📗 Digital Marketing A-Z (FULL COURSE)

Learning Objectives:
By the time you complete this course, you'll be able to:

Set overall goals for your digital marketing strategy, improving your ability to execute, track success, and get results.

Develop an ideal customer profile (ICP) that will inform your digital marketing strategy, increase its effectiveness, and motivate your audience to act.

Clarify your brand and what it stands for, so that your digital marketing strategy, and the tactics you choose, are powerful and relevant to your brand.

Discover what’s involved in SEO as a digital marketing channel, so you can assess whether it’s a channel you should focus on in your business.
Recognize the fundamentals of content marketing, so you can determine which tactics you might want to include in your digital marketing plan.
Identify what’s involved in social media marketing, so you can decide whether you want to spend time leveraging social media in your marketing.
Examine what’s involved in email marketing, so you can select campaign types and features that would make sense for your audience.
Explore what’s involved in conversational marketing, so you can pick tools and tactics that could work well with your target market.
Choose the channels and tactics to include in your digital marketing strategy based on your goals, audience, resources, skills, and budget.
Consolidate and implement your learning and plan future action steps so you can achieve the goals you set for this course.

Course Book (PDF FORMAT)


Table of Contents


Introduction. 4

Module 1 – Lay the Foundation for Your Digital Marketing Strategy. 10

Lesson 1: Set Goals for Digital Marketing. 11
Lesson 2: Listen to Your Audience. 15
Lesson 3: Get Clear on Your Brand. 22

Module 2 – Digital Marketing Channel 1: SEO. 29

Lesson 1: What is SEO and How is it Used in Digital Marketing?. 30
Lesson 2: The Pros and Cons of SEO For Digital Marketing. 35
Lesson 3: The Keys to an Effective SEO Strategy. 41

Module 3 - Digital Marketing Channel 2: Content Marketing. 46

Lesson 1: What is Content Marketing?. 47
Lesson 2: The Pros and Cons of Content Marketing. 51
Lesson 3: The Keys to an Effective Content Marketing Strategy. 56

Module 4 - Digital Marketing Channel 3: Social Media. 66

Lesson 1: What is Social Media Marketing?. 67
Lesson 2: The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing. 71
Lesson 3: The Keys to an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy. 78

Module 5 - Digital Marketing Channel 4: Email Marketing. 82

Lesson 1: What is Email Marketing?. 83
Lesson 2: The Pros and Cons of Email Marketing. 88
Lesson 3: The Keys to an Effective Email Marketing Strategy. 93

Module 6 - Digital Marketing Channel 5: Conversational Marketing. 100

Lesson 1: What is Conversational Marketing?. 101
Lesson 2: The Pros and Cons of Conversational Marketing. 104
Lesson 3: The Keys to an Effective Conversational Marketing Strategy. 108

Module 7 - Create Your Digital Marketing Strategy. 114

Module 8 – Next Steps 117

Introduction​

Digital marketing uses online channels to market products/services and brands to current and prospective customers.

In the past, digital marketing was one of several strategies found in an overall marketing plan, but today, digital marketing dominates the landscape. Most of the marketing we do is online. It has become the standard.

Digital marketing has come out on top for several reasons. It allows you to:



Reach a larger, potentially global, audience

Nurture your buyer’s journey from awareness to consideration to decision-making

Hyper-target and reach prospects most likely to buy your product/service

Be cost-effective (if you don’t rely heavily on ads)

Measure your success daily

A Digital Marketing Strategy is Critical to Success​

Because digital marketing is the primary form of marketing for small businesses (and large corporations, non-profits, government agencies etc.), you can’t leave it to chance.

Your approach must be well thought out, not haphazard. Many small businesses make the common mistake of going straight into tactics without a clear plan. Or, they see shiny new strategies, platforms, or apps promoted by marketing influencers and jump on board, without considering the unique needs of their business. This leads to ineffective execution and disappointing results.

If you’re just starting out, or even if you’re not, it’s best to stick with the basics.

These basics will provide the foundation for your digital marketing efforts. Once you’ve experienced some success with your strategy, you can branch out and test more sophisticated tactics.

No two business are exactly alike, so not all digital marketing tactics will work for you. Or, while they may be compatible with your business, you may not want to spread yourself too thin or dedicate your time to something you don’t enjoy.

Don’t worry. This course will take you through the most important digital marketing channels and tactics. From there, you can decide what works for your business, goals, skills, budget, and brand. You’ll then be ready to plan out the next steps to implementing your digital marketing strategy.







Here are the 5 popular and proven digital marketing channels that we’ll cover in this course:




SEO (including PPC ads)

Content marketing (including blogging, video, and podcasting)

Social media marketing (including social media ads)

Email marketing

Conversational marketing (including instant messaging, chatbots)



You don’t need to use all the channels covered in this course. There are several ways to approach it. Choose what works best for you, your audience, and your business. For example:

Focus in on one or two channels (e.g., content marketing + SEO).

Try out one tactic from each channel, e.g.,

Optimize blog content and tags [SEO] +

Establish a blogging schedule [content marketing] +

Host 1 Instagram Live a week [social media marketing] +

Initiate 1 email series [email marketing] +

Install a chatbot on your home page [conversational marketing].



This course will teach you about the 5 essential digital marketing channels, their associated tactics, and how to weigh the pros and cons of each. You’ll get the tools to narrow down your options and choose the best tactics for your unique needs. And by the end, you’ll have your digital marketing strategy ready to go.

Here is your roadmap through this course:

Learning Objectives:​

By the time you complete this course, you'll be able to:

Set overall goals for your digital marketing strategy, improving your ability to execute, track success, and get results.

Develop an ideal customer profile (ICP) that will inform your digital marketing strategy, increase its effectiveness, and motivate your audience to act.

Clarify your brand and what it stands for, so that your digital marketing strategy, and the tactics you choose, are powerful and relevant to your brand.

Discover what’s involved in SEO as a digital marketing channel, so you can assess whether it’s a channel you should focus on in your business.
Recognize the fundamentals of content marketing, so you can determine which tactics you might want to include in your digital marketing plan.
Identify what’s involved in social media marketing, so you can decide whether you want to spend time leveraging social media in your marketing.
Examine what’s involved in email marketing, so you can select campaign types and features that would make sense for your audience.
Explore what’s involved in conversational marketing, so you can pick tools and tactics that could work well with your target market.
Choose the channels and tactics to include in your digital marketing strategy based on your goals, audience, resources, skills, and budget.
Consolidate and implement your learning and plan future action steps so you can achieve the goals you set for this course.



This course is broken down into 8 major modules and individual lessons to take you step-by-step through the process of developing your digital marketing strategy.

The modules follow a logical order, so while you can skip around if you want, it’s best to work through them one at a time.

As you go through each module, use your Action Guide to help you complete the Action Steps at the end of each.

Action Steps:​

Before we start the course, take a minute to think about what you want to get out of it.

In the Action Guide, write down three skills you expect to gain.



Now that you’re clear about what you want this course to deliver, we can get started.