Your Critical 2023 Digital Marketing Checklist Template
Introduction
As we emerge into the post-pandemic economy, marketing is taking on new importance to help businesses recover their footing. However, the challenges of the past couple of years have left many brands struggling, and the onus now is on marketing officers to find innovative new ways to raise awareness of their offering and attract buyers.
Top predictions for 2023 include an increased focus on influencer marketing, with 89% of marketers planning to raise or maintain their investment in this channel. Video marketing remains huge, with heightened attention to quality and brevity. Content remains king of the castle, while social selling channels are aiming to deliver greater value for consumers and sellers alike.
Here’s what we’re expecting to see happen, and how your company can stay ahead of the curve.
#1: Public Relations
As the incidence of fake news rises and with it, consumer suspicion, media outlets have grown to appreciate contributed content from subject matter experts. Not only does it come with the weight of the SME’s reputation behind it, but it reduces the cost of full-time staff for publications. With newsroom employment dropping by more than a quarter in the past 15 years, media outlets have increased their reliance on external authors. This is good news for thought leaders who want to expand their reach, because it offers multiple opportunities to get published.
PR TOOLKIT
Press Distribution Services
Companies are rediscovering the value of traditional press releases, although they are now distributed mostly through digital channels. This has the dual benefit of making it easier to get exposure and measuring the return on investment of the distribution. Results of PR have historically been difficult to track, but with the availability of PR analytics software it has become easier to measure the performance and reach of content.
International Services
- EIN Presswire (International) – Best for up to 50 releases/year: https://www.einpresswire.com/
- Globe Newswire (International) – Best for targeted distribution lists: https://www.notified.com/GNW-PR/press-release-distribution
- PR Newswire (International) – Best for wide distribution of press releases and other materials: https://www.prnewswire.com/
- Newswire (International) – Best for journalist copy: https://www.newswire.com/pricing/domestic/1
- Business Wire (International) – Best for investor relations: https://membership.businesswire.com/sign-up
Small Business / Budget
- eReleases – Best for small businesses without a budget: https://www.ereleases.com/
- NewswireJet – Best for small businesses on a budget: https://newswirejet.com/
- 24-7 Press Release – Best for businesses of all sizes: https://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
- PRLog (free): https://www.prlog.org/
Australia
- PR Wire: https://prwire.com.au/
- Newsmaker: https://www.newsmaker.com.au/
- Get the Word Out: https://getthewordout.com.au/
- Meltwater: https://www.meltwater.com/en/blog/press-release-distribution-australia
Media Monitoring Services
Media monitoring is listening to who’s saying what about your brand, your competitors, your industry, and any other topic that’s important to you. A media monitoring service, a press clipping service or a clipping service (as it was known in earlier times), provides you with copies of your appearances in the media and other content of specific interest to you.
- Streem (Australia – Print, Online, TV, Radio and Social Media): https://www.streem.com.au/media-monitoring
- Social Searcher (International – Online and Social Media): https://www.social-searcher.com/
- MuckRack (International – Web, Social Media, TV, and Radio): https://muckrack.com/media-monitoring-alerts
- TVeyes (Global – Broadcast Mentions): https://www.tveyes.com/
- Talkwalker (Global – Web, Newspaper Articles, Twitter, Online Forums): https://www.talkwalker.com/
Media Outreach Tools
PR and outreach software refers to a digital solution that helps your company identify and communicate with traditional media members, social media influencers, journalists and bloggers, with the goal of improving your media coverage and brand reputation. Some tools you can use for reaching media people include:
- Hunter (Email Lookup, Domain Search): https://hunter.io/
- Snov.io (Email Verification, and Email Sending Tools): https://snov.io/
- People Data Labs (Audience Generation Tool): https://www.peopledatalabs.com/
- JustReachOut.io (Journalist Outreach Software): https://justreachout.io/
- Prowly (Comprehensive Media Database): https://prowly.com/
#2: Interactive Marketing
Video marketing has soared in recent years, with 91% of businesses harnessing its usage in 2023. Vertical video, in particular, is vital for interactive marketing in 2023. Since smartphones have become the most popular method of shopping online, consumers want to be able to view marketing videos on their mobile screen. Where advertising was previously filmed in a landscape format, portrait is now taking over as the most valuable way to reach the audience.
