In a nutshell, marketing is all about researching, developing, promoting, and selling products or services to target customers. A lot of organisations have an ongoing inter-departmental argument going as to whether marketing is regarded as an expense or an investment.
Luckily, in this era of digital marketing, the overall marketing spend has the opportunity to come down while reach goes up. How is this possible? For starters, inbound marketing relies on blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, newsletters, whitepapers, SEO, physical products, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing to attract customers through the different stages of the purchase funnel.
And these don’t need to be printed and distributed, but rather are shared electronically. It really is a win-win situation – as long as it is well planned, meticulously executed, and monitored. In other words, a digital marketing campaign is only as good as it is managed.
- Determine your marketing objectives
The results of a successful marketing campaign are not only measured by sales figures. Marketing can also be used to:
- establish brand image
- develop product awareness
- mend a tarnished reputation
As with managing any goal, having a clear vision, a precise roadmap, and measurable results is essential.
- Set a budget
Marketing of all types takes time. Digital marketing is no exception. Although there are distinct cost-saving advantages to marketing digitally, it is by no means a shortcut. Poor quality content and cheap tricks are easily called out. Establish and stick to a budget that fits your brand’s needs and strategy.
- Consider hiring an agency
You are where you are today by drawing on your personal skills and expertise in your industry. Chances are, you’re not an expert in content creation, website design, or link building. Instead of distracting your focus from the real job of running a business, bear in mind that agencies can offer you objectivity and creativity.
- Monitoring your program
Regardless of whether you hired an agency or you launched a campaign yourself, a critical part of digital marketing management is to watch over and monitor the program.. Decide on the frequency of monitoring the program, and the measures to be monitored.
- Assessing effectiveness
To assess the campaign’s value, refer back to the objectives you set in step one. The more comprehensive your goals are, the easier it is to determine whether you have been successful or not.
- Change and improve
While there is a wealth of information on social media marketing, search engine optimisation and so on; each and every business is unique. Your industry, your culture, your customers all add to the mix of what will or won’t work. So take the time to analyse the results of your digital marketing campaign so that you can tweak it where necessary. Keep reassessing the campaign and implementing changes to improve its effectiveness.
For more information on how we can support the effectiveness of your campaign, please contact us today.