There’s no doubt the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on most businesses and the way they market their brand. In these times more than ever, having a well thought out digital marketing strategy is crucial to the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. 

Many companies have seen conversion rates plummet during the lockdown periods, as we now go into a period of what can be termed cautious recovery the market will still be unsettled. Doing thorough research of your company data on a regular basis will be the crucial element in keeping abreast of what is happening in relation to your own online presence and individual company goals. From this information, you can create an actionable flexible roadmap, which will be the articulation of your desired outcomes and targets. 

Here we highlight some of the key elements, those at the very start of the planning process, that will form the outline structure from which your strategy can be created.

Knowledge And Understanding

Knowing your brand and what it wants to achieve is one of the most important aspects of creating an effective marketing strategy.  Be fully aware of where you sit in the online space and especially in comparison to others in your sector. Plan campaigns with the full knowledge that you understand your business, what it wants to achieve, and what your target audience wants and needs.

Ask the following questions:

1. Is our brand in line with what the market dictates?
2. Are we addressing our customer needs?
3. Where do we sit in comparison to our competitors?
4. What makes us different and stand out?
5. Have we got measures in place that account for market fluctuations? In this case the COVID-19 Pandemic.

These questions underpin the whole aspect of planning and are a starting point upon which to build the foundations of a good marketing strategy.  It’s not always adequate to look at what others are doing and copy the model, a good strategy has to be individualised to suit the wants and needs of both you (the provider)  your customers and to take into consideration market forces.

Business Objectives & Goal – What Do You Want To Achieve?

Having goals to work towards gives a campaign the drive it needs to move forward and keep momentum, those involved stay on track, and with analytics correctly set up, it’s possible to use the data to assess its effectiveness.

Make your goals clear and specific, SMART goals are a good example to use:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost-limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Measure your objectives by using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) such as:

• When do you expect to achieve your goal? Time limit.
• How much is one new client worth? Give it a minimum value.

Actionable vs Vanity Metrics – What To Measure?

When deciding on the data to use to measure the performance of a  campaign ensure the main focus is on actionable metrics which are the stats that really matter, these are actions that can be tracked, monitored, and used to inform decisions.   Vanity metrics, on the other hand, make us feel good, the stats can look impressive on paper but often mean very little.  There’s nothing wrong with vanity metrics as long as they are kept in perspective, it’s not for example the number of followers on Twitter that really matters, it’s about whether any of those followers go on to complete a measurable goal such as a website purchase.

 Budget And Resources

• Include annual projected costs
• Make a comprehensive list of the tools you need (monitoring/email marketing CRM, video production)
• Management – whether in house or outsourced. Knowing who’s responsible for what increases productivity and avoids confusion and overlapping efforts

Review On A Regular Basis

Finally, a strategy isn’t set in stone and will need to be regularly reviewed,  in order to allow for changes in business, market alterations or other factors. This is the natural aspect of business evolution and adaptation, without flexibility and foresight there is no room for growth and progression. The data obtained from your analytics will provide the information that forms the basis of your plans, it will enable you to access what has been successful or not, enabling modification according to the results.  

If you need help planning your digital media marketing or need any advice on how to go about putting together a company strategy then please get in touch here

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