New Facebook algorithm. Instagram Story Highlights. Vine 2.0. 2018 has given us some great opportunities for business marketing – but these are also challenges if you don’t know what your digital marketing strategy is. Odds are, if you’re not achieving the results you want from your current efforts, you need to backup and make sure you’re approaching digital marketing holistically and in the right order.

We worked with The Karcher Group (TKG), a digital marketing agency based here in Columbia + Canton, Oh., to create a checklist of 4 digital marketing strategy must-do’s in our ever-changing environment so you can start seeing better results for your side hustle/small biz – or so you can reposition some big ideas for your corporate account this year.

✔️ #Goals.

Sounds simple, but: figure out what you want to do. This could be raising brand awareness to a younger demographic; getting 10 more clients; or selling $500,000 worth of goods by the end of the fiscal year. TKG says whatever you do, make your goals realistic and measurable so you can figure out what worked + what didn’t (instead of just guessing).

✔️ Champagne Campaigns.

Just kidding; no champs. But Campaigns, Campaigns, Campaigns. We can’t explain how important it is to align your marketing efforts – a.k.a. have the same theme with the same messaging + graphics on your website, social media, email marketing + physical marketing materials like print ads. If your messaging is scattered all over the place, your customer is going to be confused and they won’t retain any of it. TKG says when customers (or potential customers) have a consistent, useful experience with your brand, it drives them to action.

✔️ Pick a channel, already.

After you’ve decided on a campaign to meet your goal, figure out which marketing tactics + platforms will work best. This is obviously the hard part – you often won’t know what will work best. But you *can* make an educated guess if you’ve set a well-thought-out, specific goal. Ex: Want to reach a younger audience? A tactic you may consider is creating + implementing Snapchat filters for your brand (hello, college kids).

✔️ Crunch the numbers.

Okay – champagne campaign is over. It's the end of the quarter/month/year and you feel good about how the campaign went. But you need to measure your results to see if a. Those tactics really worked and b. If they were worth it – so you can figure out to keep, change + throw out for the next campaign. Use tools like Google Analytics to track clicks on ads and website traffic patterns, Bitly links to see what social content is getting the most clicks, or Sprout Social to monitor engagement on all your social platforms. TKG can also help you figure out conversion metrics like cost-per-click.

We know that’s not just a little information – and it can be tough to figure out on your own. TKG is hosting two new (free) Lunch and Learn sessions in the next two months:

Digital Marketing Strategy (And Why It Matters) | 📆 Wednesday, Feb. 21 | 12-1:15 p.m. | an expanded look into the 4 must-do’s we just covered (almost full)
SEO For Your Business | 📆 Wednesday, March 21, 12-1:15 p.m. | learn about search engine optimization for better web results for your brand

Plus, a one-day seminar on Digital Marketing for Everyone on Wednesday, April 25, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., at The Venue on Main. (An even more hands-on, deeper dive into strategy + tactics.) It’s $99, but use code COLA for 50% off registration.

We dig these sessions because they’re good ops to hear new tips, in-person, from experts in digital marketing. TKG uses fun interactive examples and Q+A sessions to teach – and did we mention the free lunch and break from the office?

⭐ Bonus for reading all the way through:

Here are the details of Facebook’s changing algorithm and a video on how that could affect your brand from TKG’s The Modern Marketer.