11 Essential Steps For Creating And Planning A Digital Marketing Campaign

Recent research from Smart Insights shows that 45% of companies still don’t have a digital marketing strategy. 

Source: exposureninja.com

That means you have a high chance of getting success in business results if you take your digital marketing campaign seriously.

Though a digital marketing campaign is a complex thing to handle because it requires patience, dedication, and attention.  

If you have never worked before in running a digital marketing campaign, it would be very difficult to understand.

Don’t worry! 

Here in this blog, I will explain to you how to create a marketing campaign.

Are you excited?

I am sure you are! 

So, let’s get started.

Categories Of Digital Marketing Campaign

If you are thinking that digital marketing is just making your advertisement visible on all the social media platforms and working a little bit on the SEO of the website.

Then, you are absolutely wrong. 

Why? Because digital marketing is much more than that. 

So, let’s see the categorization of the digital marketing through which you can run your campaign.

The digital marketing campaign can be categorized into 5 parts:

Let’s discuss each in brief.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): This is the practice of improving the website and making it SEO-friendly for better searches and ranking on SERP. SEO makes pages become easily findable. 

PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising: It’s a type of online advertising technique in which the advertiser pays the publisher per ad click.

Web designing: It includes designing a website that attracts customers. 

Social media marketing: It includes targeting your audience through social media and reaching out to them after the full research.

Email marketing: It is also an online marketing strategy that includes Email as a way of marketing and generating subscribers.

All these are the pillars of a Digital Marketing campaign. Without these pillars, digital marketing is not possible. 

So, make sure you don’t forget to make them a part of your digital marketing campaign.

Let’s discuss some steps about how to create a Marketing Campaign.

Read more: 10 Digital Marketing Myths You Should Stop Believing Now To Grow Your Business In 2022

Steps For Creating A Digital Marketing Campaign

Now, I am going to elaborate on some steps in detail so that are applicable in real life.

The steps that I will tell you are not just the write-ups that you read around, but the practical tips and tactics to apply in real life. 

Don’t worry! I will not make you wait anymore.

So, let’s get started! 

Create A Detailed Buyer Persona

Now, you might be wondering why I need to create a buyer persona just for a Digital Marketing Campaign?

Well, creating a buyer persona works every time, whether you are creating a product to sell or creating a marketing campaign. 

You need to have a buyer persona for your vantage. 

A buyer persona is just a fictional character that a company or organization creates for its potential customers. 

And it is very important to create a buyer persona for a better understanding of the market.

How To Create A Buyer Persona?

Though buyer personas are created through imagination, they are not totally based upon it.

It requires surveys, polls, research, and interviews to create a better buyer persona. 

Your buyer persona could look like this;

The details that you are looking at in the image can be based upon your surveys. 

Steps To Create A Buyer Persona:

i) Research about your audience in the market.

ii) Organize the information. 

iii) Give your buyer persona a name and create a story.

iv) Be focused on the roles, goals, and challenges of your buyer persona. 

v) Use your buyer persona’s details while creating a marketing campaign.

You need to be focused on these 5 points when creating a buyer persona for your marketing.

Why? because you need to address their pain points. 

Benefits Of Creating A Buyer Persona

i) A better understanding of your customers: When you create a buyer persona, you are already aware of the pain points of your customers which you need to address.

Hence, you will get deeper information about them.

ii) You will work on a Targeted Market: When you already know who your targeted audience is, you will only invest in attracting them instead of targeting every person in the market.

iii) Efficiency in your digital marketing campaign: Your digital marketing campaign will be more effective than before once you have a detailed buyer persona. Your marketing campaign will hit the right target without wasting money, time and effort. 

iv) Efficiency for your sales team: Buyer persona acts as a tool for the sales team as it helps them to clearly focus on whom they are targeting. Your sales team can connect with them efficiently. 

I hope now you have got an idea about what are the benefits of creating a buyer persona. 

Creating a buyer persona is the base for any marketing campaign and you need to stick to it. 

Conduct SWOT Analysis

Now the question that might be buzzing in your mind is; “what is SWOT? I haven’t heard this term before?”

For your kind information, SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats. 

Before conducting a SWOT analysis, you must have a little understanding of the subject. 

It is a technique of assessing the 4 aspects of the business. You can use this technique anytime to know the direction of your company. 

It is also used to conduct research before going for a marketing campaign. Doesn’t matter if it is a social media campaign. 

You need to measure all these 4 aspects of the marketing plan, which could be:

STRENGTHS

i) Some specifications about your product.

ii) Your brand value

iii) Your customer services

WEAKNESSES

i) Where your products or services are lacking behind.

ii) What is the cost of overcoming the issues that you are facing regarding your product?

OPPORTUNITIES

i) Your competitors aren’t using Digital Marketing. 

ii) Additional services

iii) Your new marketing technique. 

