5 Steps to Build a Digital Marketing Plan

Due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world in 2020, it’s no secret that going online is the future. The rate of business digitalization transformation is rising exponentially, and the trend is set to continue in many years to come.

It doesn’t matter if it’s for a long term or short term digital marketing project — a plan is essential for every successful marketing campaign.

With good teamwork, building a transparent, clear and defined digital marketing plan will let everyone stay on the same ship and working toward the final goals.

Here are the ins and outs of creating an annual, half-yearly or quarterly digital marketing plan.

1. What Are Your Goals?

Before starting to create your marketing plan, ask yourself what are your goals? Different goals require different approaches and what approach you use will affect your overall digital marketing budget.

Don’t just set general goals, like more sales, more traffic or more leads. Make it specific so everyone is clear about the numbers. For example, increasing sales for the next 3 months by 20% compared to the previous period.

Not sure how to set your goals for your business? What about using the classic SMART method? In other words, set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound goals.

Your goals should contain all the above elements as your target.

Discuss with your team or ask for more opinions from your superiors to fine-tune the goals.

2. Who Is Your Target Audience?

Once you decide your marketing goals, next identify your target audience. If you still believe you just need one marketing plan to conquer the world, it’s not going to work.

Your marketing plan should be customized and cater to the target audience. Do you want to target a broader group of clients, or a smaller group, for a niche market? Make it clear. Note that each has its pros and cons.

Often time, after running your marketing campaign for a while, you will realize if you targeted the right audience. Or you might unexpectedly discover a new group of clients. Who knows?

Be realistic when identifying your target audience for your products or services. Refrain from being too greedy and target all of them; this is an example of setting unrealistic goals.

3. What Is Your USP?

The next step is to determine your unique selling proposition (USP). This is the bullet point to make you stand out from the competition or be different from others.

Do you offer a better competitive price? Additional added value or services, or any extra unique feature to make everyone remember your brand?

Knowing your USP will let your clients focus on your business instead of your competitors. Include your USP in your taglines, product descriptions and marketing materials to consistently build the trust to your business.

Ask yourself repeatedly: Why should your potential customers buy from you? The market already has so many competitors selling the same products — why should they choose you?

4. How To Achieve Your Target?

The right digital marketing strategy and digital marketing methods can help you achieve your target.

When it comes to social media marketing, there are options aplenty: Facebook Ads, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Linkedin. For search engine optimization ( SEO), the options are Google Ads, email marketing, marketplaces ( Lazada, Shopee) and more.

Not to forget can use Alibaba.com to bring more exposure to maximize your business opportunities.

If you have the resources, trial and error on more platforms to find out the response you get. Otherwise, choose a platform or method which you think will give you the highest return. Find out which platform your target customers frequent to decide better.

In fact, many businesses started by just focusing on only a single platform (like selling products using Instagram) then slowly progress to build an e-commerce store before expanding to popular marketplaces.

Remember the clearer and more defined your plan is, the closer you are to achieving your marketing goals.

5. Keep Track of Results

This is a common mistake done by many businesses. Yes, you might have all the data and reports, but bear in mind you will also need to monitor, analyze and verify if the results are accurate.

This is especially helpful when businesses wish to find out the reasons behind revenue fluctuation.

While it is impossible to find a perfect correlation or identify the secret formula, it’s still a best practice to understand each metric your business is tracking.

Final Thoughts

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Execution without strategy is aimless. And there is no denying that execution speed is an important component for digital marketing activities. However, if the direction is wrong, it’s a complete waste of time and energy.

Last but not least, don’t fall into the trap of following what everyone else is doing. Every business is unique and needs a dedicated digital marketing plan.

Need help to build a marketing plan that works for your business? Exabytes is ready to help!

We’d love to make you sure you’re on the right path to success.

Let us grow your business online together!

Originally published at https://www.exabytes.digital/blog/steps-build-digital-marketing-plan on November 4, 2020.