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A Look at the Finer Points of Compiling an eMarketing Strategy

By Damian Burke on 2009/03/10

There is often much debate around what constitutes a solid eMarketing strategy. However you go about it, ensuring that your strategy is versatile, consumer orientated and most importantly rewarding is essential to success.

Let's take a look at some of the finer points to compiling your strategy:

What Does an eMarketing Strategy Entail?

A good eMarketing strategy should form the foundation of your total online presence, without confining or restricting you in the world of digital possibility.

Although unique to each situation, your strategy determines how you plan to achieve your business goals, and should include your business objectives and your approach to the various eMarketing channels.

Why is an eMarketing Strategy Important?

Merely owning a website is no longer enough to survive in the digital age. Being visible, active and responsive online is the best way to improve consumer brand awareness and build relationships. A structured modus operandi comprised of long term best-practice techniques rather than relying on ad hoc tactics ensures that every step you take is in the right direction.

Being measurable, eMarketing often allows for increased ROI and a thoroughly successful eMarketing strategy (combining certain tactics) can see your investment yielding optimum returns. Remember that offline activities can complement online activities and visa versa. By streamlining all marketing activities you will be set to see the best returns.

How and Where Should You Start Planning your eMarketing Strategy?

The first step in developing your eMarketing Strategy is auditing your current marketing effectiveness - both on and offline. Measure your current successes, expenditure and ROI to find areas for improvement.

Using a combination of certain eMarketing tactics can often be more beneficial. Some of the eMarketing avenues to consider include:

When considering these eMarketing tactics, they should be assessed alongside any other existing sales and marketing strategies and also with possible future strategies. All activities need to be considered together to create a seamless marketing mix and address the needs of your audience.

When deciding what you would like to accomplish, always ensure that you are considering only the 'SMART objectives':
SMART: Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Time-bound.

With this kind of scrutiny, you're sure to be taking major strides towards maximising return on investment and ultimately increasing your own level of success. Prioritising your objectives can help you decide which eMarketing tactics to explore, and can greatly aid in streamlining your strategy and avoid it becoming unfocussed or irrelevant.

Track your activities and use an analytics service (such as Google Analytics) to plot your traffic statistics and conversions in order to reassess what your returns are for certain tactics like PPC advertising.

Your strategy could include tactics such as:

• Monthly content creation directives for SEO.
• Budgets for PPC.
• Micro-blogging for better Customer Relations Management (CRM).
• Protocols for responding to positive and negative comments found through ORM.

eMarketing Strategy Implementation Tips:

• Outline the steps along the way to your primary objective, according to your marketing goals, to determine what needs to be done and to structure your strategy in the best possible manner.
• If your business has many individual marketing teams working on different product campaigns or across various channels, you can consolidate these tactical teams with a consistent strategy and best practice guidelines - but be sure to never detract from their individual priorities.
• Enthusiastic employee participation is vital to your strategy success. Empower your teams with the training they need. The online world is constantly evolving and your team of professionals need to gain proficiency through experience and interaction on an ongoing basis.
• Create information sharing opportunities for your staff, and promote healthy communication between departments and individuals for your new protocols.
• Employ the services of external eMarketing specialists to help with the implementation of your new objectives if necessary and appropriate.
• Read this blog post, Tips for Plotting a Winning eMarketing Strategy.
• Always keep your ROI firmly in the forefront of your thinking when constructing an eMarketing strategy - plotting your performance, learning and improving along the way. But never compromise consumer orientation for ROI.

Need help planning your eMarketing strategy?

Stay abreast of the latest Quirk developments by reading our eMarketing blog.

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