Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing

by Simon Kingsnorth

Digital and social media are essential aspects of a marketing department's function; therefore, it is important that they are integrated into the organization's wider goals. Uniting digital marketing techniques with business strategy and established marketing models such as the 7 P's, Porter's Five Forces, and Customer Lifetime Value, author Simon Kingsnorth demonstrates how to formulate the best strategy for a company.

Rather than presenting a "one size fits all" model, Kingsnorth brings various strategies to life through case studies, charts, illustrations, and checklists. Digital Marketing Strategy covers what digital marketing is, how to budget and forecast, acquisition, personalization, customer service, user experience, content strategy, how to analyze and perform social measurements, and how to structure and present a digital marketing plan in order to win support and funding.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Reference, Professional Development

344 pages, Paperback

Published May 28, 2016

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this a textbook or a route map to establishing or streamlining your digital marketing strategy? The positioning is unclear, yet it provides in any case a great host of information about digital marketing subjects that can be used by the practitioner or student as a base for their own needs.

The author has consolidated a lot of relevant, practical information together in this book, acting as a bit of a ready-reference source instead of a more outwardly looking inspirational guide to doing digital marketing. This is not a criticism per se, but a reflection of how the book appears and feels. Certainly it is doing a good job and has the potential to be a closely consulted companion for many readers.

It seems that the objective is not to be a “one size fits all” book, so by providing a host of strategies, theory, practical case studies and guidance the author aims to be a central resource and the reader has to pick the tools that may be best suited to their requirements and then implement them at will. This makes sense in many ways. This book can also be a more unique, personal book to each reader, since they get different benefits from their book along the way.

In any case, this can be a certain “no brainer” purchase; it is competitively priced and has a lot of relevant, up-to-date information that acts as a great springboard to additional knowledge for the reader. It is more than just digital marketing too, so if you’ve forgotten some of your marketing and business theory you can brush up on this at the same time without being embarrassed!

Leave some space on your bookshelf for this book!

[Mario · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only seemingly valuable section of this book was SEO.

Otherwise, the book’s key phrase seemed to be “in order to keep things simple for the purpose of this book.”

Not sure why I would buy a book on digital marketing if I just wanted to keep things simple.

You’re better off googling “best digital marketing strategies” unless you’re just looking for a simple introduction.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read for a class. Some good information but if you have any experience/knowledge in digital marketing, there’s nothing new here. Also very little was helpful for me. The way it’s written is very boring, over simplistic, and kind of a “business-y” way of writing if that makes sense. I struggled to get through each chapter we were assigned and had to break up my reading. Anyway, maybe some good info for someone who has zero knowledge of digital marketing but also some outdated concepts and not so current advice (I read the 2019 version). As someone who has worked in SEO, the SEO chapter was not great, I’d seek out other/better advice. This is a ramble but basically bummed about the hours of my life I spent reading it. 😂

[Anya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm just starting to set up my own artist webpage and this book was helping me immensely with planning and the social media marketing side of things.
It covers the marketing basics and gives further reading examples and then delves into implementation of marketing plans.

[Claire Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess to being daunted by Digital Marketing so this was a very thorough and helpful guide to creating a strategy, it is complex information delivered well and I didn't feel talked down to or belittled.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This accessible, step-by-step framework enables the planning, integration and measurement of each digital platform and technique, all tailored to achieve overarching business objectives.

Ranging from social media, SEO, content marketing and user experience, to customer loyalty, automation and personalization, this edition features cutting edge updates on marketing automation, messaging and email, online and offline integration, the power of technologies such as AI, plus new data protection and privacy strategies.

It's difficult to write a book about digital marketing, because the landscape changes every day. When I saw this on NetGalley, I was nonetheless intrigued. Currently, I'm working in a new role that requires more hands-on digital marketing than I'm used to, so I figured this would be a good "refresher course" for my brain!

Written like a textbook, Digital Marketing Strategy is definitely more of an introduction to digital marketing than a rigorous or detailed boot camp. There isn't a lot of analysis or depth of insight, but I'm not sure that's needed with this - it feels almost like a "For Dummies" guide, and that's NOT a criticism. Everyone starts somewhere, and this book provides a wealth of information, as well as checklists, templates and downloadable guides that are kept updated frequently.

