Chapter 2

Creating Value
through Digital
Marketing Strategy

Raj Sachdev
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 Learning Objectives

LO 2-1 Explain how digital marketing strategy fits within overall marketing
strategy.
LO 2-2 Identify the three stages of the digital marketing planning process.
LO 2-3 Summarize basic digital marketing strategies and tactics.
LO 2-4 Discuss the sections and components of a strategic digital marketing
plan.

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 Table of Contents

• Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy

• The Strategic Digital Marketing Planning
• Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
• The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan

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 Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy

LO 2-1 Explain how digital marketing strategy fits within

overall marketing strategy.

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 Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy

Important activities for a successful digital implementation are:

• Clearly defining digital marketing strategies
• Creating a strategic digital marketing plan

These activities must start from an overall well-defined organizational or

corporate strategy.

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 Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy, flows from the overall corporate strategy. It involves

determining:
• A target market
• A marketing mix
• A plan to build a sustainable competitive advantage to meet marketing goals

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 Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy

Following from the organization’s marketing strategy, digital marketing strategy

establishes digital marketing goals and the actions and resources needed to achieve
those goals.
It includes determining:
• A digital target market
• A digital marketing mix
• Ways to sustain a digital competitive advantage to meet digital marketing goals

Digital marketing strategy should be distinguished from digital marketing tactics,

which are the more-specific digital marketing activities meant to assist in achieving the
higher-level overall strategy.
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Planning

LO 2-2 Identify the three stages of the digital marketing

planning process.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Planning Process

The strategic digital marketing planning process is the procedure that digital
marketers should engage in to carefully plan and document strategic direction
for digital marketing activities.
During this process, a strategic digital marketing plan—which outlines key
digital marketing strategies based on the organization’s environment,
objectives, and other key considerations—may be developed. The planning
process involves three stages:
• Stage 1: Organizational and Marketing Overview
• Stage 2: Situational Analysis and Digital Marketing Objectives, Strategies,
and Tactics
• Stage 3: Digital Marketing Analytics and Implementation Plan
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Planning Process
Stage 1: Organizational and Marketing Overview

Stage 1 of the digital marketing planning process documents the overall

organizational mission and vision. It is an overview of the organization and its
marketing efforts.

Without understanding what the organization does now or where it wishes to

head, it will be difficult to determine appropriately aligned digital marketing
strategy and objectives.

Likewise, digital marketing strategy and objectives should flow from the overall
marketing strategy and objectives, and these should also be documented.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Planning Process
Stage 2: Situation Analysis and Digital Marketing Objectives

Stage 2 is to conduct a situation analysis, determine digital marketing objectives,

strategies, and tactics, and factor in other key considerations.
The goal is to understand the internal and external environments in which the digital
marketing is expected to take place.
1. The organization should identify specific and measurable digital marketing
objectives that will be used to guide the rest of the plan.
2. From these objectives, a digital value proposition should be crafted.
3. The organization’s digital STP (segmentation, targeting, and positioning) is
identified.
4. Digital marketers will identify key digital marketing strategies and tactics.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Planning Process
Stage 3: Digital Marketing Analytics and Implementation Plan

Stage 3 of the digital marketing planning process is to identify digital marketing

analytics and determine resources and an implementation plan. This stage
should identify key analytics to use to measure and track digital marketing.

The budget and nonfinancial resources that will be allocated to digital marketing
should be determined and documented, along with how the strategic digital
marketing plan will be implemented.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies
and Tactics

LO 2-3 Summarize basic digital marketing strategies and

tactics.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Crafting and executing effective digital marketing strategy involves careful

planning.

Digital marketing strategies and tactics should be developed for each of the
types of digital marketing (as applicable), including:
• Website/SEO/SEM
• Email marketing
• Social and community marketing
• Mobile marketing
• Smart-environment marketing
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing and the 4P’s

Exhibit 2-1 4P’s Digital Marketing Strategies

4P’s Strategies Questions for Digital Marketers to Ask

Product Are we demonstrating through digital means the value our products and
services provide consumers?
Are we providing value through digital services?
Pricing What pricing strategy should we use: subscription based, flat-fee, bundled,
freemium, or others?

