Kansas City, Missouri, July 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — When a CEO announces the need for a new marketing plan, marketing teams can find themselves drowning in a sea of potential digital marketing strategies.
“No matter where a company is starting in the process, a planned approach is possible.” Corey MorrisCEO of Voltage, a digital marketing, design and web development company.
Digital marketing expert Corey Morris: 5 Phases of Digital Marketing Success
Corey Morris
With over 20 years of experience, Morris is an internationally recognized expert who has dedicated his career to pioneering the field. His publications include: Digital Marketing Success Playbook: How to avoid poor communication, missed expectations, and wasted money (2024, Indie Books International) explores the best ways to generate ROI (return on investment) through digital strategy.
Morris argues that while digital marketing has become a key part of marketing strategies, it often feels difficult to implement and measure.
“Keeping up with new technology, dealing with team changes mid-campaign and hard-to-interpret (key performance indicators) KPIs are just some of the factors that can lead to frustration and anxiety that marketing spend is being wasted,” says Morris.
Turnover of personnel and strategies also hinders consistent planning. Marketing plans outlive the tenure of the people who developed them, and without proper documentation, ideas get lost when people change.
The book cites the fact that the average tenure of CMOs at the top 100 advertisers will be 3.1 years by 2023, down from previous years.
“No two businesses are the same,” says Morris, “so following a specific process is essential to optimizing your digital marketing strategy.”
Morris created a process called START, which has five phases.
S stands for strategyThis is where we understand your business and consider what goals you can reasonably set and achieve with digital marketing. We then consider everything from setting goals, tying marketing metrics to business outcomes, and reviewing past marketing efforts and expectations before moving on to the next stage of the planning process.
T is for tacticsThis is where you consider all possibilities for reaching your goals, plan your business outcomes, and be flexible on how you achieve them. Using leading research and estimation tools, you evaluate all the potential channels and networks you can leverage (SEO, Google Ads, LinkedIn sponsored content, etc.) to find opportunities to reach your target audience.
A is ApplicationThis is the time to completely define the assets, big and small, that you need to organize or build your home. The inventory list includes advertisements, graphics, web pages, copy, content, and the creation of the necessary creative and advertising.
R is for reviewThis is where you define the aspects needed to manage and measure success and hold the plan accountable. That means creating performance measurement dashboards and systems that tie into the final ROI equation, roll-up performance, channel performance, and resource measurements. This phase also involves setting up a project management system and tuning a resource planning platform to manage the work. Finally, you arrive at benchmarks, budgets, reporting, and overall roles.
T stands for Transformation. In this final stage, you schedule your tactics to be subordinate to your overall strategy. Create a comprehensive calendar of your tactics, optimization processes, agile strategies, and reporting cycles. Also, plan your milestones, flights and content pushes, experiments, tasks, and assignments across the board.
This process sets out the best possible outcomes based on your defined strategy, while also providing you with ROI reporting and the big picture for ongoing review.
Morris emphasizes that digital marketing is an investment. This perspective not only highlights the potential return on investment, but also makes strategic planning and execution compelling.
“Without a strategic plan, you're relying on what's in people's heads, following some kind of checklist, or doing things spontaneously when you have the time or interest — that's not a recipe for success,” Morris says.
A documented plan, on the other hand, provides a clear roadmap for your digital marketing efforts and ensures a more structured and strategic approach.
Becoming a digital marketing expert requires early on to gain credibility, achieve results, and build good relationships with customers, a process that Morris explains can be completed in just a few months.
Morris’ lifelong commitment to helping others extends beyond the boardroom: The Kansas City Direct Marketing Association recognized Morris with its 2019 Marketer of the Year award for his industry leadership, client success and community-focused efforts.
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