When you’re steering toward success, creating a proactive marketing strategy can help you get there.
No matter how much you want it to, your business won’t sell itself. Every business owner needs to start marketing wisely to support their company’s growth and maximize their earning potential in the long run. If you’re looking to get inspired by some effective marketing strategy examples, you’ve come to the right place.
Planning out your marketing strategy is a great way to stay on track with your business goals and find success within your target market. In fact, businesses with documented strategies are 313% more likely to achieve their goals. This proves the immense value in thinking about the marketing process as a whole ahead of time instead of going in blind.
After reading this article, you’ll have a full understanding of what a marketing strategy is. You’ll also have proven digital marketing strategy examples to guide you as you build one unique to your business and combine it with your marketing plan.
Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan
The terms “marketing strategy” and “marketing plan” are often used synonymously, and it’s understandable why. These two terms are closely related, and both are must-haves for your business.
In fact, the confusion goes beyond how to distinguish between a strategy and a plan. The term “marketing strategy” is frequently used to define two different things. Some marketers define strategy as an analysis of your goals, taking into account your target customers and your competitive advantage.
“Marketing strategy” can also describe the overarching method you’ll use to achieve your marketing goals in the long term. This marketing strategy is accomplished through many highly actionable, short-term tactics. This is the definition that we’ll be using for marketing strategy in this article.
Regardless of which definition for “marketing strategy” you choose, it’s an integral part of your marketing plan. Your marketing plan, on the other hand, takes a look at your company’s marketing at an even broader scale. It’s the entire game plan that outlines:
- The message you want to send about your product or service
- Your market research
- Your value proposition
- Your target audience and how they think
- Your company’s voice
- Your marketing budget
- Your marketing strategy and the measurable tactics you’ll use to achieve them
Your marketing strategy is integral to the success of your marketing plan. Setting aside some dedicated time to brainstorm strategies specifically, instead of flying through the marketing plan in one go, can help your business in the long run.
3 digital marketing strategy examples
Every business has a unique marketing strategy that works best for their brand. However, there is one fact that increasingly rings true in our tech-driven world: If you don’t start to prioritize digital marketing, your business may be left behind.
With consumers spending nearly nine hours each day consuming digital content, digital marketing is increasingly the central focus of business owners. That said, we’ll focus on the digital marketing strategies that are working for some of today’s top brands. This will help you accelerate your brainstorming and, therefore, your marketing efforts.
Here are three types of digital marketing strategies with examples of how they can be catered to a specific business:
1. Social media marketing
There’s no doubt that social media is a huge gathering space for people around the world. When you commit to marketing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even YouTube, you get the chance to connect with thousands of potential customers daily without spending much for views.
Social media marketing is a great strategy for any business owner who has a younger audience or doesn’t have the budget for pricier Google Ads. Through this marketing channel, you can increase brand awareness using organic posts. Plus, you can support your organic content by adding paid, targeted ads, or influencer posts—which you control the budget for—to your social media plan on each platform. Social media also gives you the chance to increase loyalty, as users can engage directly with you and get a human response.
While you may think of social media as a platform to reach buyers for consumer products, social media marketing can also be a great strategy for B2B brands, too. LinkedIn is one of the best online platforms for B2B marketers. In fact, LinkedIn InMail has a 300% higher response rate than email.
Social media marketing strategy example
Business type: An eco-friendly makeup brand that wants to cater to a young millennial and Gen Z audience
Platform: Instagram
Strategy: This company may build their Instagram presence focused on beauty, skincare, and sustainability. They may also partner with influencers who share similar values and target their loyal followers. Altogether, this strategy can help the brand grow a distinct audience backed by credible voices.
2. Content marketing
If you want to focus on providing as much value to your potential customers as possible during the marketing process, content marketing—specifically, marketing with long-form articles and blogs—is a great strategy.
While blogging and writing Medium articles may not immediately lead to sales, it’s a highly effective way to draw your target audience into your sales funnel. By providing the information they want to receive as they search for solutions, your articles can also boost your SEO. Because of this, content marketing can actually generate three times the leads per dollar spent than paid search marketing.
At the same time, content marketing is effective in turning new customers into loyal customers by developing trust in your expertise over time. By slowly inserting your brand into your content, you can display why your products or services are a necessity.
Content marketing strategy example
Business type: Freelance web developer who wants to cater to retail brands
Platform: Business website
Strategy: This developer can target his ideal customers by writing about what makes a good website, how to integrate e-commerce into an existing site, and how to fix simple bugs in their online store. This shows readers how to make the most of their websites and that the developer is an expert who can do the actual website building for them.
3. Word of mouth marketing
Now that online reviews are the new word of mouth, this type of marketing strategy isn’t the same as it used to be. However, digital referrals still pack the same power as in-person referrals. People trust people—so much so that 68% of consumers will form an opinion after reading as little as one to six reviews.
A word-of-mouth marketing strategy can give your brand instant credibility as real people vouch for your brand after a real experience. Your current customer base is one of your most effective marketing tools, not to mention one that’s completely free. All you need to do is ask.
Your digital word-of-mouth marketing strategy can be taken to the next level through the use of Podium Reviews, a tool that automates your review invites, to multiply the amount of online referrals you get. Getting more reviews has a snowball effect. As your online reviews rack up on trusted review sites, like Facebook and Google, thousands of people can be influenced by each review, rather than just the few people your reviewer may refer to you in-person. As you start responding to reviews, you can prove your commitment to your customers even before your potential leads reach out.
Word of mouth marketing strategy example
Business type: A doctor who wants to promote her practice to local customers
Platform: Online review sites
Strategy: This doctor can put her efforts into building her presence on industry-specific review sites, where leads with high potential are already looking, using Podium Reviews to accelerate the growth of her review count. For example, she may focus on increasing and improving her HealthGrades reviews, while also creating a business listing on other reviews sites, like Google and Facebook.
Strategize first, market second
Just as creating a business without any marketing can stagnate your growth, marketing without creating a marketing strategy can lead to many dollars spent without high returns. When you define your road to success, you’ll be better equipped to follow through and achieve your business goals.
Once your marketing strategy is all set, the next step is building out your complete marketing plan. If you’re just starting out, check out our guide to creating a marketing plan for actionable tips.
