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Read MoreHow to Get Started With Digital Marketing: 5 Steps for NZ Businesses
Most NZ businesses start digital marketing the wrong way round. They set up a Facebook page, boost a few posts or switch on Google Ads, then wonder why nothing much happens. The businesses that get results do the groundwork first.
How Do You Get Started With Digital Marketing?
To get started with digital marketing, work through five steps in order: understand who your customers are, set a simple strategy with measurable goals, make sure your website can turn visitors into enquiries, choose a small number of channels that suit your audience and budget, and set up tracking so you can see what is working. Skipping the first two steps is the most common reason early campaigns fail.
Getting started with digital marketing involves much more than deciding whether you’re going to post on LinkedIn or Facebook, or use Shopify or WordPress for your website CMS.
1. Start with your audience
Good digital marketing is built around the customer, not the channel. Before you spend a dollar, get clear on who you are trying to reach, what problem they need solved and how they make decisions.
Start with the customers you already have. Look at who buys most often, who spends the most and who is easiest to work with, then talk to a few of them. Ask how they found you, what nearly stopped them from buying and where they go for information. Turn what you learn into two or three user personas, then map the steps each one takes from first hearing about you to buying.
2. Craft a strategy
A digital marketing strategy is a plan that connects your business goals to the online channels you will use to reach them. It does not need to be long. For most small and medium businesses, one or two pages are enough if it answers five questions:
- What do we want to achieve in the next 12 months, in numbers? For example, 30 qualified enquiries a month.
- Who are we targeting, and what do they need to hear from us?
- Which channels will we use, and why?
- How much will we spend, and over what timeframe?
- How will we measure success?
Build in a test-and-learn period of about three months. Early results will show which channels and messages work, so you can move budget towards them.
The strategy should outline your goals, the measurable objectives you’ll use to achieve them, your target audience and their customer journey, how you will define success, and may also include things like a competitor analysis, budget and time frame. Many digital marketing strategies will incorporate a “test and learn” phase and account for changes as you gain insight into what activity is working and what isn’t.
Download our eBook for tips on how to grow your business with a winning digital marketing strategy.
3. Build (or rebuild) your website to align with your strategy
Your website is where almost every digital channel sends people, so it needs to work before you pay to send traffic to it. Check that it loads quickly on mobile, explains clearly what you do and who you do it for, and makes the next step obvious, whether that is a phone call, an enquiry form or a purchase.
If you are not sure, start with an audit. A good audit looks at speed, mobile usability, tracking, search visibility and conversion, and tells you whether you need a few fixes or a rebuild. If you are weighing up a rebuild, our guides on what to consider when rebuilding your website and on web design pricing will help you plan.
Get the basics of SEO in place too, so people can find you on Google and in AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews, which increasingly answer questions by summarising the websites they trust.
If you currently have a website and it’s not driving the traffic or conversions you’d like it to, it might be time for a website audit to find out what needs to change. Sometimes, it could be some simple tweaks that are required. Sometimes, you might want to consider changing your CMS platform or refreshing the web design.
“Your website is the focal point of all your digital marketing activity.”
4. Develop your tactical activity
It is better to do two channels well than six badly. Choose the channels where your audience already spends time, and that fit your budget and the time you have.
- SEO: builds long-term visibility on Google and in AI search. Best if you can invest for six months or more.
- Google Ads: puts you in front of people searching for what you sell right now. Good for fast leads.
- Facebook and Instagram ads: reach people by interest and location. Strong for consumer brands and local services.
- Email marketing: turns past customers and enquiries into repeat business at low cost.
- Content marketing: articles, guides and video that answer customer questions and support SEO.
Wondering whether podcasts or blogs will be more effective in reaching your audience? It all comes down to your goals. Choose your channels carefully and make sure the ones you select are going to reach the people you want to talk to in the way they prefer to engage with brands.
5. Put an effective reporting mechanism in place
Before any campaign goes live, set up the tools that show you what is working. At a minimum, you need Google Analytics 4 to track visits and conversions, Google Search Console to see how people find you on Google, and conversion tracking on any ads platform you use.
Decide which numbers matter most, such as enquiries, sales, cost per lead and return on ad spend, and review them monthly. Stay flexible and move budget away from what is not working. Most businesses need three to six months of data before the picture is clear.
Common Mistakes When Starting Digital Marketing
It is better to do two channels well than six badly. Choose the channels where your audience already spends time, and that fit your budget and the time you have.
- Starting with a channel instead of a goal.
- Sending paid traffic to a slow or confusing website.
- Spreading a small budget across too many channels.
- Not tracking enquiries, so you cannot tell what is working.
- Stopping too early, before campaigns have had time to learn.
Should You Do It Yourself or Use an Agency?
Many small businesses start by doing some of the work themselves, such as social posts and email, and bring in help for the technical and paid channels, where mistakes cost money. An agency makes sense when you need results faster than you can learn the skills, or when your time is better spent running the business.
Digital Marketing FAQs
How long does digital marketing take to work?
Paid ads can bring enquiries within weeks. SEO and content usually take three to six months to show results, and keep building after that.
What is the best digital marketing channel for a small business?
There is no single best channel. For local services, Google Business Profile, Google Ads and SEO are usually strongest. For consumer products, social ads and email often lead.
Can I do digital marketing myself?
Yes. Social media, email and basic SEO are good places to start. Paid ads and technical SEO are where specialist help usually pays for itself.
Can I do digital marketing myself?
The strategy sets the goals, audience and approach. The plan lists the specific activity, budget and timings you will use to deliver it.
Building a digital marketing strategy that actually works takes more than a few social media posts.
We work with NZ businesses to create and execute strategies that drive real, measurable growth online. See our done-for-you digital marketing here.
- Audience research and customer journey mapping
- Strategy development aligned to your business goals
- Website, SEO, paid ads, content, and email all covered
- Clear reporting so you know what's working
For expert help getting started with your digital marketing
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