Definition of a digital strategy framework
In today’s digital age, businesses can no longer consider themselves ‘safe’ by going for quick-hacks and trendy digital marketing gimmicks. Success only comes with a sound marketing strategy. And the funny part is “Most businesses underestimate how important it is”.
There are a lot of strategies and tactics in the market. And if you go the academic route, there are a lot of models as well. As such, it’s important to understand the theoretical aspects of a marketing plan before you go in and craft your own.
Today, we’ll discuss important frameworks in Digital Marketing, specifically as they pertain to strategy.
A framework is a roadmap that helps businesses plan, execute, and measure their digital marketing efforts. At its core, it’s a meticulously designed blueprint, a roadmap that brands can reference at any point.
Now there’s no such thing as a ‘best framework’ as marketing plans vary from business to business depending on their specific needs and goals.
However, there are some time-tested models that you can take inspiration from, if you’re just starting out.Some of the most popular frameworks include the RACE planning framework, the marketing funnel and the flywheel model which we will discuss below.
The Benefits of Using Frameworks
First, let’s talk about why these frameworks matter. Imagine you’re embarking on a cross-country road trip. Would you set out without a map or GPS? Of course not. Similarly, in the digital marketing realm, frameworks serve as your guiding star. They bring structure, clarity, and efficiency to your campaigns. By following a well-defined framework, you gain the power to:
- Align your efforts with your business objectives.
- Save time by prioritizing avenues that will bring the most business value.
- Allocate resources more effectively.
- Continuously measure and optimize your strategy.
- Adapt to the ever-changing digital landscape.
Digital Marketing Strategy Framework: How To Build a Good Strategy
There are a lot of ways when it comes to crafting a Digital Marketing Strategy. You can start out with a pen and paper and start writing your intuitive thoughts. You can also brainstorm with your team and jot down your goals and how you think you can get there.
In my opinion, the best way to start crafting a solid marketing strategy is to answer critical questions about your business. Here’s what you should answer right off the bat:
- Define your goals: What do you want to achieve with your digital marketing efforts? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales?
- Understand your target audience: Who are you trying to reach with your digital marketing campaigns? What are their needs and interests?
- Choose the right channels: Which digital channels will you use to reach your target audience? Will you use social media, search engine marketing, email marketing, or a combination of channels?
- Create a content strategy: What type of content will you create to attract and engage your target audience?
- Set a budget: How much money are you willing to spend on your digital marketing efforts?
- Track your results: How will you measure the success of your digital marketing campaigns?
Let’s see how this process looks like step-by-step:
Step 1: Setting Clear Objectives
The biggest trap that most businesses fall into is that they’re not realistic. We tend to go for the stars when we don’t even have a rocket ship. I’m not saying that’s bad but we need to be realistic of where we are and take the initial steps like ‘building a rocket ship’ before we go for the stars.
When setting objectives, make sure to follow the SMART Model. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
For example, instead of saying “increase brand awareness,” you could say “increase website traffic by 20% in the next quarter.”
You should also make sure that your digital strategy goes in line with your overall business plan. For example, if your business goal is to increase sales by 10% in the next year, your digital marketing objectives should support that goal.
Step 2: Audience Profiling and Segmentation
This step involves understanding your target audience in detail.
- Who are they?
- What are their needs and interests?
- Where do they spend their time online?
By understanding your audience, you can create content and marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with them.
When it comes to the number of personas, you should strive to create at least 3 but if you have a very complex business with a variety of product lines, you may find the need to create even more.
Step 3: Creating Compelling Content
Content is still king, but it’s not enough to just create any type of content, right?
The most important metric to focus on is ‘value’. It doesn’t matter how ‘SEO-optimized’ your content is or whether you’ve hired the world’s best writers; if your content doesn’t provide value, it will not get attention.
With value comes ‘relevancy’. Imagine you’re a barbershop for men but you’re writing content catering to women. Now there are a lot of parallels between male and female barber shops but a lot of what you will write will not be relevant for women.
Also, when creating content, keep your objectives in mind:
- What do you want your audience to do after reading your content?
- Do you want them to visit your website, sign up for your email list, or make a purchase?
- Map out your customer journey; create content for all steps in the customer journey so you can target all of your personas
Step 4: Leveraging Omni-channel Marketing
No single marketing channel can reach everyone. That’s why it’s important to take an omni-channel approach in your digital marketing strategy.
However, when you’re deciding your channels, make sure to look at your budget and what you can realistically do. Maybe, you don’t have the budget for ads so you can combine SEO & Content Marketing. Results will come but maybe at a slower pace.
Conversely, you may have the budget to spend big on ads but might find that your retention rate isn’t that high as you’re not engaging customers to stay loyal to your brand.
Again, when choosing your channels, consider your target audience, your budget, and your goals.
Step 5: Implementing and Monitoring
Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to start implementing it. This involves creating and publishing content, running paid advertising campaigns, and tracking your results.
