5 Best Practices for Digital Marketing

Marketers have a wealth of resources at their disposal for creating and executing campaigns in today’s digital world. At Neolane, we believe a successful campaign begins by putting the right steps in place. Here are our 5 best practice tips for executing a successful digital marketing campaign:

1. Dedicate Resources

The first step to take when creating a digital marketing campaign is to invest in the appropriate resources. As with anything else, it’s best to enter any challenge with the resources that give you the best opportunity to succeed. For digital marketing, this means looking into hiring staff as well as having financial flexibility to acquire automation software/tools to help your efforts throughout the process.

2. Integrate Media

In order to capitalize on the opportunity to reach customers through computers, phones, tablets, etc., integrate all media your customers or prospects may utilize to deliver a unified, cross-channel message. Recognizing which channels are best for targeting and delivering messages to your customers will give you the best opportunity to effectively communicate with recipients.

3. Develop Relationships

Outside of delivering direct messages to customers or prospects, digital channels also provide an excellent opportunity to develop relationships through listening and engaging. When prospects are identified by interacting with the brand, this opens an opportunity to understand their wants and needs. It’s vital to use these channels to have two-way conversations with prospects.

4. Listen, Research, Adapt

Always make sure to listen to what your customers are saying about your brand or product via social media outlets. This allows you to adapt to your customers’ wants and needs to thereby optimize your efforts. Social also allows you to research new industry trends and competitive products. The bottom line: listen, research, adapt.

5. Evaluate SROI (Social Return on Investment)

After all these strategies have been implemented, it’s time to evaluate the social return on investment. Determining how many leads or new contacts are being obtained through social and comparing this data to the amount spent on marketing efforts will give you good idea of your success.

Digital marketing gives marketers the opportunity to reach prospects and customers through what seems to be a never-ending list of channels. While “batch and blasting” through all channels may seem like simple work, it won’t generate positive results. So follow these 5 best practices to achieve your digital marketing goals in 2012 and beyond!

©iStockphoto.com/sweetym; Norman Pogson