A Simplified Digital Marketing Strategy

• Updated on: 2021-07-03
• Read original article here

When I tell people I work in digital marketing,they often respond by saying they don’t want to sell their products or services on social media. This reaction is understandable. These days social media isn’t always very kind, and the algorithms are unpredictable. It’s also why I like to say companies should use social media as the icing on a multi-layered cake when planning a well-rounded digital marketing strategy.

One definition of digital marketing is that it is the strategy of using the internet to market your business. The goal of your digital marketing strategy should be to create and optimize information that helps your ideal customers understand everything about your business. This is a broad concept so let’s take some time to break it down.

Digital Marketing includes content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, website development and design, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, lead generation, lead nurturing, and email marketing. To ensure your digital marketing strategy is successful, it’s important to analyze each action. This way, you will know if your efforts are reaching your intended audience and if your audience is interested in what you are presenting.

Content is the most time-consuming and often the most expensive part of a digital marketing strategy. It’s how you engage and excite potential customers. When you provide valuable information and keep your audience informed about your company, you communicate that your digital spaces add value. There’s a lot of noise on the internet. Content marketing helps you distinguish your business as a space where customers won’t have their time wasted.

As the business owner, you will know the best types of content your customers need. Using keywords, you can create content about the most important topics for your company. When you develop a library of company assets that are well-written or produced, authoritative, relevant, and attract your audience’s attention, you will quickly become known as an authority in your industry.

Your most important digital asset is your website. It’s vital to have a website that presents a clear message and has easy navigation. User experience is something that can’t be overlooked as you seek a visually appealing design. It’s also necessary that your site follows SEO best practices. You’ll accomplish this with both on-page SEO and technical SEO best practices.

When your website is fully optimized you have the best opportunities to rank in search. Incorporate SEO into your website content, meta descriptions, and titles for key terms your buyer persona is using to search for businesses like yours.

Finally, you’ll need to connect your website to Google Analytics and Search Console so you can ensure your site is being found on Google.

If you start searching for the terms and strategies I’ve highlighted in this article, you’ll find thousands of get-rich-quick pitches, hundreds of websites with people stating they are experts, and just as many videos and webinars. Each will have a different way of doing things. So, who do you trust?

The truth is there are a lot of great digital marketers with great ideas. The best way to know who to trust is to see who is transparent. If marketers are willing to teach you what they know to help you get started, that’s helpful. You also want to listen to a company that can prove with case studies that their methods work.Will a company show you that blogging is helping them grow their reach? Can a company explain howemail marketing impacts its growth?

If a company cannot transparently show that its strategies work, why should you waste your time trying them?

At SMA Marketing, we’ve developed a course and private community to help small business owners, writers, and entrepreneurs create a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

TheSimplified Digital Marketing Course will take the guesswork out of implementing current digital marketing best practices. You’ll remain confident you aren’t missing steps like connecting your website to Google Analytics, developing a buyer persona, and establishing a multi-channel content marketing strategy. The best part is you’ll have experts available to answer questions at every step you take.