INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MARKETING STEPS

         

       THE ULTIMATE DIGITAL MARKETING                                            STRATEGY

The perfect resource for beginner to advanced digital marketers looking to learn new skills or hone existing ones.

                                 WRITTEN 

                                      BY

                       OJO ISRAEL DIAMOND

The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing is full of insights and strategy for business owners, marketing professionals, students, and anyone else looking to hone their current skills and get up to speed on the latest in digital marketing.

December, 2021.

WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING? 

Digital marketing is the act of promoting and selling products and services by leveraging online marketing tactics such as social media marketing, search marketing, and email marketing. 

If you’re new to digital marketing, it may feel overwhelming. 

I totally get that… 

But in many ways, digital marketing is no different than traditional marketing. In both, smart organizations or even an entrepreneur like yourself seek to develop mutually beneficial relationships with prospects, leads, and customers. 

Now, think about the last important purchase you made. Perhaps you purchased a mobile phone, hired someone to fix your screen guard and settings, or changed wallpaper of the mobile phone. 

Regardless of what it was, you probably began by searching the Internet to learn more and find your best options. Your ultimate buying decision was then based on the reviews you read, the friends and family you consulted with, and the solutions, features, and pricing you researched. 

Today, most purchasing decisions begin online. 

That being the case, an online presence is absolutely necessary—regardless of what you sell.

And having a strong digital presence will help you in multiple ways: 

It will make it easier to create awareness and engagement both before and after the sale. 

You can convert new buyers into rabid fans who buy more (and more often). 

You’ll enjoy all the benefits of word-of-mouth and social sharing. 

Be aware, though, the digital marketing scene is ever changing. Gurus, podcasts, and bloggers declare a tool or tactic hot one week and dead the next. 

The truth is, today, digital marketing is less about “digital” and more about “marketing,” largely because digital marketing has come of age. Its fundamentals have already been established. 

At Digital Marketer, our objective is to clear the confusion about the tactics that work and how to use them to grow your business. We stand against those so-called gurus who promote the next “shiny object” that will reportedly kill email marketing, digital advertising, or search engine optimization. 

Here, we’re all about the fundamentals. 

As you’ll see in this guide, these core disciplines of digital marketing will be critical to your business growth today, tomorrow, and for years to come. 

What You’ll Learn 

Your Digital Marketing Strategy Template 

The Customer Value Journey is the strategic foundation of everything we do here at Digital Marketer. It’s the master template upon which every other digital marketing discipline and tactic is built. Learn all 8 stages and how you’ll use them to create a winning strategy for your business.

PROCESS OF CRAFTING  DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

This is where digital marketing begins and ends… 

With a Customer Value Journey that strategically builds relationship with new prospects and converts them into loyal, repeat customers. 

This Journey is the process every prospect goes through to become a new customer. 

It’s how strangers become buyers and, eventually, raving fans of your business. 

The hard truth is that marketing is not a one-step process. There are eight stages you must account for on the path to purchase and promotion. 

But, I have great news. If you understand this digital marketing strategy (a.k.a. the Customer Value Journey), then you can intentionally engineer your business in such a way that it moves people predictably through the stages in this template. 

In other words, you’ll no longer wonder if you’ll be able to generate leads. You won’t have to cross your fingers and hope for customers. When you understand the Customer Value Journey, even reviews and referrals will become automatic. 

The Customer Value Journey is the strategic foundation of everything we do here at Digital Marketer. It’s the master template upon which every other digital marketing discipline and tactic is built. 

It’s so important, we confidently make this bold statement: 

The job of marketing is to move prospects and customers seamlessly and subtly through each phase of the Customer Value Journey.

Now let’s walk through the 8-step process of crafting your digital marketing strategy: 

STEP 1: AWARENESS

Before someone can buy from you, they have to realize you exist—right? 

Well, that’s Step 1 in the Customer Value Journey. 

This step is pretty self-explanatory: It’s where the person becomes aware of you. After all, nobody is born knowing who Apple or Amazon are. At some point they have to become aware of these companies if they are to become a customer. 

The same thing is true of your company.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Create Awareness 

To improve awareness of your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include: 

Digital Advertising 

Search Marketing 

Content Marketing 

Social Media Marketing

Community Management 

Copywriting 

STEP 2: ENGAGEMENT

Your prospect is now aware of you—they know who you are—but you’re still in the early stages of a relationship with them. They don’t yet know you, like you, or trust you. 

So the next step is to start developing relationship with your prospect. 

Step 2, Engagement, is where you start conversing with your prospects. You engage them through some form of content that provides entertainment, information, or both. 

Engagement is something that must continue throughout the Customer Journey. It’s not something you do once and move on.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Create Engagement 

To improve engagement in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include: 

Content Marketing 

Social Media Marketing 

Email Marketing

Community Management 

STEP 3: SUBSCRIBE

At this point, your prospect knows who you are and has engaged with you in some way or another. 

However, if you failed to get that person’s contact information, odds are high you’ll never hear from them again. 

Why? 

