The Power of Prioritisation: Using AHP to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Strategy

Marketing today is more complex than ever. Businesses must navigate an overwhelming number of digital channels, from search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to influencer marketing and email campaigns. With limited resources, how can marketing teams make the right strategic choices?

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) provides a structured framework for ranking and prioritising marketing investments based on clear criteria rather than guesswork. In this article, we explore how AHP can be applied to digital marketing, showing how businesses can evaluate competing strategies, allocate budgets effectively, and align marketing decisions with business goals.

Too Many Marketing Options, Too Few Resources

Most businesses face three common challenges when deciding on their digital marketing approach:

1. Fragmented Channels: Digital marketing includes SEO, PPC, social media, content marketing, and more. Each channel has different costs, engagement levels, and long-term benefits.
2. Budget Allocation Complexity: Marketing teams must determine where to invest limited resources to achieve the highest return on investment (ROI).
3. Unclear Priorities: Without a structured decision-making framework, businesses often rely on intuition, trends, or competitor activity, leading to inconsistent results.

AHP solves these challenges by breaking down decisions into a structured hierarchy, ensuring marketing investments are made logically, transparently, and strategically.

Applying AHP to Digital Marketing Prioritisation

Step 1: Defining the Goal

The first step in AHP is defining the main objective. In this case, the goal might be:

• “Selecting the most effective digital marketing strategy to increase customer acquisition and engagement.”

Step 2: Establishing Evaluation Criteria

Once the goal is set, marketing teams must define the key criteria used to assess marketing channels. These might include:

• Customer Reach (40%) – How effectively does the channel attract new audiences?
• Engagement Potential (30%) – Does the channel encourage interaction and brand loyalty?
• Cost Efficiency (20%) – How cost-effective is the strategy in delivering measurable results?
• Scalability (10%) – Can the strategy be expanded as the business grows?

Step 3: Comparing Marketing Strategies Using AHP

With criteria in place, the next step is to compare marketing options in a pairwise evaluation. Below is an example of how AHP might be used to rank SEO, PPC, and Social Media Marketing:

Step 4: Calculating Weighted Scores

Using AHP’s mathematical weighting process, we calculate scores for each strategy. In this example:

• SEO scores highest due to its long-term cost efficiency and scalability.
• PPC ranks high on customer reach but is expensive.
• Social Media excels in engagement but lacks long-term ROI.

AHP ensures businesses make data-backed choices rather than relying on instinct or industry trends.

Case Studies: AHP in Action

1. Science & Technology Parks: Evaluating Marketing Tools
Nguyen et al. (2021) applied AHP to assess marketing tools for a science and technology park. The analysis ranked six marketing options:

1. Networking Events (23.2%) – Most effective
2. Corporate Website (19.8%)
3. Search Engine Marketing (18.5%)
4. Social Media (15.5%)
5. Print Media (14.4%)
6. Email Marketing (8.5%) – Least effective

Their findings demonstrated that offline events were more impactful for business development than digital channels, reinforcing the importance of contextual marketing decisions.

2. Textile Industry: Selecting Digital Marketing Platforms
A textile company in Uzbekistan used AHP to choose the most effective digital marketing platform (Mukhsinov & Ergashxodjayeva, 2022). Their ranking of platforms was:

1. Social Media – Best suited to target audience
2. Mobile Marketing – Effective for customer retention
3. Company Website – Credibility and product visibility
4. Digital TV Advertising – Less targeted
5. Email Marketing – Weak engagement

The key insight was that staff competence in digital tools played a major role in channel effectiveness. This highlights the importance of aligning marketing investments with internal capabilities.

Prioritisation Drives Performance

Digital marketing success depends on choosing the right channels and strategies. AHP provides a systematic approach to ranking marketing investments based on customer reach, cost, engagement, and scalability.

By applying AHP, businesses can:

• Eliminate uncertainty in decision-making.
• Ensure marketing budgets are optimally allocated.
• Align digital strategy with long-term business growth.

References

• Mukhsinov, B. & Ergashxodjayeva, S. (2022). Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process Model in Selecting an Appropriate Digital Marketing Communication Technology: A Case Study of a Textile Company. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Future Networks & Distributed Systems (ICFNDS ’22), December 15, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• Nguyen, P.V., Le, T.B., Tran, K.T., & Nguyen, H.L. (2021). An Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach to Marketing Tools Selection for Science and Technology Parks. SHS Web of Conferences, 92, 2045.
• Zaman, A.P. & Basri, M.H. (2024). Vendor Selection in the Cosmetic Industry using Analytics Hierarchy Process (A Case Study of Saejiva Company). International Journal of Current Science Research and Review, 7(7), pp. 5676-5689.