The 35 Point Digital Marketing Checklist for Small & Medium Business

Take Charge of your Digital Marketing with this 35 Point Checklist

No, this isn't another washed-out guide spouting trends like 'social media will be big in 2017'. 
Yes, this is a real, step-by-step digital marketing checklist.

How do I use it?

1. As a base to get started. Ask the right questions and develop (or update) a customer-focused, multi-channel digital strategy for your business in 2017 and beyond
2. To prepare for engaging with (or changing) a digital agency partner

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Most importantly, we want to help you answer this question:

"We're an [insert company] selling [insert products] in [insert location].
How do we go about digital marketing?"

* The checklist is based on 15 years' working with clients digital-agency-side and similar to the kinds of questions you might get asked in a typical 'client brief' or 'discovery' meeting.

A) To Start... Housekeeping & Prep

Whether engaging with a digital agency for the first time or changing agencies (or even if you aren't), it's always good to have your house in order.

​1. Get prepared. It will save time and effort later.

For example, a digital agency will often need access to:

• Login details (passwords) or permissions granted to analytics accounts, social media accounts, email campaign managers etc.
• Previous reports, research and data if available
• Website CMS access or direct FTP access to the website if no 'content management system'

• Core Brand and Creative assets: high resolution images and logos, corporate style guides etc.
• Digital copies of current promotional material if any 
• Case studies and testimonials (if you don't have these yet, start getting some)

This might seem basic at first. But, if we had a dollar for every hour spent chasing down login details over the years... well, you know how it goes...

Also give some thought to:

2. Nominate one key stakeholder 
This is a primary contact to act as a liaison between your business and the agency. That person should be a filter for any internal conflict and only relay the final decision and comments to the agency as well as ​acting as a conduit with other service providers to keep information flowing.

B) Your Current Marketing​ Strategy

Take stock of your current strategy:

3. Which providers do you already work with and how will they work together moving forward? (will there be any conflict of services?)

​4. What other domain names / apps / online assets do you own and how are these related to each other?

​5. If considering SEO... Has any previous SEO work been done on the website(s)?
​Is there any risk that dodgy techniques were used or could your website be penalised?

6. What is your current marketing mix and spend? What's working and what isn't? How are things connected?
Radio, TV, Print, Directory, Website, Adwords, SEO, Social Media, Direct Mail, Other?
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Take stock of your current resources & situation

C) Be Clear on Your Goals​

Before you get to the 'marketing' part, it's essential to be clear on the basics.

7. List 3-5 primary goals of your digital marketing efforts. 
​Be specific. Don't just list 'more sales'. They should also be measurable, agreed upon and achievable (especially if working with a digital agency), realistic, relevant and time-based where possible (SMART).

8. Define what success looks like - what metrics do you plan to track and use to gauge success?

9. In what time frame do you hope to see these results?

10. Which conversion goals do you want people to take?

11. How much is a good conversion worth to you? Consider one-off sales and also the lifetime value 'LTV' of a customer.

Some example goals:

• Increased sales of product A by 10%
• % More online quote enquiries 
• Improved referral ratio 2:1
• % Increased repeat website visitors or purchases
• % Increase in mobile app installs

• % Increase in newsletter subscriptions
• % Improved conversion rate from paid search 
• % Improved engagement on social media
• % More downloads of your catalogue PDF
• % More organic traffic to your website

D) Your Company ​

Be consistent in how your company is represented online:

12. Ensure your NAP ('Name', 'Address', 'Phone') and Industry details are consistently formatted, complete and clear on all online portals. *This not only helps people find you online, but it's a local SEO tip too.

13. What's your grand vision / story / purpose? Why does your organisation exist?
Don't underestimate the importance of starting with the 'WHY' of your organisation.

The Golden Circle - Start with the 'WHY'

14. What are your Unique Value Propositions (or 'Unique Selling Propositions')?
What are the main benefits of your products or services that are unique to your business?

• List at least 2-3 and be as specific as possible - not just 'great quality'.

15. Is your business (or products) seasonal?
Are sales heavily influenced by the time/season of year or during specific holidays?

16. What is your main business model? How does you business work?
For example: Online / offline sales? Retail or wholesale? Physical purchase or mail order?
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17. How many staff do you have?
What skills or qualifications do they have that are worth highlighting?

18. What memberships or associations is your business part of?
Give thought to what logos etc. you need to display and also how you can connect with these groups online.

19. Opening Hours
As with point 12 - be clear and consistent with these, including your holiday opening hours. 

A small mistake on your Google My Business page could be telling potential customers you are closed at the wrong times

E) Your Products & Services​

Understand your highest value products and services:

20. Is your website up to date with your current products/services?
Are any of the products listed no longer available?

21. What are your 'hero' products (your most profitable products or services to promote)?
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22. How many of these products/services do you sell in a year?
​How many would you like to sell?

