Digital Marketing Project Development Using My “5D” Process

Often clients who are new to digital marketing, or who may have been in business for quite some time but haven’t yet to that point engaged in digital marketing in a committed, long-term way (which is more common) will wonder how long it could take to build a professional, agency-level online presence for a business such that it can deliver Returns On Investment (ROI) for that business.

Digital Marketing Budgets 101

They may also want to know the steps involved, what to expect, what experienced professionals do that sets them apart, and what’s entailed in each of the steps involved in fulfilling a logical process toward achieving goals.

Clients want to know how to budget for tangible growth, how long the process should take, who should be involved, but can often not know what goes into delivering the results they need or the steps responsible digital marketers need to take to make we deliver quality work.

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic and its resulting economic impact, many savvy business owners have turned to digital marketing, in some cases for the first time, in an effort to turn around failing business ventures.

Before digital marketing can deliver results it’s important to work from an organized plan detailing what is needed to be done, in what ways, and within what parameters. None of that can be established without first determining what the client needs, how they work, what limits they want to put on project development, and what their ultimate long-term goals are.

As I’ve articulated elsewhere in this blog, the significance of agenda use in digital marketing can’t really be underestimated (except by those who either don’t know what they’re doing or don’t care about achieving objectives).

Working from an organized, structured, deliberate agenda (as I’ve alluded to previously in this blog) allows for both parties to achieve far greater results in less time and ultimately reach higher Returns On Investment, than those unable to do so. That agenda is almost always divided up into the 5 phases of digital marketing project development.

To break down the 5 phases of digital marketing project development that we use and call our “5D’ approach, let’s begin at the top.

1. Define

The first step in the digital marketing project development process should always be screening, which is a part of a larger overall process called client onboarding.

Now, others may use different terms (such as roadmapping) to delineate the process of getting to know potential clients first and setting parameters secondly, but the primary objective here at this point is axiomatic to any experienced professionals in the digital marketing field.

Client onboarding is a vital necessity that is most often overlooked more than any other step by hobbyist web developers more than any other step in the process. When you have those who are new to digital marketing approaching those who are new to proper client onboarding, you have a recipe for chaos waiting to be fulfilled: those who may not know how to properly scale or plan a potentially complex multi-layered marketing effort combining with those who may not know how to fulfill such plans and efforts deciding to try collaboration, often through unclear methods, can be like shoveling money into a roaring furnace.

The structure for client onboarding overall should be mapped out by the digital marketer until it’s performed by rote, and the actual execution should be done in a respectful yet relaxed conversational manner.

Onboarding, where the digital marketer “trains” the client in how they work, their goal-setting processes and reasoning, sets the foundation for the digital marketing plan that is to be developed.

Client onboarding types and approaches can vary by person or company, but the more easily (you, the client) know what to expect and why the digital marketer you’re working with is professional and able to achieve your specified success metrics (or Key Performance Indicators), the more seamlessly the process will proceed and the more likely you’ll be to get done what you want. There should be at a minimum  at least 3 conversations conducted via video conferencing (usually) to discern:

• who the client is in terms of being able to work with them and acquire necessary scope information
• how established or new they may be toward utilizing digital marketing assets and benefits (after all, it does no one any good if a business owner sees no value in being #1 in Google search results or doesn’t have the staffing to scale if upgrading eCommerce)
• if their budget is realistic commensurate to their stated objectives
• how many departments or other parties you’re expected to interface with

Once those key factors are determined and terms of engagement can be worked out into a mutually-agreeable understanding of some concrete type, we can move on to the next step in the digital marketing project development timeline.

2. Discovery

Discovery is the term used to denote a project beginning, where key members of the client business team begin submitting important information and different aspects of marketing are assembled through the company website (which in older times was called, very appropriately, the company “portal” because every other form of marketing collateral went through that company website whereas today most business owners still see websites as static “one and done” items).

The digital marketing company or consultant would begin to research competitive Search Engine Optimization data, demographics, branding identity, any previous marketing assets available (such as white papers, reports, diagrams, interviews, podcasts, blog posts in need of brushing up, and whatever else the company may have had available previous to hiring the consultant or company). Whatever the agreed upon SEO is going to be (usually starting from a local demographic perspective), that previously-existing marketing collateral usually is going to have to be rebranded visually so it looks consistent with web design work and any logo and other content. You don’t want a podcast logo that’s red, a company logo that’s green, company tshirts that are purple, and so on. By the same token, blog posts should be written in tone or voice similar to that of the website content and with a similar vocabulary. Links to other related content need to be added, and the matching SEO needs to programmed into every image, every link, and coordinated. This project kickoff process can last anywhere from another 3 to 6 weeks depending on what types and volume of materials the consultant or company is working with.

The more departments within your company, the more people involved, the tighter the Key Performance Indicators, the more clearly defined success is for the project, the longer this may take, and as always, the more limited the budget, the less of this streamlining and content creation and thought there will be put into the overall end project…because the consultant or company will simply a) not be motivated and b) have to move on to a new project in order to pay necessary bills. It’s for this reason why budget is often a key indicator as to how well a project can be fulfilled in accordance with each step in the development process.

