Setting Objectives and Forming a Strategy in a Digital Marketing Campaign

· This is the second stage in the SOSTAC model in which a company will devise a plan on where they want to go with their product or service and how they are going to get there, thus defining their vision. They will discuss their overall business mission and objectives, and where they want to see the company develop, as well as their marketing objectives and how they want to communicate their product to consumers. They will discuss what they think will be their CSF’s (Critical Success Factors) which will give them an idea on what to focus heavily on and their KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) which will let them know if they are doing well with their campaign. Their objectives should fall into SMART objectives, which will tell the company if their objectives are reasonable if they fit the following criteria: Specific (with numbers), Measurable (being able to monitor progress and confirm success), Actionable (can they do it), Reasonable (are their objectives reasonably obtainable), Timed (can they meet their incorporated deadlines), SMART.

·It’s in this stage the company will discuss a strategy for their objectives set in the previous stage. They will look at market segmentation, where they will decide how they want to split up the market to reach a wider audience, and which markets they want to target specifically to reach their target audience, for example they will discuss what age demographics and different locations they wish their product or service to reach to be successful. They will also discuss positioning, which is how they want to be perceived in each different market, this is when the company will generally discuss if they would like to take a tact and professional approach with their campaign or if they would like to appear more casual and relatable to the consumer. They will discuss how much they want to engage with their customers and their customer satisfaction targets, for example what e-tools they will use and what forms of media they will use for their advertising etc. They will discuss how much product or service they wish to sell or provide, which in turn will give them an idea on their customer acquisition and retention rates required to reach their long-term goals.