Your digital strategy cannot work independently of your business strategy. Technology keeps bringing new opportunities for digital marketers at a fairly rapid pace. It is temptatious to design or tweak a digital marketing strategy independently of the philosophy, limitations and restrictions of a business. This blog post will discuss some of the areas that need to be considered when setting up an online strategy for your business.
Brand
Your brand is the most important part of your business that should be inseparably connected with all of your marketing activities. The term brand is often described as the name, logo, slogan, and symbols that a business use to create a sense of identity. In my point of view, the word brand is more than a set of mentioned elements. A brand is a set of core values, visual identity, and objectives which altogether build a solid foundation for a business.
All of your online marketing activities, from website development and SEO to content marketing and lead management, should be coherently and consistently build around your brand. By doing so, you will make it easy for your customers to understand you.
Vision
Vision statement embodies everything that your business represents and strives to accomplish. If your business does not have a vision, you had better start working on it. How will you align your vision with your marketing endeavors? No matter your business vision, it is critical that your digital strategy fits within that vision.
Culture
Every business has a unique culture. There are many factors, such as the behavior of managers, growth plans, human resource policies, location etc., which collectively develop a culture within an organization. For instance, you might represent a business culture that drives growth and therefore your employees are excellent at service.
The culture of your business will have a direct impact on your online marketing strategy. Paid search would probably be a good idea if your business is result-drive. If your business is service-focused then make sure that your social media strategy is thoroughly built for customer service. Most importantly, make sure that the culture of your business drives positivity and motivation.
The nature of business
What is your business model? Does it align well with your digital marketing strategy? It is important for you to satisfactorily answer these questions. If you are running a relationship-based B2B business then creating an aggressive e-commerce strategy would be a bad idea. Similarly, if you’re a sales-focused retailer, leading with social media and content would not be an ideal choice. The digital strategy for B2C and B2B model cannot be same. Therefore, make sure that your digital marketing campaign is designed according to the nature of your business.
It is truly important for you not to design your marketing campaigns independent of the values and nature of your business. Your brand and vision should govern your marketing efforts.