THREATS

i) The entry of a new competitor. 

ii) The failure of a new product.

iii) Change in market behavior

These could be your SWOT analysis which will help you go with the right marketing tactic.

For getting this data, you need to do proper research within your company and also in the market to know all of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Then only you will be able to go with the right technique for a digital marketing campaign. 

Create Your Marketing Objectives 

When you are creating or planning a marketing campaign, you need to set some of the marketing objectives that you need to fulfill with your digital marketing campaign. 

Look at the image below and you will get an idea.

Your digital marketing campaign could have any of the objectives.

You can expect any of the results after running a marketing campaign successfully. 

The thing that you need to do before setting your marketing objective is Review Your Organizational Goals.

Your marketing campaign objective must add something to your company’s overall organizational goal.

If your campaign objective is not justifying your company’s overall objective then, you need to enhance or work on your marketing campaign. 

If your campaign objective is not moving your organization in the right direction then you need to reconsider your organizational adjectives.   

Set An Appropriate Budget 

Setting an appropriate budget is the fourth most important thing to do before making a digital campaign strategy.

Everyone says “You have to spend money to make money” 

It’s completely true! Why? Because setting a budget is important and requires a balance of everything you are spending your money on. 

This could include your SEO, website enhancement, PPC, etc. 

The things you should consider before planning a Digital Marketing Campaign. 

i) Marketing goals: You must consider your marketing goals when you are planning a digital marketing campaign. Because it will decide where your money will be going. 

ii) Marketing Platform: You also need to select the medium for your marketing. You first need to analyze which platform suits your marketing.

iii) How long you want to advertise for: You also need to find out how long you want to market for. It should be some specific time where you can target the whole market at any particular period of time. 

Read more: How To Create A Marketing Budget For Your Business In 2022

Create Your Digital Marketing Activity Plan 

Now that you’ve created your advertising objectives and a budget.

It’s time to turn your advertising method into an execution plan with the help of a marketing campaign structure.

With limited time and resources, a marketing campaign strategy provides a big picture before diving into the details.

For better understanding, you can see the image given below.

So, it is quite important to create your digital marketing activity plan. 

Content Development 

Writing content for your website or digital marketing campaign, both are a kind of content marketing. 

It is an essential part of digital marketing.

Why? Because your content defines whether your marketing campaign will go further or not. 

The keywords you use determine the ranking of your blog, website, or your marketing campaign. 

They are the main factor to enhance the ranking. Because users search for the information by typing particular keywords. 

You can develop your content for a digital marketing campaign in just simple steps:

Step 1. Set your content goal

Because you are creating the content for your digital marketing campaign, you need to decide first what do you want to convey to everyone?

You need to decide whether you want to,

i) Build trust with your audience. 

ii) Generate qualified leads.

iii) Improve customer experience. 

iv) Educate the audience about your new products.

v) Overcoming your competitors 

If you are concise and clear about your goals, you will get better at content development. 

Step 2. Understand your audience

Now the second thing that you need to be focused on is understanding your audience. 

You need to understand,

i) What type of content does your audience wants from you. 

ii) What are the types of content that will perform better? 

iii) What other brands are publishing on their platforms for better engagement.

Step 3. Generate creative content

Creativity is the thing that makes you unique. Spend some time in research and try to be creative as much as possible. 

You can develop creativity in the content of your digital marketing campaign 

i) You can use memes to develop creativity in your content.  

ii) Try to go visual as much as possible

iii) Go with the trend in your content marketing

Read more: Step-by-Step Content Creation Guide [Writing to Publishing Content Successfully]

Work On SEO And Website Designs

SEO and website designing is one of the most important aspects if we talk about digital marketing campaigns. 

Why? Because it makes the website SEO-friendly. By implementing SEO on the website, the businesses make it easier for the search engines to rank their website easily. 

You can follow these suggestions to improve your SEO and the presence of your business.

i) Publish relevant content

Quality and authoritative content is the number one factor to boost your search engine rankings and there is no other option for great content—this is especially true when doing SEO marketing. 

Quality content is designed specifically to increase site traffic, which improves your site’s authority and relevance. 

Polish your web writing skills and present yourself as an authority on the topic you write about.

ii) Regularly update your content

Regularly updated content is viewed as one of the indicators of a site’s relevancy, so be sure to keep it fresh. 

Writing good content, rich with keywords can also boost your search engine rankings. Even shorter updates regarding the specific topic you’re targeting can be used as blog entries.

iii) Have a link-worthy site

A web page that is content-rich, authoritative, and helps visitors learn more about what they are interested in, is most likely to attract links from other websites.

Improve your authority and credibility by adding relevant links within the text.

Try to use descriptive links by using targeted keywords as much as possible. It not only improves search engine optimization but also adds value to your readers, including those with disabilities or who are using screen readers.

iv) Use alt tags

Always describe your image and video media using alt tags, or alternative text descriptions. They allow search engines to locate your page, which is crucial—especially for those who use text-only browsers or screen readers.

