The benefits of running an effective digital marketing campaign are unmatched, from building brand awareness and authority to driving more sales to your business. Investing in a marketing campaign will prove to be an excellent move.
Different aspects come into play when planning an effective digital marketing campaign. Paying attention to these aspects and working to get them right is the best way to prepare and run a successful online marketing campaign.
So, what do you do to run an effective digital marketing campaign? Here are the specific steps to help you implement the right marketing strategy for your business.
Determine Your Digital Marketing Campaign Goals
When implementing a digital marketing campaign, you can expect to have multiple goals in mind. However, you need to understand that you cannot target all the goals in mind at once.
Having one clear goal that you are working towards will help you create an effective marketing campaign that will meet your needs. Some goals that you may have for your online campaign include:
- Increasing your social media followers
- Growing your email list subscribers
- Converting more website visitors to paying customers
- Building brand awareness
- Ranking on search engines
The goals will vary, and you’ll need to figure out what is important to your business before planning your marketing strategy. In addition to choosing a specific goal to focus on, it’s a good idea to define it clearly.
If your goal is to grow your social media following, add the target number of followers you intend to gain within a specific period. For example, gain 5,000 social media followers in 45 days.
Having such a goal will help you gauge whether your digital marketing campaign is working. If it’s not working, you can easily tweak the strategy to include some changes.
Clearly Define Your Target Audience
You want to run an online marketing campaign that targets the right people for your business. However, if you don’t take the time to determine who your target audience is, you may implement the wrong marketing strategy.
For example, implementing a marketing campaign intended for the GenZ group but creating content for millennials may fall flat. So, get to know your target audience, their pain points, and what they expect.
Having this information will help you create the right buyer persona. With an accurate buyer persona, you can work on crafting the right message that appeals to their current situation and guide them to take action.
To get clear on your buyer persona, here is a list of additional information you should consider looking into.
- Their age
- Where they live
- How they navigate your website
- What type of content do they consume and interact with most
- Other types of websites they frequent
Invest in Market Research and Competitor Analysis
Conducting market research and in-depth competitor analysis will help you determine and model what is working.
Stick to what works and find a way to add your unique take to your content. The goal is not to copy exactly what your competitors have done. Instead, learn from their successful campaigns and model some excellent practices that appeal to your audience.
As you conduct competitor research, remember to stick to your specific niche to ensure you are gathering the correct information. Some questions to ask yourself during your research include:
- What popular products or services are doing well in your niche?
- What kind of ads are your competitors running?
- Which content types are doing well in your niche?
- Which distribution channels are doing well for your competitors?
You can use different tools to help you get insight into your competitors and the various popular content types in your space. These tools include Buzzsumo for content analysis and Facebook Library Ads to check out previous ads created in your niche.
Research on Your Target Keywords and Topics
Before you get going on your digital marketing campaign, you’ll need to factor in search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is essential to any online marketing campaign, especially if you plan to tap organic traffic from search engines.
Keeping in mind that 66 percent of people perform online research before making a purchase, SEO is one thing you cannot ignore. So, take your time to research your target keywords and topics to give you the advantage.
The content you create for your digital marketing campaign should include your target keywords to help you rank. The best practice is to target long-tail keywords with low competition but relatively high traffic.
Such keywords offer an easy way for you to create quality content that outranks your competitors. However, remember that any SEO strategy’s success also depends on your website and its mobile responsiveness.
So, take a holistic approach and ensure that your website and target keywords are ready to help you rank on search engines. You can rely on various SEO tools to help you achieve better results with keyword research, website optimization, etc.
Determine Your Delivery Channels and Create Your Content
Digital marketing features a wide variety of channels that may come in handy for your business. For example, you have the option to run your campaign through social media, content marketing, Google ads, SEO, and Email marketing.
However, aiming to deal with one or two channels at a time is the best practice for having a successful marketing campaign. So, invest in the specific channels that appeal to you and your audience.
Once you have your delivery channels ready, you can now determine the type of content that suits the platform. Of course, your content will differ significantly depending on the specific delivery channel.
You opt to outsource your digital media services to ensure that you access the best quality content that will convert more customers. Your digital marketing campaign depends on the content you produce for it to be successful.
Set a Budget and Start With a Pilot Campaign
Digital marketing campaigns demand investment, whether it’s your time or money. If you plan to rely on organic traffic, you’ll need to create content, do keyword research, guest post for backlinks, etc.
All these activities will require an investment in your time, or you could opt to hire someone to do it all for you. In addition, with paid advertising, you’ll only run ads with a financial commitment at hand.
So, setting a budget before starting your digital campaign is essential and should be a priority. Factor in all the aspects that will feature when creating your digital campaign to ensure you prepare adequately.
Once you have your budget in place, start with a pilot digital marketing campaign to help you test how your audience will respond. Doing this will help you avoid using too much of your budget on a strategy that doesn’t produce results.
A pilot campaign is a great option, especially if you are running paid ads as part of your marketing campaign. You can test out different headlines, CTAs, images, e.t.c. Then, once you find a strategy that offers incredible results, you can implement that.
Track, Measure and Analyze Your Progress
Your digital marketing campaign is now up and running, giving you different results and data to pay attention to. Tracking, measuring, and analyzing your progress is the best way to evaluate the success of your digital campaign.
Go back to your initial goal to help you determine whether the data aligns with what you were hoping for. Then you can allocate more funds to the strategies that are working and review those that aren’t.