Note that this is a time of trial-and-error, so whatever strategy you have crafted, it may or may not work, so always keep an open mind.
As you take action, it’s important to monitor your results so that you can see what’s working and what’s not. I’d recommend setting monthly, quarterly, and yearly metrics for monitoring and control. This will help you make necessary adjustments to your strategy without having to do a drastic change at any time.
Step 6: Continuous Optimization
A successful digital marketing strategy is never static. It needs to be constantly optimized based on your results and the ever-changing digital landscape.
Be prepared to make changes to your strategy as needed. This could involve changing your content, channels, or even your objectives.
If you want to learn even more theoretical models, the Japanese principle of ‘just-in-time’ would be a tremendous help. It’s a model of continuous improvement and testing. And as long as you have that mindset around, you will find success.
Examples of digital marketing strategy frameworks
Let’s talk about some of the most popular and widely-used frameworks across the globe. The reason I’m sharing these models is because they are time-tested, proven and have been used by some of the largest corporations in the world. And these models have been crafted with a great amount of research and data-analysis.
So you can almost always hit the bulls-eye if you base your own marketing plan off these models.
RACE Planning:
RACE stands for Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage. It is a framework for managing the customer lifecycle, with the goal of ensuring that businesses attract, nurture, and retain customers effectively.
The advantage of using RACE is that it considers the customer journey in great detail, beyond the Purchase stage. We know that customers who have bought from us need to stay engaged with remarketing and content campaigns. There’s also the added benefit of turning them into repeat purchasers and loyal brand advocates. RACE takes all of this into account.
The RACE framework has four key stages in the customer lifecycle:
- Reach: This is the stage where businesses aim to get their message in front of as many potential customers as possible.
- Act: This is the stage where businesses encourage potential customers to take action, such as visiting their website or signing up for their email list.
- Convert: This is the stage where businesses convert potential customers into paying customers.
- Engage: This is the stage where businesses build relationships with their customers and encourage them to come back for more.
You can use the RACE framework to guide all aspects of your business’s digital marketing strategy, from content creation to paid advertising, to retention.
Marketing Funnel
The marketing funnel is a visual representation of the customer journey. It helps businesses to understand how potential customers move from awareness to consideration to purchase.
The beauty of the funnel is that it can be extended into any field whatsoever. You can create funnels for Content Marketing, Email Marketing, SEO & even PR.
The marketing funnel is typically divided into four stages:
- Awareness: This is the stage where potential customers become aware of a business and its products or services.
- Consideration: This is the stage where potential customers start to research and compare different options.
- Intent: This is the stage where potential customers are ready to make a purchase.
- Purchase: This is the stage where potential customers become paying customers.
This is usually referred to as the ‘AIDA Formula’ which is quite popular in copywriting. An extended version of this is the AICPRA which stands for awareness, interest, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocates; the last two stages representing the post-purchase stages of the customer lifecycle.
Flywheel Model
Next up, we have the ‘flywheel model’ which is a customer-centric framework that focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting customers.
The flywheel model is based on the idea that happy customers are more likely to do business with a company again and refer their friends and family. With this model, you have to really go all in on content, product quality, and customer service. If those boxes are ticked off, success becomes an afterthought.
As such, the flywheel model can be used to guide a business’s digital marketing strategy by helping them to create a positive customer experience at every touchpoint.
Forrester’s 5 I’s
Forrester’s 5 Is model is a framework for achieving seamless customer experiences. At its core lies customer service. And the model argues that as long as your brand offers a smooth customer experience, sales will come.
This model is great for optimizing user experience on your website or mobile app, having a quality customer service, and making sure your product actually solves customer’s pain points and isn’t some gimmick.
The 5 I’s stand for:
- Interaction: This is about creating personalized and engaging experiences for customers.
- Integration: This is about making it easy for customers to do business with a company across different channels.
- Individualization: This is about understanding and catering to the unique needs of each customer.
- Intelligence: This is about using data to gain insights into customer behavior.
- Integrity: This is about building trust and transparency with customers.
The Forrester’s 5 I’s model can be used to guide a business’s digital marketing strategy by helping them to create a customer experience that is both convenient and enjoyable.
McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey
Crafted by one of the world’s biggest research organizations, McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey is a framework for understanding the path that customers take from initial consideration to post-purchase evaluation.
Before you read the next paragraph, I want you to bring to your attention how all of these models take into account the Customer Journey. That is exactly what you should be doing. You need to do in-depth research into your customer development and map out exactly what users do from their initial awareness of your product/service all the way to purchase and post-purchase decisions.
Now, you can use any of these models and take them like a grain of salt, but unless you understand what these models truly stand for, you won’t be able to find much success.
The McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey is divided into five stages:
- Problem recognition: This is the stage where customers become aware of a problem or need.
- Information search: This is the stage where customers gather information about different solutions to their problem.