Read more: 15 Key SEO Trends of 2022 That Every Business Owner Needs to Know

Decide Your Campaign Message

Does your marketing message reflect your mission and value promise to your customers? A company mission statement is a declaration of why a company exists. 

The best statements define the purpose and goals of an organization.

A company’s value proposition clearly conveys why a customer might choose your company over your competitors. 

The best companies come up with a mission, vision, and value proposition at the core.

Reflect your marketing message to your audience.

Make sure that your marketing message brings value to the marketplace. 

Try To Identity Your Customers’ Problems Inside & Out

A marketing message that clearly and concisely speaks about the problem and provides an effective solution will likely win customers for your brand. 

Many of your customers’ wants, needs, and desires are simple. Make sure your message shows that you know the problem and have a perfect solution.

Choose The Best Networks

Instead of choosing each and every platform to target your audience, just choose some of the social media platforms where your audience is highly active. 

Now, the question here arises is, how would you find out on which platforms your audience is active?

Don’t worry! Here I have brought you the technique to find out the best social media networks for your target audience!

Check out the target audience’s demographics

To figure out which platform is suitable to target your target audience, you need to check out the demographics of your target audience. 

Let me elaborate on it for you.

“A majority of Americans use Facebook and YouTube, but young adults are especially heavy users of Snapchat and Instagram”

Source: pewresearch.org

We can understand that the youngsters are highly active on Snapchat and Instagram. If you have a product or service for the young generation, you can use these applications for them.

Likewise, women and men are highly active on Pinterest. So, you can use this social media platform when it comes to targeting this audience. 

By doing a little demographic research, you can easily find out what social media platform is used by your target audience. 

Also, this will prevent you from spending your hard-earned money and efforts.

Define Your KPIs

KPIs are the measurable value that indicates how effectively your company or brand is achieving its goals. 

But, while planning a digital marketing campaign, you must have KPIs for it as well.

The image given below will help you better understand what KPIs are. 

We have understood what KPI is but then the question arises, “How to create KPIs?”

Setting KPI could be very tricky for you. Especially, if you are working on it for the very first time. 

But don’t worry! I am here to help you!

You can easily create a KPI just by keeping some questions in your mind, 

The questions are:

i) What is your desired outcome?

ii) How can you influence the outcome?

iii) How will you measure the progress?

iv) Who will be responsible for the outcome?

You need to answer these questions while defining KPIs for your digital marketing campaign.

After that, work on making your KPI actionable.

You can make your KPIs actionable in some simple steps:

i) Review your objectives 

ii) Analyze your performance

iii) Set long term KPI target

iv) Review progress and re-adjust

By following these simple steps you can easily define your KPIs and also it will give you desired outcomes. 

Read more: 27 Marketing KPIs You Should Be Tracking to Achieve Your Business Goals

Calculate Your Results 

No matter how well you prepared for the Digital marketing campaign. It is absolutely pointless if you don’t measure the results from time to time. 

Examining the results after working on a marketing campaign will enhance the chances of improvement. 

Also, it will define what worked well for your digital marketing campaign and what did not.

It is important for determining the ROI and helping you build future marketing campaigns. 

To calculate the results, you can check the analytics and figure out the faults and compare the current results from before. 

Also, you can measure new vs returning visitors, traffic by source, number of sessions, and bounce back rate.

Bonus Tip 

I have bought you a video about 10 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies for Beginners That Work

Here in this video, you will find some digital marketing strategies that you can apply while creating and planning a digital marketing campaign. 

Conclusion

So, we have discussed some applicable and practical tips to create and plan a digital marketing campaign. 

Though it is not very difficult to create and plan a digital marketing campaign, it requires correct planning and strategies to make it flawless.

You have a high chance of getting success in business results if you take your digital marketing campaign seriously.

FAQs

Question.1 Which is the step for an initial digital marketing plan?

Define your brand.

Defining your brand is an initial digital marketing plan. Defining your brand is what makes your brand unique in the market. You can also create USP for a unique identity in the market.

Question.2 What is a digital marketing strategy framework?

4 Steps To A Successful Digital Strategy:

Step 1.  SWOT Analysis

Step 2.  SMART Business Goals

Step 3.  Market Segmentation

Step 4.  Build Buyer Personas

Question.3 What makes a digital marketing campaign successful?

The combination of strategy and creativity makes your digital marketing campaign successful. The combination of outcomes is what makes a successful campaign. 

Question.4 What’s included in a digital marketing plan?

The digital marketing campaign includes SEO, analytics, web positioning, strategies, social media, goals, and metrics.

Question.5 What are the three key elements of a campaign strategy?

The three key campaign elements are- 

campaign objectives, target audience, and key messaging.