Definition

What is a digital strategy?

The term Digital Marketing Strategy defines “the establishment of a set of practices and objectives that guide long-term digital goals and operate / apply to all digital channels in which your customer interacts / uses (target audience)”. (Source: ( Digital Marketing Institute)

Strategy & Tactics (Strategy & Tactics)

There is an important difference between strategy and tactics we need to follow to achieve our goals, which most of the times is a little confusing.

A strategy is essentially “where we want to go”, and for that reason it must be achievable, realistic, and based on a targeted plan, that eventually will bring you closer to your goal.

Unlike strategy, tactics are specific and distinct steps that you must follow – within a strategy – to achieve your goals. (Source: Hubspot)

5 Digital Marketing Strategy Steps

1. Identify Strategy Goal
2. Identify & Build Your Buyer Persona
3. Evaluation of Existing Digital Presence
4. Redefine Digital Presence
5. Digital Strategy Evaluation / Evaluation of Results

Identify Strategy Goal

The first step to create your digital marketing strategy is to identify and define the goals you want to achieve. For example, an indicative goal could be to increase the turnover in your online store (e-shop) by 30% compared to the previous year.

Another, indicative goal that could be included in the digital marketing strategy you are planning, could be to increase the market share by 3% for the next year or even to increase the awareness of your brand, to the ideal target group so that it can be positioned as a “Top of Mind” in it.

Once you have found and created the goals – that you want to reach – through your digital marketing strategy, you should then create and focus on digital marketing tactics (tactics) that will help you achieve the goal of your digital strategy.

For example, creating a series of storytelling videos on social media (e.g., Facebook & Instagram) would be an ideal option to increase the awareness of your brand to the desired target audience.

Thus, highlighting your competitive advantages, the solutions you offer to it and the reason (that is, why) that you should now be their first choice when they think of the industry you operate in. That is, to be Top of Mind, as mentioned above.

Identify & Create Ideal Personas (Build Your Buyer Persona)

Creating the ideal personas to aim for and approach is another important factor to focus on when creating your digital strategy.

BUT WHAT IS A BUYER PERSONA?

The buyer persona, is a fantastic representation or imprint of your ideal customer, based on market research and real data about your existing customers. (Source: Digital Marketing Institute)

For example, a possible ideal buyer persona, for a delicatessen bakery could be the following:

Gender: Female

Age group: 29 – 46

Interests: Healthy eating, fitness, yoga, luxury goods/products, travels frequently (abroad), Mercedes-Benz driver, personal development, tech enthusiast and volunteering.

Location: Athens & Crete

Education: Holder of an Undergraduate or Postgraduate Degree

Marital Status: Married with children

Professional Title: Entrepreneur, Freelancer, Manager

Tip (!):The stage of creating the ideal buyer persona could be placed as a first step in the creation of our digital strategy. Many times, based on this we are led to define our broader strategy. A strategy clearly designed, focused, and modified to fit our ideal target audience.

Evaluation of existing digital presence

At this point we should assess our existing digital presence. Our digital presence could be divided into 2 categories:

The first refers to the channels that your business / brand has full control over. Also known as “Own Media”. Those channels that belong to you, such as your online store (e-shop) and your website, your digital application, etc.

The second, refers to each channel (digital space) in which you invest an amount for the further promotion and development of your business / brand. Also known as the “Paid Media” category. Paid Media could include channels such as Google Ads, Social Media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) as well as any other platform or digital space where there is a monetary investment.

The question that arises here is the following: “Is my ideal buyer persona found,  interact or participate in some way with these channels”?

An indicative example could be the digital presence of a Recruiting Agency. The Agency has a digital presence through Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and its own website.

Having discovered or even created the right persona for them, they concluded that ultimately the ideal persona, they aim and try to reach through their digital marketing strategy, is found in other channels. Like LinkedIn for example, where the website does not fully meet the expectations of the target audience it is interested in reaching.

So, he chooses to redefine his digital presence which we will talk about in the next step.

Redefine Digital Presence

When redefining the digital presence of your business / brand, you form all those optimizations that are required and have been highlighted based on your digital marketing strategy.

Indicatively, among other things, a redefinition could be implemented in the following:

• On which channels you will have a presence (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Website / e-shop, etc.)
• What kind of content (e.g., graphic, video, blog posts, etc.)
• With what frequency (e.g., daily, weekly, etc.)
• For what reason (e.g., increase of traffic to the e-shop, increase of brand awareness, increase of interaction with users, etc.)
• How (e.g., organic, paid, etc.)
• Redesign of e-shop/ website/ app etc.

In the long run, having completed the redefinition of your digital presence and  based on your digital marketing strategy, you will be able to evaluate the results you will receive as well as whether they correspond to the reason of having and creating your strategy.

Digital Marketing Strategy & Results Assessment

Having completed all the above steps, we reached the stage of comprehensive evaluation.

Every strategy as well as every tactic we follow should be evaluated at regular intervals and with specific KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

KPIs (!): KPIs are any measurable variables that a team, such as the digital marketing department, uses to monitor whether or not the goals it has  laid the built its digital marketing strategy are being achieved.

If, for example, our goal is an increase in turnover in our online store (e-shop) by + 7% compared to the previous year, a three- and six-month monitoring of the progress of achieving our goal could help us both to understand in depth how close or not we are to achieving it and which points of our strategy and digital presence have a possible need for optimization and / or radical change.

Every strategy and tactic we apply should be flexible, i.e., accept immediate optimizations, without directly affecting its basic core. It should always be in line with the trends and needs of the market or even with cases where due to unexpected and adverse circumstances it will have to be reconfigured (e.g., an unexpected natural disaster in the geographic market of our activity, etc.).

Conclusion

In order to create an integrated strategy, many parameters should be considered. Its formation can be influenced by economic-political and legal factors, by the broader marketing policy / approach, etc. It requires a strong and targeted market as well as any other process required in order to prevent negative circumstances that are likely to affect the smooth operation and viability of your business / brand.

At the same time, you should be able to accept reconfigurations and/or replenishments whenever a need is required.

A strategy alone cannot bring you the desired and expected results. This is because it is a “living organism” that grows, adapts and develops in parallel with your business / brand.

Systematic evaluation is required, along with  strict implementation, so that substantial conclusions can be drawn for its performance and operation.

A digital marketing strategy is simply the means that will lead you closer to achieving your end.

It takes time and a lot of effort to showcase the results which derive from various teams and departments of a business. It is an inclusive depiction of the overall goals to be achieved, while often it  captures the wider vision of a business or brand.