It is a sad fact that most companies do not have a digital marketing strategy planned. They just go by the seat of their pants, doing a little here and a little there. But, if you develop a proper digital marketing strategy, you can avoid a lot of problems and create a more integrated marketing approach.

Here are 7 reasons why your business needs a digital marketing strategy.

1. Provides direction and focus

You’ve heard the saying that if you try to drive somewhere without knowing where you’re going, you’ll never get there. Your marketing needs a goal and a plan to get to that goal, either by taking steps you know work or by trying steps to find out if they work.

2. Promote a more focused brand voice

When you have a plan, you can ensure that all your marketing materials (including images, content, and voice) match your brand. When you’re doing things at the last minute, it might not match. Having a plan is always a better approach to help spread awareness of your brand.

3. Help develop a strong value proposition

When you take the time to plan your marketing strategy, it’s much easier to maintain your value proposition across all the different platforms.

4. It helps you get to know your audience better

When you develop a digital marketing strategy, you need to do your research to get to know your audience better. Plus, you’ll check your stats more often, helping you get to know your audience even better and how they respond to different offers.

5. Better and more effective marketing integration

When you develop a plan, the big payoff is that you can more easily integrate all the platforms into a cohesive marketing plan that makes sense and gets results.

6. Avoid wasting resources

When you create a plan, it will help you avoid wasting anything. You’ll see ways you can reuse content, graphics, and information to market across all your digital channels, without having to start over each time, which can waste resources.

7. Know where to optimize your efforts

When you write the plan, you’ll notice gaps in it and you’ll be better able to optimize your efforts. You’ll test landing pages, test headlines, test graphics, and figure out what works best as you go through your plan.

This doesn’t have to be super complicated for it to work. But having a plan means you know where you want to go and have set goals with actions to get there. It also means that if something isn’t working to get you to your goal, you can change direction because you’re paying attention to whether or not it’s working.