This article is published in partnership with Mediabuzzer.

It has become critical for any business owner to build their business through different digital channels.

Whether it is a start-up, an established business or you have been running your business website for a number of years, it is necessary to have a digital marketing strategy that is clearly defined. This strategy should boost your visibility and create new opportunities.

Yet, nearly 50 percent of businesses do not have a clearly defined digital marketing strategy. Businesses which do not adapt to the dynamic landscape of digital marketing are risking missing out a tactic that is more affordable than print or TV marketing.

Like any aspect of running a small business, effort is required in digital marketing to get the best results. You don’t really require a huge budget, however, you need to have the desire and drive to attempt new things and learn from whatever results you get.

A successful and an effective approach commences with creating a map and planning a digital marketing campaign. The first step is to set your objectives, research and have a clear definition of your target audience, creating informative and interesting content, optimizing your searches, and tracking all the conversions.

Once you start building your brand identity, you need to make it known to your customers. This is where your strategy comes in handy.

Set Your Objectives

1. Make your mission clear.

• Define the overall mission of your business. Your business’ digital marketing goals should be in line with your overall plan.
• Define what your overriding objective is and which you hope to achieve through your digital marketing campaign. For example, is it your aim to have your business as the go-to solution provider for the specific service or product you are offering?

2. Set your KPIs and measure them.

• Get specific KPIs by setting figures you will achieve and be held accountable in case you fail to meet them.
• Get a realistic point of view with regards to your KPIs based on your analysis of your previous efforts in digital marketing. By doing so, you will aim for an increase in the results while at the same time avoiding to set unrealistically high expectations.
• For example, you can use Google Analytics for your KPIs in measuring your conversions, your social media individual analytics engagement tracking, or a tool that assesses your content marketing success.

Who is your customer?

The old form of marketing your products to your customers by telling them what they needed has been surpassed by time. An efficient strategy calls for a thorough knowledge of your customer.

You have to do a thorough research of your customers and know what their social status, gender, occupation and their budget is among other metrics. You can use this information to create your persona. You can have multiple buyer personas. Identifying the needs of your customers, the market they prefer to use and your competitors is critical to achieving a strategy that is effective.

Communicating with your customers 

Different audiences respond well to the different kinds of digital marketing strategies. For example, mobile apps that have push notifications are preferred by the younger customers. Push notifications involve sending notifications to your target customers on any new deals without making any specific request from them. Emails are a preferred choice for older customers but not those that are unsolicited. Below is a list of tips for making the best choice of communication:

Email

Email is the preferred mode of marketing for 75 percent of adults that use the internet. This is important to note when planning your marketing strategy. You will need to give careful thought to your email structure beginning with the subject line that ought to be strong and with a call to action, to the design and content.

Blog

You could opt for a stand-alone blog or one that is a page on your website. Blogs are useful in offering personal insights to your customers with regard to your business which makes it more approachable and human. A blog also gives your customers the opportunity to give their feedback gives them a sense of emotional engagement. See here how to jump start your blog.

Apps

It will cost you quite a bit to have an app created for your business. A good number of small businesses have apps which they use to send their customers updates and offers.

Social media

By creating a business profile on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest as well as other social networks, your business will be more pronounced. Social media will enable you to engage with would-be customers and learn from any feedback they give. It s advisable not to spread yourself thinly, target your customers and go where they are.

Viral campaigns

This kind of campaign is where there is an unprecedented spread of the marketing project to other audiences. But, do not force your business to go viral as it risks your businesses’ reputation when the wrong message goes out. See here for tips on writing viral content.

You can use tools such as Sprout Social, Sprinklr, or Hootsuite to monitor your social media responses as well as any other online activities.

Search Engine Optimization 

Once you have the social media aspect of your business running, you need to ensure that you have optimized your content for search engines. Google is currently the world’s leading search engine and as such uses customer searches to pre-empt what they are searching for by using questions, keywords, and misspelt words.

Creating articles that are relevant and interesting which have informative key words and questions will enable them to move up the Google rankings. Working with a reputable digital marketing agency such as Digital Search Group or any other SEO company, you will be able to know what quality is, and ensures that it ranks among the top sites on Google.

Do not be tempted to stuff your articles with keywords, quality is and ensures that it only quality will help your rankings. 

Track Your Campaign

After making the plan and executing it, you should be able to track your online marketing campaign. There are several tracking software that you can use that allow you to test and see your results. Among the largest trackers is Google Analytics which you can access easily through your Google mail account.

With Google Analytics, you will get detailed website traffic statistics, sources of traffic, and measurements of conversions and sales. It can also provide data on pay per click (PPC) ads, social networks, as well as track referrers (HTTP referrer) from other search engines.

Tracking your business’s performance on each of your online strategies informs you which has the best ROI. In other words, you can tell which strategy works well and repeat and improve on it.

When all is said and done, digital marketing is all about making sales of your product or service. If you are unable to gain any sales, you will need to consider utilizing marketing automation products that will enable you to make comparisons and ran your campaign’s success.

Final Words

Keep testing new ideas, revamping your marketing campaigns, and keeping an eye on e-commerce companies to get informed on the best methods of promoting your business. Remember, earning is a continuous process and you need to remain active to be relevant.

Utilize an accounting software to track any expenses you incur in your marketing campaigns. If there is something that is not working then don’t hesitate to change it to improve your marketing campaign.