So, you’ve built a digital marketing strategy. What do you do next?
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It’s no secret that the best marketing results come from consistent action and strategic direction. Think of it as your brand’s marketing heartbeat. Every month, you take action, produce great content and launch new initiatives to keep your audience engaged and earn the results you need.
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Building a digital marketing strategy is, without a doubt, one of the greatest investments you can make for your brand. However, I often find myself fielding several questions about what comes next. Some of these common FAQs include:

• What can I expect my marketing to look like once I’ve put this strategy into place?
• How much can I expect to outlay each month as part of my brand’s marketing efforts?

‍Of course, it’s only natural to want the answers to these questions so that you can plan accordingly. That’s why I’ve put together a complete breakdown of the activities and average costs involved in implementing a digital marketing strategy for your brand.

So, whether you’ve got a digital strategy ready to go, or you’re thinking about developing a digital marketing strategy soon, this quick article will give you a better understanding of what the implementation process is going to look like for your business.
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What are the baseline activities of your digital marketing strategy?

While every digital marketing strategy is tailored to the individual brand, several key activities ultimately form the baseline of every successful marketing strategy. These are the things that all businesses should be doing, at an absolute minimum, to ensure they achieve the best results.

Your baseline activities are:

• Organic Social Media
• Content Marketing
  o   Creating social media content
  o   Writing blogs
  o   Creating downloadable resources
• Email Marketing
• Google Analytics
• Managing your CRM
• Free Digital PR
• Basic Design (solutions like Canva make this super simple now)

It’s safe to say that you can expect to find these baseline marketing activities, including prescriptive instructions on how to execute them, outlined in your digital strategy, and therefore plan to include them in your marketing efforts going forward.

Ask Marketing can handle all of the above for you with our ongoing management service. For more information about this, book a call with us today.
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For more information, check out our 9-Step Digital Marketing Strategy Guide.

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What are the specialised marketing tasks that may form part of your digital strategy?

In addition to your baseline activities, your digital strategy may also outline several specialised marketing tasks based on the unique needs and requirements of your brand.
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Some of the tasks you may find in your digital marketing strategy include:

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Branding
• Professional Videography
• Professional Photography
• Strategic Developments
• Paid Social Media Advertising
• Website Development

Given the specialised nature of each of these, it’s not always the best approach to leave these solely with your internal marketing resources. Instead, it’s often more effective to hire experts in these areas to help you carry out these tasks.
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You can rely on Ask Marketing for these introductions as we work with a key partner who we trust for each of these services.

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What does your baseline activity look like in a practical sense – and how much is it going to cost you?

I’ve broken down some rough, ballpark numbers to help give you a general idea of what to expect when you implement your new digital marketing strategy:
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Digital Marketing Strategy – $15,000-$20,000

This is one of the most important investments you will make as a business, so you need to make sure that you do this properly.
Ask Marketing can help you to develop an effective digital strategy.
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Marketer - Approximately $90,000 - $150,000 per annum (Full Time)

An internal Content Marketer will help you to execute the baseline tactics of your digital marketing strategy. Their salary can be prorated based on your needs. Typically, 2 days a week is a good place to start. Or, to save you hiring an internal person - and having to manage them, Ask Marketing can handle this for you - ask us how.

Ask recently launched our new managed marketing services where we manage your marketing function internally and undertake your digital strategy’s most important activities to help you reach your business goals.
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2 Blogs per month – $1,000 p/m

Hiring a great copywriter to produce insightful content can help to establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
Ask Marketing are proudly partnered with Melotti Media Copywriting. They create amazing blog content that earns remarkable results for your business. They’re reliable and super adaptive to your needs.
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Software Subscriptions – variable costs

This will all depend on the number of subscriptions you have and the level of access, but at the very minimum, you should be considering the following tools:

• Canva Pro
• Website CMS
• CRM platform
• Email Marketing platform
• Loom

Softwares like these are usually subscription-based and can cost between $20 and $100 each per month (to give you a basic idea).
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Website Development/Refresh – $15,000 - $25,000

While website costs can vary significantly, budgeting around this amount will help to ensure you receive a finished digital product that generates results for your brand.
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I hope that this has helped to provide you with more clarity on the finer details of implementing a digital marketing strategy in your brand.

Of course, your specialised marketing tasks will also add to the cost of your strategy, however, this is an important investment in your brand that will soon pay dividends when you start to see the results that effective marketing can achieve.

Spending the budget to build a strong marketing machine today will set your business up for success tomorrow and long into the future – especially if it’s all united under a smart digital marketing strategy.

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Do you need help with strategic digital marketing for your business?

All you have to do is Ask!

At Ask Digital Marketing, we combine decisive digital strategy and managed marketing execution to help B2B service-based businesses build demand, establish thought leadership and own their industry through digital business marketing.

Stop waiting. Start building. Experience success.

Just get in touch with us and we can discuss your business to help you navigate the digital marketing landscape towards success.

Let’s harness the power of digital marketing today!

For more great marketing content, connect with our company leaders, Alexandra King and Stephanie King, or follow our Ask Marketing LinkedIn page.