5 Digital Marketing Questions Every Company Needs to Answer

Your marketing strategy can always use a review.

All things considered, everything’s going pretty well. Your company limped (or thrived) through the pandemic, and you’re still here. You like the work that you do and you believe in the product you provide. But for whatever reason, when it comes to the overall growth of your company, you haven’t seen the numbers you expect to see recently.

Maybe your marketing strategy is in need of a complete overhaul. Or maybe it just needs a little tweak. Either way, something needs to change. By periodically asking yourself a few simple questions, you can keep your strategy fresh and up-to-date.

What is your current digital marketing strategy?

The first question you should have about your digital marketing is … well, what is the current digital marketing strategy?

Digital marketing is like the universe: it’s vast and ever-expanding. There are the more traditional marketing channels like banner advertisements, website content, and email. And then there are the newer methods of engagement like social media, affiliate marketing, and influencer collaborations.

What channels does your company currently use? Which ones get the most engagement? Why do you think that is? How might you increase engagement on your underperforming channels? And what ideas do you have to turn engagement into more leads on your overperforming ones?

Is your marketing strategy aligned across all of your channels? Sure, different channels call for different stylistic decisions and finesse. Using the purple devil emoji might be inappropriate in a targeted email campaign. Or it might be the perfect way to respond to a mention on Twitter. But overall, your strategy between these two channels should be aligned.

It’s not just about consistency for the sake of consistency. By staying consistent in your messaging you put the audience at ease. They feel comfortable and comforted because they know what to expect when they see your logo. They don’t have to readjust their expectations with each new encounter.

Do you have specific, measurable goals with real expectations?

When you see the periodic reports on your marketing campaigns’ effectiveness, what are the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are being tracked? Is your company focused on growing the customer base or converting leads at a higher rate? Is building more brand awareness a priority or is it more important to generate more leads?

It’s not splitting hairs to distinguish between these questions. They seem similar, and they often go hand-in-hand. But they’re not asking exactly the same thing.

It should be clear what your company’s goals are. They should be specific. They should be measurable. And they should be realistic.

A goal of attaining 1 million subscribers is an admirable one for a start-up, but it’s not helpful in any concrete way. That’s the sort of goal that absolutely belongs in your five- or ten-year plan. But not your short-term digital marketing strategy.

Who are your target personas?

Who do you sell to most often? What’s their age? Their work background? If you’re primarily a B2B seller, what is this person’s position within their company? Are they the CEO? The CFO? The IT Director?

These personas all have differing areas of expertise and priorities. You talk to each of them differently in regular conversation. You’ll talk to them differently in your messaging too. You probably wouldn’t try to sell software to a financial executive by talking up the code, would you?

Also, what are the pain points that your customers have most often? A pain point is a frequent issue that crops up. Every industry and product has them. If you can identify them and reassure your customers that you can solve their pain points, you’re winning. If you answer all of these questions with specificity and your marketing strategy is built around those answers, you’re already winning.

How do your competitors do?

There is a lot of information on your competitors that is not available to you. Internal data, conversion rates, leads generated, sales numbers etc. will likely all be proprietary. But there is likely a lot of information that is right there for the taking. Check these three sources for a goldmine of data on the competition.

• Where do they market on social media? What do their engagement numbers on those platforms look like? Is it better than yours? Why?
• How is their website? What mechanisms does it have to capture leads and customer data? Is there a knowledge base? A live chat feature?
• How are their product reviews on third-party websites? How do they stack up against yours? What do they do well? What pain points do you see recurring for your competitors’ customers? Do your customers have the same or different pain points?

These questions and more will guide you when considering your own company’s marketing strategy.

Are you investing time and money appropriately?

After you’ve asked yourself all of the questions above, and any others that crop up, you’ll have compiled quite a lot of information. Now the question becomes, what the heck do you do with all of it?

Roll up your sleeves. It’s time to make some choices.

What do you want to be the story of your brand? How do you center the customer in that story? What problems can you solve for them? Which channels should you be spending time, money, and labor on?

Once you start developing content, are you keeping your story consistent across those channels? Are you investing in them enough?

You’ll know if your strategy is working by tracking your KPIs and putting systems in place to monitor them.

Measure, measure, measure. Always be measuring. And if something isn’t working, be ready to pivot. Your marketing strategy is a living strategy. What worked last year might not work this year.

Make no mistake, if your marketing strategy is in need of an overhaul, it will cost you. But when done right, it will result in major ROI.

Take control of your message

Digital marketing is like a vast holiday banquet, and this article is just the appetizer. Reach out to us today to get an expert outside eye on your current marketing strategies, and advice for how to increase your digital marketing ROI in 2022.