{"id":1145,"date":"2021-12-11T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-11T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rblog.it\/en\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2026-05-18T03:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T03:00:26","slug":"types-digital-marketing-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rblog.it\/en\/web-marketing\/types-digital-marketing-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Marketing Strategy: Types and How to Build One"},"content":{"rendered":"

A digital marketing strategy<\/strong> is the plan that decides which channels you use, who you target, and how you measure whether it worked. Without one, marketing becomes a series of disconnected campaigns that compete for the same budget and never compound. This guide covers the main types of digital marketing, why a written strategy matters, and a six-step process to build your own \u2014 with examples at each stage.<\/p>\n

What a digital marketing strategy is<\/h2>\n

People confuse three terms, so start by separating them. A strategy<\/strong> is the high-level plan: the goal, the audience, the positioning, the channels you will and will not use. A campaign<\/strong> is a time-bound activity inside that strategy \u2014 a product launch, a seasonal push. A tactic<\/strong> is a single action, like one email or one ad set.<\/p>\n

The strategy sits above the other two. It answers four questions before any campaign starts: what outcome you want, who you are trying to reach, why they would choose you, and how you will know if it is working. Get those wrong and no amount of clever tactics will fix it.<\/p>\n

How digital marketing operates<\/h2>\n

Digital marketing works by moving a stranger through stages \u2014 from not knowing you exist, to considering you, to buying, to coming back. Marketers call this the funnel<\/strong>, and different channels do different jobs along it.<\/p>\n

Top of funnel is about awareness: reaching people who have a problem but do not know your name. The middle is consideration: helping people who are comparing options. The bottom is conversion: turning a ready buyer into a customer. A working strategy assigns each channel to the stage it actually serves, instead of expecting one channel to do everything.<\/p>\n

[IMG: a marketing funnel diagram with awareness, consideration and conversion stages, each labeled with example channels]<\/p>\n

The main types of digital marketing<\/h2>\n

There are many channels, but most strategies draw from the same core set. Here is what each one does and where it fits.<\/p>\n

Search engine optimization (SEO)<\/h3>\n

SEO earns unpaid visibility in search results. It is slow to build and durable once it works, which makes it a compounding asset rather than a quick win. It serves all three funnel stages depending on the keyword. See our guide on how SEO drives business growth<\/a> for the full picture.<\/p>\n

Pay-per-click and paid search<\/h3>\n

Paid search puts you at the top of results for a fee, charged per click. It is fast, measurable, and stops the moment you stop paying. It is strongest at the bottom of the funnel, catching people ready to buy. Our guide to pay-per-click advertising<\/a> covers how it works.<\/p>\n

Content marketing<\/h3>\n

Content marketing creates articles, videos, and guides that attract and educate an audience. It feeds SEO, fills social channels, and supports email. It builds trust slowly and rarely converts on its own.<\/p>\n

Social media marketing<\/h3>\n

Social channels build audience and community, and increasingly act as discovery engines. Organic reach is limited, so most brands pair it with paid promotion.<\/p>\n

Email marketing and automation<\/h3>\n

Email is the one channel you own outright \u2014 no algorithm sits between you and the inbox. It is the strongest tool for retention, nurturing, and repeat sales.<\/p>\n

Display and banner advertising<\/h3>\n

Display ads keep a brand visible and retarget warm visitors across the web. Read our guide on banner advertising<\/a> for formats and best practice.<\/p>\n

Affiliate and partnership marketing<\/h3>\n

Affiliate marketing pays partners a commission for sales they refer \u2014 a low-risk, performance-based channel. Our affiliate marketing guide<\/a> explains the payout models.<\/p>\n

Mobile marketing<\/h3>\n

Most digital activity now happens on phones, so mobile is less a separate channel than a constraint on every other one. See our overview of mobile marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why you need a written digital marketing strategy<\/h2>\n

Plenty of businesses market online without a documented strategy. They usually share the same problems.<\/p>\n

Budget leaks.<\/strong> Without a plan, spending follows whoever shouts loudest internally, not where returns are best. Channels contradict each other.<\/strong> The ad promises one thing, the landing page says another, the email a third. Nothing compounds.<\/strong> Each campaign starts from zero because there is no shared positioning or audience definition to build on. And you cannot tell what worked<\/strong>, because no one agreed on the metric in advance.<\/p>\n

A written strategy fixes this by forcing decisions before money is spent. It is also what lets a team scale: new people can read it instead of guessing. The document does not need to be long \u2014 one or two pages that anyone can act on beats a fifty-slide deck nobody opens.<\/p>\n

