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10 Ways to Create a Strong Digital Marketing Plan Using the START Framework for Focus and Adaptability
Digital marketing is difficult, right? WRONG! It is not. It’s only difficult for people who do not plan it well. As Sir Winston Churchill said:
“He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”
Marketing does not mean your brand needs to be all over the place. It’s about avoiding old-school techniques and focusing on what your brand is and what works for it. Make it more manageable. That’s where the START Framework comes in.
Let me show you how this framework can transform your marketing plan, using a brand that’s nailed it: Dollar Shave Club. This is an American company that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail.
Like, who does that? Normally, we buy stuff like that from grocery stores and marts. But Dollar Shave Club has broken this mold by successfully applying the START framework to its marketing strategy.
What’s the START framework for a strong digital marketing plan?
The START framework is a five-step process that helps you focus and adapt in your journey. It stands for:
Dollar Shave Club follows this framework closely, which is why it became a billion-dollar company within five years of its launch in 2011.
In the upcoming section, I will define how brands like the Dollar Shave Club implement the START framework. So you can follow and create your own successful digital marketing plan.
10 ways to use the START framework for successful digital marketing
Digital marketing today is like a domino effect. You have to execute every strategy perfectly to get digital marketing success, like the way you place each domino in the right place to get the chain reaction.
Following are the ways that the Dollar Shave Club had used. Let’s see how you can use the exact methods to make your marketing a success too.
1. Set SMART goals to guide your marketing efforts (strategy)
Dollar Shave Club didn’t aim to just “sell razors.” Their goal was specific: make grooming convenient, affordable, and accessible. So they set the SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For instance, they might have aimed to get 10,000 subscribers in their first year.
Your move: Define clear, SMART goals for your digital marketing plan. Want to grow your following? Specify a number and a deadline. Set the target and then do your best to achieve it. The deadline here is very important because “A goal without a timeline is just a dream”—Robert Herjavec.
2. Conduct comprehensive market research (strategy)
Dollar Shave Club knew their audience very well. They targeted busy people who wanted a hassle-free grooming solution. They studied their audience’s pain points, competitors, and market gaps. That’s how they came up with a plan to provide grooming kits by mail every month.
Your move: Use AI analytics tools, conduct , and do competitor analysis to gather data on your potential customers. Understand what your audience wants and then craft a marketing strategy accordingly.
3. Select your digital marketing methods (strategy)
From TikTok shorts to targeted ads, Dollar Shave Club uses every method to reach their audience. Their hilarious launch videos went viral on social media. This got them massive brand awareness back then.
Your move: Choose the channels that your audience uses. If your customers are on Instagram, focus there. If they prefer in-depth content, invest in blogs and SEO. It is good to go for a multi-channel approach.
But do not let this get your focus diverted. Focus on creating content for the main channel. Then repurpose your content according to each platform using . This way you can keep your voice constant throughout the internet. And your content will reach every small part of the target audience.
4. Set a budget that aligns with your goals (tactics)
Big brands do not waste money on every marketing trend. Dollar Shave Club followed that too. They invested in what worked for them. Like content creation, social media ads, and email marketing. They have never used a billboard, radio channel, or TV commercial to market their cause. They planned to be an online sensation; they invested in it.
Your move: Do not waste your resources on everything. Find out what platforms are preferred by your target audience. Then allocate resources to those areas. Monitor what works and what does not. Track your spending on each campaign and adjust your budget accordingly.
5. Use a content calendar to stay organized and consistent (tactics)
Consistency was key for Dollar Shave Club’s marketing. They never gave any space to the competitors to attract their customers. They kept doing social media posts, email campaigns, and blogs. That’s because they followed a schedule for each of their campaigns.
Your move: Plan your campaigns way ahead of time. Decide which content you are going to post on what date. Include content themes and platforms also. Map everything out on a calendar to be consistent and organized. And most importantly, keep following it.
6. Optimize your website content for better Google performance (application)
You run ads to reach your customers. What if they want to reach you? For that, your website has to be optimized for SEO. Have a look at the Dollar Shave Club’s website. They have used many relevant keywords in their content. And have optimized their site for faster loading time to rank higher on search engines.
Your move: Audit your website for improvements. because up to 63% of traffic comes through mobile devices. Use generative AI tools to get relevant keywords for your industry. Use them in your content to improve your SERP ranking. Perform technical SEO as well to make your site load faster.
Partnering with a can also help ensure your site is both user-friendly and optimized for performance. A faster, more SEO-friendly site equals more traffic and leads.
7. Assign roles and responsibilities within your team (application)
Entrepreneurs try to do many things by themselves when they launch a startup. It seems cost-effective, but in fact, it is damaging. When Michael Dubin founded Dollar Shave Club back in 2011, he knew that people who multitask pay a huge price—Charlie Munger. He created a team, from content creators to marketing analysts, and assigned the task to each person to do what they do best.
Your move: Do not try to do everything yourself. Do what you are best at, say content writing, SEO, or whatever. Develop a team and assign roles based on skills and expertise. Doing things becomes easier this way.
8. Conduct regular performance audits (review)
You will waste a lot of your money if you wait for your campaigns to complete. Because a single mistake can turn your campaign upside down. So, evaluate your campaigns constantly. Brands like Dollar Shave Club regularly review performance metrics and adjust their strategies accordingly.
Your move: Schedule campaign performance audits when you create a calendar for posting content. Analyze KPIs (Key performance indicators) like website traffic, social media engagement, and conversion rates on every due date. Use this data to refine your tactics.
9. Find out what your audience thinks about you (review)
When you are pushing a narrative, it is very important to note how your audience is taking it. Are they mocking you or supporting you? This allows you to know what your audience thinks about you and what you are going to do next.
Dollar Shave Club became famous because of a funny homemade video. They were trending in the memes in 2011. They continued that image, and they still post funny ads or posts on social media platforms regularly.
Your move: Find out how your audience brand mentions you in their posts, comments, and hashtags. You can also run surveys and polls if you desire. It will help you find out your image.
10. Automate your work with emerging technologies (transformation)
When you start scaling up your business, the things you need to keep an eye on increase. You have a bigger audience to satisfy, more employees to manage, and more processes to look at. Automating repetitive tasks becomes a necessity.
So, what do brands do at that time? They do what the Dollar Shave Club did. Use different AI tools to automate non-creative and repetitive tasks, like sending emails using an automated message template creating reels from videos, picture extraction from videos, or implementing cloud telephony for automated call handling and customer communication.
Your move: Take different artificial intelligence courses and learn how it works. Then nominate repetitive processes that take most of your time. Automate them and focus on creative tasks like content creation, SEO, and interacting with your audience.
START your way to digital marketing success
Digital marketing is not doing more—it’s doing what matters the most. Using the START framework makes you focus on what matters and adapt your workflow according to it.
Just like the Dollar Shave Club. Their picture-perfect digital marketing made them what they are now. Everything they did worked for them. Because they were following a properly planned system, the START framework.
I have pointed out all the processes they followed for their success. Follow them to create a START strategy for your startup. I have done my job.
The next domino is yours to place!
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