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18 Best Practices for Adopting Digital Marketing

By Ira Kaufman

Many executives between the ages of 45-65 years are “digital aliens”. They were not brought up in the digital age and feel overwhelmed and sometimes fearful of the new technologies.  Many struggle with the changes necessitated by engaging in Digital Marketing. The result is the New Digital Divide between companies that are fully immersed in digital applications while others are deciding if Facebook is good investment!

18 best digital marketing practicesBelow is a road map of 18 practices* which will facilitate the adoption and successful implementation of a Digital Marketing Program.

1. Assess Current Market Practices- Determine the gaps and opportunities to position your organization in the digital world.
2. Adopt a Digital Mindset – Gain executive understanding and buy-in to the changes required to adopt a digital marketing program. Many executives are not aware of the scope and type of shift needed for successful implementation.
3. Dedicate Resources – Commit staff, provide training; allocate budget.
4. Be Transparent- - Be upfront about your intentions and purposes for your site and interactions.  Many executives fear losing control of their marketing message.  Openness and authenticity generates trust and opportunities.
5. Strategize… Strategize- Design a Digital Marketing Strategy that incorporates your assessment; clarifies goals and brand, integrates all media; tracks and evaluates. More than 60% of social media programs fail without a strategy.
6. Build on what you Do Best – Incorporate digital media to leverage and augment successful marketing efforts.
7. Listen, Research, Refine – Monitor social buzz, real-time customer feedback (forums, tweets, surveys, online reviews); refine your product .
8. Give Value– Focus on giving value before expecting anything in return, including downloadable resources, free advice, and links.
9. Be Consistent, not Overpowering – Maintain your Brand; increase your digital presence through regular conversations, but don’t push, overexpose or irritate.
10. Develop Sustainable Relationships – Engage in conversations, take the time to interact; this is a social environment. Conversations build relationships and encourage participation. Touch your current and potential customers with regular updates and newsletters.
11. Provide Social Sharing- Include easy to access to social amplification tools (e.g., social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, email) to spread the message.
12. Cultivate Satisfied, Loyal Customers- Focus on caring for, thanking, satisfying, and providing value for your customers.  This will engender trust and encourage your “customers do your marketing” via sharing your product with their networks.
13. Leverage Social Communities- Access related social communities that have a potential interest/benefit from your product. These groups can boost exposure and penetration with little additional expense.
14. Develop Online Environment as your Hub- Drive traffic to an integrated online environment including website, Facebook site, landing pages, and blog.
15. Integrate Media –Augment your traditional advertising (TV, radio, outdoor, direct mail, print) and PR with social media, mobile, and online efforts. Integrated Media Marketing forces companies to break down the old silos of individual marketing efforts to synergize elements between the media and generate the social buzz and viral distribution.
16. Monitor your Digital Presence- Track your company’s Digital FootPrint, company chatter and social mentions.
17. Evaluate your Social Return on Investment (SROI)- Evaluate SROI as an tool for measuring a much broader concept of value. It incorporates social, environmental and economic costs and benefits into decision making; it helps to readjust your strategy and tactics to meet your goals.
18. Keep Current…Generate Competitive Edge- Maintain your “fingers on the pulse” of your changing business ecosystem and the digital environment. Timely responses will drive innovation and competitive positioning.

Any other best practices to suggest?

* Expanded on Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing

GERVAS: 6 Benchmarks for Digital Marketing Strategy

By Ira Kaufman

GERVAS:  Goal – Engage – Relationship –  Value –  Action – Synthesize

GERVAS is the tool to guide the development of your social media campaign. Here are the six elements and the questions to ask?

As a business or organization launches a social media program, they try to anticipate the results and make the necessary refinements.   These are some typical questions:

  • Is the content of your social media message effective?
  • Is your target market communicating via social media and will you reach them?
  • Are you choosing and optimizing your social media tools?
  • How do you evaluate your strategy before launch?

Each marketer/ businessperson can apply six simple benchmarks to evaluate the potential effectiveness of your social media efforts. This can be done as a self-evaluation, discussion with your team or via a focus group. Read More »

Six Keys to Optimizing Digital Marketing for Small Businesses

By Ira Kaufman

Anyone with a bit of tech savvy can set up Facebook and Twitter accounts and begin posting updates. . But can they accomplish the needs of a business in this digital age?  Can a tech savvy youth create competitive advantage, the key for businesses in meeting their goals?

For most small businesses the answer is NO!   They will contribute to the plethora of un-optimized, under-utilized social media accounts. The result —Digital Hubmany small businesses “try out social media” and contend “it doesn’t work!”

There is an alternative approach- Digital Marketing Optimization (DMO). DMO leverages the power of each media platform and integrates them to drive traffic to your online environment, while achieving your business goals.

DMO designs an online environment that easily connects to other social communities, expanding the reach and exposure of your site. It increases “socially referred traffic” as unique users can easily share comments through audio, video and text links.

Here are six keys to make Digital Media work for small businesses:

  1. Design a Step-by-Step Digital Strategy Read More »

Businesses Adopt Comprehensive Approach to Digital Marketing

By Ira Kaufman

Digital Marketing synergizes social media with other media channels to realize ROI. Many companies launch into social and mobile media without creating a strategy.

The old school marketers are transaction oriented. Their strategy is to buy more media eyeballs, potentially creating “buzz” and sales. The new media marketers are customer focused, generating interactivity and relationships.

The five phase Digital Marketing Strategy  is comprehensive, customer-centered, and focused on delivering ROI.

Five Phases

  1. Assessment
  2. Strategic Branding
  3. Online Hub
  4. Integrated Media Marketing
  5. Monitoring/Evaluating Read More »

5 Steps to Evaluating Social Media ROI

By Ira Kaufman and Bob Bengen

touchpoints‘Prove to me social media works!’

That is the cry of many businesspeople when challenged by the hype of Twitter and Facebook. The answer will not come simply from growing social media followers.  Rather, it will come from the effect social media has on expanding and converting your company’s touchpoints. The marketing strategy of every company is to touch their customers, engage them, and move them to a targeted action.  But most companies are not aware of their touchpoints, their effectiveness and why they work.  “Touchpoint Optimization Strategy ” is a 5-step process that tracks the conversion from a one way touchpoint to an “action point” in the customer relationship lifecycle.

Step 1: Listening

Many companies view their touchpoints as one-way, passive listening posts to the voice of the consumer or feedback on the effectiveness of traditional marketing efforts.  Sales and consumer insights measures include surveys, ad test, awareness tracking, contact centers, media tests, customer satisfaction studies, and brand tracking.  However, these listening posts often provided measures that are “time challenged”, needing to wait for the end of a marketing effort before being able to “listen” to the results and gain feedback. Read More »