If you want your business to succeed, digital marketing is essential. The right digital marketing strategy can help you grow your business, from increasing sales to attracting new customers.
Here’s What Allan Dib (author of “The One-Page Marketing Plan”) has to say about the importance of digital marketing.
| Many business owners believe that if their product or service is great, the market will buy it. It’s a bad business strategy. “If you build it they will come” is a great movie plot. It’s costly and prone to failure. There are many examples of technically superior products that have failed commercially in history. Betamax, The Newton, and LaserDisc are just a few examples. It is not enough to have great products. If you want to be a success in business, marketing must be a major activity. |
This article will discuss six digital marketing strategies that can be used to increase your business’s success.
All of these strategies have been tested and are guaranteed to work. However, not all will work for everyone. We recommend you to consider all of the strategies in this guide, and then try two or three. You will soon see which ones work best for you.
Strategy 1 : Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a marketing activity that is exclusively focused on search engines. This type of marketing promotes your website, product, and/or service on search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.
How it works:
Step 1: Bid for keywords that your target audience uses when searching for your products and services. If you sell shoes in Vancouver (Canada), keywords like “best formal shoes in Vancouver BC” or “awesome sport shoes in Vancouver” would be great keywords to target.
Step 2: Once you have chosen a keyword, create an advertisement for it. Search engines typically only display text ads. This means that you will need to include compelling and motivating copy in order to get as many people to click on your ad. It’s a good idea to hire a PPC (pay per click) or SEM expert for your ad.
Step 3: Next, launch your paid search campaign. Your text ad will appear in search results when someone enters the keywords that you have targeted into a search engine. A small fee will be charged each time someone clicks on your advertisement. SEM charges you a small fee per click.
Note: SEM is not to be confused with SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a marketing strategy that improves your website’s organic ranking on search engines through keyword research and other related methods.
SEM offers the greatest advantage because you can instantly reach a highly motivated audience who are looking for a solution. They are qualified customers because they used a search engine to find products or services similar to yours.
You won’t have wait weeks or months to see your rank improve, unlike an SEO strategy. A successful SEM strategy will produce better results than an SEO approach.
SEM is a great digital marketing strategy for retail businesses, especially if you are using it as a way to increase sales.
Shop.org and Forrester Research have found that is the most popular acquisition channel
… 85 percent said that search marketing (including SEO and paid) was the best way to acquire customers. The research also showed that paid search was the most heavily invested channel. |
Google supports this idea as well. According to Google, businesses earn $2 back for every $1 they spend on Google Adwords. If your local business offers useful information online, 3 out 4 people will visit your physical location.
SEM can bring you a 100% return on investment if done correctly. This is not something that you can achieve with other marketing strategies.
Strategy 2: Social Media Marketing
Popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Millions of people use these social media platforms every day to connect with friends and family, and even reach out and purchase products from their favorite brands.
You might be interested to learn that 37% of consumers find inspiration on social media networks for their next purchase. This makes social media a very lucrative marketing channel.
What is social media marketing (SMM), exactly?
Buffer, a popular social-media management tool, provides a great definition. They say:
Social media marketing involves using social media platforms to connect to your audience in order to build your brand, increase sales and drive website traffic. This includes publishing great content on social media, engaging with your followers, analyzing your results, and running social advertising campaigns. |
How it works:
Step 1: Select a social media platform that your target audience uses. If you sell printed t-shirts, Instagram or Facebook is the best social media network. Teens are the most likely to purchase your t-shirts there.
LinkedIn is a better platform if you are selling corporate legal services. LinkedIn is the best place to find business people who might need legal services.
Step 2: Once you have chosen your preferred social network, sign-up for their ad service. To create a Facebook Ad, for example, you will need to create an account on Facebook Business. You will also need to create an account at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions if you wish to create a LinkedIn Ad.
Step 3: With your target audience in view, create an advertisement that speaks to them through emotionally compelling copy.
Step 4: Next, set a budget and time frame for the ad. You can find useful information online or hire a social media marketing specialist to help you.
This is a basic explanation of SMM. You will also need to create new posts to your social media profiles, optimize your audience groups and run A/B testing. Finally, you’ll need to experiment with different ads to find the best ones.
Want to learn more about SMM? Every social network, including Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram, has basic tutorials on how you can run ads on their platforms.
Strategy 3: Content Marketing
Content marketing is a very popular marketing strategy, especially for small businesses. Many business websites have a blog section to share useful information with customers. It’s part of their content-marketing strategy.
What is content marketing?
Content Marketing Institute This is a popular blog about content marketing. It offers a concise explanation:
Content marketing is a strategy-oriented marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing relevant, valuable, and consistent content to attract, retain, and ultimately drive profitable customer action. |
Let’s take a look at the key phrases within that definition.
“Create valuable and consistent content.“
The most important thing in content marketing is to create relevant, valuable content that your audience perceives. This means not only once but every day. This can be done by understanding the needs and problems your target audience.
If you own a shoe shop, an example of valuable, pertinent content would be an article such as “Five Effective Methods to Make Your Shoes Look New Again.” This article addresses the problem of a shoe shopper, namely taking care of their shoes.
Remember that content does not have to be articles. It can also refer to ebooks, video guides, or infographics.
Attract, retain and attract a clearly defined audience.”
It is not enough to create high-quality content on an ongoing basis. It’s not enough to create high-quality content on a regular basis. You must also market your content to the intended audience. Your content marketing strategy will be more successful if you “attract” and “retain” the right audience. You have many options to market your content so it reaches the people you want.