Table continues in the next slide.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing and the 4P’s (continued)

4P’s Strategies Questions for Digital Marketers to Ask

Place What is the digital marketing channel?
Should we pursue an omni-channel strategy?
Should we pursue a disintermediation strategy?
Promotion Which digital platforms will be relevant to promoting to the organization’s
target market?
Should we create evergreen digital marketing content that remains relevant
over time?
Should promotional content appear like native ads?
How can we spur digital word-of-mouth marketing?
Are we compiling a valuable set of digital assets to help with digital
promotion?

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Product Strategies

Products and services of an organization must provide value to consumers.

Digital marketing product strategies should include communicating that value to
digital consumers.

Digital marketing product strategies should also help to enhance the brand
name through digital channels.

Different product strategies may be necessary during the different stages of the
product life cycle (PLC). In some cases, digital marketing may prolong a
product’s time within a particular stage of the PLC by helping to increase or
maintain demand over a period of time.
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Pricing Strategies

Digital consumers may often compare prices using search engines and other
digital tools. Therefore, being clear about pricing might be necessary.

Several digital marketing pricing strategies are frequently used, including:

• Subscription-based
• Flat-fee
• Bundle
• Freemium

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Pricing Strategies (continued)

A subscription-based pricing strategy Amazon.com offers different pricing

has digital consumers pay a flat fee each options and clearly displays which one
subscription period (such as monthly or proves the best value.
yearly). Netflix summarizes its pricing
very simply in its frequently asked
questions dropdown menu.

Netflix’s simple price message

Netflix, Inc.

Amazon pricing indicating best value

Amazon.com, Inc. 19
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Pricing Strategies (concluded)

• With a flat-fee pricing strategy, customers pay an agreed-upon, unvarying

fee for whatever level of service they use during a contract period.

• Organizations such as cable and Internet providers and mobile phone

companies may adopt a bundled pricing strategy in which consumers are
offered a lower price if they bundle products or services together.

• Other organizations adopt a freemium pricing strategy in which they offer a

basic service at no charge and consumers pay for added services or a
premium service level.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Place Strategies

Digital marketing place strategies start with decisions about the digital
marketing channel.
• First, organizations must decide if they will proceed with an omni-channel
strategy, which involves offering products or services across various
channels.
• Alternatively, digital marketing may help an organization reach a consumer
directly. A disintermediation strategy involves removing or not including
channel members, also known as intermediaries.
• For many organizations, a carefully designed digital channel strategy is
optimal, enabling consumers to interact with the organization and its products
and services through a variety of digital channels.
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Promotion Strategies

Finally, promotion strategies address the ways in which organizations

communicate—promote—their products, services, and brands to consumers.
• An integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategy ensures that all
contacts received by customers for a product, service, or organization are
consistent over time.
• Part of an IMC strategy is the selection of optimal digital platform
strategies, those platforms relevant to an organization’s target markets.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Promotion Strategies (continued)

A well-defined content strategy that is consistent across platforms and provides

value to consumers is also essential for promotion strategies.
• Content must be consistent with the purpose to entice and retain customers.
• Evergreen content, which remains “continually relevant” over time, is often
created with SEO in mind.
• Native advertising is paid advertising whose content “matches the form,
feel, function, and quality of the content of the media on which it appears.”

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Digital Marketing Promotion Strategies (concluded)

Promotion is also about building relationships. This can be done by conscious

efforts to manage the customer relationship experience.
• Consumers can spread helpful information via digital word-of-mouth (WOM)
marketing.
• Digital marketing can play a key role in creating and maintaining relationships
and promoting key communications.

