Planning Your 2023 Digital Marketing Strategy

2023 is the year of acceleration of digital marketing technologies, and an exciting time for any business to really activate these various channels and opportunities.

To help you plan effectively we’ve put together a series of pointers to help you do your overall plan and strategy, and identify the channels you want to activate when you implement your plans, with the goal of greater awareness, engagement, lead generation and sales a top priority.

Let’s get started…

Setting up your overall digital marketing plan

To ensure you cover all the bases before you get started, you’ll need to run through the following steps with your team or digital marketing partner – this should give you an idea not only of where you’re going, but what historical data you can use to guide and inform more optimised decisions going forward.

1. Conduct a marketing audit: Review your current marketing efforts, including your website, social media accounts, and email campaigns, to identify what’s working and what’s not. Use this information to inform your future strategy.
2. Define your target audience: Identify who your target audience is, including demographics, interests, and pain points. Use this information to create buyer personas, which will guide your marketing efforts.
3. Set clear goals and objectives: Determine what you want to achieve with your digital marketing efforts, such as increasing website traffic, boosting sales, or building brand awareness. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
4. Develop a content strategy: Create a content calendar that outlines the types of content you will produce, when it will be published, and on which channels. Use your buyer personas to guide your content strategy and ensure it resonates with your target audience both in terms of what is being said, and how, where and when it is being published.
5. Choose your channels: Decide which digital marketing channels will be most effective for reaching your target audience. Some common channels include social media, email marketing, content marketing, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
6. Create a budget: Determine how much you can afford to spend on your digital marketing efforts. This will help you prioritise your efforts and make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck.
7. Measure and Optimise: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your digital marketing campaigns. Use this data to optimise and improve your strategy over time.
8. Be agile: Be prepared to adapt your strategy as needed, in response to changes in the market, customer behaviour, and new technologies.
9. Keep up to date on any emerging trends: Stay informed about emerging trends and technologies in digital marketing, such as voice search, chatbots, Artificial Intelligence and augmented reality, and research how they might be integrated into your strategy.

Selecting your digital marketing channels

Once you’ve completed your overall plan and strategy you’ll be able to drill down more effectively to decide which specific channels you want to use to implement your strategy.

To help guide you we’ve listed the various channels below – bear in mind that different channels work for different audiences, and certain types of marketing content – video, for example – work better on some channels than others.

1. Social Media: Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok allow you to connect with your target audience, build brand awareness, and drive website traffic.
2. Email Marketing: Email marketing allows you to reach your audience directly, and is an effective way to nurture leads and drive sales. Email marketing, in fact, remains the highest converting channel to use and should be high on your priority list!
3. Content Marketing: Creating valuable and informative content, such as blog posts, infographics, and videos, can help attract and engage your target audience. These can be used on your website as well as your social media channels.
4. Paid Advertising: Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow you to target specific demographics and interests and reach new audiences.
5. Influencer Marketing: Partnering with influencers in your industry can help you reach new audiences and build trust and credibility.
6. Affiliate Marketing: Partnering with other brands or individuals to promote your products or services can help you reach new audiences and drive sales.
7. Video Marketing: Using video to promote your products or services can be an effective way to reach and engage your audience. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram offer great opportunities for video marketing.
8. Virtual and Augmented Reality: As the technology evolves, virtual and augmented reality offers a new way to interact and engage with customers, especially in e-commerce and retail, real estate, events, and more.

Find out more about how to set up these channels and implement your strategy effectively. Speak to one of our digital marketing experts today, we’ll gladly help you with the process!

Call Realnet on 01223 550800 or email info@realnet.co.uk to find out more.