Digital Marketing Strategy Situational Analysis

The Digital Marketing Strategy Overview

Brand&
MessageAudit
CurrentPerformance
Customer
Insight
D
efine
C
urrent
A
udience
Marketplace
Understanding
Competitive Audit
Define Marketing
Goals
Align MGs withBusiness Goals
Set SMART
Objectives
Select KPIs
Segm
entation
and
Targeting
Positioningand
MarketingMix
Engagement
Strategy
Persona
Development
EmpathyMapping
Content
Strategy
Content/M
essage
D
evelopm
ent
Define
&
Develop
Assets/Creative
Channel
Setup
Reporting
Setup
Editorial
Calendar
ResourceAllocation
Process:
Regular Reviews
Tools:
Reporting
Qualitative/
QuantitativeData
Prioritize
Actions
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
OBJECTIVES
WHEREDOWEWANTTO
BE?
STRATEGY
H
O
W
DO
W
EGETTHERE?
TA
C
TICS
&
ACTION
W
H
AT
DO
W
E
NEEDTOGETTHERE?
CO
N
T
R
O
L
HO
W
W
I
LL
W
E
M
O
NITOR THE PERFORMANCE?
1
2
3
5
4

Brand&MessageAudit
Current
PerformanceCustom
er
Insight
Deﬁne
Current
Audience
Marketplace
Understanding
Competitive Audit
Deﬁne MarketingGoals
Align
tative/
Prioritize
Actions SITUATIONAL
A
N
A
LY
SIS
WHERE ARE W
E
N
O
W
?
O
WH
PERFORMANCE?
1
2
Situational
Awareness
(Where are we now?)

Brand&MessageAudit
Current
PerformanceCustom
er
Insight
Define
Current
Audience
Marketplace
Understanding
Competitive Audit
Define MarketingGoals
Align
tative/
Prioritize
Actions SITUATIONAL
A
N
A
LY
SIS
WHERE ARE W
E
N
O
W
?
O
WH
PERFORMANCE?
1
2
1. Brand and message audit
2. Current performance
3. Customer insight
4. Define current audience
5. Marketplace understanding
6. Competitive audit

You must deﬁne your opportunities  
before you can create strategies  
to take advantage of them.
“

Brand and Message Audit
Review current branding and messaging, and ask:
1. Is your messaging clear?
2. Is your messaging consistent?
3. What words are you using to convey your message?
4. Are you using imagery or other visual elements that represent who you are
and how you want people to see you?
5. Are you using colors and typography in a way that is consistent and helps
strengthen your overall brand? and not distract from it?
S I T U A T I O N A L A N A L Y S I S

What someone says about you when you’re not around.
What is branding?

Branding bridges gaps between the provider and the receiver. It is
about trust and dialogue. Powerful emotional branding comes from
partnership and communication. Building the right emotion is the
most important investment you can make in a brand. It is the promise
you make to your audience, giving them permission to enjoy the work
of the brand. "What do you want your audience to feel, think, sense?"
Branding might be more about creating narratives for the  
many than building ﬂowcharts for the few.
- MARC GOBE

EMOTIONAL BRANDING.
NOTICED, UNDERSTOOD, TRUSTED

You can talk about the messaging
behind all 3 of these brands, and the
next slide reveals that they’re all owned
by the same company, which is pretty
messed up.

'LOOKS LIKE IT COST $17 FROM AN OLD MICROSOFT
WORD CLIPART GALLERY'
MAKES OLD NAVY 'LOOK LIKE A LUXURY BRAND
IT'S ALL A COSMETIC BAND-AID WHICH IS SO
UNBELIEVABLE FOR A BRAND AS BIG AND 'MATURE' AS
GAP. I'LL BE SURPRISED IF A FEW PEOPLE WON'T LOSE
THEIR JOBS AS THIS IS BASIC BRANDING 101.

Current Performance
Review current performance (6 mo. or 1 yr.), and ask:
1. What are the key KPIs that will reveal what's working and what isn't?
2. Is our audience engaged?
3. Is our content being shared?
4. Are we inﬂuencing the conversations that are happening?

S K I N C A N C E R E X A M P L E

Customer Insight
Target persona interviews can provide a lot of insight
and help reveal pain points for your users.

Deﬁne Current Audience
Review current audience (6 mo. or 1 yr.), and ask:
1. Who is your current audience?
2. What problems do they face?
3. What solutions are they searching for?

Marketplace Understanding
Review current marketplace (6 mo. or 1 yr.), and ask:
1. What is the current mindset of the particular industry?
2. What keywords / lingo are being used?

Competitive Audit
Make a list of your top 3-5 competitors, and review:
1. Social proﬁle look and feel. Is there consistency?
2. The last 30 posts from each competitor and make buckets for the type of content
being produced and topics being discussed.
3. Competitive audience. Is there overlap with your audience? Can you get a general
snapshot of their audience?

