Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
The Prepare stage
You are now ready to move on to the prepare stage of developing your search marketing strategy. At this stage, you carry out a number of tasks:
- Create the media plans for different channels based on the budgets that you have agreed. When you bring these together, they may change slightly, but you can expect them to remain the same if you budget it correctly.
- Assign resources to each aspect of the plan. Do this first by thinking of who the best people would be to help you get to the goals you are looking to achieve. Rather than starting with a budget and fitting it in that way, if you start with the best possible team, you can trim things accordingly and later if needed.
- Attach a proposed budget for each activity which, if you have done things correctly with your media plan will detail the resources that you’ll need from a personnel and technology standpoint.
- Assimilate the information. This should flow naturally and the output of this should be one overarching search marketing plan which, as we know, may fluctuate over time. But this is something everyone can buy into for the next 12 months.
Before we start looking at each channel in isolation, we should think about what our overarching strategy is going to be for this search marketing plan. This is pivotal in ensuring that all search marketing channels work in tandem to achieve optimal results.
You need to do this for each of the six search marketing channels:
- SEO
- Content marketing
- Paid search
- Display
- Video advertising
- Ecommerce advertising
Creating the brief
Once you have your objectives, you can turn them into a brief, and turn a brief into a strategy. By starting with a brief, you can identify the platforms that are going to drive a successful outcome.
Back to TopMatthew Santos
Matthew Santos is the Vice President of Products & Strategy at Neil Patel Accel. He initially built the four major product offerings they provide to customers, and continues to oversee three of those: SEO, CRO, and Email Marketing. He has been in the industry for almost 10 years, primarily focused on Earned Media digital tactics.
Clark Boyd
Clark Boyd is CEO and founder of marketing simulations company Novela. He is also a digital strategy consultant, author, and trainer. Over the last 12 years, he has devised and implemented international marketing strategies for brands including American Express, Adidas, and General Motors.
Today, Clark works with business schools at the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and Columbia University to design and deliver their executive-education courses on data analytics and digital marketing.
Clark is a certified Google trainer and runs Google workshops across Europe and the Middle East. This year, he has delivered keynote speeches at leadership events in Latin America, Europe, and the US. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and Slideshare. He writes regularly on Medium and you can subscribe to his email newsletter, hi, tech.
Neil Patel
Neil Patel is the co-founder of NP Digital. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. Neil is a New York Times bestselling author and was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations.
Brooke Hess
Digital Marketing Strategist and VP of Paid Media (NP Digital)
Brooke Hess is a highly skilled and passionate digital marketer with an extensive background in the paid media space. While leading a team of Directors across strategy, paid social, paid search, and programmatic media, Brooke oversees paid media strategy for priority clients and develops effective strategies for new clients. Brooke is also recognized as a high achiever in providing effective educational opportunities for paid media professionals to ensure they get the most from their paid media strategies.
