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Hey everyone! As a marketer from the Gen Z generation, I’m always on the lookout for ways to stand out and create online campaigns that genuinely connect with people. Being genuine is important to us, and it’s essential to understand the plan behind our online efforts. It’s not just about posting content randomly; it’s about making sure every step we take has a purpose. In this post, I’d like to explain what a digital marketing strategy is and then delve into one of my favourite methods to help us get it right.

What is a Digital Marketing Strategy?

A digital marketing strategy is like a detailed plan for using online tools and platforms to achieve business goals. It’s the guide that outlines what a company needs to do to use digital media, data, and technology effectively. Think of it as a roadmap showing how a brand will connect with its audience across various online channels, like websites, social media, or email.

A good strategy takes into account both internal factors, such as what the business wants to achieve, and external factors, like what customers want and what competitors are doing. This way, our digital efforts aren’t just random actions; they support our overall goals. To keep everything on track, it’s essential to set clear objectives known as SMART goals. This means they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This focus helps us stay on course and measure our success, which is crucial in today’s fast-changing digital environment.

Deeper Dive: The RACE Framework 

One of the best ways to plan and manage our online marketing is by using something called the RACE framework. RACE stands for Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage. This approach helps us look at the whole journey of a customer, ensuring that we make the most of every step along the way. 

It’s a simple and effective method to connect with our audience and improve their experience with our brand.

• Reach: The first step is to get people to notice us and bring them to our online platforms. This is how we make ourselves visible. We can use paid ads, social media, and online public relations to share our message with a broader audience. The essential measures we focus on include the number of unique visitors, the percentage of our target audience we’re reaching, and the revenue we generate from each visitor. It’s all about spreading the word and making a positive impression right from the start.
• Act: Once we’ve captured their interest, it’s essential to encourage people to interact with our brand on our website or social media. This means we want them to do more than just glance; we aim for meaningful engagement. We track our performance by analysing metrics such as how long people stay on our site, the number of pages they visit, and the percentage that take action, like signing up or making a purchase. Our goal is to create content that’s so interesting and engaging that visitors can’t help but stick around and explore more.
• Convert: This is the exciting part, transforming our connections with people into real sales or new customers. In this stage, we aim to reach our marketing goals, whether that’s getting someone to buy something, sign up for a service, or download a resource. We monitor our performance by examining key metrics, such as sales and earnings. It’s essential to make this experience easy for our customers so they can confidently take the next step.
• Engage: The last and most crucial step is creating lasting relationships with our customers. Our goal is to turn one-time shoppers into loyal supporters. To do this, we use tools like email and social media to keep in touch with them. We measure success by tracking customer return rates and the frequency of new purchases. This part of our work is all about showing our customers that we appreciate them even after they’ve bought something. It’s really about building a community.

My Critique: More than just a Checklist 

While frameworks like RACE provide a helpful way to organise our digital marketing efforts, they can sometimes come across as a strict checklist. To truly succeed, we need to go beyond simply checking off tasks and instead focus on bringing creativity and understanding into everything we do.

Take the “Act” phase, for example. It’s not solely about keeping visitors on our site for a short time; it’s about creating a meaningful experience that encourages them to explore our content. This means getting to know our audience, understanding their struggles, and producing content that genuinely addresses their needs in a relatable way.

There’s an excellent opportunity for brands to show more vulnerability. We should embrace the imperfections of being human, which can help us form more genuine connections. This is particularly important for activities such as collaborating with influencers or building a community. These interactions should be more than just transactions; they should focus on nurturing genuine relationships, similar to a mentorship. We should continually monitor our efforts’ performance, pay attention to audience feedback, and be prepared to make adjustments if something isn’t practical. It’s an ongoing process of learning, creating new ideas, and interacting with people.

Reference List

Bold x Collective 2025, 12 ways to optimize your digital strategy for results, Bold x Collective, https://www.boldxcollective.com/insights-blog/12-ways-to-optimize-your-digital-strategy-for-results

Mastaliyev, A. 2024, Maximizing digital marketing impact with the RACE framework, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/maximizing-digital-marketing-impact-race-framework-aykhan-mastaliyev-thosf/

Drawson 2020, 7 things you need to know about your target audience, WebMyTalk, https://www.webmytalk.com/blog/7-things-target-audience/