Reasons Why You Should Have A Digital Marketing Strategy

A digital marketing strategy is an absolute given for any company trying to market itself online – right? That’s certainly the impression you’d get from reading most digital marketing blogs, where the question of whether you should have a digital marketing strategy has long ago been eclipsed by how to develop one.

And yet, on the ground, most companies remain unconvinced.

A report by Smart Insights, Managing Digital Marketing, shows that nearly half of marketers have active digital marketing programmes, but no defined strategy at all.

Here are five reasons why:

1. A written strategy gives you direction and focus

Companies that have not written down their approach may have a general sense of what they want to do online and what their tactics are, but are unlikely to have properly defined some of the essential elements.

For example, they may know that they want to get more visits to their website, but can they say how many? They may want to gain more customers, but can they pinpoint by what percentage, or through which channels?

Without specific targets based on creating conversion funnel-based forecasts, it’s harder to know exactly what you need to do online, and later to measure how successful you are.

Creating a written strategy forces companies to tackle these crucial questions, as well as formulate a powerful online value proposition, narrowly define the target audience, and carefully consider all the other building blocks for an effective digital program.

Another challenge with digital marketing is that there are so many activities you could be working on, that you may spread yourself too thin, or miss key activities. A strategy helps you choose to focus on priority strategic initiatives.

2. It ensures everyone is on board – and on the same page

Ensuring that there is broad support for your digital activity within your company can be difficult.

This is much easier to obtain if you have a written plan that spells out what you are aiming to accomplish, how it fits in with the company’s other marketing priorities and gives you a way of measuring whether it’s working or not. Suddenly you have a digital programme that can be promoted and defended, rather than just “something some of us dabble in”.

Moreover, it ensures that there are a vision and method that everyone has to sign up to. Without a written strategy, every manager and director is free to project their own aims and priorities on the online activity, and all too often, the result is that everyone is working at cross-purposes without even realising it. Clarity is essential!

3. You’ll be better resourced

If you’re working without a strategy, it will be harder to work out in advance what budget your digital programme needs in order to succeed, and what kind of skills your staff need to execute it.

Sure, you can apply for more funding and hire staff as and when the need arises, but you’ll always be on the back foot. Surely it would be more efficient – and easier to successfully make the case – if you were able to present a long-term plan for budget and staff members?

4. It will limit duplication and wastage

Even if you do have sufficient resources, these may be wasted without a strategy in place to use them efficiently.

Let’s take targeting as an example. Many larger businesses will invest in paid media via agencies for prospecting and retargeting, but they sometimes don’t put sufficient controls on media spend so that they can get the most ‘bang for their buck’. In my experience, an often smaller business is more savvy since they reduce digital media wastage by specifying media exclusions.

5. It will help you optimize and stay ahead

Every company with a website will have analytics, but many senior managers don’t ensure that their teams make or have the time to review and act on them.

An integrated strategy will build testing into your programme, ensuring that continuous improvement is possible. A strategy will also help you optimize. A good strategy will benchmark your activity against competitors to show where you are behind the curve and clearly set out what goals you need to hit online, enabling you to measure what’s working and what isn’t, and make the necessary changes. Again, regular reviews will be built into the system, as long as you have a document to refer back to.