand’s reputation.

Paid media includes advertising efforts where you pay to promote your content and reach a wider audience. This includes pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media ads, display ads, and influencer partnerships. PPC ads, such as Google Ads, can drive targeted traffic to your website. Social media ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow for precise targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. Display ads can increase brand awareness, while influencer partnerships can leverage the reach and credibility of influential figures in your industry.

Plan Content Creation and Distribution Strategies

First and foremost ensure your content provides value and solves your audience’s problems. High-quality, valuable content attracts and retains an audience, encourages sharing, and enhances your brand’s reputation. Focus on addressing your audience’s pain points, answering their questions, and providing actionable insights. You can use SEO tools and techniques in a search for good topics.

Second, based on selected channels consider content types. Diversify your content types to appeal to different audience preferences and platform specifics. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, whitepapers, case studies, and more.

Set Your Budget

Ask yourself how much are you able to spend? You can spend as much as you can spend. Knowing your financial possibilities will give you space to evaluate your expectations, prioritize your efforts. At the beginning it should be a rough estimation you will adjust later.

Distribute your budget based on the channel’s priority and expected return on investment (ROI). Determine how much to allocate to owned media (e.g., website maintenance, content creation), earned media (e.g., PR efforts), and paid media (e.g., PPC campaigns, social media ads). Consider factors such as past performance, market trends, and the competitiveness of your industry.

Regularly track your expenditures to stay within budget and adjust as needed. Be flexible and ready to reallocate funds based on performance. If a particular channel or campaign is outperforming others, consider shifting more resources to maximize results. Conversely, reduce spending on underperforming areas.

Create an Action Plan

An action plan details the specific steps required to execute your digital marketing strategy, assigning responsibilities and setting timelines to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Using knowledge gained in research stages, develop a content calendar and campaign schedules. Create a detailed content calendar outlining what content will be created, when it will be published, and where it will be promoted. Similarly, develop campaign schedules for paid media efforts, detailing the start and end dates, target audience, budget, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Break down your strategy into actionable tasks. For example, if your strategy involves increasing blog traffic, specific actions might include conducting keyword research, writing and publishing blog posts, and promoting content on social media. Then clearly define who is responsible for each task and set deadlines. Assign tasks to team members based on their skills and expertise. Ensure everyone involved understands the strategy, their roles, and the timelines. Use project management tools to track progress and ensure accountability.

Don’t forget about implementation of control measures. Set up tracking and analytics tools to monitor performance. Use tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and marketing dashboards to track key metrics. Regularly review performance data to assess progress and make data-driven adjustments to your strategy.

Read more on how to plan a digital marketing campaign

Step 4: Put your plan into action aka Execute

The final step in your digital marketing strategy is execution, where you put your plan into action: create all the materials, publish, engage with your audience, monitor performance, and continuously optimize your efforts.

Create the content

Before launching your campaigns, ensure all necessary materials and content are ready. This includes creating high-quality blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, social media posts, and email templates. Each piece of content should align with your strategy and be optimized for your target audience and chosen channels. Collaboration with designers, writers, and other content creators is essential to produce engaging and effective materials.

Launch campaigns

With your materials prepared, it’s time to implement your marketing tactics across the chosen channels. Launching campaigns involves scheduling and publishing content according to your content calendar, setting up and running PPC ads, sending out email campaigns, and more. Ensure all elements of your campaign are synchronized and that each piece supports your overall objectives. This phase requires coordination and careful execution to maintain consistency and effectiveness.

Remember, especially in the context of social media channels, that active engagement with your audience is vital for building relationships and fostering loyalty. Respond promptly to comments, messages, and feedback.

Monitor Performance

Tracking the performance of your campaigns is essential to understand what is working and where improvements are needed. Use various analytics tools to measure key performance indicators (KPIs) and performance metrics.

Regularly generate reports to review progress and share findings with your team. Reports should highlight key metrics, trends, and insights, helping you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns and identify areas for improvement. Weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports can keep everyone informed and aligned with your objectives.

Analyze, optimize and improve

Use the data and insights gathered from your monitoring and reporting activities to make informed adjustments to your strategy. Analyze the data to identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement. Use this information to make data-driven decisions about, for example, where to allocate resources, which tactics to adjust, and how to enhance overall performance.

Conduct A/B testing to compare different strategies and determine what works best. Test variables such as headlines, images, call-to-action buttons, email subject lines, and ad creatives. A/B testing helps you identify the most effective elements of your campaigns and optimize them for better results.

Key takeaways on creating a digital marketing strategy

Digital marketing is an ongoing process that requires continuous refinement. Regularly review your strategy, update your tactics, and iterate on your campaigns to achieve ongoing enhancement. Stay informed about industry trends, emerging technologies, and changes in consumer behavior to keep your strategy relevant and effective.

In conclusion, the execution phase involves creating necessary materials, launching campaigns, engaging with your audience, monitoring performance, and optimizing your efforts. By following these steps, you can effectively implement your digital marketing strategy and drive meaningful results for your business.