Create a successful digital marketing framework in 5 easy steps
There was a time in my life when I aspired to be this nomadic free spirit, traveling the world, living out of a suitcase, unsure of where my next meal might be.
I had this vision of working remotely from a hammock on the beach in Thailand (thank you, Leonardo), umbrella drink in hand, one week in Koh Tao and the next week in Phuket.
While that was an incredibly romantic idea at the time, I finally had to admit that it's just not me.
I'm a planner with a capital 'P.'
I like knowing where I'm going to sleep at night, having a designated parking space, a good, solid meeting agenda (organized by topics for discussion, notes, action items/next steps if I'm being specific!), as well as a detailed timeline and set of project deliverables.
My days are organized by themes, my to-do lists have sublists and my Google calendar could easily be used for a masterclass in time blocking.
I know, snore.
I joke that I'm not boring, I'm just consistent.
That's not to say that I'm not flexible, but all that planning and discipline is what allows me to be responsive versus reactive when the direction changes. And it always changes.
I like having a framework to structure my days. It allows me to get the most out of my biggest investment — my time. And that ultimately translates to my money!
Now let's apply that same framework to your digital marketing efforts.
A framework for digital marketing.
A framework? For digital marketing? What's that?
If you're asking that question, you're probably also feeling pretty confused about where to start, and you're ready to toss it all out as just another big expense and massive time suck.
It's the thing we see most often. Businesses jumping into using digital marketing and social media without any real concrete plan of action or way to measure success — you got it, a framework.
And the result is a lot of wasted time, money and effort on tactics that fail to provide the best (if any) results.
The misperception is that it has to be hard to be effective. When in fact, it's a deceptively simple.
5 easy steps.
1. Goal
Start with your business goal and what you want to achieve. Be specific. Something like, “Increase website traffic to drive more new project inquiries” is a great business goal.
2. Plan
Determine your metric for success. There’s so many things you could be doing when it comes to digital marketing and so much reporting and analysis available, it can be completely overwhelming. Pick one before you get started to prevent yourself from becoming distracted and changing your mind.
3. Execute
With any new digital marketing strategy or tactic, you won’t have any experience to draw from, so you just have to jump in and get started. Start small. If your efforts show some success, excellent! Keep going. If the results were less than what you expected, that’s ok, too. You can adjust your strategy in the next round.
4. Measure
This requires some discipline. It’s very tempting to look at other metrics outside the one you set for yourself in the beginning. Don’t get distracted by the other things you could be tracking. You determine your measurement for success and no one else. You set your key performance indicator early, so stay focused on that.
5. Learn
You’ll learn a lot by completing these steps. Take your KPI measurement and compare it against the measurement you had before you started your campaign. How did you do? If you were to repeat these steps again (and you will!), what would you do differently? What would you do the same?
So before you post your next Reel, jump on the next trending platform or hit send on that email marketing campaign, ask yourself the following questions:
What's my goal?
How will I measure success?
What's the one tactic I can try that aligns the closest with my goal?
Then afterwards budget some time to determine what worked, what didn't work and how you can do it better.
Sure there will always be some unknowns, and it can sometimes feel like throwing spaghetti against the wall. But with a framework, you're taking calculated steps to ensure it sticks!
Feeling lost about how to build or improve your online image? Have something to offer and want to make an impact, but don't know where to start? Click here to get on our calendar and let's talk through it.
