More and more companies are deciding to start using Digital Marketing tools in their strategies to win more customers and increase online sales, but without a well-structured Digital Marketing plan, efforts can become costs!
You need to organize very well who your business’ target audience is, what actions will be chosen and the expected results. And this is just the beginning of our conversation!
I created a step-by-step guide with everything you need to know about how to create a Digital Marketing plan for your company.
Here, I want to show you the main points that make up quality planning. Let’s get started?
Is Digital Marketing right for my company?
Whenever we try something new, we wonder whether it is right for what we need, whether it is suitable for our needs and objectives. This is no different with Digital Marketing, especially due to the many aspects involved in the online world.
There are different tools that adapt to the most diverse types of business. Social networks, for example, are suitable for most companies, but there are also other actions, more complete and with different purposes.
Content Marketing seeks to create relevant content for your audience, addressing the doubts, pains and expectations of your target audience regarding your business and your area of activity.
Inbound Marketing is the lead generation machine that uses Content Marketing to attract, nurture and convert business opportunities into customers.
Classic Email Marketing is still one of the main allies of Marketing teams that want to maintain close communication with their target audience and develop a relationship by sending exclusive content, updates and offers.
In other words: there are different means for different objectives. Do you realize how digital media are very different from offline media, and that having a Digital Marketing plan is essential for the success of your online business?
The important thing is to find what your company needs, knowing your audience, investing in the creation and promotion of content. The audience has a greater voice online, and these interactions between brand and consumer are very significant!
Where to start when developing a Digital Marketing plan?
The main objective of this planning is to guide the company’s actions in promoting its products or services online, with the aim of achieving specific goals.
Before thinking about communication tools and channels, then, you need to deeply understand your target audience — who are the people who are interested in what you have to offer, what are their needs, desires and behaviors.
This understanding is the basis for creating a relevant digital communication plan!
Furthermore, it is worth remembering that the Digital Marketing plan must be part of a much larger plan, which involves the entire organization and, of course, the alignment between the objectives of the Marketing area with those of other areas, especially sales.
Types of planning: strategic, tactical and operational
Strategic, tactical and operational planning are pillars that play a distinct role in the company’s success and together make up organizational planning:
- Strategic planning is the basis that establishes the general direction of the company in a given period, through the definition of goals and objectives that will guide the activities of all areas of the business;
- Tactical planning is the map that will show how to achieve the goals and objectives defined in strategic planning. It identifies specific demands and passes them on to the departments responsible for executing each strategy, such as marketing, sales, production, customer service and finance;
- Operational planning deals with specific procedures for implementing strategies and tactical plans in the day-to-day operations of a company. It is a short-term process that is essential for teams to know exactly what they need to do, when to do it, and how to do it.
Now that you understand how to build an efficient organizational strategy, we can start building an even bigger plan. Let’s get started!
Step by step guide to creating a Digital Marketing plan
Through the experience we have built up over the years here at Orgânica, we have been able to define methods to organize the company’s day-to-day operations, in order to generate more growth for our clients.
And since my intention is that, with this content, you can apply our knowledge to your business, I will show you the complete step-by-step process for creating a good Digital Marketing plan. Come with me!
Strategic Marketing Planning
Let’s look at the steps that make up the first level of planning: the strategic Marketing plan !
Step 1: Define your goals
It is very important to set goals if you want your business to be successful. They are what will guide the company’s actions effectively, providing clarity about where you want to go and what you intend to achieve.
All planning needs to be designed to achieve objectives. It cannot be different with the Digital Marketing plan!
So set key objectives that can be achieved in the short, medium and long term , based on the reality of your company and your budget.
For example, if you started an e-commerce business and your goal is to generate sales from it, you can set a target of 50 sales in the first three months, 300 in the first half of the year, 1,000 in a year, and so on.
It is worth remembering that, along the way to achieving the main objective, other secondary objectives that are important for your business can be achieved, such as: number of visitors to the website, number of registrations, contacts received, among others.
Step 2: Establish KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
Digital Marketing planning requires specific and measurable objectives, the success of which is indicated by metrics , known as key performance indicators (KPIs).
The choice of KPIs should be aligned with the objectives chosen in the previous step . For example, if your company’s goal is to become a leader in the São Paulo market, some key indicators could be:
- Number of customers;
- Your market share;
- Leads generated;
- Invoicing.
These metrics are considered key performance indicators because they directly reflect the performance of the Digital Marketing plan in relation to the objective defined for your company.
Step 3: Set goals
When you set KPIs that are relevant to your goals, it becomes easier to set precise targets and realistic deadlines. For example, if your KPI is the number of customers, increasing that number by X times within Y time becomes a specific goal.
