Hi All, Monika here from the DimNiko Agency.
Today we’re going to discuss the importance of a digital marketing strategy.
Nowadays, new ecom startups often don’t use a marketing strategy nor a business plan.
Can you succeed without one? Of course.
Read More: Does Your Team Have a Marketing Roadmap?
We’ve seen several success stories of someone selling from their garage and building an empire within 6 months without any plan.
So of course it’s possible..
But unfortunately, the majority of eCom businesses aren’t going to succeed from a garage.
That’s just the reality.
Sometimes they’re real reasons businesses work without a marketing plan.
It can be the product, competition, timing, market limitations, cashflow, or external factors, leaving things like conversion rate, CTRs, CPA’s not matter.
To make it harder on entrepreneurs, these circumstances can change so rapidly that keeping up is a challenge itself.
From the agency side, I often see brands who don’t have a strategy apart from wanting to scale.
But, figuring how to scale is left to the agency.
In my opinion, this is a HUGE risk to hand over responsibility and control to an agency because ultimately your business plan will determine if you brand will succeed or not.
So where should you start the planning?
I’ve studied marketing and created hypothetical marketing plans based on models and frameworks that sound very professional.
When it comes to real life, most of the time these plans can’t be executed.
These plans are useful and a must have, but I understand not all brands need it or can have one in order to start.
We can leave these on the table to discuss on a later date.
If you want to learn more about hypothetical plans, I recommend SOSTAC model.
Back to the actual strategy now…
Usually with ecom businesses, the main objectives are to acquire new customers profitably.
The key goals are already there, but without numbers they don’t really mean much.
As you know, it’s important to know your numbers. Not just on media buying, but having a financial model to look ahead on the year and reflect the numbers for your whole business.
This can include operational cost, product development, human resources, projected revenue based on LTV, AOV, frequency, etc.
The marketing budget should be calculated bsed on these bnumbers and not the other way around.
What works today may not work tomorrow, especially in online marketing.
After knowing your numbers and goals, the big question is how to reach your goals, what the strategy will be, and how to execute and measure the goals.
This is where strategic thinking is important.
Who are your customers? What are their needs? Why are they buying your product or service? What are their motivations? Can your product be replaced? Is loyalty a question or just price? Why is your product or service better than another?
All these need to be part of your plan.
Because once you know the answers, it’ll be easier to plan your strategy.
Next:
Which platforms do your customers use? Where should you spend the marketing budget? What content would engage them the most? How will you get that content? How much should you spend on the content? Which offer would be the best fit?
Soon a step by step digital marketing strategy will fall into place.
You’ll need to separate your customer acquisition strategy, use experience strategy, social media strategy, retention strategy, customer satisfaction, and have a clear value proposition.
An agency can help you execute your strategy and help put a tactical plan into place.
But it all needs to come together on a business level seupport by actual facts not projections.
Uploading campaigns on Facebook or Google is only just a small part of digital marketing.
If on a whole, it’s not synchronized, it’ll be muc more challenging to succeed.
Here at DimNiko Agency, we help clients cale their business and support them with their strategy.
If you’re spending over $500 a day book a call below:
Cheers,
Monika
