Digital marketing is a fundamental business strategy that uses the internet and online digital technologies such as mobile phones, personal computers and other digital media to promote services and products.
The potential benefits of digital marketing for Ugandan business owners cannot be overstated. Considering the dramatic rate at which internet use has grown in recent years, online marketing strategies are set to yield increasing returns.
This post is a detailed guide on how to implement an effective digital marketing strategy for your business.
 

Set goals

Do you want followers, conversion, email responses, or the n0 1 position in google search results? Digital marketing has nearly limitless potential. However, it will help to define a primary goal for your efforts, so you can track your progress. If you want to do several things at the same time, like running google ads and managing email and social media, then you should consider hiring a digital marketing agency. It may be too much work for you if you don’t have an in-house marketing team. There are several goals you can choose from. a few important ones include brand awareness, conversions, follower growth, conversions, and lead generation.
 

Brand awareness

Brand awareness should top your list. Consider the number of times you’ve wanted to tell someone to search the internet but told them to “google it” instead. This shows the power of brand awareness. When users start to use your brand about generic activities, you’ll have made it.
 

Followers

gaining followers for your company is not as easy as it seems either. You can certainly tell all your friends and relatives to like your business on Facebook and follow your page on Instagram. However, you still need a solid digital marketing campaign to reach people outside your circle. To do this, on Facebook, you may run follower growth ads that target specific profiles and ask them to like your page. It would also be wise to send emails to current business associates asking for follows and likes. It’s always a good move to have incentives like free gifts or coupons. Getting people to convert by buying your product or subscribing for a service takes a lot of convincing.
 

Conversions

If conversions are your main goal, you need to focus on lead generation. Generating leads will introduce customers to your product/service and give them an avenue contact you if they’re interested in making a purchase. Each of these goals requires a slightly different approach, so be sure to address that in your plan.
 

Identify your target market

what kind of people will benefit the most from your product or service? If you already have a website and are running analytics, you may generate usage reports to identify common characteristics among the people who buy your products.
If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to do a bit more research. Evaluate your competition for ideas on whom you should target. By studying your rivals, you’ll know what kind of people buy products/services from your industry. Remember though, that your research is still incomplete at this point. Observe your competition more – look for niche markets within your industry that they haven’t explored and assess their viability. Finding profitable haven’t market segments to exploit will give you a competitive edge.
Furthermore, you need to choose between businesses and consumers for your target market. You’ll want to target. Effective digital marketing requires that you carefully select your audience – it’s the only way to ensure your campaigns produce the required results.
 

Create Buyer profiles/personas

develop buyer personas for your brand. Describe your ideal customers in detail. What are they’re sources of income, what kind of families do they have, what are their likes and dislikes, how do they get their information?
Example
let’s assume you’re opening a bakery in your local community. The average birthday cake costs about UGX 50,000. Your ideal customer would look like this; this is Brenda. Brenda is a 27-year-old bank teller who earns about UGX 9.6 million a year. She loves her local community and is always looking to surprise her family and friends over the weekend when she has free time. She is very savvy and loves social media and e-commerce brands like Jumia. Brenda also loves to learn about the newest trends. Although she likes to save money, she will often spend on locally made food – if it is good enough.
As you create your buyer personas, remember to consider your customers’ fears, goals, demographics, and online tendencies. Building them takes patience, time, and practice, but the payoff is worth it.
 

Set your budget

you’ll need a budget for your first campaign. if you intend to partner with a digital marketing agency, remember that there will be a cost for their services and a fee for running social media and search engine You’ll want to include both in your budget.
To create your budget, start by asking yourself how much revenue you want to earn from your efforts. You must set a reasonable goal. If you’re running ads on Facebook and want to make UGX 37 million a month, and your product margin is UGX 370,000, you will need to generate 100 sales from your campaign.
Developing a budget is a crucial part of your digital marketing campaign. if you don’t trust yourself to do it right, consult a digital marketing professional.
 