This will make it easier to track your progress and identify the adjustments needed to get where you want to go.
And don’t forget: it is essential that goals contribute directly to KPIs, avoiding distractions during the process and keeping the focus on acting more efficiently.
Step 4: Build your thesis
As I said before, knowing your business’s target audience is one of the most important elements in Digital Marketing planning!
To achieve your goals, you need to understand who your ideal customer is, which channels they are on and how their purchasing journey takes place, for example.
And when I talk about understanding a person, it’s not just about knowing their age, gender and social class. It’s about discovering their pains, desires, doubts, needs, goals… Everything that goes into a good definition of a persona.
And, based on this data, align the learnings with what your product or service delivers! To do this, you can ask yourself the following questions:
- On which channels (Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter…) is your persona?
- Which format do you prefer (text, image, video…)?
- What kind of content does she consume?
- How often?
At the same time, you should consider some other factors, such as market analysis, competitor analysis, as well as demands and needs that have not yet been met by other players.
In any industry, you will rarely be the only one in the market unless you create something completely new. However, there will always be an opportunity to be exploited, and if you want to find it, you will need to study your competitors:
- Who are my main competitors?
- Do they already have a digital presence ?
- What are they doing that is working? What is wrong that you can do better?
- What makes your product or service different from theirs?
This will make it possible to define which tools will be used, what the brand’s main promise is, adjust the tone of voice in communication and establish its visual identity.
SWOT analysis, in fact, is a very useful tool for this step!
By analyzing all the threats and opportunities, you will be able to better define which position to take, what content to produce and several other useful strategies for your Digital Marketing plan.
Tactical Marketing Planning
Now, let’s move on to the steps that make up the second level!
Step 5: Set a budget
The budget needs to be thought out realistically. In this process, it is important to define investment priorities, make different quotes for services, suppliers and materials, for example.
Furthermore, when setting a budget, consider a portion to cover errors and possible unforeseen events that can (and will) occur along the way.
Unlike offline advertising — which generally requires a significant initial investment — with Digital Marketing, you can adapt the strategy to your budget.
For less than 10 reais, you can already place an advertisement on the Internet, for example. But of course, the more you invest and the better the team that manages your strategy, the greater the chances of success!
And, in my opinion, the coolest thing about digital is that you have access, in real time, to the metrics of your initiatives.
This allows the tactical plan to start with a small initial budget for testing. When you see that the actions are bringing good results, just increase the investment.
If not, retest with another approach, targeting, etc.
In short: your budget can be adapted and changed throughout the development of your strategy, based on the results that appear!
Step 6: Get ready to take action
With the budget established, the next step is to define the projects that will be put into practice.
At this stage, you will build teams, set up work routines, define processes, select suppliers, structure channels and points of sale… You should have everything you need to take action!
Digital Marketing is very dynamic. It is necessary to think in the medium and long term, but you cannot delay in putting actions into practice because, in a matter of months, everything can change.
Start by organizing the channels you will use, think about the content for each of them, structure the strategies and, most importantly, don’t forget to have a competent team to manage all of this.
It is essential that metrics and results are analyzed periodically, to know if your plan is on the right track or if it will be necessary to end or optimize a strategy.
Operational Marketing Planning
Finally, we arrive at the third level of the Digital Marketing plan: the steps that make up the day-to-day operations!
Step 7: Prepare to manage each action
Draw up a management plan that will monitor and guarantee your company’s results. To do this, you will need:
- Build schedules with strategies and deadlines;
- Use the funds effectively;
- Coordinate and order the activities to be carried out;
- Take responsibility for hiring tools and software that will contribute to the effectiveness of the actions and the team involved.
Assertive management is capable of acting intelligently when faced with potential problems and also identifying good opportunities!
Step 8: Implement and track results
During execution, you will see which tools are most efficient, which ones can be replaced, which activities will need to be cut, how to minimize errors and resolve conflicts, for example. It is in daily practice that these adjustments are made.
Management work needs to be continuous and, in this context, I strongly suggest that you implement a data culture in your team, in addition to building reports and dashboards that facilitate the visualization of Marketing goals and their status.
Don’t worry: it’s unlikely that you’ll go through this process without making mistakes or that your goals will be achieved easily, even if you have incredible planning and a generous budget.
So, one practical piece of advice I can give you is: be willing to adjust your route as you encounter obstacles along the way!
Did you like the tips so far?
Throughout the content, I showed you exactly what you need to have a complete Digital Marketing plan: from defining strategies, aligning with organizational planning, to operational routines.
Phew! That’s a lot to put into practice, isn’t it?
It’s great that Enjoy Minder is a specialist in creating Digital Marketing plans and is here to help your business grow.
Talk to our experts now to receive personalized recommendations!
