Structuring Your Inbound Marketing Campaign

When helping clients with digital marketing, one of the main questions we are asked is how to create a digital marketing plan. The tenets of a digital plan are similar to a traditional marketing plan, it is just that the implementation of the plan requires the use of current digital techniques and skill sets. Otherwise, the process is still relatively the same as a traditional marketing plan. For example, the structure of a traditional marketing plan looks like this:

1. Perform Market Research and Competitor Analysis
2. Outline Objectives and Goals
3. Define Your Audience and Value Propositions
4. Select Your Channel Strategy
5. Implement Your Plan
6. Measure and Audit Your Plan
7. Revise Plan as Needed

Just like traditional marketing plans, the purpose of a digital marketing plan is to force you (and any organization) through the process of researching and clearly articulating the goals of your inbound marketing objectives, which always should include a clear strategy of the who, what, and where. As you can probably now see, the first five chapters of this text were designed with this intent. Since introducing you to The Digital Engine model, we have discussed brand development, target market selection, content management, and channel identification. All of these chapters helped you research and conceptualize your inbound marketing strategy from topical selection to brand development to content development and channel selection. For a digital marketing plan, your channel selection differs from traditional plans, in that, instead of a sales channel, it is a communication channel, but the concept of “where” still holds true.

To continue on in your planning processes, the rest of this chapter will help you transfer the content design of your matrix into an actionable editorial calendar. This will serve as the implementation stage of your marketing plan. The rolling editorial calendar is an invaluable tool that will help you keep up and stay on track with your implementation. We have already said it previously, and will continue to say it over and over, CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY! 

The only way to be able to manage and stay on track with your campaign is to be consistent in your daily schedule, which you will design in this chapter. In the digital marketing world, communication turns over so much more rapidly that most traditional marketing forms. While TV, radio, and magazine campaigns can go on for extended periods of time, digital marketing campaigns are a flash in comparison. The same content is not going to last for days, much less weeks like in traditional forms of marketing. For example, in the twittersphere, you may only get minutes to hours before a tweet stops showing up in people’s feeds. Facebook will give good quality content about 3-5 days at the most, while Instagram and LinkedIn tend to run quality content a few more days than Facebook. If you are not consistently producing and scheduling content in all of your channels, then the inbound marketing well will dry up, and it doesn’t take long. Therefore, with this primary initiative in play, that is consistent creating, curating, and posting of content, let’s get into the process of transferring your content ideas into an implementable schedule so that you are prepared and planned out for weeks in advance. This chapter is critically important so don’t short change these assignments. You NEVER want to be sitting down at your blog and think, “I need to post a blog today, what am I going to write about today?” This is the antithesis of what you want and need to happen. You NEVER want this to occur, which is why your editorial calendar is so important. So let’s get started in this chapter creating your 45-day rolling editorial calendar and get you jump-started on a path to your practicum success!