When it comes to promoting a business online, all marketers know they have to do it - that's where their prospects are. But what's the best way to go about it? In this series, I will share some principles we have uncovered in advising clients in their media planning - for both tradition and digital media (yes- there is some crossover between these channels, believe it or not) over the years.

As with any media plan, it all begins with asking the right questions. The first question you should ask with any media plan is: What is my goal? This is especially important with digital marketing when the channels are so varied and options seemingly limitless in what you can do creatively. These goals - or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) as they are known in the digital marketing industry - once discovered will guide the rest of the media plan and creative strategy. 

How do you discover your KPIs? By asking more questions, of course! Do you have a new product launch and a revenue goal you need to attain? Then your media will need to be timed to coincide with that launch - and the creative banners, or video will need to highlight this product's new features. Perhaps you are a service company and you need to educate prospects on your value. Or you are a B2B marketer and need to generate qualified leads. There are excellent media plan ideas to achieve those goals - one of which may be webinars.

Other possible KPIs are increased web traffic, video views, or even banner or paid search ad clicks. We recommend that as with any goal your KPIs be measurable, and attainable.  The more specific you can get, the better. How you answer these questions will not only direct your media plan, budget and creative but also the path your prospects go through to reach your goal. It will likely also determine how sales follows up with leads and help you be more strategic about your overall business. So ask good questions! And don't stop until you uncover good answers to those questions.

Check back here in the coming weeks for more digital marketing best practices, including the importance of having a compelling call-to-actions, paths to purchase and landing page form length. But I do want to touch on briefly the value of clicks verses impressions. (This can be a whole post, though!) Which is more valuable? Well, that's answered once again by your KPIs. For instance, if your goal is branding maybe to push a re-branding and a new logo, you will see more value in impressions. But if your goal is to achieve a high click-through rate because you are an e-commerce company and have a certain amount of widgets to sell, then obviously clicks are more valuable. You still need to cast a wide net with a lot of impressions to reach that goal, but knowing clicks is your endgame will answer other questions.

Here's some more advice - "Facebook" is not a strategy. More to come!