- Consideration: This is the stage where customers narrow down their options and start to compare different solutions.
- Purchase: This is the stage where customers make a purchase decision.
- Post-purchase evaluation: This is the stage where customers evaluate their purchase and decide whether or not they are satisfied.
The McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey can be used to guide a business’s digital marketing strategy by helping them to understand the needs and motivations of their target customers at each stage of the journey.
Philip Kotler’s Marketing Model
Known as the ‘Father of Modern Marketing’, Philip Kotler’s research and achievements have shaped an entire generation of marketing strategies and techniques, which, to this day, are used by the biggest brands in the world.
His trademark ‘Marketing Model’ is a foundational framework that has guided marketers for generations. Kotler has discussed his model in great detail in a lot of his books such as the ‘Principles of Marketing’ and ‘Marketing 4.0’. We’ll summarize the key points he makes here.
The model is based on the four Ps of marketing:
- Product: This is the product or service that a business offers.
- Price: This is the price that a business charges for its product or service.
- Place: This is the place where a business sells its product or service.
- Promotion: This is the way that a business communicates the value of its product or service to its target audience.
While the other models usually focus on the customer journey, Kotler’s model goes beyond and discusses product development and placement strategies and makes a unique argument for choosing your marketing channels very carefully.
As such, Philip Kotler’s Marketing Model can be used to guide a business’s digital marketing strategy by helping them to make decisions about their overall business in the context of the digital world.
Tools & Software
In the old days, marketing managers and business-owners had to manually do all the research and data-analysis which took a lot of time. In this new age, however, tools are our best buddies.
To effectively execute your marketing strategies, it would be advisable to use tools and software to save time and manual labor. These digital allies are your support system, helping you gather insights, automate tasks, and optimize campaigns.
Here are some that I personally use, which I recommend:
- For SEO: Ahrefs, SEMrush & Screaming Frog
- For Content Research: BuzzSumo, Answer The Public, Exploding Topics
- For Trends & Insights: Google Trends, Statista
- For Email Marketing: Klaviyo, MailChimp
- For Social Media Management: Hootsuite, Later
- For Project Management: ClickUp, Slack
- For Analytics: MixPanel, Google Analytics, Google Search Console
You can refer to this Glossary Section which contains 198 of the Most Effective Digital Marketing Tools Used Today.
Frequently Asked Questions About A Digital Marketing Strategy
Now a lot of people would have some burning questions about Digital Marketing Strategy and I’ve taken the time to create a resourceful FAQ section below. If you have any other questions, let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure to update this article periodically for you.
Q1. Do You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Absolutely. Running a business without a strategy is like driving a car without wheels; you won’t get anywhere without wheels, right?
In today’s digital age, a strategy is the linchpin of success. It ensures you’re not just shooting in the dark but are purposefully working towards your goals.
Q2. Is One Marketing Strategy Better Than Another?
Not necessarily. The ‘right’ strategy depends on your business, goals, and target audience. What works for one may not work for another. Tailor your strategy to your unique needs.
Q3. Are Digital Marketing Strategies Easy To Build?
If I’m being honest, creating a strategy is easy, but, only if you actually know how to create it and the steps that go into building a solid plan.
They require careful planning, research, and ongoing refinement. While not necessarily ‘easy,’ they are essential for sustainable success.
Q4. Is there a one-size-fits-all strategy for all businesses?
No, businesses are unique. What works for a multinational corporation might not work for a local bakery. A successful strategy must be tailored to your specific goals and circumstances.
Q5. What makes a good digital strategy?
A good strategy is one that aligns with your business goals, understands your audience, leverages the right channels, creates valuable content, and adapts to change.
Q6. How is a marketing strategy developed?
It’s a systematic process involving goal-setting, research, audience profiling, content creation, channel selection, execution, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Q7. Why is a digital marketing strategy invaluable?
In a crowded digital landscape, a strategy guides your efforts, ensuring they are efficient, effective, and results-driven. It’s the cornerstone of digital marketing success.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many different digital marketing strategy frameworks available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The best framework for a particular business will depend on its specific needs and goals.
When choosing a framework, it is important to consider the following factors:
- The business’s target audience
- The business’s goals
- The business’s budget
- The business’s resources
- The business’s expertise in digital marketing
Once a framework has been chosen, it is important to implement it and track the results. The framework should be constantly evaluated and adjusted as needed.
By following these steps, businesses can create a digital marketing strategy that is effective and successful. Understand that this is a time-taking process and you will face failure in your initial attempts. So, keep going for it and you will eventually figure out what works for you.
If you’re seeking expert guidance or require tailored marketing and business plans to elevate your brand, I can assist you. Over the years, I’ve created and implemented several digital marketing plans for my clients and you can now experience the same feelings they did and taste the same success they taste.
Get in Touch with me to explore how we can collaborate to achieve your business objectives. Your path to digital excellence begins with a simple click.