Choose which Digital channels to use.

you should use as many channels as possible for your digital marketing campaign. However, if you are a b2b (business to business) brand, your channels will differ from those that a business-to-consumer company will use.

• Social media: You may advertise through social media channels like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
• Google Ads: Google Ads are useful as well, and they come with the advantage of putting your website at the top of search results.
• Email marketing: Email marketing allows you to group your customers/clients by their preferences, so you can send them highly customized content. with email, you have the freedom to craft custom subject lines and help full content that engages your audience. with email, you can build trust between yourself and your clients, and develop this bond over time.

The combination of social media advertising, email marketing, and google ads will create a robust strategy if implemented the right way.
 

Set up Pay Per Click ads and SEO

PPC

PPC (pay-per-click advertising) is an internet marketing model in which advertisers pay a fee every time one of their advertisements is clicked. it’s a way to get traffic to a website without earning those visits organically.
PPC increases the chances visitors will convert either as sales or leads. PPC is also measurable. Advertising networks like google provide several metrics that allow you to evaluate ad performance. you’ll know how many people have viewed your ad, how many clicked it, and how many performed the actions you want them to.
To set up PPC, you’ll need to find profitable keywords. Keywords are the phrases internet users type into search engines to find answers to questions and products to buy.
 

SEO

if you lack the resources or just don’t want to run ads, then you should ensure your site is properly optimized. Unlike PPC, SEO is entirely free, and it will organically rank your site on search engine results pages.
The key to successful SEO is compelling content. to create it, you’ll have to know what your users type into google and to use that information as the topic for your articles. finding keywords for your content is not hard. all you have to do is place yourself in your customers’ position. what would you type into a search engine if you were looking for a specific product or service? Make a note of your guesses and type them into search engines like google, Bing, and Duckduckgo.  You’ll know you you’ve found the right keywords the search engines auto-complete your suggestions.
 

Setup social media advertising

Now that you’ve set targets launched PPC ads, and setup SEO, you can launch a social media ad campaign.
Wherever you choose to advertise, (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Pinterest) you will need to create captivating content assets that connect with your audience. Because Facebook is the most popular social media platform in Uganda, in the following example, you’ll learn the basics of running a Facebook ad.

How to set up Facebook advertising

You’ll be working in Facebook ads manager, and for this to work, you’ll need to link a real Facebook account. First, you’ll be asked to choose an objective. for this example, choose brand awareness. next, choose a name for your campaign, and choose whether to optimize your budget. you will then receive a prompt to create an audience.
Tip: create a lookalike audience. A lookalike audience reaches new people most likely to take an interest in your business because they are similar to your existing customers. you’ll need an email list to start with so Facebook can create the audience for you.
After you’ve created an audience, the next step is to set an advertising budget. the ideal approach here is to start small, then increase your investment over time.  You don’t want to waste a large amount of money on an ad that doesn’t convert as it should. Lastly, finish your ad with images and content that will convince your audience to take desired actions.
 

Manage your social media profiles

If your audience doesn’t know about your business, they won’t buy from you. Social media increases your visibility among potential customers and lets you reach a wide audience. it’s free to create a business page on all the large platforms, so you don’t have much to lose. you’ll want to focus on follower growth and reputation management. these will expand your fan base and acquire new customers.
A good reputation is critical for your online success. use your social media pages to interact with customers and connect with disgruntled employees. connecting with people who have had a negative experience with your brand may seem scary at first, but it can help you win them back.
 

