There is a huge misconception that a digital marketing strategy is required only for big brands with deep pockets. However, the fact is that having a digital marketing strategy, irrespective of the size and scale of your business, can make a huge difference to your end results, if executed properly. A digital marketing strategy is a must for any business that is looking to grow and sustain itself in the long run.
Industry reports reveal that 47% of businesses undertake digital marketing initiatives without a defined strategy. As a result, firms engage in multiple experimental campaigns and end up burning their marketing budgets unnecessarily. While experimenting is good and also recommended by industry experts, it’s important that you set timelines to draw results out of your experiments and also decide on course corrections. An in depth analysis of your ROI out of your digital marketing campaigns and consistent optimization are both critical for achieving great results.
Now that you have understood the importance of having a digital marketing strategy, let’s take you through the top 5 reasons why a digital marketing strategy is required for every business.
1. For a clear DIRECTION
You may have a general idea regarding what you want for your business from the digital space. Try to pen down these ideas, along with how you would achieve them? I’m sure you’ll be struck by the numerous thoughts that flow in and you will soon realise that a casual approach wouldn’t help you progress with the general digital plan you initially had in mind.
You’ll begin to think more deeply about your customers, goals and objectives, target market, brand and its unique selling points and a lot more. The process could be pretty overwhelming especially if you’re a beginner or new to the digital environment. But, I bet if you fight this battle and draft a digital marketing strategy for your business, you’ve taken the first step towards achieving your desired results.
2. To COMPETE in the online space
Many businesses fail to realise the importance of having an online presence and the proportion of customers they’re losing out only because their business can’t be found on the internet. The loss could be huge and in some cases, your absence could be in fact paving growth for your competitor who has already established himself in the online space. So, make sure you think through these scenarios and carve out your strategies accordingly.
By defining a strategy, you’ll gain a better understanding on how you can leverage your business to attract more online share and what are the essential steps to be taken in order to achieve this. Also, always keep an eye on what your competitors are doing online and what marketing strategies are working for them. You can take lessons from these and improvise & implement your plan in a far more efficient manner. Keep this in mind – your digital plan shouldn’t be just to acquire new clients, it should also focus on engaging existing clients that would make them stay loyal to your brand.
3. To INTEGRATE your entire marketing strategy
Digital Marketing works best not when it is performed in silos but when it’s integrated with offline marketing activities. One marketing tactic alone will not help any business. You will have to identify, try and test several channels for your business and mix them in various proportions to achieve full potential.
These days, a mix of online and offline marketing is what most businesses opt for. But when you choose this, it’s important that your entire marketing plan is integrated with both online and offline marketing activities. This is crucial in order to maintain consistency in all your marketing messages among all audiences and across all channels. The key here is to have an integrated marketing plan that publish and distribute integrated messaging across all channels including website, social networks, advertising campaigns, newsletters, catalogs and so on.
4. To ANALYZE, OPTIMIZE & to achieve EFFICIENCY
A digital marketing that clearly lists out the metrics you will measure in each stage will help you analyze your results against set benchmarks and also optimize your campaigns to get closer to your defined KPIs. A strategy that is well drafted and integrated would also help your business achieve operational efficiency by avoiding duplication and through better utilisation of available resources. Further, it would help in tracking progress and also re-tuning the strategy in response to changes in the market and evolution of technology. A strategy that is flexible to incorporate such tweaks based on industry trends can become invaluable in helping you ensure that your marketing tactics stay optimized over time and do not fall behind.
5. Since the world is going DIGITAL
Yes, the world is no longer ‘going’ digital. It’s already become digital and this is pretty evident by the increasing number of users who are getting online. Checking on a brand’s online and social presence to understand brand maturity or to assess product (or service) quality through online customer reviews and feedback has become a crucial step in almost every customer’s buying journey. Therefore, it’s important your business reaps the benefits out of this mass audience who are present on the internet by formulating a digital marketing strategy tailored to your needs that will ultimately enhance your business profile in the long run.
