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Research Activities

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Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Key activities

The following activities conducted during the Research phase are intended to develop key insights that guide your strategic direction:

  • Research mapping: Identifying all the points of data that will input to strategy
  • Channel analytics: Utilizing your existing data on existing channels to make decisions
  • Audience research: Finding out more about your target audience that you can use to reach them effectively
  • Keyword research: Taking insights from how your customers utilize keywords in search engines
  • Social listening: Observing how people talk about your brand, category, or industry on social media.

The purpose of research is to learn as much as possible before developing a strategy. We often enter into the strategic process with assumptions. When faced with a challenge, we often feel like we know the answer. Research is not necessarily to prove you are wrong, but can also confirm you are right and support your decisions.

The research phase plays a core role in learning as much about your target audience, your industry, and the environment as possible. This information is going to become the backbone of your strategy. It ensures that your strategy is built upon insight instead of just assumptions alone. You will start to learn more about people, you'll start to discover new things about the audience and the platforms that you have already, and that will start to inform what you're trying to do.

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Please note that the module slides are designed to work in collaboration with the module transcript document. It is recommended that you use both resources simultaneously.

Digital Marketing Resources:

Jessica Preddy

Jessica is a consultant with experience in marketing and an in-depth knowledge of the latest marketing techniques. Her previous roles have included working in a marketing agency and numerous customer-service-facing positions that have given her exposure to a wide range of customers and clients.

The following pieces of content from the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library have been chosen to offer additional material that you might find interesting or insightful. While relevant to this module, you will not be assessed on this content.

You can find more information and content like this on the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library

ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

Digital Marketing Strategy
Jessica Preddy
Skills Expert

This module identifies the core components of an effective digital marketing strategy and explains how to develop an effective budget plan and measure the ROI for digital activities. It covers how to set clear and actionable objectives and measurable KPIs as well as the key research activities to undertake to guide channel selection and messaging. It also explains how to develop a creative strategy based on campaign research to engage an audience and deliver on campaign goals. The module concludes by explaining how to execute a digital marketing strategy supported by a channel plan, a paid media plan, a campaign action plan, and succinct strategy documentation.