A few years ago, business owners looked at digital marketing as a kind of afterthought that deserved a cursory look only when there's budget left over from traditional marketing platforms. Now, digital marketing is becoming a staple part of any marketer's overall strategy. In addition, because it often requires a smaller marketing budget, it has become a go-to marketing platform for smaller businesses.
Simply defined, digital marketing is the promotion of brands through the internet, mobile devices and other interactive channels. When executed properly, a digital strategy can help customers find you easily across many touch-points online. You can also use it to create stronger customer relationships in an environment where you can tell your brand's story.
The ability of digital marketing to generate higher engagement for a relatively smaller budget is a major attraction as well. From the outset, it's obvious that this platform evens the playing field for small business owners, who often have to pit their limited budget against the seemingly unlimited marketing purses of bigger competitors. Beyond its attractive pricing, digital media also provides a more accountable level of transparency for measuring return on investment (ROI).
Note that there is a huge difference between putting your business online and promoting your business online. An authentic digital marketing strategy goes way beyond opening a website and creating a social media presence. It helps increase website traffic and search engine rankings. It also supports brand recognition and, more importantly, generates sales leads.
Of course, similar to traditional marketing platforms, careful planning and methodical delivery are essentials in the digital space. The stark difference is that a misstep in digital marketing could often prove even more disastrous than mistakes made in other media. Thanks to the accessibility of social media, the ripple effect of digital blunders often travels fast and stays public and available, almost forever.
To make sure you are creating a digital strategy that is the most suitable for your business, here are the first three steps you need to go through before you start planning:
1 - Define its purpose. Before you try to figure out how to execute a digital plan, first ask yourself what purpose is digital serving toward your overall communications strategy. "First, decide what role digital is playing for the business, then decide your strategy. I believe that's the first stumbling block we must get over," says Sagar Shetty, managing partner at digital firm Clique Communications Group.
Once you've got your objectives in place, then you can start to seek out the kinds of platforms that would best serve the purpose you've set out for your strategy. In defining its purpose, you have created a strong foundation for digital marketing strategy. This will make it easier for you to define its parameters.
2 - Do your research. It may sound too obvious but it can't be stressed enough. You've got to get as full a picture as possible to be able to create a clearly outlined plan that includes goalposts as well as contingencies.
Research the available tools for monitoring and managing digital campaigns. Compare and contrast what similar companies are doing. Find out how much financial resources are associated with long- and short-term campaigns. The latter includes costs for man-hours, programming, hosting, monitoring, search engine optimization, design and maintenance.
"Digital marketing is more often than not done in real time. So if it is done badly, it can be like watching a train wreck in slow motion," describes Moussa El Najmi, business solutions director at Xceed Integrated Technology, a UAE-based IT consultant and solutions provider. "A clear strategy is necessary and careful planning should be empirical."
3 - Work with the right people. This isn't just about finding the right talent, which, as some business owners will tell you, can be challenging enough. This is also about finding the right mix of people who can all work toward a singular goal, whether they be third party agencies, partners, consultants or in-house staff.
"Not depending on the right people can be very costly," says El Najmi. "Find people with passion, technical savvy, and broad minds."
This third point can be the most challenging of the list. It will most likely take several attempts to find partners and staff that are right for your business. After all, an individual may look good on paper but their agenda may not be in-line with yours. Remember that the best barometer for finding talent is in finding people who share a similar entrepreneurial spirit.
Zawya BusinessPulse 2013
