How to Create a Digital Brand Strategy for Optimal Growth

Intro

Digital marketing is the most effective way to attract new customers, nourish existing customer relationships, and build a profitable business. Innovations in digital technology since the dawn of the internet age have created incredible opportunities for businesses to succeed.

Yet, the internet is full of noise. Creating content that stands out requires intentional strategizing, planning, and revising. Here's how to get started with creating a digital brand strategy for optimal growth over time.

Define Your Audience

Everything you create online should not "sell" your business; it should speak to your audience's needs. The goal is not to tell your audience how great you are, but rather to show them content that leads them to that conclusion on their own.

The first step in creating an effective digital brand strategy is defining your audience. Dive into their demographics, pain points, and problems they hope your business can solve. For example, when creating orthopedic marketing collateral, your target audience might search things like "how long does it take to recover from a hip replacement?" Creating content that answers such questions will build authority in the industry while attracting qualified leads.

Identify the potential barriers in their way, such as a lack of understanding about your industry or product. Use this to pre-educate your audience and move them through your sales funnel.

Many marketers will make a customer avatar— a personification of the ideal customer. This exercise can be helpful in visualizing the audience and crafting content through that lens.

Clarify Your Mission and Values

Once you've defined the audience, clarify your mission and values. What does your brand stand for? What value do you hope to bring your customers? What are your brand's goals for the future?

Your mission and values should relate to your target audience. While their personal values may differ from the brand, it's important to have alignment between your value proposition, goals, and the customer's best interests.

Clarify Your Tone

Clarifying your tone is also essential when creating a digital branding strategy. Your tone or voice refers to how you interact with your audience and how you'll be perceived.

For example, do you want to be serious and authoritative or casual and lighthearted? An orthopedic clinic would likely have a brand voice that highlights trustworthiness, professionalism, and expertise. A dance studio brand voice might convey energy, casualness, and friendship.

In essence, your tone should align with your audience, mission, and core offerings.

Understand the Competition

Take some time to audit the competition and determine what they're doing well and what gaps they're leaving in the market. You can take what they're doing well and emulate aspects of their efforts.

For example, you might notice your competition's nice blend of photos and quote cards on Instagram and use that approach for your own. Conversely, you might notice your competition isn't capitalizing on video content and use that to attract an audience.

Understanding your competition will help you highlight what sets you apart and why customers should come to you.

(Source: www.pexels.com)

Determine Platforms and Touch Points

Many business owners struggle with determining what platforms and marketing approaches they should use. The simplest approach is to go where your customers are. If you're targeting Gen Z, you should be on TikTok. If you're targeting business professionals for coaching, you should be on LinkedIn.

It's also important not to put all your eggs in one basket. As many marketers will tell you after the great Instagram crash of 2021, having a mailing list or alternate customer touch point is essential.

Set KPIs

Determine what metrics will define success for your strategy. These metrics could include:

• Audience engagements
• Audience reach
• Inquiries
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Customer churn/ retention
• Organic traffic

Selecting the right KPIs ultimately depends on which platforms and approaches you invest in. It's important to clarify these metrics to understand what resonates with your audience.

Craft Content

Once you've clarified your brand elements and audience needs, craft content to meet those needs through the lens of your brand voice. Use keyword research to identify content opportunities based on what your customer demographic is interested in.

Outlining a content calendar and using social scheduling tools can help your stay organized and work ahead.

Analyze and Adjust

A digital brand strategy is never complete; it's ever-evolving. Use the analytics and insights from your content to determine trends in what encourages audience engagement and conversions through the funnel. Adjust to put more effort into things that work while leaving failed experiments behind.

By following these key steps, you can create a digital brand strategy that leads to impactful content to optimize growth.