You’ve got the Web designer on board, hired your SEO strategist, and are ready to launch your social media platforms. It’s time to take your online marketing live. Or is it?
Before you implement your online marketing, there is a big question to make sure you understand; “Why?”
By this, I mean why are you doing it? What are your goals and how does this fit within the context of your overall strategy? It’s easy to hire a web designer or social media expert and just get going; its more effective to do so with a plan.
And that plan is your online and social media strategy which is part of your overall marketing strategy. Choosing the tone of your content is easier when you understand it needs to fit within your brand voice.
There are a growing number of social media choices out there, deciding where to focus your energy is simpler when you have understand who your audience is and which channels they use. Should you blog depends on how whether or not your audience reads blogs.
These aren’t choices made on the fly, but rather those that need to be thought out as you develop your marketing strategy. In the context of this strategy – in its simplest terms – you develop elements such as how does what you do make the life of who you are targeting better, define what your brand stands for, decide who you are marketing to, explore who else is marketing to them, set your marketing goals and have an action plan to reach these goals.
From this comes your online strategy. It, as part of your integrated marketing mix, becomes a means to achieve your overall marketing goals.
I’ve known organizations that would question how every media dollar is spent, but rush headlong into developing a website without much consideration of the return on investment or develop a Facebook presence without any other purpose then being told they needed to be there. Only later do they question the money and corporate energy spent.
Is it time to take you marketing online – yes, if you understand the reasons for being there.
As marketing professionals, we help you craft an approach to your online strategy based on a firm understanding of your marketing and communications needs. For more about integrating your online channels into your marketing strategy contact SRJ Marketing Communications at 214-528-5775.
