How to Plan an Effective Digital Marketing Campaign

How to Plan a Digital Marketing Campaign in a Few Steps 

If you were planning a driving trip from New York to California, there is a very good chance you would go out and get road maps. You won’t get where you are going if you don’t know how to get there. The same way of thinking can be applied in the business world, especially as it relates to selling goods/services through digital marketing campaigns. 

As a business owner/manager or social media marketing specialist, you should be aware that you can’t compete in the current business environment without focusing on digital marketing. Also, the focus has to include more than throwing a bunch of ad hoc advertising pieces all over social media. No, success requires that you employ a good social media management process. That should lead to an effective digital media campaign that drives your brand into the sphere of the right potential customers.

How to Plan an Effective Digital Marketing Campaign

The efforts of a good social media agency have to stay fluid. Why? The world of digital marketing is an ever-changing phenomenon that requires social media management personnel to stay up on the latest social media marketing trends. The best way to ensure that happens is to make sure there is always a plan in place to drive each and every digital marketing campaign. 

With this in mind, here are seven (7) steps you should follow to create a social media marketing campaign that will carry the day.

1. Figure Out What You Are Promoting

You cannot create a digital marketing plan until you have an understanding of what it is you are trying to promote and to whom. How do you sell any product or services without the proper understanding?

2. Create a Campaign Theme

Consumers of goods and services like it when a social media agency or representative is able to tie a company’s product or services to the consumer’s needs. It helps them understand why they might want or need the product or service and how it might benefit them. Consumers like theme-based advertising.

To create a theme, you need to take what you are trying to promote (sell), tie it to a particular target audience (the right consumers), and find a common thread that ties those two things together. Once you have a theme, it is something you can target with every bit of social media market you put together.

3. Create in Groups

No single person can be a master of all things. In all likelihood, you have your strengths and weaknesses in the social media marketing space.

If you are part of a social media agency, you are probably surrounded by other talented marketers who may have different strengths and weaknesses. By bringing a diversified group of people together in a “brainstorming session,” you can all banter around all kinds of good marketing ideas. Among 10 to 15 suggestions, most of them might not hit the target. However, it’s likely that one or two of them will be exactly where the marketing campaign should be targeted.

4. Find the Right Channels to Deliver the Message in Your Digital Marketing Campaign

Once you have a solid marketing campaign concept in mind, you will need to then figure out how to deliver the message to the right consumers. This can get a little tricky if your target consumers occupy multiple spaces.

Finding the right channels will require you to look at things like what channels and approaches are available.

The Hub Approach

If you decide to go with several marketing channels, and you should, you should have one resource that stands as a hub. Most likely, that would be a website home landing
page where the products or services are made directly available. All the other channels in the campaign should then be linked with the “hub” resource. 

Use a Single Channel Approach

If your time and financial resources are limited, the multi-channel approach with a hub might not be feasible. Not to worry. A single-channel marketing campaign can be just as effective in social media advertising. 

Here is what you would need to keep in mind. As you are creating a single channel campaign, it’s critical that you stay on target and promote the right thing to the right people. It avoids confusion. 

5. Campaign Goal-Setting

No matter what you do in life, you need to be directed towards goals you have set for yourself or a business. To set a marketing goal, you would need to do two things. First, you would need to determine what goal or goals you are trying to achieve. Second, you would need to create metrics that can help you track your success. If the metrics don’t measure up, that’s an indication you might have to go back to the drawing board. 

6. Determine and Create Marketing Pieces for Each Channel for Your Digital Marketing Campaign

After you determine the wheres you would then need to focus on the whats. Depending on your chosen marketing channels, you can then assess which types of marketing pieces work best for each channel. You would then need to decide in advance how many pieces to create for each channel and how frequently you want to be posting them.

7. Execution is the Key

You can create awesome marketing content and think you have it knocked. The only way to succeed towards your goals is to execute the plan you have laid out before you. Part of execution requires the following:

• Allocating marketing content distribution responsibilities
• Set beginning and ending deadlines for the campaign
• Get the support of the organization or social media agency client
• Execute the plan and monitor results