Passed on 7 April, 2025
3. The importance of strategy
In this lesson, we’ll explore how creating an online business strategy can drive business growth, what a good strategy looks like, and common steps to achieve your business goals.
✅ Learning objectivesBy the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:Understand how a strategy is beneficial.Formulate an effective digital marketing strategy.Explore how AI can assist in strategy development.Recognise examples of successful strategies.
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Understand how a strategy is beneficial.
Formulate an effective digital marketing strategy.
Explore how AI can assist in strategy development.
Recognise examples of successful strategies.
What is a digital marketing strategy?
A digital marketing strategy is a structured plan that outlines how a business will use digital channels to achieve its marketing goals. It serves as a roadmap, helping you make informed decisions, engage with the right audience, and track progress toward your objectives.
How strategy is beneficial
A well-defined strategy helps clarify your goals, align your efforts, and support informed decision-making — all essential for business success.
Enhanced clarity
A structured strategy gets your ideas out of your head and into a focused plan, helping you appreciate the big picture and prioritise what matters most.
Goal alignment
With a clear strategy, you can align specific actions to your goals – just like setting a fitness goal requires tailored actions (e.g., stretching for flexibility) – this ensures each step you take moves you closer to success.
Informed decision-making
Knowing your goals makes it easier to prioritise. When facing choices, ask: ‘Does this decision help me reach my objectives?’ This focus helps guide your decisions in the right direction.
Exploring common goals for success
Understanding what you want to achieve can help you make the right decisions at the right time. Let’s look at some typical goals and strategies that you can leverage.
Increase online sales
If your goal is to boost online sales, focus on driving traffic to your primary sales channels. This may include your website, social media platforms, online marketplaces, and apps. Here are three effective methods.
Paid advertising
Invest in targeted ads to reach potential customers quickly. Automated tools can create compelling copy and visuals tailored to your audience, optimising your campaigns across all of Google's channels to maximise your return on investment.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Optimise your website with relevant keywords, high-quality content, and user-friendly design to improve your visibility in search engine results.
Content marketing
Create valuable content that addresses your audience’s needs and interests. Use blog posts, videos, and infographics to engage and inform, guiding them towards a purchase.
Enhance brand awareness
To increase awareness of your business or brand, leverage digital channels like social media, email marketing, and online advertising platforms.
Grow your email marketing list
Encourage sign-ups by clearly communicating the benefits of subscribing. Here are some effective strategies to engage audiences.
Highlight exclusive content
Create a sense of exclusivity by providing members with early access to news, product launches, or events. This approach fosters a feeling of belonging and keeps subscribers engaged.
Promote special offers
Use enticing promotions, such as discounts or freebies, as incentives for sign-ups. Clearly state what subscribers will receive, ensuring it feels valuable and worthwhile.
Use clear calls-to-action
In emails, include strong, clear calls-to-action (CTAs) like ‘Claim your discount’ to encourage engagement. Effective CTAs guide subscribers to take immediate action, which can significantly boost conversion rates.
Share social proof
Include testimonials or success stories from current subscribers to showcase the value of your email content. This helps build trust and encourages others to join.
How to formulate a strategy
A clear strategy starts with setting specific goals, defining your mission, identifying your unique selling point (USP), and continuously monitoring your progress.
Building an effective strategy
Discover the key steps to creating a strong strategy—from setting clear goals to tracking progress and adapting your approach for success.
- Define your goals
The first step is to clearly define your goals. Perhaps you’d like to increase sales by 20% or identify 100 potential customers. Setting goals provides direction and a clear path to follow.
- Articulate your mission
Next, articulate your business's purpose through a mission statement. This simple sentence could be something like ‘to inspire healthier communities’ or ‘to provide fun spaces for everyday fitness.’ We have an activity on how to do this later in the training.
- Identify your USP
Identify your unique selling point (USP)— this is what makes you stand out from your competition. Analyse similar businesses and pinpoint what differentiates you, such as exceptional customer service. We’ll cover USPs in more detail in an upcoming lesson.
- Analyse and adapt
Keep an eye on your progress regularly. Use tools like sales reports, website analytics, or built-in analytics available on platforms like social media and email marketing. These tools help you see if you’re moving closer to your goals. Adjust your strategy as needed to stay on track and achieve your objectives.
