“Can you just start posting for us?”
I get some version of this question fairly often, and my answer is always some version of: sure but no. Not because I’m being difficult but because posting without a strategy is a bit like packing for a trip without knowing your destination. You might accidentally grab the right things. More likely, you’ll end up frustrated and scrambling to adapt.
Here are the first five things I ask before I build a digital marketing strategy for anyone, and why each one matters.
1. Who is your audience?
Not in the broad, aspirational sense, but in the specific, demographic sense. What are their ages, locations, habits, and values? Where do they spend their time online, and why, and how often? What problems are they trying to solve, and how does your organization address those problems better than your competitors? Marketing that isn’t aimed at a clearly defined person isn’t really aimed at anyone, and the results reflect that.
Definiton alert!
A marketing persona is a detailed, research-based representation of an ideal customer, designed to help businesses better understand their audience. It includes key information such as demographics, goals, pain points, buying behaviors, and motivations… (excerpted from The Decision Lab)
2. What is your mission — and can you state it in one sentence?
If the answer to this takes three paragraphs and a caveat, we have foundational work to do. A clear, specific mission statement isn’t a formality, but rather the anchor for every message you’ll ever put out, whether that’s a social post, an email subject line, or a paid ad. The more precisely you can articulate what you do and why it matters, the more precisely I can help you communicate it.
3. What are your organizational goals right now?
Growth? Donor retention? Fundraising for a specific initiative? Increased event attendance? Brand awareness as a new business? The strategy looks meaningfully different depending on the answer, and a lot of marketing goes sideways because tactics were selected before goals were defined — or worse, because “more visibility” was treated as a goal rather than a means to one.
4. What have you tried before, and what happened?
Past data — imperfect, incomplete, or anecdotal is it may be — tells me something useful, and so does the absence of it. I want to know what worked, what didn’t, what got abandoned halfway through and why, and what assumptions were made at the outset that turned out to be wrong. That context helps shape the strategy.
5. What does success look like to you in six months? 1 year? 3 years?
This one catches people off guard sometimes, but it’s probably the most important question on the list because “success” means something different to everyone, and I need to know what we’re building toward before I can make balanced decisions about how to get there. A number, a milestone, a specific outcome: something we can both look at in a set amount of time and evaluate.
If any of these foundational pieces aren’t in place yet, I’ll encourage you to build them out before we move into strategy and execution. When one skips this groundwork, it almost always costs more time and money down the road than taking the time to lay it out correctly.