Develop a digital marketing plan

The tactics section of your digital marketing plan will describe how you will implement your strategy and define the channels and tools that you will use. It should define what you hope to achieve by using each tactic and how this relates to your main objectives. It should include how you will measure your performance.

Planning your digital marketing tactics

Your tactics should include:

• Digital marketing channels - a summary of your digital marketing mix - what channels will you use?
• Justification - the reasons why you have chosen each channel and details of implementation.
• Customer segmentation - the customer segmentation that you will use and how each channel will be targeted.
• Performance measurement - a summary of the metrics that you will use to measure performance for each channel, including key performance indicators.

Types of digital marketing tactic

There are a number of digital marketing channels and tactics you can consider:

• email marketing - an effective and low cost option to reach your audience
• search engine optimisation (SEO) - increase your organic search traffic
• content marketing - think strategically about your approach to online content 
• pay-per-click and paid search advertising - a measurable form of online advertising
• social media - offers highly targeted advertising options
• set up a small business website  - a good website is key to  securing online conversions
• create an online shop -  consider your options for selling online 
• selling through online marketplaces - some businesses sell through other websites as well as their own to reach new audiences

Digital marketing tactics to achieve objectives

Presenting your tactics in a table will help make your summary easier to read. It may also be useful to group tactics by goal:

• awareness activities aim to increase awareness of your brand or message
• acquisition tactics focus on gaining more customers
• conversion tactics seek to increase online sales or registrations 

If you are employing an agency to carry out specific parts of your digital marketing, they should feed into this section.

Download a digital marketing plan template (DOC, 74K).