The Process of Building a Digital Marketing Plan

Usually, the process of building a digital marketing plan consists of the following:

  • Market research and Competitor Analysis – Internal & external analysis of the company, from which the unique value proposition of the business (USP) is derived.
  • Goals & Objectives – The goals and objectives of the digital marketing plan.
  • Target Audiences & USP – Definitions of the target audiences, ideal customer profiles, and unique selling proposition to each.
  • User Acquisition and Marketing Channels – The right marketing mix.
  • Measurement Framework – for data-driven marketing.
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    What Sections Should Be in a Digital Marketing Plan

    Market Research and Competitor Analysis

    An overview of the market in which you operate, and an evaluation of performance in relation to potential and market share, as well as a competitive analysis of the competitors’ value propositions versus the pain of the consumer to whom you provide a solution.

    This is a critical step in which it is important to invest the required time, as it allows for fundamental problems in the value proposition of the business vs. competitors, sets differentiation and target audiences, and constitutes a kind of stable ground for further construction of the company.

    Setting Marketing Goals

    It is very important to set sharp and clear marketing goals for your digital marketing activity.

    For example, improving customer retention, increasing brand awareness, Lead Generation, lowering the customer acquisition cost (CAC), etc. According to these, we can derive digital marketing objectives.

    Defining Digital Marketing Objectives

    At this stage, it is necessary to deduce from the goals we have defined what we measurably want to achieve.

    For example, if we want to translate the marketing goal  “increasing brand awareness” into an objective, an example can be: “reach over 10,000 website visitors a month”, “have more than a million ads impressions per week”, etc. From here you can start thinking about marketing channels that will lead to meeting the objectives you defined.

    * It is important that the objectives are time-bound, achievable, and measurable.

    Defining Target Audiences and Value Propositions

    The most important part of the program, in my opinion, since it is a key component in building the digital marketing strategy.

    Relevant target audiences should be segmented and a “customer persona analysis” should be built around each audience. It’s better to list their problems, needs, pains & gains, what their engagement preferences are, what their perception of the brand is, and more.

    Good work in defining the target audience and ICPs (Ideal Customer Profiles) will return the investment big time, especially in the ongoing, day-to-day digital operations.

    Bottom line, Once the target audiences are defined, it is important to come up with an accurate and clear value proposition so that each audience will have a simple answer to the question: “Why should I buy from you and not from your competitors?”

    User Acquisition and Marketing Channels

    Once we have defined the value proposition and the target audiences, we can check where they are on the Internet and what are the most effective digital channels to reach them.

    Here it is worthwhile to detail what exactly the activity will be in the Paid Promotion, SEO channel, display, social networks, Facebook marketing, affiliate marketing, e-mail marketing, mobile marketing, etc.

    It is recommended to link back each digital channel/ activity to the goal/objective (sections 2,3) it meets.

    Measurement of the Results

    A measurement & metrics system must be set up to check whether we have met our goals & objectives.

    Here the challenge is both a marketing challenge and a technical challenge as it requires technical knowledge and familiarity with different web tools and platforms.

    Keep in mind that in B2B marketing it’s hard to determine each marketing channel contribution.

    Therefore, it’s recommended to examine B2B multi-channel digital marketing activity as a whole.

    Different attribution models (e.g. last click) may present a wrong picture due to a long learning process and sales cycle.

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