Digital marketing means reaching people online to sell them things. Simple right?
Not so fast.
It turns out, a lot goes into crafting those clever digital marketing messages — the ones that achieve successful results, anyway.
Furthermore, since every brand is different, it’s important to take a custom approach. One-size-fits-all just won’t work.
But have no fear. Digital marketers do this kind of thing every day, and we’re here to help get you started.
5 Steps to Developing a Marketing Message
1. Identify your target market
The first step starts by identifying whom you are trying to reach. Consumers have all types of backgrounds and life experiences, and messages that stand out to one group, might be passed over entirely by another. Ask yourself, “Who is my target market?” This might include age, gender, geography, education level, marital status or other demographics. Once you narrow who you’re speaking to, a message is much easier to craft.
2. Ask lots of questions
Before you get started writing, you’ll need a bit more information. The more of these questions you can answer, the better:
A. What am I trying to achieve?
B. What are my goals for the campaign?
C. On what digital channels will this message be delivered?
D. What are the problems the target market is experiencing that my product can help with?
E. What are the benefits of my product or service that will most appeal to my target market?
3. Revise, edit, and revise some more
Keeping the previous steps in mind, scribble down a few drafts of your message — your e-newsletter, your ad campaign or whatever it is you’re working on. It’s best to keep it natural, so just write down whatever comes to mind. This is your brainstorming phase, and all ideas are welcome. Sit on them for an hour or two then return. Start to form them into a message and focus on the best wording. If you have a previously established brand, factor that in your message as well. Does your wording fit your brand? If your brand was a person, would it say these things? When you think your message is starting to shape up, take a step back, take a breather, then return and give it an edit and revise some more, if necessary. (But be sure to keep all serious drafts for Step 4.)
4. Test your message
Even professionals may take a few attempts to get the message just right. Getting input from others and testing with target audiences can help evaluate the message. A review process can help you rank the effectiveness and likeability of your different messages and drafts. Positive elements of one can often be added to those of another to create the strongest message possible.
Surveys and focus groups are also great ways to test how audiences will respond to different message variations. A/B testing is one option to evaluate the success of one message versus another. Most email marketing and webhosting platforms offer this feature.
5. Fine tune your delivery
So your digital marketing message worked? Great! It didn’t work? Okay!
No matter how successful you were, you will always complete Step 5 to help you improve your message for next time.
Review your process and testing, and consider what might have worked better. Maybe your target audience was slightly off, or maybe the message didn’t clearly solve a problem. Maybe you saw results, but you weren’t impressed with the return.
If that’s the case, it might be time to bring in 535media to help with the many elements of your digital marketing campaigns. The experts at 535media work with businesses just like yours every day — crafting creative campaigns, managing client marketing, and achieving and tracking real results.
Give us a call today at 800-228-0142 and let’s talk about crafting your best marketing campaign ever.