How AI can enhance your digital marketing strategy
AI assistants, like Gemini or ChatGPT, can support your digital marketing strategy by helping with key aspects of the process. Let’s explore some specific ways Gemini can support you.
Explore how AI can help
Learn how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help you simplify goal setting, refine your mission, and provide valuable insights to support your strategy.
Set your goals
Use AI to analyse past data and suggest specific, measurable goals aligned with your business objectives.Note: Check out the policies for your chosen AI assistant and your organisation’s policies before entering any confidential or sensitive information. This can help you to make informed decisions that help protect your privacy and data security.
Note: Check out the policies for your chosen AI assistant and your organisation’s policies before entering any confidential or sensitive information. This can help you to make informed decisions that help protect your privacy and data security.
Note: Check out the policies for your chosen AI assistant and your organisation’s policies before entering any confidential or sensitive information. This can help you to make informed decisions that help protect your privacy and data security.
Craft your mission statement
Brainstorm with AI to refine your mission statement, helping you clearly define your core values and vision.
Get insightful summaries
Use AI to turn publicly available information, like industry trends, competitor analysis, or survey results, into clear insights. This helps you track progress and adapt quickly to changes. (We’ll cover data analysis in a later module.)
Check your knowledge
How do these benefits work in real life? Here are some quick questions so you can check how well you’ve learned the key steps for building a strong digital strategy.
Question 1 of 3
What is the first essential step to start building a digital strategy?
Define business goals
Create an email template
Find an investor
Ask the bank for advice
Submit
Submit
Yes.Determining business goals is an essential first step to guide your efforts. Clear goals ensure that all actions are focused and purposeful, aligning with your vision.
Question 2 of 3
What step comes after setting your business goals?
Launch a blog
Hire an assistant
Design a logo
Write a mission statement
Submit
Submit
Yes.Writing a mission statement is a crucial second step as it defines your business's purpose and values, guiding decisions and aligning everyone with your goals.
Question 3 of 3
What should your third step be?
Launch an advertising campaign
Identify your USP
Launch a newsletter
Hire an accountant
Submit
Submit
Yes.Identifying a unique selling proposition (USP) is an important third step. It highlights what makes your business stand out, helping you attract the right customers.
Create your strategy
Spend some time completing the activity on this page. You can use your own business or one you're familiar with. This is an opportunity to see how AI assistants, like Gemini, can help generate ideas and refine your strategy to support business goals.
✅ ActivityFollow these steps to build your own marketing strategy. Once you have your responses, go to Gemini.google.com, or another AI assistant or tool of your choice, and explore how AI can enhance your ideas and fine-tune your messaging.Check the items off as you go.Set specific, measurable goals to give your strategy clear direction.Craft your mission statement that reflects your business’s purpose and values.Identify your unique selling point (USP) by highlighting what makes your business stand out from competitors.Check you’re happy with your chosen AI assistant’s policies.Enter your information into the prompt bar and ask your AI assistant to help you refine your digital marketing strategy.
Activity
Follow these steps to build your own marketing strategy. Once you have your responses, go to Gemini.google.com, or another AI assistant or tool of your choice, and explore how AI can enhance your ideas and fine-tune your messaging.
Set specific, measurable goals to give your strategy clear direction.
Craft your mission statement that reflects your business’s purpose and values.
Identify your unique selling point (USP) by highlighting what makes your business stand out from competitors.
Check you’re happy with your chosen AI assistant’s policies.
Enter your information into the prompt bar and ask your AI assistant to help you refine your digital marketing strategy.
Download PDF
Download PDF
Lesson complete
Great job!Now that you’ve learned the importance of a clear strategy, the next lessons will guide you through the essential components of building a successful digital strategy. We’ll dive deeper into how to assess your digital presence, research the competition, and position your business to stand out.Head to the next lesson to learn more about how to conduct an audit of your digital presence.
Now that you’ve learned the importance of a clear strategy, the next lessons will guide you through the essential components of building a successful digital strategy. We’ll dive deeper into how to assess your digital presence, research the competition, and position your business to stand out.Head to the next lesson to learn more about how to conduct an audit of your digital presence.
Head to the next lesson to learn more about how to conduct an audit of your digital presence.
Head to the next lesson to learn more about how to conduct an audit of your digital presence.