Is Your Digital Marketing Strategy Where It Needs to Be?

If you are like most companies, you are doing digital marketing in some form. It may be as casual as posting occasional updates to Facebook or as structured as having your digital marketing approach integrated fully with your marketing strategy. Most companies tend to fall in between.  Without an integrated marketing plan, you are missing out on the best practices that directly affect your bottom line.

Do You Have Any Strategy at All?

The first question to ask is whether you have any strategy at all for your digital marketing. If you are the casual end of the spectrum, the answer is likely that you don’t. And that is where you need to start.

Why is Having a Strategy so Important?

• Without it, you have no direction. And that means anything you do in the digital realm has no focus and no purpose. That is a waste of both time and resources.
• Without a strategy, you don’t have a clue about online consumer demand for your products or services. You may find that you have drastically underestimated the potential market online. That directly affects your profitability.
• Without a marketing strategy for the digital realm, you are giving up customers to your competitors. Why give customers away?

If your digital marketing has no strategy, you need to develop one as soon as possible. It will get you started on the right path.

To get started, create a simple plan on how you want to use digital marketing to promote your business. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or overly detailed. A simple plan will get you started. As you ramp up your efforts, you can get more detailed in your approach and begin integrating it into your general marketing plan.

Is Your Strategy Where It Should Be?

If you already have a digital marketing strategy, is it where it needs to be in the latter half of 2017?

All too often companies keep digital marketing separate from the rest of their marketing strategy. If this is the case in your company, it is important to address why you choose to do this.

• The simple fact is that companies get the most out of their digital efforts when they are integrated with traditional marketing efforts. And the traditional side benefits as well because it brings the brand more into the spotlight.
• Digital marketing is often short-changed when it comes to money and resources if it’s not integrated with the full marketing strategy. This leaves the digital side vulnerable to encroachment by your competitors.
• Duplication of effort between digital and non-digital marketing is a waste of both time and resources. Why should you pay double for the same marketing needs?
• Without an integrated marketing plan, your company will lag behind the competitors that do have such a strategy. And catching up will be difficult and maybe even impossible.

With an integrated approach, you can start optimizing your marketing efforts. You have one plan, one strategy, and one direction. There is no duplication of effort and no waste of resources. That is the direction you need to go to get your digital marketing strategy where it needs to be in 2017.