How to Create Effective Digital Marketing Strategies

If you are considering a career in this field, a digital marketing course or a digital marketing certificate will be a good place to start. Keep reading to learn the difference between digital strategies and marketing campaigns, and how you can create a digital marketing strategy.

What is a digital marketing strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is a set of actions planned by an organisation to perform online in order to reach very specific business goals. It means that in the long run a company will take consistent strategic measures at the right time and use suitable platforms to increase the revenue and return on investment, as well as build a trustworthy relationship with the audience.

How are marketing campaigns and strategies different?

Marketing strategies are the long-term plans that are designed to ensure the success of an organisation. A marketing strategy is needed for creative and effective marketing programs that appeal to and motivate the target audience of a business. It is the overall framework that is followed as a guide of the processes and decisions that are adopted in a marketing campaign.

A marketing campaign is a set of actions, decisions and activities designed and performed to attain some set goals. It is a more focused and tactical initiative that aims to achieve a certain marketing goal. For example, it could be reaching more potential customers, engaging with customers or making more sales. There is always an underlying aim behind a campaign and it is mostly finding out how many new customers or profiles have been reached, sales made and understanding the customer as well as other aims.

How to create a digital marketing strategy?

• The first step to create a digital marketing strategy is to analyse and evaluate your performance. Dive into analytics and determine what worked and what didn’t in the last year. You should aim to find the reasons why something didn’t work out.

• Always evaluate your competitors by spending time observing what they are doing differently in the digital space. One of the greatest advantages of digital marketing is that everything is public, and you can study your competitors. Leverage that.

• Get to know your customers better by using tools like the Facebook Audience Insights tool by Facebook or Google Trends. Facebook insights helps you learn about the demographics of your audience, their interests and behaviour. Google Trends can be used to find out what topics people are looking up on the internet and the search trends over a certain period of time.

• Set a clear strategy to focus all your efforts on the areas where you need most growth and development. There is no limit to the things you could do, what’s important is finding out what you should do.

• Map out a content plan on the basis of your marketing objectives and audience. Identify the main topics or content buckets for execution.

• Once you’ve figured what content resonates with your audience, decide on the channels or platforms that are likely to reach the best results. Consider all potential platforms, tools and tactics at your disposal, and prioritise the same based on your strategy. Research and find out which channel contributes the most to your goals and stick to it.

• Make sure that you are using the best practices. One of the greatest challenges of digital marketing is that it is constantly changing, and newer trends replace old ones. Something that worked for you in the past may not necessarily work now.

• Observe and adjust. You shouldn’t stick to a set plan. You can always tweak and try new or alternative creatives if your goals are not met.

Examples of Digital Marketing strategies

Digital marketing can be demonstrated in several ways such as PPC, online ads, content marketing and more. Airbnb has changed up their content strategy by introducing ‘neighbourhood guides’. They have used these high-value guides for people to find ATMs, restaurants, hospitals, experiences and more. It sheds a very authentic light on areas people wish to explore. This shows content marketing is no longer limited to blogs.

Another popular digital marketing strategy is affiliate marketing or marketing through social media influencers and bloggers. Companies selling products or services reach out to content creators online and have them sell their products through ads. In recent times, this trend has brought massive gains to businesses.

Want to learn the most up-to-date digital marketing skills through an excellent digital marketing program? The Canadian College of Technology and Business (CCTB) offers a Diploma in Digital Marketing CO-OP, specially created for professionals to upgrade to the latest skills.

CCTB is acclaimed for its trained and experienced professionals. Their programs are highly interactive and encourage student engagement in small classrooms. The CO-OP work experience placement program encompasses 50 per cent of the program duration in which students get to enjoy guaranteed work experience while getting paid. 

With a huge 92 per cent increase in demand for digital marketers in Canada in the last five years, a diploma certificate will help you achieve your career goals. Click here to learn more.

Frequently asked questions

• Is digital marketing strategy important for business?

  Digital marketing strategy is very important for businesses to stay aligned with their goals and measure the success of their ventures by utilising several tools for digital marketing.

• What is the future scope in digital marketing?

  Digital marketing has largely replaced traditional marketing as it enables businesses to reach customers anywhere in the world and target their audience in no time and with very less investment which currently makes it the most popular type of marketing. The career scope in digital marketing is therefore wide with new roles coming up frequently. 

• What are the latest trends in digital marketing?

  Influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, SEM and PPC are some latest trends in digital marketing.