4 Steps of Digital Marketing

Author: Pouya Eti

Let's learn more about the fundamentals of digital marketing and the main 4 important steps which can guarantee a successful digital marketing.

What is digital marketing?

Before we talk about digital marketing, let’s first understand what marketing is. The process of asking people to do something is called marketing.

 
 
What is marketing image

Example:

  1. Someone asks people to buy a product.
  2. Someone asks people to join a group.
  3. Someone asks people to watch a video.

 

 

Now, digital marketing is the same thing, but the process is happening on the internet.

what is digital marketing image

Examples:

  1. Someone asks people to subscribe to a YouTube video.
  2. Someone asks people to buy a product through an email.
  3. Someone asks people to sign up on an email list.
  4. Someone asks people to follow an Instagram page using an Instagram ad.

4 Steps of Digital Marketing

Let’s take a step back and look at the whole process of digital marketing step by step.

1. Define the target audience

Not everybody needs the product you are selling. You can take your product and put it in front of everybody, but it will be a huge waste of money since a small number of them are interested in your product. Isn’t it better to find the interested people and just show the product to them?

2. Appear where the targeted audience is looking

The targeted audience is looking for the product you sell in a specific place on the internet. It can be a website, an application, etc. You need to find out where they look for the product and grab their attention there.

3. Convince them to take action

It is time to use some strategies to convince the audience to take the action you have in mind. It can be buying a product, signing up on an email list, joining a webinar, etc.

4. Measure & optimize

Even professional marketers mostly forget this step. As you go forward, many things affecting this marketing process will change. The market may change, the customer’s needs may change, and your competitor may bring a better product than what you have.

Your job as a digital marketer is to look for these changes, listen to the signs, and make new changes to the marketing process so you can adapt to the new situation.

Below you can see the digital marketing loop of 4 steps. Missing a step can fail the whole marketing process or damage it in the future.

4 steps of digital marketing image

 

Target Audience

 

The first step of digital marketing is to define our target audience and get to know them better so we can find and convince them more easily.

 

10 questions help you define your target audience, and they are listed below:

  1. Age range: 
  2. Gender:
  3. Location:
  4. Interests:
  5. Relationship status: 
  6. Children (Y/N):
  7. What do they need:
  8. Where do they look for answers:
  9. Where do they spend time:
  10. Similar brands/products they may use:

I prepared a template for you so you can have all these questions in a separate file and use that for your business. You can download and use the file in 3 versions mentioned below.

 
Google doc
 
Word
 
PDF

There are several ways to find the answer to the questions above. You should do your best to find the correct answers, even from different sources.

1. Available analytics

If the business is already running and you have a website for it, you can get most of the answers from Google Analytics.

If you have a page on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc you can go to the analytics/insights of your page and find the answers.

2. Similarweb

You can also use Similarweb to analyze the competitor’s website and find the answers from what your competitors already have. It is very simple, all you need to do is to write a competitor’s web address in Similarweb and receive the results.

Click here to visit Similarweb

3. Hard research

If you can’t find the answers, you have no choice but to do deep research yourself or even guess some of the answers.

During this step, you should search for your competitor’s businesses and try to gather information from anywhere you can.

 

There is a tip that can help you find competitors more easily on Google, just at the beginning write this phrase:

related:example.com

 

Examples:

  • related:udemy.com
  • related:tesla.com
  • related:sephora.com

It's practice time ☺️

Product 1:

HUDA BEAUTY – Power Bullet Matte Lipstick

  1. Age range: 18 – 34
  2. Gender: Female
  3. Location: US
  4. Interests: Beauty & cosmetics, fashion, shopping
  5. Relationship status: –
  6. Children (Y/N): –
  7. What do they need:
    • Don’t dry lips
    • Last longer
    • Good quality
  8. Where do they look for answers: Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit
  9. Where do they spend time: Instagram
    • The Lip Bar | Blog.
    • Red Apple Lipstick.
    • Indian Makeup and Beauty » Lipstick.
    • Makeup and Beauty Blog » Lips.
    • The Beautyholic » Lipsticks.
  10. Similar brands/products they may use: Temptalia, Bellasuger, style

Product 2:

Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse

  1. Age range: 25 – 34
  2. Gender: Male
  3. Location: US
  4. Interests: Computer electronics, technology, video games
  5. Relationship status: –
  6. Children (Y/N): No
  7. What do they need:
    • Reasonable price
    • Good battery
    • Fast wireless
  8. Where do they look for answers: Google, YouTube, Reddit
  9. Where do they spend time:
    • PewDiePie
    • jacksepticeye
    • SkyDoesMinecraft
    • SSSniperWolf
    • Seananners
  10. Similar brands/products they may use: Asus, Razer, Corsair

Product Comparison

The second step of market research is to compare our product with the similar ones in the market. Several questions can help you in marketing.

  1. Product/Service Description:
  2. Disadvantages of existing products in the market:
  3. Advantages of existing products in the market:
  4. What are the main advantages of your product:
  5. Pricing comparison:
  6. Delivery comparison:
  7. Quality comparison:

When you have the answers to these questions, during the next step where you want to grab the audience’s attention, or in the third step where you want to convince the audience to become customers, your work will be much easier.

In addition, you make sure the path you are taking is the right one.

 

Example for product 2:

  1. Product/Service Description: Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse
  2. Disadvantages of existing products in the market:
    • Slow speed wireless
    • No chargeable battery
    • Laggy connection
  3. Advantages of existing products in the market:
    • switches feel amazing
    • Good balance
  4. What are the main advantages of your product:
    • Fast wireless speed
    • Rechargeable battery
    • Customizable weight
    • Control DPI button
  5. Pricing comparison: Same price range
  6. Delivery comparison: 3-6 days
  7. Quality comparison: High-quality material

Product validation

Now we have an idea of what people need and what they are interested in having. All we must do is check it with them and also inform them that a product they like and need is coming out.

 

Create a form

Use one of the tools mentioned below to create a list of questions so the target audience can post their answers.

 
Google Forms
 
Survey Monkey
 
Type Forms

As the final step, you need to share this form with a number of the target audiences or almost similar people and get their answers.