5 Building Blocks of Digital Marketing

Most of my clients come to me with a haphazard digital marketing strategy and presence.

They have a confusing website, a presence across several social media channels, sporadic email marketing, and maybe a blog. They might even host some virtual events.

When you are building (or rebuilding) a digital marketing strategy, here are the five essentials I recommend, regardless of whether you are getting started or hitting the reset button.

1️⃣ Memorable brand message

Before you do anything at all, create a clear, compelling brand message.

This is the foundation of your digital marketing - and of all of your marketing, really.

If you neglect this step or breeze over it, you will be building your marketing on sand.

When you take the time to build a solid brand message, it makes it 1000% easier to develop your digital marketing strategy and create the assets you need.

Lead generation and sales become easier because customers understand exactly what you can do for them.

Components of your brand message include: who your customer is, the problem they face, the solution you offer, the pain they are experiencing, the success they will experience, your credibility, and how to get in touch with you.

Regardless of whether your business is brand-new or it's more established, take the time to create (or refresh) your brand message.

You can try a free 7-day trial on Storybrand.AI to draft your own brand message.

However, know that it will be a first pass only and a solid brand message requires revisions and a human touch to get it right.

If you work with me, this is always the first step in my process.

It is step 0 before we begin working on your website, email marketing, or anything else marketing-related.

2️⃣ Website that converts

If you have a website (and I hope you do), look at it with a critical eye.

Is it a virtual billboard only, or does it invite your audience to engage with you?

You definitely want people to engage with you.

Your website header (that very first section at the top) should function to clearly state what you offer, the problem you solve, and how people can immediately take a step to start working with you.

A good website will attract your ideal audience and, just as importantly, filter out the people who are NOT your ideal customer.

In terms of content, less is more.

Visitors will scan your website for information. They are not reading it as they would read a book or a physical piece of paper.

Think about the absolute essentials that your customer needs to know, and delete or archive the rest.

If your website is visually beautiful but you're not capturing leads, it's time to think about restructuring and rewriting it.

3️⃣ Lead magnet (aka a lead generator or freebie)

Once someone lands on your site, you want to capture their email address.

They may not be a customer yet, but they've expressed interest.

Use this opportunity to offer something of value to them in exchange for their email address.

This allows you to begin a relationship with them so that they begin to know and trust you, and eventually buy from you.

I recommend that you create a lead magnet (also known as a lead generator or freebie) to capture their email.

This can be a coupon, a high-value guide, an eBook, a checklist, a video tutorial, etc.

Be generous with the information you share, and make sure that it can be absorbed in a 5-10 minute sitting so that your customer feels as if they've learned something significant and valuable.

(BTW, I don't consider newsletters to be suitable for this purpose.)

Feature your lead magnet in a popup on your site, give it its own section and landing page, and feature it on your email signature and socials.

4️⃣ Email marketing system with regular emails

While we all may have a love/hate relationship with email, the truth is, it is still the best and most direct line to your customers.

Every email in your list is worth approximately $1/month in revenue. (You do the math!)

So it is critical for you to build your list organically and have a good email service provider.

Do not rely on your Google Workspace account, which is clunky and may even get your emails marked as spam. (Yikes!)

Choose an email service provider that allows you to write and schedule emails to your list.

I use Kit, but there are many options out there, including Beehiv, Mailchimp, and more.

A good email service provider will allow you to tag your email subscribers so you can segment them according to who they are and how you collected them.

It will give you capabilities for writing and scheduling emails, and also provide analytics so you can monitor your list growth and open rates and much more.

Many website platforms also provide email services, but if you're past infancy in your business, I recommend investing in an email service provider, which will give you more robust options as you grow.

5️⃣ A focused social media presence

Social media is rented land.

It is useful for generating brand awareness, but if you're not careful, you can also spend inordinate amounts of valuable time creating content for platforms that do not generate sales for you.

Do some analysis. Which platform is the most popular with your audience?

Be honest. It may not be your favorite platform, but you need to go to the platform that your customers frequent most.

Pare back on posting to several platforms constantly and zero in on the one that your customers frequent and like most of all.

Focus on that platform, post quality posts and information regularly, and always use it to drive traffic back to your website.

Make sure your identity is consistent with your website identity from both a message and visual standpoint, and include a link to your website and lead generator.

Once you have a strong following there, you can consider adding other platforms one at a time.

When you have these five digital marketing items in order, you're on your way! 🚀