Without a digital marketing strategy (DMS) you’re business isn’t going anywhere – certainly not very quickly.
Your DMS ensures all your marketing activities are aligned with your business goals so you won’t be shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.
Here are just a few reasons why a DMS is a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’.
1. Where?
The absence of a DMS means you have no strategic online goals in relation to gaining new customers and building strong relationships with them.
Not only that, you also must have the resources in place to evaluate your activities.
2. How?
Only through a DMS can you decide whether there is an online demand for your business. What happens if you blindly throw lots of resources at an online market that doesn’t exist?
If it does exist, do you know what they want? How do they want to buy from you? All of this comes down to market research, which is the backbone of your DMS.
3. Pass them over
If you don’t have a solid DMS, you might as well hand all your customers over to your competitors.
Your online presence must be slick, modern, professional and different to make you stand out from the crowd.
4. People
If you do have a DMS, you also need to have the right people to implement it for you. That means you must have a solid budget for expert help and one to monitor your results to ensure your energies (and money) are going to the right place.
5. In it together
This one is especially true for larger businesses.
If you have many departments and no DMS, they could end up pulling against each other or duplicating work.
Having a clear strategy in place will make sure everyone is working together to maintain and enhance your brand image.
6. Agility
Online marketing is constantly changing, so you must have the resources to be agile, test new ideas and social media outlets to stay one step ahead of the game.
A well thought out digital marketing strategy that is dynamic, well thought out and well managed will help your business continually improve its social marketing activities.
It’s never been more important to be ‘seen’ online whether its through blogging, tweeting, Facebook activity, Pinterest or any of the other social media platforms. But whatever you do it must be coordinated, on brand and aligned with your goals.
