Then skip the strategy and go straight to it: SEO, Google Ads, paid social or email. Each page says what the work includes and what we will need from you. If you are weighing two of them, the strategy is the cheaper way to find out.
Digital marketing strategy
Decide before you spend.
A digital marketing strategy decides what you say, where you say it, what you spend and how you will know it worked. We write it down.
What you get
What is in a digital marketing strategy?
A short document you will actually use. Who you sell to and what they search for, read and watch. The channels you will use and, just as useful, the ones you will leave alone. The messages for each, the budget split between them, a calendar for the next quarter and the figures you will judge it by.
It is a set of decisions, not a forecast. We don’t predict sales or promise rankings, because nobody can honestly do either. What a digital marketing strategy for small businesses does is stop money going where buyers are not, and give every piece of work that follows a reason to exist.
It leads our social media and marketing line, and the work that follows it can be done by us or by your own team.
How it is built
How is a marketing strategy put together?
Listen
An hour or two with you, your sales figures if you will share them, your website analytics and what your customers have told you. For Troda we listed every service, product and value in its earlier documents before deciding anything.
Research
What people search for in each country you sell in, who already ranks and advertises for it, and where your buyers spend their time. See market research for the full version.
Decide
Channels in and out, the message for each, the split of the budget you have told us you can spend, and the one or two figures that will tell you whether it is working.
Write it down and hand it over
The strategy document, a quarter’s calendar and a brief for each piece of work, so anyone can pick it up: us, your team or another supplier.
Channels
Which channels earn a place in the plan?
Each channel suits a different buyer and asks something different of you. The strategy picks two or three and says why the rest can wait.
| Channel | Suits | What it needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Anything people search for by name | Patience, and pages worth reading |
| Google Ads | The same searches, from day one | A click budget paid to Google |
| Paid social | Buyers who weren’t looking yet | An ad budget paid to the platform, and pictures |
| Organic social | Brands with something to show each week | Time, photos and a calendar |
| Customers and subscribers you already have | A list gathered with consent | |
| Local trade, events and older buyers | A printer and a distribution plan |
Marketing reports
What goes into a marketing report?
A marketing report once a month, one page long, in plain words, with the raw figures attached. Everything in it comes from accounts in your own name. A marketing analytics report is only useful if you read it, so we keep it short.
- Spend by channelWhat went to each platform and what our work cost, kept separate, so the two are never confused.
- Enquiries and sales by sourceWhich channel each enquiry came from, and what each one cost, as far as your tracking can tell.
- Website and search figuresVisits, the pages that brought them, and your positions for the searches the strategy chose.
- What changed, and what is nextThe work done that month, what we learnt from the figures and what we recommend changing. Measured results only; no forecasts.
Social media & marketing
Related services
Questions
Questions about digital marketing strategy
Question not here? Send it to us and we will answer it directly.
Ask a questionHow do we start?
Email hello@redfoxbranding.com or use the project form with what you sell, where you sell it and what has and hasn’t worked so far. We then ask for read access to your website analytics and any ad or email accounts, and book the first conversation. The quote is fixed, and the strategy is yours to use with anyone.
Do you carry out the strategy as well?
If you want us to. The document ends with a brief for every piece of work, and each brief can go to us, to your own staff or to another supplier. Many clients keep the writing and the ads with us and run their social media in-house, using the calendar we leave behind. Fees for the follow-on work are on the pricing page.
Will the strategy guarantee results?
No. A strategy is a set of informed decisions about where to put your effort and money, and the market still has a say. What it does guarantee is that nothing is spent by habit, that every channel has a reason and a measure, and that you will know within a quarter what to keep and what to stop.
How much should a small business spend on marketing?
We won’t give you a percentage, because the honest answer depends on your margins, your market and how fast you want to grow. You tell us what you can commit each month without worry, and the strategy splits that between the channels most likely to bring buyers, with the ad budgets paid by you to the platforms directly.
Already know which channel you need?
Get a quote for a digital marketing strategy
Tell us what you sell, where your customers are and what you can spend each month. We reply with a fixed quote for the research, the conversations and the written plan, in pounds, dollars or rand, and nothing starts until you agree to it. That is how your digital marketing strategy begins.