Today’s business firms, marketers are never short of stakeholders suggesting new ways to leverage social media, Web 2.0, SEO/SEM, mobile apps, and all other digital tools.

But what criteria do you apply to determine what is worthwhile and what is a waste of resources? Here are seven considerations to start optimizing your digital efforts.

1. Make sure nothing happens without clear objectives

While this seems obvious, it’s surprising how many companies spend a significant portion of their budget on a digital medium simply because the competition is doing it, or because someone else thinks it’s new and interesting. You should be able to explain, specifically, how each part of your company’s digital marketing efforts contributes to the company’s sales and marketing goals.

2. Focus on the audience experience, not the technology

To get the most impact from your digital assets, focus on how they all work together to form a complete experience for multiple audiences, rather than the individual technologies or media themselves. Your goal is to set up a digital environment that best drives your business goals, not simply use the latest cool media just because it’s hot right now.

3. Make it a team effort

For true success, your company’s digital efforts need leadership. Some companies go as far as appointing a chief digital marketing officer (dCMO) to champion their company’s use of digital media and strategy. But for many, good leadership simply means someone responsible for setting a clear vision and goals, as well as a team of people responsible for both executing and identifying new digital opportunities.

4. Let the behavior of customers and prospects guide you

As you map out your digital strategy and touchpoints for each audience, don’t plan in a vacuum. Consider how current customer behavior can help guide your efforts and make them more valuable to both your business and your customers. For example, instead of replicating a website verbatim as a mobile site, consider only making available functionality and information that your targeted audience would find useful on the go.

5. Always capture and communicate ROI

One of the great joys of digital media is how easy and immediate it is to determine the success of a particular endeavor. Therefore, not capturing, analyzing and sharing the results of your company’s digital media efforts is a tragedy. You need to ask yourself, before you launch, how you will define success with a specific effort in a way that is quantifiable. And then measure how you did against your target. Also, don’t just share your winnings. Understanding and sharing why an initiative didn’t work is even more important than when something works.

6. Do not isolate digital disciplines

You will never be able to create an efficient and effective digital marketing machine if each discipline within the team is not structured to work together. Designers, programmers, writers, and everyone else involved in a particular effort must work together from the start.

7. Learn from other industries

It is natural to look at your peers and compare activities. But don’t forget that different industries have different adoption rates of new technologies and media. Something that is old news for another industry could revolutionize yours. Don’t forget to explore how other industries are adapting digital marketing strategies and tactics as a way to find proven methods.