Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that much of marketing has shifted to the internet. Though traditional methods of marketing are far from obsolete, many consumers have changed the way they search, shop, and interact with the outside world.

With billions of internet users across the globe, businesses would be insane not to capitalize and begin utilizing marketing methods that can reach the masses in a matter of seconds. Hence why digital marketing has become an integral part of any company’s marketing strategy.

Simply put, digital marketing is a term used to describe marketing methods that are implemented through digital platforms such as the internet, mobile phones, tablets, and other devices.

There is a plethora of digital marketing strategies. Choosing which practices will work best for your brand will involve considering the message you want to portray and the people you’re trying to portray it to. Below, is a bit more information on how to plan a digital marketing campaign that works best for your business.

Basic Steps to Developing a Digital Marketing Campaign

There are a few things you’ll want to consider before just jumping out there and creating a website or writing a blog post blindly. For a digital marketing campaign to be successful, you must consider the following:

Your goals – What do you want your marketing campaign to help you achieve? What message are you trying to convey to your target audience? This is ultimately your company’s goal. It is the message, tone, and objective that will be used throughout your marketing campaign, so be sure to think about this seriously.

Do you want to show that you’re an authority in your industry? Content marketing, such as blogging in your niche, might be a solution you’d consider.  Are you looking to increase visibility? Digital marketing companies like HigherVisibility have helped businesses increase online exposure with strategies like SEO marketing.

Your audience – Who are you trying to share this message with? Who do your products and services cater to? If you’re selling cosmetics, for instance, your target audience might be women age 18-60. If you were a landscaping company, your target audience might be homeowners or commercial property owners near you.

Your platforms – Which digital platforms will you be using to help you get your message out? Which platforms are most used by your target audience? A company targeting millennials would be best to use social media, blogging, and photos. A company who sells products to business owners might consider email marketing, newsletters, and their website.

Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Making a mistake on the internet or through other digital platforms can ruin your reputation in an instant. In just a matter of minutes, your mistakes could be plastered across the web for everyone to see, resulting in the need to rebuild your reputation. Mistakes in digital marketing could also leave you behind the competition and essentially stagnated.

Here are a few mistakes you’ll want to avoid:

Skipping Social Media – Unless you’re marketing solely to the senior community which likely doesn’t use social media, social media marketing needs to be a part of your digital marketing campaign. If nothing else than to build a better connection with your target audience, social media creates a non-traditional platform for businesses and their consumers to interact freely.

Not measuring marketing – There are a lot of business owners who have allowed money to go down the drain simply by failing to track their marketing efforts. It is imperative that you find platforms that allow you to measure your results so you can alter your marketing efforts to meet the needs of your target audience.

Not using SEO – If you think that search engine bots don’t still search for the most quality content complete with rich keywords and links, you should think again. If you’re going to remain relevant in a pool of hundreds or thousands of service providers, SEO should be incorporated in every aspect of your digital marketing.

Not using traditional methods – Sounds a bit strange but the failure to integrate traditional marketing with your digital marketing campaign could cause you to miss out on an entire demographic of consumers. Those customers who prefer tangible materials that can be reviewed, focused on, and passed along are still out there and will often turn to digital platforms of yours based on a piece of print material they received.

Planning the ideal digital marketing campaign will require a bit of research and establishment of company goals. From there, it is all about understanding your target audience, and finding a way to convey your message through platforms that they use on a regular basis. Through your continued efforts to evolve with trends, measure, and learn from your mistakes, you will eventually develop a digital marketing campaign that is 100% effective in generating new business.