Set up an email marketing strategy

Email marketing allows you to interact with your customers regularly. It is an effective tool to let your subscribers know you value them. Customers like it when brands treat them as individuals, and not an indistinguishable group of people. show value in the emails you send. the more you do so, the more your audience will want to hear from you.
Note: Resist the urge to make a hard sell to early in the process. doing so will imply that you’re interested more in your clients’ money than their wellbeing. build a strong relationship with them first, then you’ll be the first option they consider once they’re ready to make purchases.
if you feel you don’t have the time to send emails, invest in an automated solution. Automated email management systems can welcome users, remind them that they left products in their cart, and inform them of upcoming promotions.
How to set up automated emails
Mailchimp offers free automation to all users with less than 2000 subscribers. it is a great tool for small business owners.
To set up automated emails, you’ll need a mail chimp account. If you don’t have one, go to the mail chimp account and sign up. The process is free, and It will take less than 2 minutes.
Once you’ve signed up, validate your email address, then log into your account.
Setting up automated emails on MailChimp
Step 1
In your dashboard, go to “create.” Choose “email.”

Step 2
In the window that appears, select “Automated.” It will be at the top, between “Regular” and “Plain-text.”

Step 3
Mail chimp offers several Automated Email options. It lets you, email subscribers, when they’re tagged, Say “happy birthday,” and share blog updates. for this example, select welcome new subscribers.

Step 4
Your choice should lead you to a tab that says “Welcome new subscribers.” emails in this category greet your subscribers and help you make a good first impression. they are further categorized into “single email,” “onboarding series” and education series.”
we’ll use “single email” for this example. It’s selected by default, so you don’t need to make any changes. at the bottom of your window, create a campaign name, and select an audience. Mail Chimp will create an audience based on the sign-up details you created. choose this, and click “Begin.”

Step 5
Next, you’ll get a window where you’ll draft an email template. it will let you choose a mailing list and create custom subject lines and content. In the “content section,” you’ll get a builder that lets you create the ideal layout for your emails. Try combining different elements till you find something you’re comfortable with. If you’d rather not do this, it’s ok. You may leave the default settings as they are. Remember to upload your brand’s logo your subscribers know it’s you.

Note: Mail chimp adds a referral badge to your email footers. You’ll have to upgrade your account to remove it.
Tip: there’s an option to send test emails at the bottom of your page. use it to evaluate how your emails look on your subscribers’ devices.
Step 6
Now, click “start sending.” You should see a notification box that says you are sending an automation

Step 7
Assuming all has gone as it should, you’ll see a success message saying you have successfully created “an automation.”

Note: all these preferences can be altered at a later time. If you realize you’ve made mistakes, you can always make changes.
 

Implement a remarketing strategy

Remarketing is a critical tool for your digital marketing. It lets you convert leads that would otherwise be lost. if someone checks your products but doesn’t buy any, retargeting will let you show them ads through social media, Google advertising, and email.
 

Develop a blogging strategy

Though blogging may seem insignificant, it has the potential to revolutionize your brand. It will improve your SEO and increase customer engagement. While your blog articles don’t have to be 3000 words long, remember that the higher the word count, the better the chances that your blog will rank.  if someone reads through your 300-word blog article, they’ll finish quite fast.  they’ll spend little time on your site, and Google will take this as a sign that they weren’t impressed by what they found. Writing blog content will also help you answer questions about your company or product. by creating articles that explore important features of your product or service, you’ll give potential customers a clear understanding of your brand’s value.
 

Measure your performance

you’ll want to evaluate your performance to identify areas of strength and weakness. Remember to base your judgment on the objectives you set at the start of your campaign.
Here are the key performance indicators you’ll want to look at.
Site traffic. don’t just follow the traffic. you check how many people come to your site and engage with it in a meaningful way. Which pages are they visiting? this information will tell you what interests them most so you can incorporate it into other pages on your site.
Bounce rate. This a measure of how much time people spend on your site.
If many visit a page and leave it soon after, it suggests that your content needs work.
Conversion rate. this is a measure of how effective your emails and call to actions are, it shows how many recipients took a specific action.
This guide has outlined the steps you need to take to develop and implement an effective digital marketing strategy in Uganda. Following the advice shared in this post will give your online marketing efforts the best chances at success.
That said, as you promote your business online, remember to evaluate your performance. Study what works and what doesn’t, and use this information to improve your approach.