It’s safe to say that 2021 has been a year like no other. I think most of us are glad it’s over, and as we enter into the new year it’s time to assess last year’s marketing strategy and determine how to create a digital marketing strategy for 2022. To do so we’ll incorporate the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting method.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
First things first…
You need to take a hard, objective look at what strategies were effective and which ones weren’t.
You need to ask yourself the hard questions:
How can you reach more of your target audience? How do you increase your conversion rates? How can you provide more value?
This article will lay out a digital marketing strategy you can use for your business in 2021.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
1. Analyze the Past Year
It’s said that if you’re going to move forward you need to know where you’ve been. How would you rate your effectiveness over 2021?
Were the goals achieved? What were the strategies that proved effective. Which ones fell flat?
This year you want to double down on what worked and get rid of those strategies which proved less fruitful.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
2. Know Your Audience
If you haven’t defined your target audience, now is the time. And if you have it might be a good time to reassess and approach your audience with laser focus.
Here are a few questions that will help you drill down so to speak.
Where do they already congregate? Facebook Groups? LinkedIn? Pinterest? What are the demographics – such as income, age, education level?
Knowing where they already are and who they are will give you great insight into what interests them and what their needs are.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
3. New Year – New Goals
So as you make the transition from 2020 to 2021, what are your goals? Have you written them down?
If not maybe you should.
And here’s why.
According to a Harvard Study Business Study, Graduates from their MBA (3%) who took the time to write down there goals, earned ten times more that the other 97% combined. This was achieved 10 years after graduating.
One often used Acronym of setting goals is S.M.A.R.T., which stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Actionable
- Realistic
- Timely
Here’s how to implement the SMART method to help you actually achieve your goals.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
Be Specific – Concrete Visualization
Create a Vision Board – find photos, drawings etc., that reflect what you want to achieve. Want a new home or car? Put the kids through college?
Retire from your job? Travel? Put visual representations on your vision board. Place it somewhere conspicuous, so you see it everyday.
Additionally, write buzz words on flash cards and place them around your home. Such as your bedroom mirror, refrigerator etc.
Further more, and this is important – be specific. What color is the house? What’s the square footage? How many rooms. Is it a ranch?
The more you visualize them and are specific, the more real they’ll become and the more you’ll think about them. And the more you think about them the more your subconscious will lead you in that direction.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
Measure
As a blogger I use Google Analytics and other tools to measure my efforts. Is my traffic increasing or decreasing? Is my target audience growing. Do they stay on my site longer. What’s my clickthrough rate?
What are your measurables? Whatever they are you should be tracking them. Periodically, take an objective look at what you’re trying to achieve. Are you moving closer, stagnant or falling behind?
If you don’t measure you won’t know.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
Take Action
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” – Bruce Lee
Take action. Do something. Even if it’s a small action. Just start and build on those actions. You’ll gain momenteum when you take measurable actions. They add up and begin to build one on another.
You don’t have to start with something big – it’s often the little things we do everyday that ultimately lead us where we want to go.
Want to change your life?
Change your day!
If you gather enough “todays” your “tomorrow” will manifest itself.
Oh, and this is crucial…
Celebrate those little actions!
Even the small accomplishments.
They matter!
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
Be Realistic
Of course, by all means – be REALISTIC.
The question is… what is realistic? This can be murky water.
Afterall, what is realistic to one person could be totally unrealistic to another. Case in point, the idea of flight seemed unrealistic to the masses. But the Wright brothers, obviously, thought different.
They were “wright”!
See what I did there?
The important thing is not what anyone else thinks but what you think. That’s all that matters. Just be honest with yourself about your talents, gifts and drive. Do that and you’ll be just fine.
So make a decision and Go For It!
Make Goals Timely
Add a time schedule or deadline for your goals. This will keep you accountable. It will also help you to stay on track, avoid procrastination and keep motivated.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
General Ideas
I’ve compiled a general list of ideas/tactics you can use to accomplish your goals. Every goal will have corresponding tasks you’ll need to perform. Write down the tasks and the expectations.
You may want to hang a “White Board” so you have an every-present visual representation of what you’re trying to achieve.
While the Vision board is the “what” – The “White Board” is the “how”.
