The COVID-19 pandemic has forced all of us in the marketing world to rethink how we build relationships with our customers and acquire new leads. Previous ways of building out a digital marketing strategy framework simply won’t do in this “new normal.” In this blog, we’ll show you some best practices in building a strategic framework for your business and provide a free template download you can use yourself to enhance your digital marketing efforts.
Simply put, your marketing strategy framework is your game plan for accomplishing your business’s goals and objectives. This includes an analysis of what you’re currently doing, what you want to achieve, and how you will get there.
There are four key components of your marketing strategy framework:
You likely already have something like this strategy framework in place for your current marketing efforts. But when it comes to a digital marketing strategy framework for your B2B company, the process of identifying how these four key components work together is going to look a little different.
Related Article: What to Expect from an Inbound Marketing Strategy
Just like your traditional marketing efforts, your digital marketing strategy is all about acquiring sales and marketing qualified leads (SQL and MQL) for your business. Let’s break down how these four key components will help you establish a modern digital marketing platform.
It’s important to know where you stand in relation to your competitors. One of the difficulties of digital marketing, however, is that your competition isn’t restricted by geographic boundaries anymore. If your competition is on the web, they’re in your territory. As you analyze your current digital marketing positioning, there are a few factors to be aware of:
Now that you know what keywords are being searched, you need to focus on some attainable keywords to target. This is called a “content strategy.” Here, you will make a plan to develop blogs, ebooks, and webinars that target relevant search queries your potential customers are looking for. All of this will feed back into your overall lead-generation efforts.
When it comes to establishing the right digital marketing goals, set yourself a reasonable target to reach. Let’s say your primary goal is to increase leads to your website by 25 percent. To accomplish this, your digital marketing strategy would include a strategy framework specifically for developing content that boosts website traffic.
Here are some ideas to help accomplish this goal:
Obviously, your goals and methods will vary based on your current industry and online performance. The key here is to have a concrete goal with a concrete action plan. If you’re unsure of how to analyze website data, set SMART goals, and how to track their success, consider partnering with a digital marketing team with proven industry expertise.
In addition to this, you’re going to want to glean some insights from your SEO data to determine which keywords to target in your content development. Otherwise, you may be planning to produce content that no one will ever find or want to read!
You’ve taken a good, hard look at your current digital positioning. You’ve identified where you stand in relation to your competitors. You’ve set goals and made a plan to achieve them. Now you need to determine how you will get all of this done and ensure you make a return on your investment.
If your company hasn’t been too active in digital marketing efforts to this point, it’s likely you have a lot to learn. Additionally, you may have discovered during your competitor analysis that you have a lot to work on.
As a reminder, here are some common tools you’ll need to build a strategic framework for your digital marketing efforts:
Many businesses simply do not have the time, personnel, or budget to host all of these roles in-house. In fact, it’s one of the many reasons why successful businesses carve out a space in their budget to outsource a marketing team.
Now that you’ve identified the tools needed to implement your marketing strategy, you need to plan and budget how this will be implemented within your strategy framework.
Will you do everything in-house, or will you contract your digital marketing out? If you decide to keep things in-house, you’ll want to set aside a budget for all the aforementioned tools and positions for each task. If you decide to contract your digital marketing out, you’ll need to work with a digital marketing agency and establish a budget that meets your specific content strategy goals. Remember that your marketing efforts should align seamlessly with your sales efforts. When outsourcing your digital marketing to an outside agency, include your sales team in the discussions.
Make sure you set achievable timelines to accomplish the previously listed objectives for reaching your digital marketing goals. This next section will give you a roadmap to help you stay on track and accountable for your goals.
At Open Path Digital Solutions, we work with businesses just like yours in transitioning to a digital platform for increased digital marketing efforts. If you’re convinced partnering with a digital marketing agency is the best move for your business, schedule a time to talk with us about what that will look like for your company.
In the meantime, click below and enjoy your free digital marketing strategy framework as a template to help you think through the next steps for business growth!