By the Shopify Team
What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
A digital marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a company will use digital channels and platforms to reach its target audience and convert them into customers.
It focuses on digital channels such as social media and email marketing, but it should be consistent and work in harmony with offline marketing campaigns like trade shows, billboards, and direct mail.
Think of the digital marketing strategy as a roadmap that guides your digital marketing efforts. It provides direction and clarity, helping you effectively communicate with your target audience, enhance brand visibility, and achieve your goals as an e-commerce business.
Digital Marketing Strategy vs. Digital Marketing Tactics
The terms digital marketing strategy and digital marketing tactics are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. A digital marketing strategy is the overall plan that guides the implementation of various digital marketing tactics. Digital marketing tactics refer to the specific actions and techniques used to execute the strategy. Examples include content marketing, social media advertising, and influencer partnerships.
For instance, running ads on Instagram is an online marketing tactic, and the decision to invest in social media advertising – and the reasoning behind it – is part of the digital marketing strategy.
The digital marketing strategy is the big picture, while the digital marketing tactics are the individual puzzle pieces that come together to deliver the desired results.
Owned, Earned, and Paid Media in a Digital Marketing Strategy
A successful digital marketing strategy leverages three types of media: owned, earned, and paid.
Owned media: The channels and formats that you create, publish, and have full control over, such as blog articles, YouTube videos, product pages, and social media posts.
Earned media: Unpaid coverage of your business that you haven’t created or paid for, such as a journalist mention in a gift guide.
Paid media: Content that you pay to place in front of your target audience, such as paid sponsorships or paid ads on social media platforms and search engines.
These three types of content work together to meet your target audience at every stage of their customer journey, from casual browsing to dedicated searching and making a purchase decision.
Types of Digital Marketing Tactics
Digital marketing tactics define the channels, tools, and formats you will use to implement your strategy. An effective digital strategy often includes several tactics that support each other and enhance outcomes.
Among the digital marketing tactics you can implement are:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This is the process of optimizing your e-commerce site to appear in relevant search results. “SEO is a fantastic type of inbound marketing, as the consumer has a need and finds you for the solution,” says Greg Bernhardt, Senior SEO Specialist at Shopify.
Content Marketing: This is a strategic marketing approach you can use to reach your target audience – potential and existing customers – wherever they are by creating high-quality content that meets their needs and answers their questions.
Email Marketing: This is the practice of obtaining your customers’ email addresses and sending messages regularly to build a connection with them, create value, and promote product launches and promotional offers.
Affiliate Marketing: Involves paying individuals – partners – a commission when they refer new customers to your business. The commission is usually a percentage of sales or a fixed amount per sale.
Influencer Marketing: Focuses on encouraging others to share your brand and products. However, influencer marketing focuses on collaborating with individuals who have an audience on social media, YouTube, an email list, a blog, or a mix of these channels.
Social Media Marketing: A form of online marketing that leverages digital channels like Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook to reach your target audience.
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Search Engines: Involves paying to appear in search results.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy in 6 Steps
1. Define and understand your target audience
2. Set your marketing goals
3. Define your budget and technological tools
4. Choose marketing tactics to attract, nurture, and convert customers
5. Focus on your competitive advantages
6. Determine a way to track results
Examples of Successful Digital Marketing Strategies
1. Alo Yoga: Focuses on content marketing, partnerships, social media, and email.
2. ILIA Beauty: Focuses on social media, paid advertising, referral programs, and email.
3. Caraway: Focuses on search engine optimization, social media, partnerships, and paid advertising.
Developing Your Digital Marketing Strategy
A well-defined and well-understood digital marketing strategy is a superpower. It gives everyone in your company the foundation to prioritize marketing activities that will propel your online store to new heights and achieve results repeatedly.
Remember: Digital marketing is a long-term game, so keep pushing forward, stay updated on trends and changes, adapt the strategy as needed, and be patient in working towards your business goals. Your efforts will pay off.
Frequently Asked Questions About Digital Marketing Strategy
What are the 7 C’s of marketing?
The 7 C’s of digital marketing are Customer, Content, Context, Community, Convenience, Cohesion, and Conversion. This framework is the foundation of every stage of the customer journey, from awareness and discovery to consideration and decision-making, and it helps digital marketers focus on achieving relevant results for the business.
What is an example of a digital marketing strategy?
An example of a digital marketing strategy is a fashion brand marketing its company and products through:
– Search engine optimization by publishing outfit-building tutorials targeting keywords like “Limited Wardrobe Guide” and “Summer Outfit Ideas.”
– Partnerships with affiliates and influencers, and then resharing brand content on their social profiles.
– Email marketing that rewards new visitors with discounts, and existing customers with unique offers on their favorite products.
– Paid ads that target previous site visitors and show them the products they viewed but did not purchase.
This strategy covers all parts of the customer journey, from those who have never heard of the brand to loyal customers.
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/digital-marketing-strategy
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