For small business owners with little or no internet marketing experience, it can be intimidating to embark on your first full-fledged internet marketing campaign. However, you have to start somewhere, and the entire process is a learning experience. In fact, internet marketers with 20-plus years of experience still learn from every campaign they lead. And, while each campaign will be different, there are, generally, four overarching steps. They are as follows:
Develop SMART Goals
There are a variety of different acronyms for setting goals, but most would agree that SMART goal setting is ideal for internet marketing campaigns. Here’s how it works:
- S-pecific. Your goals must be specific and highly targeted. For example, are you looking to increase sales, build awareness, or attract leads? While you may eventually want to do all three, you should start with a single, identifiable goal, and proceed from there.
- M-easurable. You can’t accomplish your goals unless there’s a method to clearly measure your pursuit of those goals.
- A-ttainable. The goals must be attainable too. While you don’t want your goals to be so easy that they require little to no effort, they also shouldn’t be unreachable.
- R-elevant. Goals have to be relevant to your core values or business goals, or they’re a waste of your time. Do your goals fit your overall business model or match up with your value proposition?
- T-imely. Finally, it’s important for goals to be timely. Not only does this help you keep pace, but it also ensures they’re appropriate for the particular season or phase your business is in.
Research Your Target Audience
In order to accomplish your goals and maximize their value, you need to research your audience so you can know whom to target. This step usually happens in tandem with the goal-setting step, but it requires its own focus. According to Park View Legal’s Facebook page manager, “Everything we do revolves around our target market. Whether we’re posting a picture, curating content, or asking a question, we do so with the reader in mind.”
A good way to narrow your focus is to develop a handful of unique customer profiles, or personas. These are fun to make, and they help you identify your audience. Be as specific as possible: create names, personal habits, demographic makeup, purchasing behaviors, interests, needs, and more.
Choose Your Channels, Media, and Focuses
With detailed goals and a specific target audience in mind, you’re ready to choose your marketing channels. These will depend on your specific goals and who you’re targeting, so don’t jump to this step prematurely.
Examples of internet marketing channels and mediums include SEO, search marketing, paid advertising, social media, content marketing, and guest blogging. Usually, you’ll pursue a combination of these, but you may initially focus on one before going after the rest.
Measure Your Results
Finally, you’ll need access to tools and resources that allow you to measure results and analyze campaign efficacy. Depending on what you’re doing, the tools you use will be different. For example, if your campaign is all about increasing the click-through rates on your blog, Google Analytics will be your go-to tool. However, if you’re trying to increase social media engagement, a platform like HootSuite may be needed to track brand mentions and activity.
While there are certainly a number of other steps, these four serve as the framework for a successful internet marketing campaign. Start with these, and don’t forget to learn from your successes and mistakes along the way!
