This week we are delighted to bring to you a guest blog from a digital marketing expert who has helped hundreds of business owners and marketers get started in all things digital marketing. We hope you find her advice and guidance useful to kick start your digital marketing efforts.

Valentina Borbone has an extensive career spanning 20+ years as an agency-side marketer, working with an impressive range of clients including FOXTEL, Apple, Lendlease, Macquarie University, McGrath Real Estate and realestate.com.au.Having had a range of senior management roles, Valentina has developed comprehensive experience that has enabled her to manage and grow a full service digital agency and co-found a digital consultancy business. Valentina is an Expert Advisor for The International Social Media Association and Lead Digital Trainer for ADMA's Digital Marketing Certificate, Digital Marketing Strategy Courseand Digital Marketing Essentials courses.

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Valentina's Top Tips to delivering a successful digital strategy:

What do you need to consider before you get started?

Ask yourself how much time are you ‘seriously’ going to dedicate to the project. Most strategies fail before they’ve started because the effort is underestimated by individuals and it quickly falls into the too hard basket when marketers are trying to juggle all BAU as well as strategy.

What are the key elements to a successful digital strategy?

Too many marketers jump straight to tactics and execution. The key elements to a successful digital strategy are:a) Gather your key stakeholders and engage them from the startb) Plan. Research. Document.If you skip the planning and research, then you’re running off gut-feel, which has proven out-of-date at best and completely incorrect at worst. There’s no point saying the strategy is in your head either, you need to document it, even if you are just starting.

How can you ensure this is executed well?

Stick to the strategy. Implementation is typically when a strategy goes off the rails. Many businesses just try and ‘get it done’ and cut corners rather than follow the research-based approach to a solution. Engage partners to do this well, marketers can’t do all of it on their own, they need to embrace people with exceptional skills to assist in implementation, many marketers need to focus on the BAU so having someone else focused on digital change will be an incredible asset.

What should you read online to remain current ?

So much! I definitely have favourite sources of information, but my top 5 are:

- Econsultancy
- Smart Brief
- Springwise
- Marketing Professionals
- Gary Bertwistle

What is an example of a company that does digital marketing well and why?

There are the usual suspects like Red Bull and Woolworths, but I also think ReachOut.com is doing a fantastic job of knowing their audience and providing outstanding content. Kmart on Instagram is smashing it, and Birds Nest in the retail sector is excellent.

What would be your top tip to anyone looking to get started in Digital Marketing?

Start by doing your own homework and reading; and getting your hands dirty. Digital Marketing is a very loose term at the moment and it means lots of different things to different people. Staying up-to-date is also an activity in self-education. To apply what you’ve been learning is imperative, so perhaps ask your friends and family if there’s a start-up brand you can help out with and start putting some of the learnings into practice.