Blogging
- Write at least 2 posts a week – expect indexing in 48/72 hours and the highest rankings in 6-8 months
- Post on appropriate social media platforms – I suggest Pinterest, Facebook Groups, Youtube (Linkedin)
- Create a Landing Page to Capture Email – If you’re just getting started wait approx 6 months (the important thing, especially in the beginning, is to be non-transactional) then offer a lead magnet in exchange for their email address
- Stay focused on the main thing – creating content will be the most important thing you can do in the beginning
Note: If you don’t have a website yet, here’s a step by step guide on how to build one: WordPress For Website Design [2020]
Write down and then break down your marketing plan. Once you decide what you want to acheive in coming year, divide the assoicated tasks in months and finally the things you need to do daily.
Remember again it’s what you do each day – moment to moment which will ultimately determine your fate.
Are you taking action?
It’s a good idea, from the very beginning, to establish what your work days and hours will be. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of entrepreneurs working 25 hours a day – 8 days a week.
In my opinion, this is neither sustainable or wise. You needn’t endanger your health or emotional well-being to attain your goals.
In fact, I would argue that the most important thing is to be consistent.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
Check Your Numbers
Check your data regularly. If you have a website you should have Google Analytics installed. What’s it telling you? Are the number moving in your favor?
SEO is changing. Again. Google is coming out with another update soon and, by all indications, things are changing dramatically.
Of note: user experience will be a major factor in determining page rank. I’ll be doing an in-depth post on this soon so bookmark this page and check back soon.
Additionally, you’ll want to check your email open and clickthrough rates as well as your social media footprint.
Reevaluate what you’re doing every 6 months or so. Keep what’s working. Discard what isn’t.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
General Tatics for Your Digital Marketing Strategy
A few general stratgies you can use that work across many different industries.
Blogging
can help you:
- Build Trust – Google ranks websites on something called E.A.T. Expertist – Authority – Trust
- Build Brand – Your reputation
- Create a postive user-experience which should increase a users time on your site
Increase your rankings
By writing quality content that provide value for users will ultimately have a postive effect on your web presence.
Provides a platform for you to communicate with your target audience.
Social Media – Paid
Can help you:
- Build your website community
- Grow brand awareness
- Grow your email list
- Increase sales
- Increase conversion rates
Running paid ads on various platforms like Facebook, Pinterest or LinkedIn can help you reach more of your target audience.
However, if you’re new to running ads, be very careful as they can blow your budget quickly if you’re not very skilled at running them.
I would focus more on organic traffic until you have a certain level of expertist.
Organic Social Media
Can help you:
- Build your website community
- Grow brand awareness
- Grow your email list
- Increase sales
- Increase conversion rates
- Create a community of like interests
Again, if you have a limited budget and/or expertise organic traffic can be very effective. Facebook Groups and Pinterest for example can drive a ton of traffic to your website.
Additionally, the social signals can contribute to increasing your Google rankings.
How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2022
Email Marketing Campaign
Can help you:
- Build Trust
- Build your website community
- Grow brand awareness
- Grow your email list
- Increase sales
- Increase conversion rates
Statistically, potential customers need to see an offer about seven times before they make a purchase. Think about that…
Seven times!
Email marketing is a great way to reach out multiple times to your subscribers. Which gives you more opportunities to build trust, prove your expertist and ultimately convert them into a customer. But keep this in mind.
People buy from people they trust.
You build that trust by continually providing value. It’s extremely important that you shift your communication intent from making a sale to providing help and value to your audience.
If you lead with your sales pitch before getting to know your audience or, maybe more importantly, them getting to know you they’ll be turned off.
For instance, I have a profile on LinkedIn. The vast majority of times I get a connection request that I accept, the very first message I get from my new connection will be “thanks for the connection can I sell you blah, blah, blah.”
Worst still, they will try to sell me something I don’t need AND they would know that if they bothered to actually read my profile!
So guess what?
I don’t respond. They show that they couldn’t care less about my needs – they only want to make a sale.
DON’T DO THAT!
Conclusion
Using the principals outlined in this post you can create a very effective digital marketing startegy for 2022. The important thing is to take action and be consistent.
Above all, your intent will be the parmount thing. Seek to first, provide value and the rest will fall into place.
Finally, if you enjoyed “How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan for 2022″…
PLEASE “bookmark”, “like” and “share”, it helps alot.
