A Digital marketing strategy is generally a combination of the following functions. When executed creatively and professionally, they deliver qualified leads to your Sales team or drive your prospects through your Digital Sales facility. Our services aim to help you manage your target "Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)", that's the average cost to acquire one paying customer that your business needs for profitable growth.
Douglas Digital is offering to partner with you to develop and implement a winning digital marketing strategy, managing any gaps in the skillsets, tools and services required and optimising their efficacy. Whether you're a Start-up, SME or a Large Corporate Enterprise we can help you find a Digital Marketing Mix that's right for your business.
A website is a great way to "layout your stall" and entices visitors to contact your sales team or buy your products online. It's also the foundation of a digital marketing strategy, without it, most other marketing functions can't work.
On its own, people will eventually find you on search engines like Google, but only when they search for your company's name or some other unique attribute of your website's content.
It's likely the things you want to be found for are not unique to your company, so to compete in "search engines" and expand your reach beyond them, the other functions of a digital marketing strategy are necessary to drive leads through your website to your sales channels.
Typical website requirements
The quickest and easiest way to get your sales message to people searching for your type of product or service online.
When you search on Google or other search engines, the first search results are often adverts, indicated by the word "Ad" or "Sponsored" somewhere in their message.
Search engine marketers research your marketplace and develop a strategy with your sales or marketing experts to configure services like "Google Ads" to manage your average cost to acquire one paying customer (CPA).
SEM is a very effective method to reach people searching for very specific things and allows you to compete for those potential customers.
SEM tends to be more effective at converting promotions to sales than "Display" advertising (see below) because the intent behind a search is more often to get something done there and then. Display advertising tends to be better at creating awareness of a brand, product or service at a time when your target audiences are digesting content elsewhere online.
Typical SEM requirements
One of the least expensive and probably the most productive digital marketing channel there is.
Often, it's also the slowest and most time-consuming method to market your business until your website has matured with a "ranking authority" stronger than most competitors.
SEO experts conduct an audit of your website and issue your website team with a strategy to maximise your chances of being in the top three "organic" (free) search results. Like SEM, the aim is to manage your cost per acquisition (CPA).
Audits usually include technical and content recommendations. Technical recommendations can be complicated to address, so it's always best to consider SEO when selecting your websites content management system (CMS).
Unlike SEM, an SEO strategy offers no guarantee of success and while it should never be relied upon to drive leads to your business (until it has matured), it's often a risk worth taking considering the long-term reward.
Typical SEO requirements
Your website is built to deliver leads to your sales channels, CRO helps to maximise the potential of converting your visitors to leads.
Also known as "A-B testing", it's a guesswork-free iterative process of experimenting with digital marketing tools, tactics or services, recording which produce cost-effective conversions and promoting them to your strategy permanently.
For example, you may wish to experiment with a digital sales chatbot or live-chat service, an independent five-star rating service, a new promotion, a pricing change or a new payment service. As they all have a cost, or potential to disrupt the flow of your existing leads, you may wish to experiment in relative safety before making the successful ones a permanent feature of your digital business.
This is likely the most creative and rewarding activity you'll do in digital marketing and forms your framework for growing your digital business reliably, based on proven results.
Typical CRO requirements
This is more like traditional advertising, you develop a series of graphic adverts and have them displayed where valuable prospects will see them.
First, you define and segment your target audiences, the types of people most likely to be interested in buying your product or service. Then, the Display advertising channel (e.g. Google, Facebook or LinkedIn) or Affiliate network will use those audience profiles to match them with online content (in their network) that have those types of people regularly visiting them.
This new form of targeted advertising, known as "Audience building" or "Audience-targeted marketing", leverages the myriad of influential Blogs, Social Sites, Video channels, Apps and other "new media" around the web and gets your message out in places that attract large volumes of "look-alike audiences" to your business.
You agree on a commission for a referred visitor to your website or a sale. You get the referral you need and they get paid by you via the intermediary. Again, you can manage your cost per acquisition (CPA) with this digital marketing function but it can be most effective for strategies that aim to build brand awareness.
Typical requirements
Develop your own influential "new media" channels and drive free leads.
Like SEO, instead of paying for traffic, why not try to earn free traffic by becoming a social media "influencer" or "thought leader". This is a content creator that engages with the interests of your target audiences.
By doing this, not only will you create awareness of your products and services and drive direct traffic but you will also signal to Google that you are an authority in your industry, a leader, not a follower. This is one of the key "signals" Google monitors to rank your website.
Engaging and "shareable" content is king in this new media world. But don't be daunted by this, have a look at your key competitors content strategy and try to beat the best of them with higher quality posts. Often, 2-3 blog articles per week, promoted via your social channels, can be enough to drive new leads and influence your position in Google's search results.
Again, like SEO, this is a function that needs to be developed over time, it's not a quick or reliable way to drive leads. However, the rewards in inexpensive leads, direct and via search engines, are often worth the risk as it helps to lower your CPA in the long term.
Typical social requirements
Reaching out to your website visitors with a product reminder or a new compelling offer that drives them back to your business.
Typically, more than 95% of people that visit a website will not convert immediately. They're often casual shoppers researching your market. They show some level of interest, but then leave to continue their search.
They can be interested in your proposition, but it's not yet time to buy.
Some demonstrate a strong intent by beginning a purchase but don't complete the transaction or they sign-up for your email newsletter. Either way, they leave you their email address. Similarly, some shoppers do not opt-out of website tracking cookies.
This allows you to re-engage them with a direct email campaign or via display ads on other websites they visit (the ads that seem to follow you around the web), reminding them of your unique proposition or presenting them with a more compelling offer, driving more leads.
Again, it's an effective way to lower your CPA.
Typical re-marketing requirements
"If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it."
- Peter Drucker
(Inventor of modern business management)
Analytics and attribution accurately measure your prospects' interaction with each of your digital marketing functions allowing you to compare, analyse and improve them. Reporting dashboards provide the key insights required (e.g. CPA) to make the right decisions to grow your digital business.
Analytics takes the guesswork out of process improvement. When your visitors allow "Performance cookies" you get an aggregate view of what's working and where you may need to make improvements.
When integrated with a CRM system (to link in offline sales) it provides the key "Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)" metric necessary to manage your digital marketing functions i.e. Website, SEM, SEO, CRO experiments, Display/Affiliate advertising, Social and Remarketing campaigns.
Typical analytics requirements
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of digital marketing functions, rather it's a guideline designed to provide you with a better understanding of what may be required for your digital marketing strategy.