How to build a digital marketing strategy in 6 steps<\/h2>\n

The process below works for a one-person business and a small marketing team alike. Move through it in order \u2014 each step depends on the one before.<\/p>\n

Step 1 \u2014 Set a specific goal<\/h3>\n

“Grow the business” is not a goal. “Generate 40 qualified leads per month by Q3” is. A usable goal is measurable, time-bound, and tied to revenue. Set one primary goal and at most two supporting ones. More than that and the strategy loses focus.<\/p>\n

Step 2 \u2014 Define the audience<\/h3>\n

Describe who you are selling to in concrete terms: their role, their problem, where they look for solutions, what stops them from buying. If you sell to other businesses, define the company and the person inside it. Vague audiences produce vague messaging that converts no one.<\/p>\n

Step 3 \u2014 Audit what you already have<\/h3>\n

List your current assets \u2014 website, email list, social following, existing content, past campaign data. Note what performs and what does not. Most strategies improve faster by fixing weak assets than by adding new channels.<\/p>\n

Step 4 \u2014 Choose your channels<\/h3>\n

Match channels to the goal, the audience, and your capacity. A small team running five channels badly will lose to a team running two channels well. Pick the two or three where your audience actually is, and assign each one a funnel stage and a job.<\/p>\n

Step 5 \u2014 Plan the budget and calendar<\/h3>\n

Split the budget across channels by expected return, and keep a portion \u2014 around 10% to 20% \u2014 for testing. Then build a calendar: what publishes or launches, when, and who owns it. A strategy without a calendar stays a wish.<\/p>\n

Step 6 \u2014 Define how you measure success<\/h3>\n

For each channel, pick one primary metric tied to the goal \u2014 leads, sales, qualified traffic \u2014 not vanity numbers like raw impressions. Set a review cadence, usually monthly. The plan is a draft until real data tells you which parts to keep.<\/p>\n

A digital marketing strategy example<\/h2>\n

Here is the six-step process applied to a small B2B software company.<\/p>\n

Goal:<\/strong> 30 demo requests per month within six months. Audience:<\/strong> operations managers at companies with 20\u2013100 staff, who currently track work in spreadsheets. Audit:<\/strong> a decent website, no email list, a thin blog. Channels:<\/strong> SEO for “spreadsheet alternative” type searches (consideration), paid search for high-intent terms (conversion), email to nurture trial users (retention). Budget:<\/strong> most of the spend on paid search at first, shifting toward content as SEO matures. Measurement:<\/strong> demo requests as the primary metric, cost per demo as the efficiency check.<\/p>\n

Notice what the strategy leaves out. No social media, no display, no affiliate program \u2014 not because those are bad channels, but because they do not serve this goal yet. Saying no is half the work.<\/p>\n

Turning the strategy into action<\/h2>\n

A strategy only matters once it produces movement. Translate each channel into concrete first tasks with owners and dates, start with the smallest version that can be measured, and review on a fixed schedule. Once the basics run reliably, structured growth experiments<\/a> let you improve specific numbers without rewriting the whole plan. Treat the strategy as a living document \u2014 revisit it each quarter and cut what the data does not support.<\/p>\n

FAQ<\/h2>\n

What is the difference between a digital marketing strategy and a campaign?<\/h3>\n

A strategy is the long-term plan \u2014 goals, audience, channels, and metrics. A campaign is a time-bound activity inside that strategy, such as a product launch. The strategy decides direction; the campaign executes one part of it.<\/p>\n

How many channels should a digital marketing strategy use?<\/h3>\n

For a small business or team, two or three channels run well beats five run poorly. Choose the channels where your audience actually is, give each a clear job, and add more only once the first ones are working reliably.<\/p>\n

How often should I update my digital marketing strategy?<\/h3>\n

Review performance monthly and revisit the full strategy each quarter. Markets, channels, and costs shift, so a plan written once and never revisited drifts out of date within a year.<\/p>\n

Do small businesses really need a written strategy?<\/h3>\n

Yes. A written strategy does not need to be long \u2014 one or two pages is enough. It prevents budget leaks, keeps channels consistent, and lets the plan compound instead of restarting with every campaign.<\/p>\n

Where to go next<\/h2>\n

Start with the goal, not the channel. Write down one measurable outcome, define exactly who you are selling to, and pick the two or three channels that genuinely reach them. Build a simple calendar, decide your metrics before you spend, and review monthly. A short, honest strategy that the whole team can act on will beat an elaborate plan that stays in a drawer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Digital Marketing Strategy: Types and How to Build One<\/a><\/blockquote>