Digital communication channels have acquired a decisive importance for the success of a project. Implementing a marketing plan without an analysis, structuring and a previous strategy can lead to failure, as we will not be able to contemplate all the aspects that can condition the development of these actions. And in digital marketing, it is important to get it right as it can make the difference in a business.
Here we will tell you the steps you should follow to create your perfect digital marketing plan.
what is a digital marketing plan?
Before we start, it's important to understand what a marketing plan is and what it entails.
A marketing plan is the basis of any strategy that a company wants to undertake to meet its objectives. Without objectives and without a well-defined plan, it will be very difficult to get down to work.
A marketing plan is not only where the company's objectives are set out, but it also includes other important aspects. In short, a marketing plan is a document or a report that includes the market studies that our company has carried out as well as an analysis of the competition to find out what our strengths and weaknesses are and what we need to work on.
When drawing up our marketing plan, it is important to carry out a study of how our company is seen both internally and externally to find out what our strengths and weaknesses really are.
Once we have carried out this study, we can get down to work with our plan. Making a marketing plan is not a task that can be too complicated, but it is important to follow all the steps to know how we are going to act and what strategies we are going to follow.
Well, taking this into account, digital marketing is the same, but it is a document that includes the planning of the different elements that make up your online marketing strategy, how you are going to develop it, through which channels and what will be the investment in each of them. This marketing plan is aimed at analysing all the above factors but in the online sector.
Many professionals believe that, in reality, the company should have a single marketing plan that includes both offline and online work.
The other idea is that each should have its own entity, representing two departments within the company's organisation chart, both of which report to the same manager, usually at management level.
Regardless of which of the two approaches you identify with more, what is clear is that both must be aligned with the general objectives set by the company.
Steps to create your digital marketing plan
- Situation analysis
First of all, you need to carry out an internal and external analysis of your company. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and opportunities) analysis can be very useful, giving you a complete picture of your market, resources, competition, strengths and weaknesses.
We need to know the ecosystem in which we move, to be aware of what consumers' needs are and how they meet them. This assessment is both qualitative and quantitative: digital habits, intermediaries, influencers, etc.
In addition, it is also necessary to carry out an internal study to find out where our company stands digitally: is our website customer-oriented? Is the usability and browsing experience good? Do we regularly update our blog? What is the current positioning of our website? What about our presence on social networks?
- Set digital marketing goals
Once you are clear about your place in the market and what your strengths are, work on establishing objectives to be clear about where you should direct all your actions. Everything you plan must be oriented to achieve these goals.
You can be guided in the development of this part of your digital marketing plan by SMART objectives, i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound objectives.
- Define the marketing strategy
Once you have defined your business objectives, what are you going to do to achieve them? Personalisation is becoming increasingly important in digital marketing. Therefore, when defining the strategy of your plan, you must take these factors into account:
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- Target audience segmentation: Know who you want to target, what their tastes, needs or preferences are and how to satisfy them. This is the time to create your buyer persona.
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- Positioning: To achieve a good positioning, it is important to be very clear about what your value proposition consists of (and to communicate it to your audience in the same way). It is necessary to know how you are going to communicate your differential value. Identify the channels in which your audience is present (social networks, blog, email, etc.).
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- Content strategy: Important for creating, distributing and managing original content that attracts users and positions the brand as a benchmark in their minds. It is also necessary to outline a specific communication policy(content marketing) for each channel. The content strategy cannot be separated from the buyer persona, they go hand in hand. The more information you extract from their profile, the more accurate the content you produce will be, that's for sure.
- Digital strategies and tactics
Depending on our objectives (attraction, conversion and loyalty) we will implement certain strategies or others: email marketing campaigns, social networks, CRM, web optimisation, SEO - SEM strategies, paid advertising, etc. The value formats for capturing leads are very varied: you can hold webinars, encourage the download of ebooks, infographics and all kinds of dossiers and also offer discounts, promotions and offers.
Technology has become a basic tool when implementing digital strategies, so it is important to learn how to make the most of it.
- Digital marketing measurement and KPIs
Once you have designed and implemented your digital marketing strategy, the work is not over. The next step is one of the most important: analysing the results. Analytics has become a fundamental pillar to optimise results and investment.
Each action and its corresponding results must be measured through different KPIs to know if we have obtained the expected ROI. Measuring the effectiveness of the actions and strategies implemented will help us to correct what does not work to achieve the goals set.
Having tools that allow us to carry out this analysis is crucial.
Keep these steps in mind when creating your digital marketing plan and do not leave anything to improvisation. Similarly, keep in mind that technology can become your best ally to create personalised, automated and, therefore, successful marketing campaigns. As your task becomes more complicated, new tools allow you to simplify and improve the results of your work.
