Creating a sound digital marketing plan is one of the best things you can do for your new business venture. But before we dive right into helping you create a plan that works for you, let’s first define some key terms.
In today’s digital-first world, a digital marketing plan would likely play a big role in most businesses’ overall marketing plan.
Right off the bat, what is digital marketing? And what does it entail?
Digital marketing is the use of digital communication to connect your business with possible customers and clients. Digital marketing uses digital channels like websites, social media, search engines, and the Internet, in general, to bring your brand to the world.
A digital marketing plan is a set of objectives aimed at helping your business reach clients and customers within a specific timeframe. Both generalized and detailed short-term goals will line your route to success.
Now, let’s discuss why digital marketing is so important for all businesses — and for new businesses, especially.
Why Is Digital Marketing Important for New Businesses?
Any businessperson — new or old — can understand the importance of marketing in general. Marketing gets your message to the people. It sends your brand out into the world and tells people that they should buy from you! Naturally, your message will incorporate all of the wonderful things about your business and how it can help others — namely, your target audience.
Today, digital marketing is the most important form of marketing because everyone is online. Instead of clipping coupons, people sign up for emails. Instead of walking into physical stores, people open Google Chrome tabs for their favorite online shops. And instead of getting their ideas for what to buy from physical magazines and window shopping, they seek information on social media and from ads and “top sellers” lists.
Digital marketing establishes your business as a trustworthy and authoritative resource.
Let’s say you sell extremely sharp knives for cooking. Naturally, you want to target people who want and need to buy sharp knives. This might be chefs in fancy restaurants, bakery owners, managers for large kitchens in establishments like hospitals and schools, home cooks, etc.
Not only do you want to tell these potential customers that your knives are the best, but you also want to establish that you’ve done your research, you have experience, and you know everything there is to know about sharp knives. This is establishing your authority. It’s making your brand trustworthy so that people trust you enough to buy from you.
Customers want to know that your brand is both trustworthy and authoritative in your chosen industry, and they also want to know that you’re going to stick around. You should be recognizable and well-known; this is called having good brand recognition. Finally, your target audience and the population at large wants to hear your story and know why you got into the business. This aspect of digital marketing makes your company more likable and relatable.
Digital marketing, by way of a good website, a strong social media presence, and other key points can facilitate your business marketing plan so that it’s easy to find new customers — and so that the customers you already have come back.
What if You Don’t Have a Business Idea Yet?
Business ideas are easy to come up with, but not all of them work. In fact, a low percentage of ideas will be viable in today’s market.
Still, you can find a niche that works for you and sells well. Our first piece of advice is to do a bit of research, but not too much. Fairly quickly, you should pick the best-possible idea and just run with it. Taking years to decide on a business idea is not an option if you’re actually looking to take your company to the next level.
With that said, we can help you narrow things down a bit. Here are some tips on choosing a good business idea.
- Choose something you are passionate about. If you are in it to win it, you want something that’s going to motivate you naturally so that you don’t have to push yourself to be interested. Consider choosing a business idea that’s related to something you already do — whether that’s knitting, writing, cooking, fitness, or dogs.
- Don’t choose a niche that requires too many upfront costs.
- It’s best to stick to the most common pain points in people’s lives. Pain points are unique problems that your potential customers will have and that will drive them to buy from you. For the general population, the most common areas/industries are love and relationships, money and wealth, and fitness and health. If you can find a new business idea that fits into one of these niches, that’s a good place to start.
Based on these three tips, here are some examples of businesses that fit all of the criteria:
1. A recipe website that focuses on healthy, fast recipes for busy moms.
2. A new app that helps friends and family stay in touch when someone’s overseas.
3. A business e-course that helps small business owners learn how to invest and plan for their retirement.
Quick Tips to Improve Your Digital Marketing Plan
1. Create clear, achievable and measurable goals
From the start, your business should have both short- and long-term goals. Remember that building your digital marketing plan should be at the beginning of your goals list because it’s what will drive sales.
Start with a daily habit that can help you construct your plan. In the beginning phases of your business, this might be setting aside 60 minutes a day to work on your website, sign up for social media, or meet with a digital marketing expert who can help you get started.
2. Build a website
All businesses should have a website — even if you use another website like Amazon or Etsy to sell your products. Your website is your home base. It helps establish authority, tells your story, and ideally, it sells your products. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly by building a mobile responsive website.
3. Master your social media presence
In addition to a website, you need to have a social media presence. Do it all and sign up for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, or pick a few to begin with. Create a short bio, and start posting. Don’t worry about content creation right away. Just put something out there to start gaining followers.
4. Take a look at your SEO strategy
SEO (search engine optimization) will be at the heart of your marketing plan. To get your vision to your target audience, they have to see you! Search engine optimization helps those who are looking for you … find you. You will strategize the use of keywords to make the connection. Just remember that while SEO is important, steps 1-3 must be met before you worry about optimizing for keywords.
A digital marketing plan is critical for any business, no matter your industry. Starting one as soon as possible will help you hit the ground running in the creation of your business. As you tweak your plan, be sure to replace whatever’s not working with a new strategy.
No digital marketing plan is perfect, and yours will always need improvement, especially considering the ever-changing dynamics of the technological landscape. Use the tips above to stay on top of your strategy, and don’t stop researching the newest and best improvements in digital marketing.