Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning
Strategy questions test whether you can connect business objectives to measurable marketing choices. Know the hierarchy: business goals → marketing objectives → channel strategies → tactics → KPIs. Objectives should be SMART, and each tier must logically serve the one above it.
Core concepts: segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP); the marketing funnel (awareness, consideration, conversion, retention, advocacy); situation analysis tools like SWOT and PESTLE; competitor analysis; and budget/resource allocation across owned, earned, and paid media. Also understand customer lifetime value (CLV) versus customer acquisition cost (CAC), and why CLV:CAC ratio matters for sustainable growth.
Traps to watch: confusing a strategy (the approach) with a tactic (the execution). A question asking for "the best strategy" will usually have one answer that ties back to the stated business objective while others are channel-level tactics. Another trap is a KPI that is easy to measure but misaligned to the goal (e.g., optimizing for impressions when the objective is lead generation). Also watch for answers that ignore budget constraints or assume unlimited resources.
Worked rule of thumb: If a scenario states a goal (e.g., "increase qualified leads by 20% in two quarters"), eliminate any option that doesn't ladder up to qualified leads or that is a tactic with no measurement plan. The correct answer names the approach, the target segment, and the success metric together.
Remember that channel strategy must fit the audience and funnel stage-top-of-funnel favors broad reach and content; bottom-of-funnel favors targeted, conversion-oriented tactics.