D
Audience
Marketplace
Understanding
CompetitiveAudit
DeﬁneMarketing
Goals
Align
M
Gsw
ith
BusinessGoals
Set SM
ART
O
bjectives
Select KPIs
Segmentation
and Targeting
Positioning and
Marketing Mix
EngagementStrategy
OBJECTIV
ES
W
HERE
DO
W
E
W
A
N
T
TO
BE?
STRATEGY
HOWDOWEGETTHERE
2
3
Objectives
(Where do we want to be?)

1. Deﬁne marketing goals
2. Align marketing goals with business goals
3. Set SMART objectives
4. Select KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
D
Audience
Marketplace
Understanding
CompetitiveAudit
DeﬁneMarketing
Goals
Align
M
Gsw
ith
BusinessGoals
Set SM
ART
O
bjectives
Select KPIs
Segmentation
and Targeting
Positioning and
Marketing Mix
EngagementStrategy
OBJECTIV
ES
W
HERE
DO
W
E
W
A
N
T
TO
BE?
STRATEGY
HOWDOWEGETTHERE
2
3

Without goals, we are all doomed.

Deﬁne Marketing Goals and Align Them with Business/Organizational Goals
Your marketing goals should always ﬁt your overall organizational goals.
Business Goal Example:
Increase completions of BRCA survey by 20% in 2017.
Marketing Goal Example:
Increase sharing of BRCA Facebook and Twitter posts by 50% in 2017.

Set SMART Objectives
Speciﬁc - A speciﬁc objective describes in detail what you want to occur and
answers the questions “Who, what, and how?”.
Measurable - You need to be able to assign it a number, a deadline, a frequency, or
some other measurable standard.
Achievable - Questions to ask to make sure your goal is “achievable”:
• Do you have enough resources to accomplish the goal?
• Is the goal based on numbers from previous time periods?
• Have you conducted research that leads you to believe this goal is tangible?

Set SMART Objectives (cont.)
Relevant - Your goals should always align with the overall goals of the organization.
Time-oriented - Does your objective have a deﬁned beginning and a deﬁned end?

Set SMART Objectives (cont.)
SMART Goal Example (do this):
Increase completions of the survey by 20% in 2017.
SMART Goal Example (don’t do this):
Increase completions of surveys so we can help our audience
be more aware of their options.

Select KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
We suggest selection the key indicators that will help tell the story and support your
efforts. Monitoring too many KPIs will slow you down and make it harder to track
your progress.
Ask yourself, “If I didn’t have this metric, would it create a gap in my story?”

SetSMART
Objectives
SelectKPIs
Segmentation
andTargeting
Positioning
and
Marketing
Mix
Engagem
ent
Strategy
Persona
Development
Empathy
Mapping
Content
Strategy
Content/Message Development
e
NT TO BE?
STRATEGY
HOW
DO
W
E
GET
TH
E
R
E?
3
4
Strategy
(How do we get there?)

The strategy should lay out the plan  
for how you’re going to execute everything  
you’ve learned in the ﬁrst two phases.

1. Segmentation and targeting
2. Positioning and marketing mix
3. Engagement strategy
4. Persona development
5. Empathy mapping
6. Content strategy
SetSMART
Objectives
SelectKPIs
Segmentation
andTargeting
Positioning
and
Marketing
Mix
Engagem
ent
Strategy
Persona
Development
Empathy
Mapping
Content
Strategy
Content/Message Development
e
NT TO BE?
STRATEGY
HOW
DO
W
E
GET
TH
E
R
E?
3
4

Segmentation and Targeting
It’s now time to define:
• Customer profile characteristics (demographics)
• Customer lifecycle groups - define the journey of the user
• Customer personas including psychographics

Positioning and Marketing Mix
• The overall positioning of the particular initiative
• The approach for reaching a particular audience

Engagement Strategy
• How to engage with a particular audience
• When to engage with a particular audience (high level)
• What will be used to engage with that audience

Using marketing personas made 
websites 2x-5x more effective and  
easier to use by targeted users.
– HubSpot
“

Persona Development
What is their role?
• How would they describe himself/herself?
Personal / Professional Goals
• What are they in charge of or expected to manage?
Objectives and Metrics
• What do they want to achieve? How do they measure success?
Challenges/Pain Points
• What challenges or trends might inhibit them from reaching what they’re trying
to accomplish?