Interactive Marketing TOOLKIT
Get the most out of your video marketing with these tools:
Video Creation
Video creation tools include the hardware and software used to develop your marketing videos. Whether you script, cast, and film your own footage or purchase stock footage, or a combination of both, you’ll need simple, intuitive programs that can generate the content you visualize to deliver your message. Get the most out of your video creation process with these tools:
- Clipchamp (Australia/Int – Free Online Video Maker and Editor): https://clipchamp.com/en/
- Invideo (Video Creation and Editing Tool): https://invideo.io/
- Biteable (Simple, with Footage, Animations, and Templates): https://biteable.com/
- Powtoon (Step by Step Creation of Animated Videos): https://www.powtoon.com/
- Vidyard (Create, Host, and Share Videos): https://www.vidyard.com/
Video Editing
Video editing is the manipulation and arrangement of video footage to structure and present your information in a consumable format for your target audience. Professional editing can make raw footage visually attractive and deliver your marketing message in a powerful, compelling way. Developing a high-quality marketing video doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, either. With these inspiring tools, you can create the video you want on your own device in a matter of minutes.
- Adobe Premiere Pro (Professionals – Industry Standard Among Video Editors): https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html
- Apple iMovie (Beginners and Mac Users): https://www.apple.com/imovie/
- Blender (Free, Open Source Software): https://www.blender.org/features/video-editing/
- Filmora (International, Cross-Platform): https://filmora.wondershare.com/index-t0.html
Stock Footage
Stock and archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video recordings that can be used again in other films. This footage is commonly purchased from stock library platforms, and it benefits video creators by saving shooting new material. The following websites offer stock footage that either has rights managed or is royalty-free, making it an economically viable option for business use.
- Adobe Stock (Royalty-Free Footage): https://stock.adobe.com/in/video
- Envato Elements (Free Footage): https://elements.envato.com/
- Videvo (Free Video, Motion Graphics, & Sound Effects): https://www.videvo.net/
- Vecteezy (Free Vector Art, Stock Photos & Videos): https://www.vecteezy.com/
- Shutterstock (High Quality, Paid Footage): https://www.shutterstock.com/video
And if you want something really special, a coordinated stunt or photocall can deliver maximum impact and ROI from your video marketing.
DOWNLOAD
Put your 2023 strategy into action with this marketing checklist template. Plan, execute, and measure impactful marketing campaigns, and track your progress easily.
Check out our downloadable summary here.
#3: Inbound Marketing
This is the art of leveraging the digital channels your target audience uses to attract them to seek out your product or service. An inbound marketing strategy focuses on optimizing your website, landing pages, email marketing, social media presence, and leveraging other digital options to create a positive experience customized for your brand’s ideal customer. Businesses that apply inbound marketing tactics can generate as high as 126% more leads than those that don’t.
Inbound Marketing TOOLKIT
A marketing checklist template of essential inbound tools includes:
Inbound lead generation is a marketing strategy that works by attracting prospective customers to your brand. Unlike outbound lead generation that involves you reaching out to customers, inbound lead generation means your prospects initiate the conversation and permit you to send them marketing material.
- Podium (Best for Capturing Website Leads): https://www.podium.com/
- Leadfeeder (Best for Lead Tracking and Intent Analysis): https://www.leadfeeder.com/
- OptinMonster (Best for Campaign Types and Campaign Triggers): https://optinmonster.com/
- FindThatLead (Best for Searching for Verified Leads): https://findthatlead.com/en
- Prospect.io (Best for Customised Sales Pipelines): https://overloop.com/
Paid Advertising (PPC) Tools
PPC management software and tools allow marketers to create, manage, and analyze their digital advertising campaigns. PPC tools can help you track analytics, manage your bidding, and provide competitor research, keyword tracking, and overall ad optimization.
- Wordstream (Optimising Digital Marketing Campaigns): https://www.wordstream.com/
- Optmyzr (Campaign Management, PPC and Social Media Advertising): https://www.optmyzr.com/
- Majestic (Award-Winning Data): https://majestic.com/
- TrueClicks (Create, Run and Manage Campaigns): https://trueclicks.com/
- Leadpages (Best for Building and Publishing Webpages): https://www.leadpages.com/
A/B Testing Tools
A/B testing tools enable you to conduct A/B tests. Also known as split testing, this is a methodology for comparing two versions of a webpage or app against each other to determine which one performs better. These tools help you discover how to improve your conversions, provide better digital experiences, and understand how your customers prefer to use your product. Regular A/B tests will enable you to improve your customer experience while also increasing your revenue.