Because people today are inundated with marketing and content, creating a scarcity of attention. Just because someone reads one of your blog posts today does NOT mean they’ll remember to revisit your site in the future. 

Instead, you need to get that person to progress to Step 3 in the Value Journey, which is to subscribe. 

Here, the person gives you their contact information and, in doing so, grants you permission to contact them again in the future. 

Most often, this transaction is an exchange, sometimes referred to as an “ethical bribe.” You promote a valuable offer, but instead of asking for money, you ask for the prospect’s contact information. And when they give it to you, not only do you give them access to the content, product, or service you promised, you also add them to your subscriber list.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Generate Subscribers 

To get more subscriptions for your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include: 

Content Marketing 

Email Marketing 

Digital Advertising 

Community Management 

Conversion Rate Optimization 

Copywriting 

STEP 4: CONVERT

If the subscribers you gain in Step 3 of the journey remain engaged, some of them will be ready to increase their level of commitment.

They like the information you share and have begun to trust you, so they’re ready to invest in one of two ways: either with time or money.

 

This is a critical stage in the Customer Journey and one that frustrates many business owners.

The key to success in this stage is to employ what we call “entry-point offers.” These offers are designed to give the new prospect tremendous value without forcing them to put too much “skin in the game.”

At this stage, to ask for a significant investment in a complex product or service would be asking too much, too soon. You’re still in the early stages of relationship. 

In fact, it’s too early even to concern yourself with profitability. That’s right: in this stage of the Customer Journey, you might lose money on the prospects you acquire as buyers. 

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Generate Conversions 

To improve conversions in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include: 

Digital Advertising 

Content Marketing 

Copywriting 

Email Marketing 

Search Marketing 

STEP 5: EXCITE

At this point, your new customer has had a transaction with you. A small transaction, sure, but a transaction nonetheless.

Your job now is to make sure the transaction is a good one, that the excitement of the purchase develops into good will and trust. 

The reason for this is simple: if the person doesn’t get value from this transaction, they won’t move on to the next stage and purchase more expensive things from you. 

So, how do you make sure your customers have a good experience? 

First, we assume that whatever the prospect purchased or gave up valuable time for is outstanding. Great marketing will only increase the speed at which your business fails if you don’t have outstanding products and services. 

Second, the prospect must get value from their last transaction with you. The Excite stage of the Customer Value Journey is something you must return to again and again. And every time, it should create excitement. 

That being the case, whenever a customer or prospect does what you ask them to do (attend this webinar, buy this product, hire me for this service), you should engineer your marketing to maximize the chances they’ll get tangible value from the experience.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Create Excitement 

To improve consumption in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include: 

Email Marketing 

Content Marketing

Copywriting 

STEP 6: ASCEND

At this stage of the Value Journey, you’ve sunk time, money, and resources into acquiring leads and customers and making sure they get value from doing business with you. 

It’s entirely possible that, until this stage, you have yet to turn a profit. In fact, if you’re in a competitive market (and who isn’t?) you may be losing money on the front end of this process to acquire customers. 

That’s perfectly acceptable, and here’s why: 

You’re investing in your future profits.

Always remember that it costs more to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one. That first sales isn’t about profits. It’s about converting a prospect to a customer, so you can begin a long (and profitable) customer relationship. 

Buying customers on the front end is just shrewd business, but only if you can monetize those customers on the back end. 

The Ascend stage of the Value Journey is where your customer will be ready to buy more and more often. If your business has a core offer, this is the place to make that offer. Then once your customer purchases that core offer, it’s time to present them with other relevant offers. 

You’ll notice that the Value Journey worksheet represents the Ascent stage as a ladder. That’s no accident. This is really a ladder that will hopefully lead to multiple purchases over time.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Create Ascension 

To improve ascension in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include: 

Email Marketing 

Copywriting

Digital Advertising 

Content Marketing 

STEP 7: ADVOCATE

You now have a happy customer who has made several profitable purchases from you. The next stage in the Value Journey is to create marketing that encourages your most loyal customers to advocate for your business. 

An advocate is someone who speaks positively about your brand. 

An advocate is what you might call a “passive promoter.” They won’t necessarily promote your business in an active way, but when asked about you, they will respond favorably.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Generate Advocates 

Getting advocates is important because it helps generate awareness, trust, and credibility with a wider audience—which helps you to get more customers and grow your business.

 

To get more advocates in your company, the marketing efforts you need to work on include: 

Social Media Marketing 

Email marketing 

Search Marketing 

STEP 8: PROMOTE

Promoters differ from advocates in that they are actively seeking to spread the word about your brands, products, and services.

In some cases, the promoter simply had a great experience with your company and wants to share their story with friends and family. In other cases, they promote because you’ve created an incentive for them to do so. 

This puts your message in front of a new audience, the fans, followers, and friends of the promoter. And because this new audience is hearing about you from a trusted source who they already know, they’re much more likely to become customers themselves.

Digital Marketing Disciplines That Generate Promoters 

To get more promoters in your company, the marketing efforts you need to work on include: 

Email Marketing 

Copywriting