6-Month Digital Marketing Roadmap Case Study
Project Overview
Objective:
To design a 6-month digital marketing roadmap for a business strategy and leadership consulting firm with a limited digital presence. The firm's current online footprint was restricted to LinkedIn, and the initial goal was to build awareness and credibility organically through LinkedIn and blogs, before expanding into paid advertising.
Challenge:
The brand needed to position itself as a thought leader while staying authentic and non-promotional. Since leadership consulting is a niche domain, the biggest challenge was to build engagement in an audience of CXOs, founders, and business professionals, create high-value, educational content that builds trust, and create organic visibility and thought leadership before scaling to paid ads.
Approach:
I divided the strategy into six monthly phases, aligning with the brand's growth goals and resources. The plan gradually evolved from foundation and content creation to optimization and paid activation, ensuring measurable progress at each stage.
6-Month Digital Marketing Roadmap
| Phase | Website & Blog | Social Media (LinkedIn) | Email Marketing | Analytics & Reporting | Paid Advertising |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Foundation & Audit (Month 1) | • Website audit (SEO, UX, content gaps)
• Launch 2 SEO-optimized blogs
• Set up Google Analytics & Search Console | • Audit company LinkedIn & competitors
• Start weekly posts (founder quotes, values, success stories)
• Develop a content calendar | • Audit existing email lists & tools
• Template design | • Define baseline KPIs (traffic, engagement)
• Setup GA + LinkedIn Insights tracking | None |
| Phase 2: Content Creation & Community (Month 2) | • Publish 2 blogs
• Brainstorm content for the future, build a content umbrella | • Launch regular posts: testimonials, culture, polls, team features
• Collaborate with employees for content | • Test basic email templates
• Research newsletter platform options | • Track blog traffic & engagement
• Benchmark LinkedIn performance | • Set up ad accounts (Meta, LinkedIn)
• No campaigns yet |
| Phase 3: Optimization & Engagement (Month 3) | • Case study on the website
• Optimize existing blog content & CTAs | • Analyze top-performing posts
• Introduce polls, carousels, expert-led posts | • Design & draft first newsletter
• A/B test subject lines
• Segment email lists | • Monthly KPI dashboard (bounce rate, blog CTR, engagement growth)
• Social media audit | • Plan audience personas & retargeting strategy |
| Phase 4: Expansion & Authority Building (Month 4) | • Publish 2 new blogs (with keyword clusters)
• Launch guest blogging from authoritative sites | • Launch mini-video/podcast concept ideation
• Begin employee advocacy efforts | • Launch monthly newsletter | • Evaluate email performance & blog depth analytics
• Share key insights with leadership | • Set up tracking pixels for retargeting campaigns |
| Phase 5: Experimentation + Paid Setup (Month 5) | • Review all content for SEO wins
• Refresh old blog CTAs | • Continue engaging post types
• Add UGC, "Ask Me Anything" sessions | • Build email automation | • Run A/B tests on email creatives & blog CTAs
• Prepare paid campaign dashboards | • Set up Meta + LinkedIn ad creatives
• Build targeting lists |
| Phase 6: Paid Activation + Performance Scaling (Month 6) | • Publishing and Tracking KPI | • Launch paid LinkedIn campaigns (brand awareness/lead gen)
• Explore YouTube/Twitter for visibility | • Scale email campaigns
• Refine segments + retarget opens/clicks | • Consolidated dashboard review
• Present insights to leadership
• SEO + social audit | • Launch & monitor Meta ads
• Test different creatives & targeting strategies |
Key Strategies
Organic Growth Foundation
Content Authority Building
Thought Leadership Positioning
Progressive Paid Activation
Data-Driven Optimization
Stakeholder Engagement
Results & Impact
Strategic Foundation
- • Built comprehensive 6-month phased approach
- • Established organic growth before paid activation
- • Created measurable milestones for each phase
- • Aligned strategy with business goals and resources
Thought Leadership Development
- • Positioned firm as authentic thought leader
- • Created high-value educational content strategy
- • Built engagement with CXO and founder audiences
- • Established credibility before scaling to paid ads