An extension of discovery is SEO research.

3. Development

Statistically, most small business websites don’t have even basic SEO or know they’re lacking it. Obviously, it helps to know what SEO is and why it’s a game-changer, and why without it a website is pretty much a car with no wheels.

What Is SEO and How Do I Use It

Not only does this lack of SEO in most small business website development explain why so many business websites don’t achieve a competitive advance in Google search result rankings, it’s also a huge waste of time and money and one that is relatively easy to reverse if the will and understanding is present.

Why There’s a Development Step

This third step in the digital marketing project development process and timeline is vital toward achieving the outcomes that most small business and enterprise level business owners want but so few permit. A website that is not visible in the appropriate SEO rankings in Google is literally invisible to the customers you’re trying to reach.

Here the digital marketer or digital marketing company you’re working with should be asking about local and national competitors, specific demographic data you should have, short term and long term goals in addition to your reasoning for establishing them, for social media account access, hosting access, image galleries or resources, and accumulating folders of this content.

The primary goal here should be to put everything together so that the website is directed and focused toward an ideal niche market. Social media channel distribution channels are either reset and reorganized or established for the first time and designed with matching logos and color palettes, with matching descriptions, links, fonts, and so on down the line. All of this needs to be performed in a methodical manner so nothing is overlooked. This step is then brought to bear into or as part of the next step.

4. Deployment

This step of deployment is a partner to and extension of all other previous steps and just as equally important. In this step we assemble content with other assets on behalf of the client. With no content, or poorly-considered content, there’s no website, nothing to attract or encourage website visitors, nothing to link to and nothing for Google to index online, so content matters.

The more well-written it is, the more depth and substance in each post and video and podcast, the better for long-term “evergreen” use and republishing and cross-referencing. Ultimately, business owners look to the internet to resolve problems. They need digital marketing to try to reach more customers, for example.

By the same token, whatever your business is, your ideal client is out there looking for you to help them solve their corresponding problem.

They’re Looking for You, But Are You Looking for Them?

Your new customers may need to be treated at your type of medical facility, or want to eat at your restaurant type, or engage in your service. They look to Google to find your business type, usually locally and not by name since Google automatically detects and bases search results based on geographic location by default, and then Google users peruse the comapny website looking for information as to whether or not you can be trusted with their hard-earned money, if you seem trustworthy, and if your information and services are accessible.

The Role Content Curation Plays

Content is a huge part of establishing that trust. Doctors who attract more patients display videos of themselves being interviewed, they post articles written about specific medical conditions and address how (or if) they’re adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. They include insurance information, interactive maps to their office, they have staff ready to answer the phone or engage in website chat, they have video appointment scheduling options, they have staff check their email twice daily, and down the line.

An Italian restaurant should have blog posts that include recipes, discuss cooking traditions and ethnical heritage, for example. There should be blog posts or recipes linking to their online store, cooking videos, or home-delivery options, or even all of the above. An accountant should have blog posts discussing audits and audit types, new tax laws, online payment options, esignature for contracts, download forms, and so on.

A church or house of worship should have sermons, directories, links to a church forum, perhaps a single site, their church store, video sermons, audio books, interactive church tours, grief counseling resources, and everything else relevant ideally before the site is live.

Whatever the profession or business, remember the site is the “portal” through which clients or customers will be directed and the more resources you have to address their needs and the more user-friendly it is designed, the more likely they are to trust you and see you as professional and caring sufficiently to provide this information.

By doing this they not only establish themselves as trustworthy authorities in the eyes of new clients, they also give Google more content across multiple channels to index and can then also resubmit that same content again over time or repurpose and repackage that same content into other types of marketing material. The more available and the more varied, the better.

Organizing that content takes time, putting it to use takes time also, but the experienced digital marketer will be grateful you have such content. This penultimate step can usually take another 3-4 weeks to fulfill.

5. Decisions

In this final step in the digital marketing project development timeline, the experienced digital marketer should take the time needed to assess each previous step to ensure all seemingly disconnected elements are orchestrated to work in unison, reinforcing each other; from backlinks, to local or national SEO terms, to product descriptions, to website links, to image alt tags and descriptions, video search terms, eCommerce assets, appointment scheduling apps, design, branding, eCommerce to take payments, design, User Experience, and more. This is the final step where all the component parts of successful digital mrketing are put together so that they can all work through the company website to attract and nurture the company’s ideal niche client type long-term.

Furthermore, it’s the often-neglected step in which plans for moving forward are put into action so that the company website can be monitored to ensure

• it’s not hacked
• that it’s backed up several times per day
• that there’s a plan for updating it’s component parts (theme, plugins, eCommerce, hosting, domain name registration, etcetera)
• Key Performance Indicators set forth in coordination with the client previously during the Define and Discovery phases are being regularly met
• that there is proper email in place
• that there’s automation where relevant
• there’s a plan for regularly fine-tuning and checking processes

In summary, if a digital marketing (or even a more holistic approach that we favor and integrates traditional offline marketing with digital marketing) plan works through these or similar five steps, it’s much more likely to succeed and reach the desired objectives that the business owner needs accomplished.