{"id":2266,"date":"2015-07-16T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T08:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/2015\/07\/16\/how-to-plan-for-digital-marketing\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T10:02:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T10:02:19","slug":"how-to-plan-for-digital-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/2015\/07\/16\/how-to-plan-for-digital-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Plan for Digital Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our second article on digital marketing strategy (see the first article here<\/a><\/u>), we look at the building blocks of a strategy and how you can start thinking about your plan for online marketing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The scope of digital marketing can seem overwhelming. With so many channels and opportunities presenting themselves, the concern isn\u2019t which ones to capitalise on but rather which golden opportunity are you going to miss?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why having a plan is key. Approaching digital marketing with a clearly defined strategy allows you to analyse the possibilities and make an informed decision about which opportunities to take \u2013 maximising your chances of success.<\/p>\n

\"digital-marketing-strategy-plan\"<\/center><\/p>\n

Simply answer three questions…<\/h2>\n

A great way to get yourself thinking about your digital marketing plan is to ask yourself the following three questions about your business:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Where are we now?<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Where do we want to be?<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. How are we going to get there?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Below we break these three questions down, and look at the specifics of how you can analyse your business in these terms.<\/p>\n

    Where are we now?<\/h2>\n

    This is all about your current situation.<\/p>\n

    Internally, you need to look at your existing marketing activities \u2013 both online and offline. What\u2019s working for you? What isn\u2019t? What data do you have available? All of this information should be feeding into your plan going forwards.<\/p>\n

    You need to assess your current messaging and how customers are responding to it. What opinion do customers have of your brand? What kind of offers can you make to incentivise them interacting with you?<\/p>\n

    However, you can\u2019t just keep it internal. Your position within the market is massively influenced by a clutch of external factors.<\/p>\n

    You need to look at what your competitors are doing, as their activities could have a major impact on elements of your digital strategy \u2013 particularly in areas like paid search where you are likely to be bidding against each other on similar search terms.<\/p>\n

    SMART Objectives<\/h2>\n

    S \u2013 Specific
    \nM \u2013 Measurable
    \nA \u2013 Achievable
    \nR \u2013 Realistic
    \nT \u2013 Timebound<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Where do we want to be?You also need to assess marketplace trends, and whether any technological developments have left you behind. A great example of this is the emergence of mobile browsing \u2013 do you have a mobile responsive site? This has been a major technological development that has left many companies in the dust.<\/p>\n

    This might start out as a general business objective, eg: X% year on year growth.<\/p>\n

    However, we\u2019d recommend creating a set of SMART objectives with which you can
    \ndefine the success or failure of your strategy. Examples of objectives you could
    \nconsider outside of revenue might include a target for traffic levels to your site,
    \nor objectives around increasing levels of brand awareness.<\/p>\n

    How are we going to get there?<\/h2>\n

    Arguably the crux of your digital strategy \u2013 how are you going to achieve your objectives, and move from where you are now to where you want to be.<\/p>\n

    Taking into account your objectives and other factors, like competitor activity and marketplace trends, you need to select the channels and tactics that are going to work best for you.<\/p>\n

    This is where your data about your current marketing activities can be a gold mine. Don\u2019t jump to conclusions though, just because a channel isn\u2019t working doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s wrong for your business \u2013 it may simply be a case of adjusting how you use it.<\/p>\n

    Your objectives come into play once again here \u2013 for example, let\u2019s think about Display advertising. Display requires a very different approach if you\u2019re aiming to drive brand awareness than it does when you are looking to increase sales traffic.<\/p>\n

    When you\u2019re looking at how you\u2019re going to complete your objectives, you need to keep in mind limitations like resources, budget and your timeline. This is all part of keeping your approach realistic and achievable.<\/p>\n

    Data driven<\/h3>\n

    Creating a digital marketing plan is not a one and done exercise. You need to constantly analyse the data your activities are generating \u2013 review where you are getting the results you\u2019re looking for and where you need to adapt to take advantage of new opportunities.<\/p>\n

    Want to find out more about digital strategy and how you can make data the core of your plan? Register for our free webinar<\/a>\u00a0and assess the true value of digital strategy to your business.<\/p>\n

    \"webinar-banner<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In our second article on digital marketing strategy (see the first article here), we look at the building blocks of a strategy and how you can start thinking about your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,1],"tags":[],"related_service":[47,50],"related_industry":[],"class_list":["post-2266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"card":"

    \n
    \n
    \n

    \n Blog <\/p>\n \n

    \n How to Plan for Digital Marketing\n <\/h2>\n <\/a> <\/div>\n
    \n
    \n In our second article on digital marketing strategy (see the first article here), we look at the building blocks of a strategy and how you can start thinking about your… <\/div>\n
    \n

    \n 16 July 2015 <\/p>\n

    \n
    \n Digital Marketing <\/div>\n
    \n Digital Strategy <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2266"},{"taxonomy":"related_service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related_service?post=2266"},{"taxonomy":"related_industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related_industry?post=2266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}