Persona Development (Cont.)
Strategies
• What likely strategies and initiatives are in place to help achieve their objectives?
Change Drivers
• What would cause them to change what they're currently doing?
Change Inhibitors
• What would cause them to stay with the status quo, even if they’re not happy with it?
What kind of questions do they ask themselves, or search for on Google, in order to help
solve a challenge/problem they are experiencing?
• Build out at least 5 questions they would ask to help solve their problem

Job Title
Middle age executive
Professional Goals: What are they in charge of or expected to manage?
•Managing people/teams and understanding the complexities
•Overall vision of the company
•P/L - Budget
Business Objectives and Metrics: What do they want to achieve? How do they measure success?
How are they evaluated?
•Growth
•Company, Revenue
•Evaluated by their own leaders through reviews
•Self
•Need to show progress through reports/metrics - specific KPI, 
financial vs non financial
Our Buyer Persona
MLA Leadership Larry
Hey Larry!

External Challenges: What external challenges or trends might inhibit them from reaching what they’re
trying to accomplish?
• Internal
• Personal capacity
• Time management
• Stress
• Productivity
• Lack of awareness about themselves
• Lack of resources
• Company culture or moral
Our Buyer Persona
Hey Larry!

Change Drivers: What would cause them to change what they're currently doing?
• People being put in new position and being pushed to get coaching
• People feeling they need it themselves after getting a new position
• Being passed over for a promotion
• Seeing that others are where I want to be. How can I up my game to get
there too?
• Old systems in place that need to change to keep up with the times
• Need a culture change
• Feeling overwhelmed and as a result bad things happened
• Relationship failure (professional or personal)
Our Buyer Persona
Hey Larry!

Change Inhibitors: What would cause them to stay with the status quo, even if they’re not happy with it?
• Pride
• Maybe the problems just aren’t big enough
• Coaching may not be for people like me. It’s only for those “other”
people. I’m not an executive. I’m not the right fit. Not big enough title,
or big enough company.
• Leadership transcends companies and titles. Leadership is influence.
• Company is doing ok even though they feel the pain a little. If it’s not
broke, don’t fix it.
Our Buyer Persona
Hey Larry!

Empathy Mapping
Thinking
• What are they thinking when it comes to the beneﬁts of what you can
offer them?
• What do they hope to gain by engaging with you?
Seeing
• What is their worldview in the context of what you have to offer?
• What do they see when they view or use your information?

Empathy Mapping (Cont.)
Doing
• What inﬂuences them and how?
• What are they doing now they wish was different?
• What outcome would they like by engaging with you?
Feeling
• What are their fears?
• What holds them back from acting?

Content Strategy
Where are we? What’s working and what isn’t?
• Documenting all the blog posts getting signiﬁcant trafﬁc and conversions
• Reviewing all the active email lists
• Reviewing all the live high-level web pages
• Reviewing all your social media accounts

Content Strategy (Cont.)
Where do we want to go? Think about your overall goals.
• How does good content accomplish these goals?
• Perform SWOT Analysis

SSTRENGTHS
OOPPORTUNITIES
TTHREATS
WWEAKNESSES
• Your specialist marketing expertise
• A new, innovative product or service
• Location of your business
• Quality processes and procedures
• Any other aspect of your business that
adds value to your product or service
• A developing market such as the Internet
• Mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances
• Moving into new market segments
that offer improved proﬁts
• A new international market
• A market vacated by an
ineffective competitor
• Lack of marketing expertise
• Undifferentiated products or services
(i.e. in relation to your competitors)
• Location of your business
• Poor quality goods or services
• Damanged reputation
• A new competitor in your home market
• Price wars with competitors
• A competitor has a new, innovative
product or service
• Competitors have superior access to
channels of distribution
• Taxation is introduced on your product
or service
EXTERNAL
FACTORS
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
INTERNAL
FACTORS

Content Strategy (Cont.)
Brainstorm content ideas and map these across your funnel
• Map out content to view opportunities

Empathy
pping
Content
Strategy
Content/Message
Development
Deﬁne
&
Develop
Assets/Creative
Channel
Setup
Reporting
Setup
Editorial
Calendar
Resource
Allocation
Process: RegularReviews
ting
TACTICS
&
A
C
T
I
O
N
WHAT
DO
W
E
N
EED
T
O
G
ET
THERE?
H
5
4
Tactics & Action
(What do we need to get there?)

This is the part that usually  
gets the emotions going.

1. Content/message development
2. Deﬁne & develop assets/creative
3. Channel setup
4. Reporting setup
5. Editorial calendar
6. Resource allocation
Empathy
pping
Content
Strategy
Content/Message
Development
Deﬁne
&
Develop
Assets/Creative
Channel
Setup
Reporting
Setup
Editorial
Calendar
Resource
Allocation
Process: RegularReviews
ting
TACTICS
&
A
C
T
I
O
N
WHAT
DO
W
E
N
EED
T
O
G
ET
THERE?
H
5
4

Content/message development
It’s time to tell a hero’s story.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Introduce your
persona
Describe their
current behavior
What is the main
problem they’re facing?
What are they
currently doing to  
overcome the problem
themselves?
What is the problem with the
current solutions out there?
Why you? How is your
solution different?
What is the ﬁnal outcome
because they found you?