I would suggest this for someone who is just starting to dip their toes into this pool - it's a great overview of the basic tactics and strategies associated with digital marketing, and offers definitions for industry standard terminology that would be helpful to beginners. For anyone saying it's not advanced enough - I'm not sure that's who this book would even be for to begin with. A digital marketer with years of experience under their belt is not likely to pick up a book like this - they've already seen and done it all!

Someone with a small business or starting a new career would find this text very helpful. It's a solid beginning for anyone wanting to learn more about digital marketing, and perhaps also looking to choose exactly what platforms will benefit them best. This text is a gateway, as it outlines most of the channels available - providing a comprehensive introduction to the field and a great overview for anyone starting out.

[Darya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and comprehensive book on digital marketing. It can be very useful if you are not an advanced digital marketer. I think a lot of people can benefit from it at their early journey in digital marketing or have classical marketing background and are looking to transform their knowledge and experience into digital. The book provides perfect explanations of classical marketing with application to digital reality. Specifically good is SEO part. Very well explained. I liked 4 Rs approach in goals and objectives setting: Relevant, Resonating, Responsive, Recognizable. I would recommend the book to both entrepreneurs and marketing managers.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this text for my Masters dissertation (on book marketing) and found it full of really great information both for my theoretical grounding and for practical use. It gave a good background to each of the relevant components and was a good introduction to marketing in general.

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Simon’s 3rd edition of his book “digital marketing strategy” which originally came out in 2016, but he has kept updating it. This 3rd edition is updated to support a post-covid world.

The book runs to nearly 400 pages and covers all the subjects you need to setup and define your digital marketing strategy. From knowing your business objectives and your customer, to integrating digital change into your wider organization, from using a channel strategy to reach your clients to conversion, retention and measurement.

As I’m sure Simon would admit, each of these subjects could take a book in itself, this book is an overview and Simon even suggests further reading should you want to dive in and read more on the subject.

Just be aware I read the 3rd edition that came out in May 2022.

If you are looking to create your digital marketing strategy, update the one you have or just need to know the questions to ask then, this is the book for you.

Note I read the 3rd edition that came out in May 2022.

[user48573452 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good, comprehensive guide to digital marketing for someone like myself. I am a graphic designer who wants to understand more about DM so I can hopefully incorporate it into some of my client work.

I also plan to start my own business(es) and thought this would prove useful for that too.

It gave me a lot of insight into different DM practices that I originally had no idea about, I now feel I could put together a pretty decent strategy.

What stoppedit being a 5-star for me, is that the book was like 99.99% text with hardly any visuals. It would have made things a lot easier to understand with some screengrabs dotted throughout.

It was very text-heavy and felt quite exhausting / confusing at times as a result.

There also weren't make examples of the tools / practices that the author referred to... e.g. what is programmatic advertising exactly? I sorta got the gist of it but there was no mention of what these tools are or what they look like... is this part of Google Ads or what?

Overall it was still a great read and I'll definitely be using this as a reference in my own work / businesses.

[Puneet Lamba · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars, not because it contains some amazing prose and is hard to put down (although it is well-written with no errors). But because it is the only book of its kind I've been able to find that is current (as of May 2021), informative, and accurate. I've been in the business for a while and I learned a hell of a lot from this book. Mostly in terms of best practices, terminology, leading products and vendors, and a whole lot more.

If you've been working in a specific area of digital marketing (e.g. I've been working mostly with Adobe Experience Cloud products) and wish to broaden your command of the digital marketing space and have added confidence when consulting with clients, reading this book will take you one step closer to that goal.

[Pawel Jaczewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, what sets this book apart is its comprehensiveness. If you want to see a marketing strategy roadmap, you will find it in this book. I would add that it is for people who want to see it ‘from scratch’. It is not really for advanced marketers, unless they want to supplement their knowledge.

