Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Tactics to Execute Your Strategy

So, you’ve completed the “Strategy” phase of START Planning, the process behind the Digital Marketing Success Plan® (DMSP), or you’ve used your own process to define a set of goals and build a solid strategy. You’ve defined goals, built an understanding of your audience and aligned your efforts with business outcomes.

The next challenge is choosing the tactics that will actually get you there.

Too often, businesses either chase the latest digital trends without a plan or stick to outdated methods that no longer deliver return on investment (ROI). That’s where the Tactics phase of the START Planning Process comes in, helping you evaluate, prioritize and implement the right marketing channels for your strategy and business objectives. In this article, we’ll break down the four essential steps to choosing and executing the right tactics for your business.

Step 1: Explore all potential digital marketing channels.

Many businesses default to tactics they’re comfortable with or those they’ve used in the past, but past success doesn’t guarantee future results. Digital marketing evolves constantly, and so should your approach. Here are key digital channels to consider.

• Search engine optimization (SEO): Long-term organic visibility in Google’s search results.
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: Immediate traffic through platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads.
• Social Media Marketing: Organic and paid strategies to engage audiences on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
• Email Marketing: Nurturing leads and maintaining customer engagement through automation and targeted campaigns.
• Programmatic Display Ads: Automated bidding to serve ads to your ideal customers based on online behavior.

Common mistake: Jumping into execution before evaluating all your options. Many companies invest in Google Ads because they assume it’s the fastest route to leads, when SEO and content creation might be a better long-term play for high-quality leads at a lower cost.

Action Step: Create a list of all digital marketing channels and platforms you could use, even ones you’ve never tested before, and keep an open mind.

Step 2: Match tactics to business goals.

Once you have a list of potential marketing tactics, the next step is to align them with your business goals, because not every channel is right for every objective. Examples of goal-to-tactic alignment:

• If your goal is brand awareness: Invest in SEO, social media, and content development.
• If you need immediate lead generation: Consider PPC, email marketing, and retargeting ads.
• If your sales cycle is long and complex: Focus on thought leadership content, LinkedIn marketing, and SEO.

A logistics company needed focus before more tactics.

A midsized, global B2B logistics firm came to us with a long wish list of goals and tactics spread across its divisions, from truckload and warehousing to freight forwarding and customs brokerage. Many of those tactics had little context, and the company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system lacked the ownership and adoption needed to trust its data.

Instead of adding more channels, we worked backward from their lead and ROI goals, built a solid foundation, and then prioritized the website, search, social, email and content work that supported those goals. Over time, that plan drove millions of dollars in ROI on the same modest budget they started with.

Action Step: For each tactic, ask whether it directly supports your business goals or whether you’re using it because you think you should.

Step 3: Prioritize based on ROI potential.

Not all tactics deliver the same return on investment, and some are hard to quantify. Before executing, consider three key factors when prioritizing your digital marketing mix.

1. Cost Efficiency: What’s the cost per lead or conversion for each channel? PPC might be expensive but offer instant results, while SEO requires long-term investment but delivers sustainable traffic.
2. Time to Impact: Some channels take months to show results (SEO and content marketing), while others offer quick wins (Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads).
3. Scalability & Sustainability: Will this tactic be effective long-term, or will it require constant reinvestment? SEO and email marketing compound over time, while paid ads stop working when the budget runs out.

Common mistake: Trying to do everything at once. Many businesses waste time and budget by spreading themselves too thin across multiple tactics without a clear prioritization framework.

Action Step: Rank your top tactics by ROI potential and time to impact. If it’s best for you, consider starting with one or two key tactics before expanding.

Step 4: Define success metrics and prepare for implementation.

Once you’ve selected the right mix of tactics, the next step is to define and map out how success will be measured before moving on to the Application phase of START Planning, and then to the Review phase, where you’ll go deep into ROI measurement planning holistically. This makes sure that when implementation begins, your team (or agency) has clear performance benchmarks to track.

A few key considerations shape this stage.

• Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for each tactic to track progress effectively.
• Establish performance benchmarks using historical data and industry standards.
• Develop a monitoring framework so reporting aligns with business goals.
• Plan for flexibility and account for potential adjustments as results come in.

Each tactic needs its own benchmarks.

Different tactics require different success metrics. Your planning process should document:

• SEO: Target organic traffic growth, ranking improvements, and lead generation.
• PPC: Expected cost per lead, conversion rate goals, and budget pacing.
• Content Marketing: Engagement metrics, lead generation, and search visibility impact.
• Social Media: Follower growth, engagement rates, and click-throughs.
• Email Marketing: Open rates, click-through rate (CTR), and revenue from campaigns.

An insurance services company uncovered hidden losses in its ads.

A national insurance services company approached VOLTAGE believing their Google Ads campaigns were profitable and seeking help with some incremental improvements in performance. When we mapped true customer acquisition costs against ad spend and sales cycles, we discovered they were actually losing money on every ad dollar spent.

By establishing new benchmarks before execution, we uncovered a major issue before they invested even more budget and increased those hidden losses. Instead of running more ads blindly, they adjusted their marketing strategy and shifted focus to SEO and email marketing (while also getting their Google Ads in better shape), which led to sustainable ROI growth.

Action Step: Before launching any tactics, document the success metrics, data sources and reporting cadence needed to evaluate performance once implementation begins, and build them into your documented digital marketing plan (or Digital Marketing Success Plan®).

The right tactics require the right planning.

Tactics should never be chosen based on gut instinct or the latest trends. The Tactics phase of the START Planning Process makes sure that:

• Every tactic is tied directly to a business goal.
• ROI is considered before budget is allocated.
• Benchmarks for success are documented before execution.
• Data-driven insights guide future adjustments.

By completing this phase thoroughly, you’ll make sure your digital marketing investments are strategic, measurable and aligned with your business’s long-term success, and you’ll be ready to move into Application, Review and Transformation in the START Planning Process.