Digital Marketing Best Practices Guide
Digital Marketing Best Practices Guide
Digital Marketing Best Practices Guide
MARKETING
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
Action Plan 36
Executive Summary
It has been said that “All Marketing is Digital Marketing,” and with good
reason! In the last decade (or less), the marketing environment has been
This report covers:
transformed.
Marketing has moved from an environment in which traditional marketing, Content Marketing
brick and mortar storefronts, and Digital Marketing options all competed
for the time, attention, and resources of the marketing department to
one in which Digital Marketing reigns supreme – with an occasional nod
in the direction of the storefront, or traditional marketing (direct mail,
Social Media Marketing
print advertising, etc.).
In this Best Practices Report on Digital Marketing we will cover the Digital Public Relations
Marketing landscape in six distinct categories.
Action Plan
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DIGITAL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 4
We present four models to enable Modern Marketers to take a holistic approach to Digital Marketing. These four models are:
The Modern Marketing Department Structure, which The Digital Marketing Maturity Model, which shows the
offers a look at the key functions needed to fully address pathway an organization should take to mature in its use
Digital Marketing initiatives across the organization. of Digital Marketing from Ad Hoc to World Class.
DIGITAL MARKETING
Maturity Model
STAGE 4 - World-Class
STAGE 3 - Mature
STAGE 2 - Progressive
Digital STAGE 1 - Undefined
Marketing
Defined, integrated strategy for Digital
Marketing exists across an Enterprise;
Defined, integrated strategy and
The Marketing Organization Maturity Model, which The Digital Marketing Roles Matrix, which highlights the
shows the progression and pathway a marketing depart- roles, responsibilities, processes, technology, content,
ment should take to mature from a Cost Center to a World and metrics for effective Digital Marketing strategies.
Class Organization, responsible for, and measured on,
driving sales and revenue.
WORLD CLASS
MARKETING ORGANIZATION
Maturity Model
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LEVEL 4 - Profit Center
LEVEL 3 - Revenue Contributor
LEVEL 2 - Revenue Neutral
World Class
Marketing LEVEL 1 - Cost Center
Organization
strategic, no plan
Budgeting is connected to
A budget exists and business revenue growth targets
A small budget exists for items cases are created to justify
Budget such as trade shows, etc.
No budget exists, spending is spend
Ad Hoc
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DIGITAL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 5
Our goal is to enable the Modern Marketing Organization (MMO) to create Our Solutions section covers the Digital Marketing systems, vendors, and
a holistic, end-to-end, enterprise-level approach to Digital Marketing. applications from the five Digital Marketing functions: Content Marketing,
Social Media Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Video Marketing, and Public
Here are some of the highlights:
Relations.
The depth and breadth of Digital Marketing has created a compelling
Each of these categories is covered in more detail in our Digital Marketing
need within the MMO to gain control of it.
Solution Study Series.
Digital Marketing has evolved in four stages, externally and internally.
Additionally, Digital Marketing teams need to evaluate and integrate their
Externally, we have seen the customer experience mature from mass
approach to websites, landing pages and microsites, online advertising
display and broadcast to highly personalized real-time experiences.
and SEO, creative design services, and virtual events.
Internally, we have seen technologies mature from ad hoc point solu-
tions to fully integrated, end-to-end systems connected across the
Enterprise, at every touchpoint and delivery channel.
Demand Metric’s key recommendation from this report is
that Digital Marketing can make a significant and positive
impact on organizations that are employing it, when they
do so by following best practices and processes holistically
integrated across the five key categories listed above.
Digital Marketing is, at its most basic, the use of electronic means to present
a company, product, and services to customers, prospective buyers, and the
marketplace.
The term Digital Marketing is so broad that it has almost lost all contextual
meaning. The purpose of this report is to put a solid framework around
Digital Marketing so that Modern Marketing Organizations can measure
their progress and success in achieving their Digital Marketing goals.
Driving Forces
Marketing’s focus on Digital Marketing continues to grow as more orga- FIGURE 1: PERCENTAGE OF MARKETING BUDGET
nizations learn how to use digital resources for website traffic, demand ALLOCATED TO DIGITAL
generation, content marketing, online advertising, and mobile/video
marketing development.
12%
31 to 45%
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WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING? DIGITAL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 8
58% of study participants are allocating less than half of their budgets FIGURE 2: DIGITAL EXPERIENCE CREATION PRIORITY
to digital marketing, which leaves room for growth. Yet, marketers
have long understood that the digital marketing dollar goes farther
than the traditional marketing dollar, so the budget for digital initia- 8% 3%
tives don’t directly indicate their impact (Figure 1). Low Very low
6 Provides a consistent customer experience by providing content for 13 Gains product knowledge for future products and services by
a specific buyer persona at a targeted stage in the buyer’s journey. learning what customers are asking for on social networks.
7 Increases website and blog traffic and SEO. 14 Learns who has the influence and clout in various social communi-
ties and develops deeper relationships with them.
8 Collects more relevant and accurate customer data across multiple
touch points. 15 Uses video to provide collateral for social marketing, enhance
content initiatives, and produce more realistic customer experiences.
WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING? DIGITAL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 10
Marketing organizations already stretched for time and money are reluc-
tant to take on more responsibility or embrace change. Much of this is
driven by Senior Management leadership.
To address that challenge for the MMO, this report, combined with our
CONTENT
Solution Study Series, examine the primary platforms for five digital func- MARKETING VIEW RESOURCE
Solution Study
Our Social Media Marketing Solution Study examines Our Video Marketing Solution Study examines the land-
Social Media strategies and processes on four key plat- scape, vendors, and solutions for video development,
forms – Social Listening, Social Engagement, Social Expe- production, and marketing.
rience, Social Analytics, and the major Social Networks.
We evaluate the primary video hosting and sharing plat-
forms that enable marketers to provide information,
education, advice, and/or entertainment to their target
SOCIAL MEDIA audiences.
MARKETING VIEW RESOURCE
Solution Study
PUBLIC
MOBILE RELATIONS VIEW RESOURCE
MARKETING VIEW RESOURCE Solution Study
Solution Study
Our Playbooks are built with Stay on top of the marketing Industry professionals,
best practices in mind. They landscape and learn new skills. thought leaders, and Demand
contain proven processes Our on-demand video training Metric analysts share
and a detailed action plan courses will help you and your research results and best
that will help you achieve your team build effective marketing practices that will help you
objectives and deliver results. processes on more than 20 topics. achieve the best results.
Having clear insight into both key metrics Based on surveys conducted with our member
and what’s behind them is necessary to base, we share how your peers are tackling
improve your end results. Demonstrate a broad range of marketing topics in different
the value your marketing organization is formats such as Benchmark Reports, Solution
delivering with our tools and templates. Studies, Frameworks, and How-to Guides.
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