- Hotjar (Segmentation, Customer Intelligence, and Usability Testing): https://www.hotjar.com/
- Amplitude (Segmentation, Customer Intelligence, Data Analytics, and Related Solutions): https://amplitude.com/
- Crazy Egg (Web Analytics, Visualisations, Heatmaps, and Usability Tool): https://www.crazyegg.com/
- Optimizely (A/B Testing and Customer Experience Optimisation Solutions): https://www.optimizely.com/
- Unbounce (Create, Launch and Test Landing Pages, Popups and Sticky Bars): https://unbounce.com/
These are just the tip of the iceberg, and although many are easy to use and simple to deploy, you’ll do even better by appointing an experienced inbound marketing agency to develop a comprehensive strategy for you.
#4: Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Content is also the cornerstone of a digital marketing approach. From blog posts to brochures, website copy and press releases, every content item you publish must be unique and authoritative, and deliver value for the consumer.
A comprehensive strategy begins with developing and implementing an editorial calendar that combines quality keyword research with market-specific ideas, uses high-quality content publishing tools, and distributes your material as widely as possible. Content continues to rule most marketing strategies, but only 28% of B2B marketers have the right technology to manage it.
Content Marketing TOOLKIT
Content marketing tools you can try are:
Editorial Planning Software
An editorial content calendar is a tool that helps you plan the content publishing on your website. You can plan and schedule tasks such as the development of the material, the publication date, and manage your content team.
- Monday.com (Best for Managing and Scheduling Content Marketing): https://monday.com/lp/aw/calendar/long/checkbox
- Hubspot (Best for Planning and Organising Digital Marketing Content): https://offers.hubspot.com/editorial-calendar-templates
- Semrush Marketing Calendar (Best for Managing Content Calendars and Campaign): https://www.semrush.com/lp/cmpaff/en/
- Trello (Best for Editorial Content Management for Individuals and Teams): https://trello.com/
- CoSchedule (Best for Viewing, Scheduling, and Sharing Content Marketing): https://coschedule.com/blog/content-marketing-editorial-calendar-template
Content Writing Tools
Writing quality content consistently can be a challenge even for pros. Content writing tools help you iron out the glitches in a piece of content, making it highly engaging. There are tools that can help you improve your writing, create branded marketing content, generate topic ideas, create compelling titles, and more. AI tools even help you by creating your initial outline or draft, giving you a basis to work from.
- Hubspot Topic Generator (Generates Blog Topics): https://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator
- CoSchedule Headline Analyser (Analyses Headline Versions that Drive Traffic): https://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer
- Grammarly (AI Grammar and Spelling Assistant): https://grammarly.com
- ChatGPT (Generates Well-Ordered Content Drafts): https://chatgptonline.net/
- Izittext.io (Tool that Turns Speech into Text): https://www.izitext.io/
Email Marketing Software
Email marketing software enables you to create, send, and track emails to your list of subscribers. Using good software makes it easier to create well-designed emails, and also allows you to see key metrics such as open rates and click-through rates.
- Mailchimp (Best for Small Business Operators): https://mailchimp.com/
- ActiveCampaign (Best for Email Automation): https://www.activecampaign.com/
- MailerLite (Easiest to Use): https://www.mailerlite.com/
- Moosend (Most Affordable Option): https://moosend.com/
- Drip (Best for eCommerce Companies): https://www.drip.com/
Your content strategy doesn’t depend only on creation, though. Once you’ve developed a wealth of valuable material, your content promotion efforts get the information in front of the right people.
#5: SEO
Displaying expertise and value has always been the focal point for online content, but the best content in the world is useless if nobody sees it. Optimising your website for search remains critical in 2023, and Google’s algorithm is getting better at evaluating signals and adjudicating quality content. Marketers must prioritise keyword research and audience-targeted content, and ensure websites have excellent page loading capabilities and high performance for users. Voice search will remain one of the most important options in 2023.
These tools will help with both on-page and off-site SEO. Some sites offer value-adds, like Semrush that has outreach templates you can adapt to any situation.
