This weekend, it’s my turn to host the poker group, and that means a trip to the store for munchies and beverages.

I’ve been playing with the same guys for (gulp!) more than 25 years, and when we started we drank bourbon, ate fried foods and smoked fine cigars. Now, all smoking is forbidden, we munch on veggie platters, and drink sparkling water or craft beer.

There was a time when I could walk into Wegmans or a gas station and pick up a couple of cases of beer in about 15 seconds because of the limited number of choices I had. Now, I walk in and face such a dazzling display of different beers from different microbrewers that I get paralyzed with indecision.

(There’s even a marketing term for this, called “the paradox of choice.”

I think that owners, C-suiters, and market/sales managers face a bewildering paradox of choice when it comes to building and managing their firm’s marketing and sales programs for acquiring new accounts or customers.

Depend on networking and referrals? Spend money on traditional marketing like advertising and sponsorships? Plunge into digital marketing?

Here’s a spoiler alert: you need to do a weave of all three strategies. How to make that weave work the right way to deliver the ROI you expect is difficult - kind of like figuring out if my friend Tom is bluffing or whether I got rivered - again, *!!&^@$#*%$ !!!!!

Today, the greatest confusion is in the realm of digital marketing. Not only is there a bewildering number of choices when it comes to tactics and technologies, the pace of change is phenomenal.

PREMIUM CONTENT: US Staffing industry Pulse report

What Goes into Putting Together an Employer-facing Digital Marketing Program?

Putting together a digital marketing program to get new accounts requires four different types of decisions (1) the types of content assets or inventory to be used, (2) the digital tactics to be deployed for raising the firm’s visibility and generating leads, (3) identifying the specific measurements and metrics to be used for measuring program success, and (4) the technologies needed for executing the digital marketing program, from improving experiences to infrastructure.

I’ve put together a comprehensive list of options in the chart below relative to the four different types of decisions that need to be made.

Don’t panic or throw up your hands in surrender! Nobody or no company can possibly do everything on this list.

Think of it more as a tool to help you understand the options you have, and a roadmap for the due diligence you’ll need to make good decisions and investments. It’s likely that you’re going to pick three or four options for each decision, and at the end of this post, I have some guidance for making this journey easier.

Parts, Pieces and Options for Putting Together a Digital Marketing Program

[table id=6 /]

The Way of the Chicken or the Path of the Egg?

If you talk to a dozen different marketing gurus, you’ll probably get a dozen different takes on the best way to develop and roll out a digital marketing strategy. I’m going to give you my take below, but I certainly want to encourage others to chime in with their recommendations in the comments section.

Here’s my recommendations for answering the “what comes first” question:

Phase 1: Put infrastructure in place

Just like it’s impossible to build a skyscraper without a solid foundation, it’s impossible to build a digital marketing program without fundamentals like a strategic marketing plan; an optimized and responsive website; and sales collateral. I also recommend that consideration be given to an all-in-one marketing software platform like HubSpot as part of the infrastructure build, as that will deliver capabilities ranging from email to marketing automation to metrics.

Phase 2: Get your lead flow moving

Who doesn’t like leads, especially marketing and sales qualified leads? To get your lead flow moving you’ll need offers, a way to promote those offers, a means to capture leads and a plan and technology for nurturing those leads through their buyer’s journey.

Phase 3: Get more eyeballs with advertising and other promotional tactics

You’ll get visitors to your site organically, but that’s likely to be only a part of the solution to growing your visibility and maximizing your opportunities for lead conversions. Using social media platforms, email and online advertising are appropriate tactics to increase your reach.

Phase 4: Develop and execute a comprehensive social media campaign

If this post was about candidate facing marketing, my tendency would be to move this up to either the number 1 or 2 position on an action plan. Social media marketing is a combination of using social platforms to promote things like blogs and offers, as well as for influencer campaigns where you identify, connect and interact with prospects, clients and industry or community leaders.

Crawl, Walk, Run

The underlying premise to the approach I’ve outlined above is that you can’t do everything at once because of operational, skill or budget limitations. Start slowly and decide what you can fund and accomplish, as building an effective digital marketing program is a marathon, not a sprint.

My first boss and mentor always told his us, “There is no elevator - you have to take the stairs.”

Be patient. Be persistent. Be realistic.

And never bet against Tom even if you’re holding a low boat.

MORE: Tackling the Four Biggest Culprits Blocking a Huge ROI from Marketing