23. What (according to your customers) makes them choose your products or services?

24. Why do clients come back to you/repeat purchase?

F) Your Audience​

Get to know your audience.

25. In which geographic areas do you operate and where could you expand to?

26. Are your current customers your ideal customers?
​Why (or why not)?
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27. Who do you most want to reach?

28. 'Personas' - What do your most valuable customers look like? 
Personas are semi fictional representations of real customers.

** Repeat points 28 a-t for at least 2-3 'ideal customers':

• 28a. Age? (10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50+)
• 28b. Income? (Low, Medium, High, Other)
• 28c. Occupation/s?
• 28d. Gender?
• 28e. Where are they located?
• 28f. What's their status? (Married, Single, Family, Other)
• 28g. What are their hobbies and interests?
• 28h. What do they value? (Lifestyle, Organic, Cost-Savings etc.)
• 28i. Which of their problems can be solved by your business' products or services?
• 28j. How will they benefit?
• 28k. What would they value most in your products or services?
• 28l. How do they buy? (Online, In store)
• 28m. What channels do they use during a purchase decision? (Social Media, Review sites etc.)
• 28n. Which devices are they on the most? (Mobile, Tablet, Desktop etc.)
• 28o. When do they buy? (Time of day/week, seasonally, certain life events)
• 28p. Are they loyal/repeat or once-off customers?
• 28q. Do they buy based on cost or other motivators?
• 28r. How often do they purchase? (Daily, weekly, every 4 years etc.
• 28s. What else are they looking for when they come to your website?​
  How else can you provide value? Blog articles, whitepapers, how-to videos, vendor comparisons etc.
• 28t. What should be avoided when communicating with these customers?

Digital Marketing opens up many opportunities to identify and target your customers. Take advantage of this: understand your customers, go where they are and make your marketing investment count.

Digital marketing opens up many targeting opportunities

G) Your Competitors​ & Industry

We're not suggesting you 'copy' your competitors, but you should understand what they are doing and how your audience is used to receiving information in your industry
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29. Who are your 3 biggest direct competitors?

30. Which channels do competitors typically use to compete online in your industry?  (Video, SEM, SEO, Social Media, other)

31. What's the size of your industry and your current Vs desired market share? 

32. Is your industry price-sensitive? Are there any other specific ways competitors compete in your industry? Seasonal discounting, value-add products, free quotes etc.
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33. How are you currently positioned in your industry?
Are there any opportunities or threats?

34. Are there specific words or phrases (or 'industry jargon') people might search for ONLY in your industry? 

35. Are there specific promotions you would normally run?
When and how could you run these on digital/online channels? Who would you target and why?

Putting It Into Action - AKA 'The Marketing Part'

Now, what do you do with this information?

Hopefully you've already had a few light bulbs turn on during this process and some ideas are flowing.

If not, then engaging with a digital marketing consultant or digital agency can certainly help you kick start things, avoid any costly mistakes and set you in the right direction.

If you still want to give it a try yourself first, here are a few tips:

• The general rule of thumb is to aim where your audience is.
• Test. Learn quickly. Repeat what works.
• Consider the whole purchase funnel (awareness, consideration, decision, post-purchase, retention & advocacy) and how you can engage with your current customers and future customers to offer value.

What works for your business and customers will not be the same as someone else, even if they are in the same location and industry.

The diagram below gives an example of what you could focus on at various stages of the customer journey, and which channels may be effective. But this is only a guide; always start with your business goals first.

Consider the entire customer journey in your marketing efforts and provide value when it counts. Source: crownpeak.com

A few thoughts and ideas:

a) If you need more awareness or are looking to influence buyers during the consideration stage you could:

• Run a social media ad campaign or focus on boosting your social media presence and engagement
• Run a Google Adwords display campaign to show banners across Google's display network (for example - you can place banner ads on relevant blogs or similar websites with 'targeted placements').
• For a longer term strategy you could engage with an SEO professional to optimise your site and attempt to show up higher in organic listings (though do keep in mind that SEO may not always be the best solution for small businesses on a tight budget).

b) If your goal is more activations or purchases, perhaps:

• Consider an Adwords search campaign focusing on keywords and copy targeted to people closer to the end of the purchase funnel with higher purchase intent.
• You could pair this with a remarketing campaign to place banner ads and target people who have already visited your site to try and entice them back to complete a purchase.

c) Or are your customers likely to make repeat purchases or refer friends?

• If so, perhaps a well planned Email Campaign offering a promotional voucher for referrals or repeat purchase might work well.

And don't forget - 

d) In all of this, it's important to make sure your website:

• Is generally working well and free from errors
• Loads quickly (ideally no more than 2-3 seconds)
• Is mobile friendly
• Is easy for people to make a purchase or booking (reduce friction in purchase funnels)

You don't want to be 'pouring water into a leaky bucket'!

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