ON-PAGE SEO
On-page SEO is the incorporation of researched keywords into high quality content, in a way that brings up the relevant pages when a user searches on the key terms. This is supported by regular review of the google analytics for your website, to determine which keywords are bringing the most visitors and the pages they are landing on.
OFF-PAGE SEO
This is more of a content promotion function than an SEO process, but it also uses keyword research to guide the creation of content that is published on other websites that links back to you. This positions your website as part of a high-quality network of sites that deliver value to visitors, so you come up in search results more often.
SEO TOOLKIT
Some tools we use to audit and optimise SEO are:
SEO Software Tools
Search engine optimization (SEO) software, or organic search marketing software, is designed to improve the ranking of websites in search engine results pages (SERPs) without paying the search engine provider for placement.
- Ahrefs (Best All-in-One SEO Tool): https://ahrefs.com/
- Semrush (Best Tool for Power Users): https://www.semrush.com/
- KWFinder (Best Value): https://mangools.com/kwfinder/alternative-to-keyword-planner/
- WooRank (Most User-Friendly Tool): https://www.woorank.com/
- BrightLocal (Best for Local SEO): https://www.brightlocal.com/
No matter how good your strategy is, marketing works only if you reach enough of the right people with your messages. By including search engine optimisation in your marketing checklist template, you can make sure you’re being found when they need you.
Social media is overtaking search engines and the #1 way to attract website traffic. The ongoing recession predictions continue to fuel budget cuts, leading to renewed interest in social media marketing. Research from HootSuite shows social media has the potential to create real value for investors, by delivering an essential way to reach customers, gain valuable insights, and grow a brand. More businesses are turning to social media to engage and influence new and existing customers. A 2022 LinkedIn report shows 89% of customers are likely to consider a brand that impacts their way of thinking via social media.
Social media is set to be a top engagement opportunity in 2023, with the number of users projected to rise to 4.89 billion, up from 4.59 billion in 2022. Keeping your audience engaged on several different social channels is challenging, but we have a slate of tools that offer usable cheat sheets to help us. Here are some tools to help you knock this medium out of the park.
Social Media Marketing TOOLKIT
From social media advertising to building relationships, these tools can help:
Social Media Publishing Platforms
Social media publishing tools centralize the creation, scheduling, publication, and tracking of social media content across social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.
- Brandwatch (An All-in-One Social Media Marketing Tool): https://www.brandwatch.com/
- Loomly (Content Creation And Social Media Posting): https://go.loomly.com/influencer-marketing-hub
- Sendible (Best Budget-Friendly Software): https://www.sendible.com/
- Iconosquare (Analytics and Social Media Management Tool): https://www.iconosquare.com/
- Agorapulse (Full Featured Social Media Management Program): https://www.agorapulse.com/
Social Media Listening Tools
Social media listening tools are software programs that monitor and analyze online conversations about your brand. These listening tools allow you to build a solid understanding of exactly how customers and potential customers think about you and your competitors by analyzing what they say on social channels. This is valuable market research you can access in real-time if you have the right tools to do so.
- Meltwater (A Tool that Publishes, Tracks Competitors, Gathers Insights & Manages Influencers.): https://www.meltwater.com/en
- Awario (Social Listening Tool that Tracks Brand Mentions Online): https://awario.com/
- Mention (Social Media Monitoring, Competitive Analysis & Crisis Management Solutions): https://mention.com/en/
- Mentionlytics (Best for Small Business Operators): https://www.mentionlytics.com/
- Talkwalker (Good for Global Brands): https://www.talkwalker.com/
Social Media Advertising Software
Social media advertising software allows users to place ads on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or other social media platforms. Some social ad campaigns are designed to promote brand awareness, while others are direct response/click-through ads that aim to generate leads or revenue.
- Quuu Promote (Drives Social Shares and Backlinks): https://quuu.co/promote
- Tweepi (Best for Twitter Advertising Campaigns): https://tweepi.com/
- Brandwatch (An All-in-One Social Media Marketing Tool): https://www.brandwatch.com/
- SproutSocial (Best for Instagram and TikTok Advertising): https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-advertising/
- Ad Expresso (Best for Facebook Ad Campaigns): https://adespresso.com/free-tools/compass/
DOWNLOAD
Put your 2023 strategy into action with this marketing checklist template. Plan, execute, and measure impactful marketing campaigns, and track your progress easily.
Check out our downloadable summary here.
#6: Social Media Marketing