Marketing Strategy in the Digital Age

Now that we’ve entered the digital age, the world has transformed in so many ways. The effect this has had on the marketing industry, however, has been especially profound. Traditional marketing methods that were massively successful a decade ago are fading into obscurity. Billboards, print ads, and bus stop signs are no longer as valuable as they once were. Instead, marketers are turning to innovative ideas about digital marketing and online branding, leveraging technology to reach and engage with consumers.

Enter the digital marketing strategy—a new marketing approach with the digital age consumer in mind. A digital marketing strategy uses online channels to establish a presence and reach a target market. These channels can include social media networks, websites, paid advertisements and organic traffic from search engine optimization strategies. Digital marketing should integrate with your existing marketing strategies and can work toward the same larger goals, such as brand awareness and sales success, but it will have its own set of goals as well.

If you’re thinking of entering the world of business, the ever-changing digital landscape may seem intimidating, especially for those who haven't worked extensively in marketing. But if you’re equipped with the digital marketing tools and knowledge you need to succeed, there’s no limit to how far you can go in a variety of roles.

To help you establish a foundational understanding of digital marketing strategy, this article will help you explore the basics of marketing, digital platforms, and typical marketing strategies.

In today’s digital world, consumers are more informed and empowered than ever. The number of global online users has been on the rise ever since the internet was adopted, reaching 5.3 billion by the end of 2023.¹ This also means that consumers are also more closely connected to businesses than ever before. Thanks to the proliferation of devices and platforms, most consumers can make buying decisions right from the palm of their hand.

What does that mean for marketers and businesses? You have to meet your customers where they are. Mobile marketing and digital marketing strategies can help you create a seamless digital experience for customers across all channels.

Some of the key digital channels include:

• Social media marketing
• Email marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
• Influencer marketing

The rise of these digital channels also allows marketers to leverage technology to measure their progress. Analytic tools can give you detailed insights into your marketing performance in different areas, helping you make more informed and data-driven decisions. For example, key performance indicators (KPIs) measure the effectiveness of your strategies through digital marketing metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, customer acquisition costs and more.

To stay ahead of the curve in today’s marketing landscape, you need a digital marketing strategy. Essentially, this is a comprehensive action plan that outlines how your business will achieve its marketing goals through its chosen digital channels. Senior marketing executives usually will lead these initiatives, but it's important for anyone in business to understand marketing, its value, and the nuances of marketing strategy in the digital age.

But before you start doing any actual marketing, sit down and think about the broader goals for your brand. Set a few clear objectives that can act as your roadmap—what do you want your business to accomplish in a week, a month, six months, a year or five years? Avoid setting goals that feel too vague or unachievable. Instead, use the SMART goal strategy, which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.²

Next, you need to identify your target audience. More than just demographics, you need to build detailed buyer personas that expand on your ideal customer. What is typical consumer behavior for your audience? What are their needs, goals and pain points? How would your product or service cater to those factors?

Checking your analytics isn’t something reserved for after your marketing campaigns. Be proactive about analytics by setting the right key performance indicators (KPIs) for your business, such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), return on investment (ROI) and conversion rates, just to name a few.³

When all of this preparation is complete, it's time to start implementing your marketing campaign tactics through the appropriate channels.

Across channels, most digital marketers agree that content is king. More than 70% of B2B and B2C marketers use content marketing as part of their digital marketing strategy.⁴ At its core, content marketing is simply creating content and distributing that content to your target audience. Types of content can include blog posts, website copy, social media posts, videos and more.

That doesn't mean that your brand should churn out content at all times. Relevant and high-quality content does more than just expand your reach; it can also position your brand as an industry leader and build trust with potential customers.

Combining paid and organic content on platforms where your audience has the largest digital presence, whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or elsewhere, has the potential to enhance visibility. It’s also an opportunity to engage with customers directly, without being face-to-face.

While it’s important to have a presence on at least one social media channel, don’t overextend yourself. Instead, consider where your target audience spends most of their time. For example, if you’re targeting a younger demographic, the vast majority of TikTok’s audience is under the age of 35.⁵ Start there, and then expand if needed.

SEO is the main tactic to get your content recognized by the most popular search engines, such as Google. Using specific keywords, backlinks and other SEO strategies, you can increase search engine visibility for your website and other content.⁶

Those organic digital marketing strategies can help you boost your rankings, but there are other ways to land a top spot on the search results. Paid advertising strategies, like PPC advertising, will get your business a sponsored spot at the top of the search results for certain keywords.

Email marketing may seem like a marketing channel of the past, but it’s not one to take lightly. In fact, email ROI is higher than any other marketing channel, earning $36 for every $1 spent.⁷ That’s because email marketing nurtures your most invested potential customers and delivers relevant messages directly to their inboxes.

Marketing automation tools can make email marketing that much easier. For example, you can set up an automated welcome email for customers who sign up for your mailing list. Another successful example is an automated email to remind customers about their abandoned carts. Customers open almost 40% of cart reminders, compared to the average email open rate of 21.33%.⁸

As the marketing industry continues to move from traditional to primarily digital, it’s up to marketing professionals and business owners alike to keep up with the evolution. While it can be challenging to stay on top of new developments, there’s no denying that this is an exciting time that provides a lot of opportunities for learning and growth. Digital tools and technological developments mean there are always new marketing trends on the horizon, and thus new tactics to test and explore.

Yeshiva University’s intensive online MBA program is designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs succeed in the fast-changing business world. In the program, you’ll learn more about marketing management and digital age marketing, along with other business essentials you need to know to get ahead. With a flexible learning system, you can complete coursework on your own time while networking with classmates, professors and alumni.