How To Start Digital Marketing for Your Company

Whether you’re just starting a business or running an established company, digital marketing offers powerful tools to help you reach your target audience, increase brand awareness, and improve sales. However, it can feel overwhelming if you’re new to digital marketing. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to start digital marketing for your business and lay a solid foundation for future success.

Getting Started with Digital Marketing

Here are some steps to consider as you kickstart your digital marketing efforts to achieve your business goals:

Define What You Want Your Marketing to Accomplish

Before diving into the world of digital marketing, it’s crucial to define your objectives. Ask yourself: What do you want to achieve with your marketing efforts? Your end goal will shape every aspect of your strategy.

Some common objectives include:

• Generate leads: Are you looking to gather contact information from potential customers?
• Boost sales: Are you aiming to convert leads into paying customers?
• Customer retention: Are you focusing on keeping your existing customers engaged and loyal?

While getting caught up in metrics like impressions, clicks, or social media followers is tempting, these are just means to an end. Always keep your primary goal in mind and ensure every action you take aligns with that objective.

Determine Your Target Audience

Your digital marketing efforts are most effective when you deeply understand your target audience. Who are they? What are their pain points? Where do they spend their time online? Understanding these aspects will help you customize your messaging and create content that resonates with your target audience.

Create detailed profiles of your ideal customers- also known as buyer personas. These personas should include key details like age, gender, job, location, and challenges. For instance, if you’re a business service such as IT, one persona might be a 30-year-old woman who owns their own business and is too busy to personally manage their technology. The StoryBrand framework can help you think through this more clearly.

Determine a Budget for Your Digital Marketing 

Budgeting in digital marketing is essential to ensure efficient resource allocation and maximize ROI. Start by setting a percentage of your overall revenue for marketing, typically 5-10%, adjusting based on your business goals and industry. Break down your budget across digital channels like SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, and website optimization based on where your target audience is most active and your specific objectives.

You’ll also have to decide whether to handle digital marketing in-house or outsource to an agency. Outsourcing can bring expertise and resources and save you time, while in-house teams have a deeper understanding of your brand.

It’s also a good idea to allocate a contingency fund for unexpected opportunities or challenges.

Create A Content Marketing Plan

Content marketing involves producing valuable content that attracts, engages, and retains your audience. Whether it’s blog posts, videos, or infographics, quality content helps build your brand’s authority and fosters trust.

• Identify content themes: Write content that aligns with your brand and resonates with your audience. For example, an eco-friendly company might produce content around sustainability tips and product reviews.
• Plan with a content calendar: A content calendar helps you stay organized by scheduling your content’s publication time and location. You need to be consistent to keep your audience engaged.
• Optimize content for SEO: Just like your overall website, content like blog posts must be optimized for search engines. This will help drive organic traffic.

Monitor and Adjust Your Strategy

Digital marketing requires ongoing monitoring and optimization. You can identify what’s working by analyzing performance data, making adjustments, and continuously improving your campaigns.

• Use analytics tools: Tools like Google Analytics help you track website traffic, conversion rates, and other key metrics.
• Conduct A/B testing: Test different elements of your campaigns, such as headlines or images, to determine what performs best.
• Optimize based on data: Use the insights from your data to refine your digital marketing strategy and achieve better results.

Still Overwhelmed? Hire a Digital Marketing Agency to Help

Starting digital marketing for your business may seem challenging, and in many cases, it is. However, with the above steps, you can begin to build a strong online presence. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed or want to maximize your results without the stress, Reliable Acorn is here to help. We create, implement, and track digital marketing strategies that are tailored to your business needs. Contact us today to learn how we can help you achieve your goals and take your digital presence to the next level.