Ultimately, with digital marketing, an organization may build a set of digital

assets—all of the digital items of value that an organization owns, including
content, data, websites, and accounts.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Exhibit 2-2 7A’s Digital Marketing Strategies

7 A’s Strategies Questions for Digital Marketers to Ask

Add Does our digital marketing convey to consumers the value of our product or service?
Is our digital marketing adding further value?
Does our product or service add value to society?
Allure Do our strategies increase consumer interest by means of creative and informative
content, attractive design, enticing messages, storytelling, and relevant information?
Advance Do we use digital strategies to advance consumers toward purchase, such as a clear
menu, good search option, easy-to-understand categories, a clear call-to-action, a live
chat feature, and/or help services?
Adapt/Adjust How well is our digital marketing campaign performing? Does it reflect current
consumer trends?
Is the campaign meeting the required digital marketing analytics?
If the campaign is falling short, what adjustments should be made?
Are we adjusting our strategies and tactics as needed?

Table continues in the next slide.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Exhibit 2-2 7A’s Digital Marketing Strategies (continued)

7 A’s Strategies Questions for Digital Marketers to Ask

Associate Does our use of logos, graphics, colors, symbols, and so on promote brand
association?
Do our digital marketing messages help consumers associate with the brand and/or
help us create strategic relationships?
Abide Do our digital marketing strategies and tactics meet legal requirements for
advertising?
Are we complying with privacy and security requirements or regulations?
Do our digital marketing strategies and tactics meet ethical standards?
Analyze What should we measure?
How well is the organization meeting its established key performance indicators and
marketing analytics measures?
Are we acting on the analytics we are reporting on?
Are changes needed?

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Add Strategies

The product or service offered by an organization must add value, and digital
marketing should be able to promote that value or be a source of value itself.
Digital marketers should also consider whether efforts may enhance value to society.
For example, The Body Shop donated products and services to frontline workers
during the COVID-19 pandemic in line with its “Self-Care” campaign.

The Body Shop’s self-care

campaign
The Body Shop International Plc.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Allure Strategies

Attracting consumers will involve

strategies and tactics to increase
consumer interest, such as creative
and informative content, attractive
design, enticing messages, and
relevant information.

LEGO linked its toy business to social

causes with its “Rebuild the World”
campaign aimed at attracting
consumers to LEGO products and
promoting a connection with the brand .
The LEGO Rebuild the World post has attracted more than 13
million consumer views
LEGO Group 28
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Advance Strategies

Consumers might visit an

organization’s website or
social media page or
download its app, yet not Home Depot clearly displays menu on homepage
The Home Depot
advance through the buying
process.

Digital marketers must

research why consumers are
not converting and implement
conversion strategies that
help advance the buying
Home Depot clearly displays shopping categories
process. The Home Depot

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Advance Strategies (continued)

Home Depot makes it

easier for consumers
by providing help
services. Home Depot
clearly displays
an offer to help
The Home Depot

Home Depot also uses

clear calls to action,
including “Shop Now”
and “Shop Today’s
Special’s” buttons.
Home Depot’s clear
call-to-action
The Home Depot 30
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Adapt/Adjust, Associate, Abide, and Analyze Strategies

• Digital marketers must be ready to adapt or adjust their digital marketing

strategies and tactics according to how well a campaign is performing or the
environment in which the marketing is taking place.
• A brand-association strategy may involve enhancing the connection a
consumer makes between the brand and product features or attributes.
Digital marketing can help to visualize that connection.
• Digital marketers must abide by legal regulations relating to advertising,
privacy, and security.
• Various analytics are available to measure and monitor the success of a
digital marketing plan.

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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Rezdy’s Regional Settings

Thinking About Global Digital Marketing

Digital marketers need to consider how to adapt in local
markets by carefully determining which consumers will
view the marketing being presented and from where.
Rezdy booking software increases opportunities
for tourism business customers
rezdy.com
Australian booking software company Rezdy provides a
technical solution to increase bookings for businesses in
the tourism industry.

