Building Your Digital Marketing Plan for Success
Building your digital marketing plan is not rocket science, but it does take time and effort. The more time and effort you put into your strategy will help you build a marketing plan for success. Here are some tips to help you build a plan today.
Determine Your Resources
As you begin to move forward in your execution, determine the resources that you have (both time and money) to execute. Many things take more time and effort than you realize. Once you execute something, you still need to have the capacity to analyze and optimize to grow your results.
In-source vs. Outsource
If you don’t know something well enough, you won’t be able to manage your agency and hold them accountable.
From a trend standpoint, more and more large organizations are in-sourcing the majority of their digital marketing efforts. They still use agencies for some aspects, but they have internal experts and are managing more and more internally.
When determining if you should in-source or outsource, consider the following:

How technical or specialized is the skill needed to execute? The less specialized, the easier it is to execute internally.
Do you have the capability internally? Consider if there are adequate resources to execute well.
What is the cost for an agency to execute? Agencies are usually more expensive but also have the expertise.

If your goal is DIY or in-source, start small, master one thing, and then move on to the next.
Remember:
Even if you outsource, you still need some time to onboard your agency, set expectations, and execute with excellence. Don’t take on too much at once.
Set Time Limits
To initiate your digital marketing efforts, build a clear and time-oriented execution plan. Once you’ve decided which activities to take on, build your digital marketing plan.
It is usually helpful to time your execution plan into four buckets based on the following:

Immediate
3 Months
6 – 9 Months
Next year

Once an activity is on the horizon, create more specific steps to execute so you are clear on what needs to happen and when to get results. It is helpful to break down the steps so you can be realistic about what is involved in the execution.
Check out our FREE action planner to help you get ready to go and set clear priorities.
Set KPIs
A KPI-Key Performance Indicator is what you want to achieve from your efforts and how you will track your success. It is essential to stay focused and grow impact.
When building your digital marketing plan, be sure to look to align what you are doing with your KPIs and remember to do fewer things better. Master something before you invest in something new.
Create Great Content
Great content is vital to your digital marketing plan. Invest in excellent content to break through the clutter and get noticed in a more competitive landscape.
Test, test, test. If you aren’t getting results from your content or if the success of something matters, invest in testing to maximize your results. The devil is in the details. Some details can make or break your success – be sure you nail the details that matter.
This is an excerpt from Krista Neher’s best-selling book, “Digital Marketing That Actually Works.” You can find this and more books at Boot Camp Digital.
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