How to create an effective digital marketing campaign

As the digital marketplace continues to broaden and fragment, planning and executing an effective digital marketing campaign has never been more complicated.

A recent infographic published by WheelhouseAdvisors – entitled ‘360 Digital Marketing: A Guide‘ – offers some valuable insights on the importance of gaining a view of your entire customer journey, and using a range of tactics to achieve your marketing goals.

We’ve put together key takeaways to help ensure we’ve all got the basics covered for our 2017 marketing plans. These are some of the essentials for any digital marketing strategy, and can be used by all businesses to create effective campaigns.

SEO

Following the launch of Google’s Penguin updates and other algorithm changes, you cannot afford to overlook search engine optimisation. A whopping 93% of all online experiences start with search, according to a Forrester report. Natural Search is the primary driver of traffic to content sites. Improve your website’s visibility by creating useful content and blog articles that people will want to share; make sure you optimise the titles, URLs, content and metadata for your pages…

PPC

Pay-per-click advertising offers immediate results – no wonder it’s become such a popular digital marketing tool! You pay each time your advert gets clicked on, and it’s a great way to bring new people to your site. Google Adwords Keyword Planner is an invaluable tool to support your PPC efforts. You can identify the most relevant keywords for your industry, then monitor performance. If something isn’t proving to be worth the investment, reallocate your budget to other better performing phrases.

Customer Relationship Management

How you communicate with your customers has always been a key business concern; but in 2017, things are more than personal. Customers don’t just expect personalisation – ie. Including their name in the email subject line. They expect authenticity, relevancy and a great experience when dealing with your brand.

From sharing useful articles to offering behind-the-scenes glimpses of your company, humanising your brand and keeping in touch with customers even when they’re not purchasing helps to develop more meaningful relationships. Treat your customers as individuals, and they’ll reward you with long-term loyalty. Incidentally, the average loyal customer is worth up to ten times the value of their first order – something to keep in mind.

Digital Display

Have you noticed that the majority of digital media sales calls you receive are pushing CPM or ‘Cost per Thousand’ deals? There’s a reason for this; the publisher simply has to serve your ad the requisite number of times to hold their end of the deal up. In 99.9% of cases this won’t work effectively; ask for a Cost per Click or Cost per Sale deal if you think their sites are worth trialing for your prospects. If the deal is CPM only, I walk away. Ask the publisher to share the risk!

Social

With estimates suggesting there are nearly two billion social media users worldwide, and the Wheelhouse infographic showing it has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing, there’s no denying the power of social media marketing. The key to success with social is creating a solid plan so that you don’t waste your time. Establish your objectives, identify the type of content you want to post and the audience you want to target. Make sure you create a posting schedule to remove the daily hassle!

It’s also important to remember the social element of this channel; reply to every comment and message – even the negative ones! – and get involved in the conversation. This will create an active, engaged community of followers.

With so many digital marketing channels to choose from, we strongly believe that you should always look to test new opportunities that appear relevant to your target consumer. If your audience becomes active on a new channel, it makes sense that you should explore the opportunity.

However, it’s always important not to spread yourself too thinly. Your plans should concentrate primarily on the channels that create meaningful awareness, engagement or sales opportunities for your brand. That way, you can make sure your efforts generate a positive return on investment.

But if all the above sounds like a hassle, just give Fireworx a call!