Week 1: Digital Strategy & The Customer Journey

Welcome to Week 1 of the MBA Digital Marketing module. This week focuses on the foundational strategy that bridges high-level business goals with tactical marketing execution.

1. Pre-Work: The Digital Ecosystem

Before diving into tools and channels, we must understand how they fit together. A digital ecosystem is a network of interconnected digital channels (like social media, search engines, websites, and email) that work synergistically to attract, engage, and retain customers.

The Marketing Funnel vs. The Flywheel

Traditionally, marketers use the Funnel to describe the customer journey:

Awareness
Consideration
Conversion

However, the modern approach leans towards the Flywheel model, which places the customer at the center and uses momentum (happy customers) to drive referrals and repeat business.

flowchart LR
    A((Attract)) --> E((Engage))
    E --> D((Delight))
    D --> A
    style A fill:#005f9e,color:#fff
    style E fill:#005f9e,color:#fff
    style D fill:#005f9e,color:#fff

Defining North Star Metrics and KPIs

To measure success, you need a North Star Metric—the single key indicator that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers. Supporting this are KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

Crucial digital marketing KPIs include:

ROI (Return on Investment): The profitability of your campaigns.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): How much it costs to acquire a new customer.
LTV (Lifetime Value): The total revenue expected from a single customer over their relationship with your business.

A successful campaign ensures that LTV > CAC.

2. Lab Session: Aligning Strategy & Project Kickoff

In the lab, we transition from theory to practice.

Aligning Digital Strategy with Business Goals

What does success look like? We start by taking a high-level business objective (e.g., “Increase Q4 revenue by 20%”) and breaking it down into a digital marketing objective (e.g., “Generate 500 qualified leads at a CAC of <$50”).

Project Kickoff: The Digital Sandbox

This course revolves around building a Digital Sandbox. Today, you will:

Select Your Business Concept: A local business, a startup idea, or a specialized service.
Map Your Target Audience: Create a buyer persona.
Map the Customer Journey: Document the steps a user takes from first discovering your brand to making a purchase.

journey
    title The Customer Journey
    section Awareness
      See Facebook Ad: 3: Customer
      Search on Google: 4: Customer
    section Consideration
      Visit Website: 5: Customer, Website
      Read Blog Post: 4: Customer, Website
    section Conversion
      Fill Lead Form: 5: Customer, Website
      Receive Welcome Email: 4: Customer, Email System

The Critical Conversion Moment

Identify the one action you want users to take in your sandbox. Is it booking a consultation? Downloading an eBook? Filling out a contact form? This is your critical conversion moment.

3. Deliverable

One-page strategy brief and customer journey map.

Define your business concept.
Outline your target persona.
Detail the customer journey (Awareness -> Consideration -> Conversion).
State your North Star metric and primary KPI.

Submit your brief before the start of Week 2.

Week 1: Digital Strategy & The Customer Journey