Session 1: Digital Strategy & The Customer Journey

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

View lecture slides: Session 1 Slides

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.

Managerial Perspective: Resource Allocation In a traditional funnel, marketing budgets are almost entirely heavily skewed towards top-of-funnel (TOFU) acquisition. The flywheel forces a strategic shift: allocating budget toward retention and delight (e.g., customer success, post-purchase email flows, community building) because a retained customer significantly lowers your blended CAC over time.

Funnel and flywheel framework for digital marketing strategy

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 gross profit expected from a single customer over their relationship with your business.

Calculating LTV accurately: Too often, marketers calculate LTV based on revenue. As a manager, you must calculate it based on gross margin. (e.g., If a customer spends NPR 10,000 but your gross margin is 40%, the true LTV contribution is NPR 4,000). You must also factor in churn (the rate at which customers leave).

Minimum viability: LTV must exceed CAC, or you lose money on every customer.
Healthy target (use this in the module): LTV ≥ 3× CAC. That buffer covers overhead, failed experiments, and growth investment.

Currency note: Work in NPR for Nepal businesses. Convert to USD only when comparing global benchmarks. Example: CAC of NPR 2,000 ≈ $15 at rough mid-2026 rates—always state the exchange assumption if you mix currencies.

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 80 qualified leads/month at a CAC of ≤ NPR 2,500”).

Competitive Analysis (Share of Voice) Before setting these targets, conduct a baseline competitive analysis. Look at your competitors’ digital footprint. What is your current Share of Voice (SOV) in organic search or paid media? If a competitor has a massive organic presence, their blended CAC is lower, meaning you cannot simply outspend them with paid ads without eroding your own margins. Strategy requires picking the right battles.

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.

Customer journey roadmap from awareness to conversion

Worked example (Nepal SME): Valley Home Care

Use this as a pattern—not a copy-paste submission.

Element	Example
Business	AC repair & home plumbing, Kathmandu Valley
Objective	Book 40 paid service jobs/month
Persona	Homeowners 28–45 in Kathmandu/Lalitpur; need fast, trusted technicians
Journey	Meta/search awareness → Google review/site → WhatsApp or form → booked visit
North Star	Booked jobs/month
KPIs	CAC (NPR), form→book rate, ROAS on paid search

Prefer a real local business or a plausible Nepal startup for your own sandbox.

Real-world proof (read before lab)

Published home services stack (Ads + local SEO layers, cited separately — no invented blended ROAS):

Ads layer: CPA NPR 4,722 → 2,571 (−42%) in 90 days
SEO layer: qualified leads ~3× in six months

Teaching brief: Home services stack · Full map: Case readings

Ask: If you were the CMO, would you fund SEO first, Ads first, or both with clear horizons?

Self-check: North Star vs vanity

Which metric is the strongest North Star for a Kathmandu tutoring subscription business?

AI assist (optional, with judgment)

AI tools can draft personas and journey maps quickly. Your job as a manager is to verify them: interview one real customer or use search demand, not invent demographics. Flag any AI-assisted text in your brief.

3. Deliverable

Use the MBA DM Deliverable Toolkit (Templates + Samples) before submitting.

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 Session 2.

Quick check — Session 1

Which is the best North Star for Valley Home Care?

4. Summary & Review

Digital strategy starts from a business goal, not a channel. The funnel and the flywheel describe how customers move from awareness to loyalty and advocacy. A North Star Metric plus supporting KPIs (ROI, CAC, and LTV calculated on gross margin) shows whether marketing creates value. Share of Voice benchmarks your visibility, and the sandbox project turns these ideas into a live customer journey with one critical conversion moment.

Key Takeaways

Begin with the business objective, then choose channels.
Pick one North Star Metric tied to real value (booked jobs, not likes).
Calculate LTV on gross margin; LTV must comfortably exceed CAC.
Map the journey and protect the critical conversion moment.

Review Questions

Short answer

Distinguish the marketing funnel from the flywheel.
What is a North Star Metric? Give an example for a food-delivery app.
Why should LTV be calculated on gross margin rather than revenue?

Applied (case) questions

A customer spends NPR 15,000 a year for 3 years at a 30% gross margin, and CAC is NPR 4,000. Calculate LTV and the LTV:CAC ratio, and advise the manager.
Map the customer journey for a Kathmandu wedding photographer and identify the critical conversion moment.

Session 1: Digital Strategy & The Customer Journey