A marketing plan for the upcoming year is essential to a company’s ability to meet its revenue and profit goals.
However, the part of the marketing plan that doesn’t seem to be quite as obvious is the digital component of the marketing plan.
With digital’s increased influence on both B2B buyers and B2C consumers, the time has come to create a digital-specific marketing plan for your company.
Digital Marketing Objectives
A successful plan, regardless of the type of plan, is written down and clearly establishes the plan’s objectives.
That being the case, the first step for your digital marketing plan is to identify the objectives for your digital marketing effort and then commit those objectives to writing.
Let’s begin by looking at some typical digital marketing objectives:
Increasing website traffic: This can be achieved through various tactics such as search engine optimization, content marketing, and social media marketing.
Improving conversion rates: Once a visitor is on a website, the goal is to convert them into a customer by getting them to take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form.
Building brand awareness: Digital marketing can be used to increase awareness of a brand and its products or services among a target audience.
Generating leads: Digital marketing can be used to generate leads for a business, which can then be followed up on through email marketing or sales calls.
E-commerce: driving sales through a website
Building customer loyalty: Digital marketing can be used to engage with customers and encourage them to become repeat customers.
Providing customer service: Digital channels can also be used to provide customer service and support.
This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it going to be perfect for every business, but it should offer some direction for what digital marketing objectives for your company could be. If you have trouble establishing objectives for your company, reach out to your digital marketing agency for assistance.
Be SMART About It
It’s important to note that as you develop your objectives, be sure you are using a SMART goal-setting framework.
SMART goals are a framework for setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. The acronym stands for:
Specific: The goal should be clear and well-defined. It should answer the questions of what, why, who, where and which.
Measurable: The goal should be quantifiable, so that progress can be tracked and success can be determined.
Attainable: The goal should be realistic and achievable, given the resources and constraints of the situation.
Relevant: The goal should be aligned with your company’s overall mission and objectives.
Time-bound: The goal should have a deadline for completion, which creates a sense of urgency and helps to focus efforts.
For example, instead of saying “increase website traffic” which is not specific, measurable, or time-bound, a smart goal can be “increase website traffic by 15% by the end of Q2, through optimizing on-page SEO and running PPC campaigns targeting specific keywords”.
By using the SMART framework, you can create specific and actionable objectives that can help to guide decision-making and increase the chances of achieving success.
Documenting Your Digital Marketing Plan
One of the most used formats for getting a digital marketing plan put into writing is a common marketing industry document called a brief. A digital marketing brief is a document that outlines the critical information and details of a digital marketing plan, digital marketing campaign, or even a digital marketing project.
Because digital marketing briefs are typically used to communicate the goals, target audience, messaging, and overall strategy for a campaign to internal teams and external agencies, we feel that this is the perfect vehicle to document your digital marketing plan since a solid digital marketing plan requires many of these same elements, to be successful.
A successful planning brief will typically include the following:
Objectives: A clear statement of what the plan is trying to achieve, such as increasing website traffic or sales.
Target audience: A detailed description of the audience that you are trying to reach, including demographic information and key characteristics.
Value proposition: A clear statement of the unique value that your company’s product or service offers to the target audience.
Messaging: A description of the key messages that your digital marketing campaigns will communicate to the target audience.
Strategy: An overview of the tactics and channels that will be used to reach the target audience members.
Timeline: A schedule of when key elements of your digital marketing plan will take place.
Budget: An estimate of the costs associated with your plan.
Metrics: The key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure the success of your plan and the campaigns that are developed in support of your plan.
A planning brief is an essential tool for ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned on the objectives for your digital marketing effort, and it provides a clear roadmap for the execution of your plan.
As you begin your digital marketing plan, if you have any questions or would like to discuss the possibilities for your business, just reach out to us and we'll be happy to provide some insights.
