How to Build a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

When you need to reach your audience, chances are they’re online. According to Pew Research, about 4 in 10 American adults say they’re online almost constantly, and 84% report going online multiple times per day. Usage is highest among adults under 30, but a strong majority of those under 50 are active as well. If you want to be seen, heard and remembered a digital marketing strategy isn’t optional, it’s essential.

Why Strategy Matters

A digital marketing strategy defines how your organization uses digital channels to achieve specific business goals. It’s a focused extension of your broader marketing strategy, tailored to online environments.

These channels include assets you control—such as your website, email campaigns and social media accounts—as well as external platforms like search engines, paid media and third-party marketplaces. Each channel behaves differently, reaches audiences in different ways, and requires intentional planning to support your objectives.

A clear strategy creates alignment and accountability, improves budgeting decisions and ensures effort is concentrated where it will have the greatest impact. Without one, tactics become reactive, goals get lost and results are harder to measure.

So where do you begin?

Key Considerations for Building a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

Define Your Mission

Every decision should reinforce your organization’s mission and core message. A documented strategy turns that mission into clear priorities, making work measurable, repeatable and aligned across teams.

Understand Your Audience

Effective digital marketing starts with data. Demographic insights help you understand who your audience is, while behavioral data reveals how they interact with content, platforms, and brands. When you understand what motivates your audience and where they spend time online, you can design strategies that meet them with relevance and intent.

Determine Your Marketing Goals

Your goals determine your strategy, not the other way around. Are you trying to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads or convert customers? Each objective requires different channels, content types and success metrics.

Take Stock of Your Resources

Strategy must match reality. Consider your team’s size, skills and available time when planning execution. Smaller teams may need to prioritize fewer channels, while larger teams can support more complex, multi-channel efforts.

Budget also matters. Paid media, marketing tools and external support should be weighed alongside internal expertise. Strong experience can often offset limited resources—but only if it’s applied strategically.

Develop Valuable Content

Content should serve a purpose. With a clear mission and defined audience, focus on creating content that is relevant, useful, and aligned with your goals. Pay attention to what resonates with your audience and what performs well in your industry. Good practice is including a call to action in your content. Go beyond attention and drive your audience to take steps and move towards conversion. Competitive analysis can provide valuable insight—you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to be effective.

Evaluate and Refine Your Strategy

A strategy isn’t static. Establish benchmarks and review performance regularly. When results meet or exceed expectations, you gain confidence in your approach. When they fall short, data provides the opportunity to refine tactics, adjust goals or reallocate resources.

Choose Metrics That Measure What Matters

To understand whether your strategy is working, you need to track the right data. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics most closely tied to your goals and signal success or need for adjustment. Common KPIs include:

• Impressions: The number of times your content is displayed, regardless of whether it was clicked.
• Engagement: Interactions with your content, including likes, comments, shares and saves.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on a link or ad after seeing it. This may vary between search-based clicks and display or social ads.
• Conversions: The number of users who complete a desired action, such as filling out a form, making a purchase or downloading content.
• Return on Investment (ROI): A comparison of marketing spend to the revenue or value generated.

With the right digital marketing strategy in place, organizations can reach the right audiences, focus efforts more effectively and drive measurable outcomes that support long-term goals.

And when your strategy begins to outgrow your current tools or expertise, the right program can help close that gap—turning insight into action through practical, immediately applicable coursework built around the real decisions marketers make every day.

Build Digital Marketing Skills at Villanova University

If you’re ready to build practical digital marketing tools you can use right away, consider Villanova University's Digital Marketing Certificate. Each course includes direct-application projects designed to strengthen your real-world strategy and execution.

Course options within the certificate include:

• Strategic Digital Marketing
• Effective Mult-Channel Digital Marketing
• Digital Content Creation for Social Media
• Advanced Digital Marketing & Analytics: Strategy, Ethics and AI Integration
• Finance & Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager