Do You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Are you an online entrepreneur? If the answer is yes then YES! 1000% YES! You need a digital marketing strategy.
So What Is a Digital Marketing Strategy?
Maybe you’re a little unclear on what a digital marketing strategy really is. Well to break it down as simply as possible it’s getting online (digital) leads and converting those leads into customers.
If you’re an online entrepreneur then that means that you have a product, maybe it’s a physical product or maybe it’s a digital product, and/or a service that you offer online. Coaches, creatives, healers, consultants, online service providers, digital course creators that’s you! Or maybe you’ve been a local or brick and mortar entrepreneur who’s trying to transition to the online space. Regardless you need PEOPLE aka leads to sell your offers and products too.
Digital marketing is all about acquiring those leads and then actually converting them from leads to paying clients.
So where do we find these leads? Well, ultimately we want our leads to convert to clients, but before we get that far we first need to convert traffic into leads.
Traffic is all the way your customers can discover you. You can think of it in terms of paid traffic and organic traffic. Paid traffic is advertising where organic traffic is the big umbrella of everything else. All the way people can discover you organically without you investing your dollars behind it.
Now they can be the same type of traffic. Meaning someone can discover you on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest through an organic post OR through a paid ad that you’ve paid to put in front of them. Same goes for Google. They could find you organically on their own searching for you, or you could have given them a helping hand by paying to show up first in their search results. They could discover you mentioned on someone else’s blog. Or you could have paid to appear on someone else’s blog.
Regardless of whether it’s paid or organic you MUST have these interaction points out there for people to discover you!
Let’s imagine there’s a business owner that starts their business because they know they have the most AMAZING, incredible life changing product that the world has ever seen. They think that because they’ve created this life changing product, or course, or coaching program that naturally the sales will come. How could they not? They’ve created something remarkable..
But that’s not how it works. It doesn’t matter how incredible you, your business, or your products and offers are. If nobody knows you exist, and nobody ever see them to know they exist then you can’t possibly make sales and be successful.
As a business owner and entrepreneur you MUST market your business.
Now most entrepreneurs are doing some sort of marketing strategy without even thinking about it. Every time you post on social media you’re marketing your business. Every time you email your list or publish on your blog or podcast. Every time you post in your Facebook group. That’s all marketing your business.
But there are two big problems with this form of “unconscious digital marketing”.
- If you’re just willy nilly creating and posting content. And even if you’re going so far as creating freebie optins on your website. If you aren’t deliberately marketing those things to your audience and potential audience then the reach and impact your efforts are having is GREATLY reduced. You end up having that “is everything I’m doing for nothing” feeling.
- If you don’t have your digital marketing strategy well thought out you may be exerting a lot of effort trying to attract leads that aren’t even your ideal audience or your dream clients.
When it comes to entrepreneurs and small business owners creating audience growth and digital marketing strategies my focus is always on attracting paying or highly qualified leads and not just followers. So many people are so focused on their follower count that they lose sight of the fact that followers don’t pay your bills. Followers don’t mean anything if they aren’t your ideal clients and customers for your business and if they have no interest in investing in your services. 100 engaged “take all my money” buy ready followers are immensely more valuable than 100,000 random followers on your social media account. Don’t get too wrapped up in the wrong numbers.
Now let’s take a look at one particular area of social media that can be particularly lucrative for entrepreneurs. Facebook Groups. But let’s always remember that the goal is to also have these people on your email list in case something happens to Facebook or Groups.
How to Grow Your Facebook Group the Non Icky Way
I am really, REALLY not a fan of people trying to grow their Facebook group by DMing people or inviting them into their group. The goal is to grow your group with techniques like:
- Having it in the PS of your emails after they optin to one of your lead magnets/freebies.
- Promote it on your website/blog.
- Have it on your social media profiles.
- Invite them into your group after they buy a low ticket offer.
Grow your group as a byproduct of you selling and showing up in your business. Not as some desperate attempt to find the people to market to.
The way I have grown my group the most lately has been with people who have purchased my low cost front end offer funnel and are now on my email list and through those emails been invited into my Facebook Group. These are brand new to me people who have already purchased something from me and are now in my group.
If you put in the effort and you’re showing up consistently and serving your group then engagement will also improve. Facebook will begin to recommend it to more people in the sidebar and other recommendation areas. Your group members will invite friends.
While social media followers are nice, and Facebook group members are an excellent way to build a real relationship with your audience, when I think of a digital marketing strategy my end goal is always to get them on your email list. Even someone just visiting your website makes them a lead. You’re able to target them with Facebook ads for example even if they haven’t signed up for your list. But I don’t like businesses relying on platforms they don’t own to grow their business. I see so many online entrepreneurs building out their whole business based on Instagram followers or their Facebook group but you never know when social media platforms can change or even disappear. Heck they do go down sometimes for a day at a time. What if it went down longer and you had no way to contact your clients?
I’ve also seen many business owners having their social media accounts shut down. It can be something you’ve done as an honest mistake or a pesky bot that results in shut downs but it can sometimes take days or weeks to recover your account. And sometimes you may not be able to recover it at all. Think of all the potential clients you’d lose without any way to contact them and let them know where to find you now.
Things to Consider First When Establishing Your Digital Marketing Strategy
How big is your audience now?
Do you need to grow your audience to start making money or do you already have a fairly decent audience and steady income in your business?
If your business is already killing it, receiving referrals, recommendations, and organic buzz, then you may be organically growing at a rate that you can create a very streamlined and simple digital marketing strategy to attract new leads onto your list and begin to guide their customer journey through your value ladder.
If you’re always wondering where your next client or sale is coming from then it’s time to buckle down and really invest your time and do the upfront work to establish an online presence and grow your audience. Your digital marketing strategy should be a high priority.
How quickly do you want to see results?
I know your answer is “Yesterday! Obviously.” But really, how committed are you to growing your audience, your brand, and your bottom line?
If you’re comfortable with gradual growth then focus on your
What are you willing to invest?
There’s no way around it. If you want to speed up and amplify your audience growth then the quickest and most reliable way to make that happen is to put money behind your strategy. Maybe you think advertising is a dirty word. Maybe you don’t want to run “ads”. But if you want your amazing, “build your know, like and trust” content in front of more people and give yourself a greater chance of your dream clients noticing you then you need to pay to get your content in front of more eyeballs. People that otherwise might take years to stumble upon you. By you paying to have your stuff appear in front of them you’re giving them a fighting chance of discovering you and your brand. And this can even just be $5 a day. Heck even a dollar a day is better than nothing. I’m not saying you have to spend hundreds or thousands a month. But starting to dabble in paid advertising can create a massive impact on your business. And just a little tip… Don’t “Boost” Facebook posts. That’s not the type of advertising your want to run.
Do you have a launch coming up?
If you have a product, course, or program launch coming up then you don’t want to wait until you’re promoting your launch to start your marketing efforts! Start growing and nurturing your audience now and you will make those sales so much easier. Grow and PRIME your audience to be ready to buy.
You definitely want to be all in on your digital marketing strategy before launching. And especially if you’re considering running paid ads to fill your webinar (or however you’re launching) you will see much better results if you’ve invested in growing and warming up your audience first before you launch.
So I think I’ve helped you answer the question of whether or not you need a digital marketing strategy. The question now is… what are you going to do about it?
Break out your journal, or open up a new Google Doc, and start brainstorming. Where are the holes that you’re seeing need filled? What methods are you desiring to try first?
And if you would like the support of a marketing, mindset, and business coach in your corner to establish your marketing or offer strategy or build your next sales funnel as efficiently and effectively as possible then it's time to explore working with me today!
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