I asked a well-known Polish marketer for their opinion: 1. Łukasz Kosuniak's opinion: "I liked the book on Digital Strategy because the topic is already well-worn and it is difficult to add anything new.
And indeed, there is not much new here, but it is a good summary of the most important methods and frameworks - you can see the author's consulting background.

[Bugzmanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty dull. It stays on descriptive side of things most of the time. Which I find odd as I would expect the strategy to be a prescriptive thing.
My overall impression that it bombards you with bits and pieces of information that you need to stitch together by yourself. It lacks a grand narrative or event any attempt to stay cohesive. Chapters are pretty independent from each other and it's kinda hard to understand why some of them were included in the book.
The good thing the book is short and can be skimmed relatively quickly.

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read any other books like this one so I have nothing to compare it to. However, I did find it beginner-friendly (but be sure to take notes). The book builds a good foundation in the beginning and it is good about referring back to lessons that it went over (it ties everything together nicely). There are not many visual aids but, there are plenty of case studies throughout the book and the chapters are short. Like any textbook, it can get a bit dry and long.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite what's suggested by its title, this book is a simplistic introduction to Digital Marketing (with definition of key terms such as SEO, Display, Content, ...) but is not so much about "strategy" or methodology. The book is easy to read and will be easily accessible by readers not familiar with marketing or digital marketing.

[SteffaniR · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good book for someone who just started a new journey in online business/marketing. it has further reading recommendations which contain various articles or books to help us understand the material better. I think this is a good book for a newbie, I don't know whether this book would be useful for professionals or not.

[Gisela Peralta Mansilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to find good books about digital marketing because in technology, everything change everyday. However, this book present basic structure about several topics of digital marketing besides cases. It helped me to summary some topics in a simple way.

[Hamidreza Toliati · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for a great vision about digital marketing, but there is lack of details in some parts and it is logical because of high volume of content for the book

[Amanda Munday · Rating 2 out of 5]

More textbook than business insightful read. Definitely for beginners to the field.

[David Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a high level primer of digital marketing. It doesn’t get into the details so advanced users are better off finding books covering some of the key tools used for digital marketing, like Google Analytics.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un manual puntual para apoyar a principiantes en la creación de una estrategia digital. Lo utilice como fuente en mi clase de e-commerce, entendible, sencillo y puntual.

[Nicholas Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic overview do like the massive amount of references for further readings however

[Rahmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its more usefull for students as it contained more theoritical approach with detail explanation on each of key channels. As practicioner won't find it usefull as nothing new here.

[RocketFlood · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best step-by-step and fully integrated approaches I've read so far.

[Karlene Gould · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digital marketing

Excellent book for the ins and outs of the digital.world. totally different than I thought was.going to read.but.so worth your wild.

[Sten]

This book gives a great overview of marketing channels, what's their purpose and how to use them. However, not all info fits into one book. That's why most of the topics are quite brief.

[roxi Net]

A great reference on digital marketing strategy that includes actually what digital marketing strategy is (shocking, no?). It reads a bit like a textbook, which isn’t a bad thing at all, and it might actually be the only book you need (but I haven’t done the necessary research) It includes chapter goals, checklists (my favorite). It answered a lot of my own questions and really provided me a framework to build off of for my own ideas. I skipped around the chapters (first to the ones I found interesting) and it didn’t seem to detract from the book, but I think some would want to read it in order (especially since definitions are found in the beginning but you can reference the list of key terms). I might actually want to share this with the marketing team I work with when it’s published 

[Frank Viale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Para aplicar de inmediato

[Rajesh]

Had to skim and return, so no rating under my must read at least 51% policy. It wasn't as much digital marketing as one would think.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a digital marketing professional since '94 (yes, that's about when the Internet was just getting started for the general public), and this book is excellent! It covers everything you should know about Internet marketing (at this ever-changing-tech-moment). It is very comprehensive and accurate, and includes some short case studies! If you're familiar with internet marketing you may not learn much, but it's still worth a read since it may help you bring some new aspects together or help you tweak some current strategies. There is so much to know about marketing that no one book will do the job, but I highly recommend this one for a superb overview and solid info in 2019-2020.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!