Rezdy’s options for regional settings allow businesses to

cater to local needs with language, time zone, currency,
Rezdy regional settings cater to local needs
and formatting. rezdy.com

Sources: Hannah Fleishman, "13 Businesses with Brilliant Global Marketing Strategies,” https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/global-
marketing-and-international-business; “Who We Are and What We Do,” Rezdy, https://rezdy.com/about/. 32
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 Basic Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Competitor Analysis

In addition to knowing 4P’s and 7A’s strategies, digital marketers need to

understand the competitive landscape in which they operate. They will create a
competitor analysis that analyzes what other organizations in the same digital
market are doing and what their position is in such market. It should answer:
• Who are the organization’s major competitors?
• What key digital strategies do they adopt?
• How might the organization counteract, respond to, or deal with these?
Digital marketers must also employ a competitive vigilance strategy, which
involves keeping an eye on existing competitors and any others that may
appear unexpectedly.
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan

LO 2-4 Discuss the sections and components of a

strategic digital marketing plan.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan

Crafting a strategic
digital marketing
plan is a time-
consuming process
which should be
started early,
revisited often, and
revised as needed.
The plan described
in this text consists
of the parts shown
in Exhibit 2-4.
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Cover Page and Executive Summary

The cover page documents the organization’s name followed by the title Strategic
Digital Marketing Plan. Optionally, the cover page can also include the time frame the
plan covers (such as three years, five years,). It may also state, if applicable, that the
plan is a condensed or abridged version.
• Visuals are optional on the cover page, based on the form preferences of the
organization, unit, or plan-drafting team.
• Visuals should always be based on the intended audience for the plan.
• It is important to respect copyright laws.

The Executive Summary is a short summarizing statement of the strategic digital

marketing plan, usually three to five paragraphs, which places the plan in context and
includes the key points covered.
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 1: Organizational Mission, Vision, Objectives

Section 1 lays out the organization’s mission, vision, and objectives. The
images show mission statements of two well-known organizations.

“Our mission is to organize the world’s information “We aim to be Earth’s most customer centric
and make it universally accessible and useful .” company.”
Markus Mainka/Alamy Stock Photo Pixinoo/Alamy Stock Photo 37
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 2: Overall Marketing Strategies and Objectives

Section 2 consists of two parts—the organization’s key marketing strategies and its
objectives. These not the digital marketing strategies but rather the organization’s
overall marketing strategies. They may be found in the organization’s marketing plan.
• Marketing strategies: It is important that strategic digital marketing planning is
conducted with the overall marketing strategies and objectives in mind, including
traditional marketing. Doing so helps to place digital marketing within the broader
marketing setting.
• Marketing objectives: Marketing objectives are measurable goals that the
organization’s marketing activity is intended to produce. They may include, among
others, specific amount of sales growth, increased brand awareness, increased
customer retention, and market growth.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 3: Digital Marketing Situation Analysis (Digital SWOT)

Section 3 consists of a digital marketing situation analysis, which describes

the internal and external environments in which the digital marketing is being
pursued. Also called a digital SWOT, this analysis specifies the organization’s
digital strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 4: Digital Marketing Objectives, STP, and Value Proposition

Section 4 begins to pull together details about the organization’s digital

marketing, specifically the following:
• Digital marketing objectives: An organization may wish to focus on specific
digital marketing objectives that are tied to overall marketing goals. Each
digital marketing objective should also be tied to specific value for the
consumer or customer.
• Digital STP: Next comes a digital STP (segmentation analysis, identification
of target markets, and plan for positioning the brand).
• Digital value proposition: Then comes a statement of the digital value
proposition—a unique, convincing proposal about why a consumer within an
organization’s target market should purchase its offering(s).
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 4: Digital STP

Digital segmentation may be

based on demographic,
geographic,
psychographic, and
behavioral segmentation
variables, described in
Exhibit 2-7.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 4: Digital STP (continued)

Targeting may vary based on what

kinds of products and services an
organization offers: Organizations
offering similar products, such as smart
speakers, may target the same or
different consumers.
For example, Amazon can target Echo
consumers between 18 and 44 years
of age but also can target children with
its Echo Dot for Kids.

Amazon targets a specific age range with Echo Dot Kids

Amazon.com, Inc
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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Amazon Echo Products: Segmentation for Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing Value Creation

Amazon Echo products are one of the popular options in the growing smart-speaker
market. Amazon has found :
• Echo’s largest demographic includes consumers between 18 and 44 years of age.
• Two key functions used are setting timers and playing music.
• Echo houses Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant technology.

Digital marketers may use Alexa’s audience interest tool to determine “topics and
categories” that an audience may be interested in. This information may be helpful in a
psychographic segmentation analysis.