Content/message development
It’s time to tell a hero’s story.
Carmax Example
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Person who needs a car
They are shopping
for the new car.
They hate shopping around at different
dealerships and haggling with every sales
person they interact with.
Shopping online.
They all follow the same model at physical dealerships.
Online doesn’t solve the problem, because they still
need to walk into a dealership to make the purchase.
Carmax offers a simple way to
purchase a car without the haggling
or commission-driven sales people.
The individual feels
conﬁdent they made a solid
decision without all of the
hassle.

Deﬁne and Develop Assets / Creative
Creative assets include graphics for social media posts and advertisements.
• Use fonts, colors, image treatment, etc as outlined in your brand standards
• Reference the latest speciﬁcations for image dimensions using a site like
adjelly.com
• When creating Facebook ads, use the grid tool to ensure the graphic has no
more than 20% text on it
• Be consistent with messaging and visual design across all platforms
• The graphics should support the post copy and grab attention

Channel Setup
1. Is my persona on this network? - Each of those networks attract users for different
reasons, and cater to different user behavior.
2.Will this account ﬁll a need that is different from one of my other accounts? -
Creating a new account should be to drive a business need, not to create one
from scratch.
3.Do I have the time required to build an account?
4.Do I have the time required to monitor the account?
5.What is the plan for content planning/creating? - when creating a channel you
should have a plan for sustained content creation

Channel Setup (cont.)
6.How many posts/week am I able to commit to this account?
7. Do I have budget to help build/scale this account?
8.What is the goal of this account? How will I know if it's successful? - it’s important
to know what value it will bring you, how you know you should double down on
your efforts, or when you may want to cut and run
9. Why is time spent on this social account more valuable than time spent doing
other marketing activities?

Reporting Setup
Determine what you NEED to know and make sure you have tools and templates in
place to gather that information.
• What platforms are we on?
• How big are our audiences? How are they growing?
• If we have historical data, how much did they grow on average on a monthly
basis?
• Are we reaching our persona? How many people interact with posts targeted for
that audience?
• Are people engaging? Do they share our content or react to it?

Resource Allocation
Human Resources
• How much time does each platform require?
• How many posts per week do we need?
Content Resources
• Does my content match what is needed on the social media platform?
• Do we have a library of content to use for a given time-period? When do we need to work
on future content libraries?
Financial Resources
• Do we have a budget to spend on advertising?
• How do we allocate ﬁnancial resources to the various platforms? Which is most efﬁcient?

Brand &
Message Audit
Current
Performance
Editorial
Calendar
ResourceAllocation
Process:
RegularReviews
Tools:
Reporting
Qualitative/
Quantitative
Data
Prioritize
Actions
SITUATION
WHEREAREW
CO
N
TRO
L
HOW
W
ILL
W
E
M
O
N
ITO
R
THEPERFORMANCE?
1
5
Control
(How will we monitor performance?)

It’s time to review everything  
and see what your qualitative and  
quantitative data is telling you.

1. Set regular reviews
2. Report
3. Dig into qualitative/quantitative data
4. Prioritize actions
Brand &
Message Audit
Current
Performance
Editorial
Calendar
ResourceAllocation
Process:
RegularReviews
Tools:
Reporting
Qualitative/
Quantitative
Data
Prioritize
Actions
SITUATION
WHEREAREW
CO
N
TRO
L
HOW
W
ILL
W
E
M
O
N
ITO
R
THEPERFORMANCE?
1
5

Set Regular Reviews
It you aren’t reviewing your data as a team, progress will stop.
• At the beginning of any project, weekly meetings are a must.
• Immediately after launch, weekly meetings may still be necessary.
• A comprehensive monthly report should be generated to show month over
month trends.
• Quarterly reports will give a bigger picture of what is happening across the entire
initiative.

Report
Reports will reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly. Embrace all of it.
• IF weekly reports are desired, set up a simple automated dashboard that will
aggregate the basic KPIs you are tracking.
• A comprehensive monthly report should be generated to show month over
month trends.
• Quarterly reports will give a bigger picture of what is happening across the entire
initiative.

Dig Into Quantitative/Qualitative Data
Data is good, but you cannot always trust it.
• When you have the data, don’t take it at face-value.
• Make sure you spend time understanding what the data means.
• Admit when you think the data is wrong - it can be wrong.
• Understand spikes and troughs and compare to what is taking place that is both
in your control (content creation, dissemination, etc.) and what is not
(environment factors, discussions, etc.)

Prioritize Actions
• ALWAYS walk away from a meeting with your “next steps” in place. Everyone on
the team should know what’s going to happen before the next meeting.
• Go for the little wins before tackling the big stuff.

To Find Out More About Us
www.multipleinc.com
Atlanta // 678.691.2705

Digital Marketing Strategy Situational Analysis

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