Digital marketing planning relies on data to prove or disprove a number of thoughts, ideas, and concepts.  There is usually a cycle of idea generation followed by analysis, a cycle that can repeat itself numerous time to test out these potential marketing strategy elements.  Digital marketing is also a part of it's own repeat cycle.  Once you have your first marketing strategy in implementation, you should have a regular, periodic schedule of reviewing your results, comparing to expectations, and making adjustments. Think of this similar to way you would track hunting stand performance. Over the course of a season you have a plan to put the hunters in the best locations for success. Wildlife movement patterns change. If you track it, you have a better chance of seeing the changes and making adjustments to your plan.