Sources: Koksal (2018); Yesbeck (n.d.); Huddy (n.d., n.d.)

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Exhibit 2-8 Typical Format of a Digital Value Proposition

To consumers who need

or want to exercise at
home, Peloton is an at-
home “immersive, high
energy” exercise
experience which allows
you to “reclaim” your
time and save money.

Peloton shows value with consumer using product

Amazon.com, Inc

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 5: Digital Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Section 5 is the heart of the strategic digital marketing plan. It includes the
following:
• Website, SEO, and SEM strategies and tactics
• Email marketing strategies and tactics
• Social media and community marketing strategies and tactics
• Mobile marketing strategies and tactics
• Digital brand, trust, and reputation-management strategies and tactics

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Nike Incorporates Diversity

Digital Marketing Value Creation

Nike’s You Can’t Stop Us ad went viral

when sports were severely affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic.

The ad incorporated diversity and

inclusiveness by featuring a split screen of
athletes of different backgrounds—and
resulted in millions of views.
Nike’s viral video incorporates diversity
Nike, Inc.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 6: Privacy, Security, Legal, and Ethical Considerations

Section 6 of the strategic digital marketing plan should detail considerations

related to the following:
• Digital marketing privacy and security considerations: The digital
marketing plan should state any relevant privacy and security considerations
and how the organization intends to address these. Also, the organization
should describe how it will protect consumers’ “sensitive” and confidential
data.
• Digital marketing legal and ethical considerations: Marketers must be
aware of and comply with legal requirements relating to digital marketing.
Therefore, the digital marketing plan also should state relevant legal and
ethical considerations.

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 7: Digital Marketing Analytics, Evaluation, and Measurement

Section 7 of the strategic digital marketing plan outlines the important analytics,
evaluation, and measurement mechanisms the organization intends to use.
There are several types of digital marketing analytics.
• An open rate is the percentage of recipients who open marketing
communications.
• In search advertising, the click-through-rate (CTR) is the percentage of
clicks on a search ad against the number of times the ad was shown.
• Social media engagement is the measurement of items such as comments,
likes, and shares on an organization’s social media.
• Mobile-app ratings are numerical measures of users’ feelings about the
mobile apps they have downloaded.
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Exhibit 2-9 Types of Digital Marketing Analytics

Exhibit 2-9 Types of Digital Marketing Analytics

Type of Digital Marketing Example of Digital Marketing Analytics

Email marketing Open rate; what time email opened
Search engine marketing Click-through rate; search queries
Website marketing Bounce rate; conversion rate
Social media marketing Social media engagement; campaign performance
Mobile marketing Mobile-app ratings; install rate
Smart-environment marketing Behavioral data

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 The Strategic Digital Marketing Plan
Section 8: Digital Marketing Implementation/Control Plan and Budget

Section 8 indicates how the organization will implement the digital marketing
identified in the of the strategic plan. This should include what the organization
will do and by when.
It should also:
• Identify a contingency plan (backup plan)
• Indicate the expected budget and key resources (be sure to consider the
human capital required)
• Consider the cost of campaigns and other activities

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Exhibit 2-10 Sample Digital Marketing Control Plan and Budget

Exhibit 2-10 Sample Digital Marketing Control Plan and Budget

Digital Timeline Action Required Controls Estimated Contingency
Marketing Budget (backup)
Activity Plan
Search ads 3-month Plan campaign: Monitor $10,000 per Social media
campaign campaign (2nd Select search campaign: month for advertising
quarter, year 1) engine(s); develop Select and search campaign
keyword strategy, ad monitor engine,
groups, and ad analytics. $2,500 per
content. Adapt based month,
Assign resources, both on campaign human
financial and human results. capital costs.
capital.

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References and Appendix

Following Section 8 of the strategic digital marketing plan comes any

endmatter:
• There you should include any outside references used to create the plan,
following a required or established referencing format.
• You may want to add an appendix to include specific campaign samples such
as digital marketing ad copy, social media copy, email marketing samples,
and other material that is too long to include in the plan itself. (An appendix is
optional unless you are instructed otherwise.)

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