You can optimize your articles for search engines, or in other words, use SEO tactics, to ensure that they rank on the first page search results. You can promote your content through ads on platforms such as Facebook Ads or Google Adwords. Or, you can publish a guest blog post on another site that your target audience frequents and link back to your website.
“Drive profitable customers action.”
If you create quality, relevant content that your target audience enjoys, you will build a loyal following of customers and prospects who are eager to learn more. This following can be cultivated by gaining email subscribers, social media followers, and more website visitors. Once you have a following, it’s time for you to pull the trigger and “drive profitable client action”.
Gradually introduce your audience to the products and services you want them to buy. You should be able convince many of your customers to become regular customers by leveraging the goodwill you have built.
Sounds great, but does content marketing work?
It does, according to research. First, 77% of internet users read blogs, and many of these people make purchases based upon recommendations from their favorite blogs. They don’t like ads.
More than 600 million devices have an ad-blocker installed. This blocks traditional ads on major sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and YouTube. This means that content marketing is one the most visible marketing channels available for small businesses.
Content marketing is more affordable than other strategies. Content marketing generates leads at 31% less cost than SEM. It generates three times as many leads as SEM.
The bottom line: Companies that use content marketing as a strategy have higher conversion rates (i.e. more sales and customers than those who don’t).
Strategy 4: Email Marketing
Email marketing is the best digital marketing strategy you should try.
This strategy has been proven to be effective in the marketing world, helping many small businesses increase their sales. Email marketing is so popular, marketers all over the world echo its slogan: “The money’s in the list!”
Campaign Monitor published a 2016 report that stated that for every dollar spent on email marketing, companies generate $44. This made email marketing the “king of marketing” and a defining characteristic.
What is email marketing? Here’s Wikipedia’s definition:
Email marketing is the act or process of sending a commercial message to a group of people using email. Email marketing can be understood to include any email sent to a customer, either current or potential. It involves sending out emails to request business, solicit donations or send advertisements. It is intended to build trust and brand awareness. |
Let’s take a deeper dive into the workings of email marketing to better understand this definition:
Step 1: Create your email list. The first step in email marketing is to collect the email addresses for your target audience. This can be done by driving traffic to your website or blog articles, as well as landing pages. This is where you will create a “call-to-action” that asks visitors for their email address.
People are reluctant to give their email addresses. Offer a lead magnet such as an ebook, a coupon, a step by step guide, or any other useful information to convince them. If you help them, they’ll sign up for your email newsletter.
Step 2: Nurture your email subscriber base by creating a drip campaign. Email marketing is not about asking people to buy from your site. You can offer them relevant, thoughtful, and educational content. You can then slowly push them towards a purchase.
It takes a lot of skill to create an email campaign that engages your subscribers. You can hire a professional copywriter to create drip campaigns for you if you are not confident in writing these emails.
Step 3: Automate your email marketing using an email autoresponder. It is not productive to manually send every email to your subscribers. A better option is to use an email autoresponder such as Mailchimp, ConvertKit or Aweber.
These services allow you to automate your email campaigns. This means that any person who subscribes to your list will start receiving your emails immediately.
These services also allow you to send personalized emails based on their actions to your subscribers. An autoresponder can remind a subscriber to complete their purchase if they abandon their cart on your website.
These three steps will give you a solid understanding of email marketing and how it works.
The question is: What benefits will email marketing bring to your business?
The observed ROI is $44 per dollar that you invest in email marketing, as mentioned. McKinsey published a study that explains the benefits of email marketing.
E-mail is still a more effective way to get customers than social media, with nearly 40 times the reach of Twitter and Facebook combined. This is because nearly 91 percent of US consumers still use email daily. The rate at which emails prompt purchase is at least three times higher than social media. Additionally, the average order value for emails is 17 percent higher. |
Strategy 5: Affiliate Marketing
Imagine a sales force that works 24/7 to sell your products./or service on search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.
That would be awesome!
You can make it happen if you have an affiliate marketing network.
Affiliate marketing, in simple terms, is when someone markets and sells your products on your behalf. You offer this person (known by the ‘affiliate’) a portion of the profits they make when they sell your products and services.
This is a very effective digital marketing strategy, especially for businesses that sell physical or digital products to large audiences.
You will need an affiliate marketing network to allow others to become your affiliates to sell your products.
You have two options: join an affiliate network, or create your own. Simply enter the products that you would like marketers to sell on behalf of you, and interested parties will receive a unique link to share with others.
You don’t have to join an affiliate program (they charge a large fee), but you can install a WordPress plugin or Shopify plugin to help you create an affiliate network. ReferralCandy is a better option if you have an online store or website. This route will require you to find affiliate marketers.
Once you have joined an affiliate network or created one, you will need to decide on a commission strategy. This means analyzing the amount you are willing to pay your affiliates. Is it a fixed amount per sale or a percentage? All affiliates will be treated equally. Or will those who sell more get a higher commission? You can decide.
It is not difficult to set up an affiliate network.
This strategy has been used by Amazon, an online eCommerce giant, to great effect. Nearly 40% of Amazon’s sales were attributable to affiliate marketers at one time.
Affiliate marketing is a partner with email marketing. Email marketing is still the king of marketing. According to a Business Insider report, email and affiliate marketing account for 16% of all eCommerce sales. According to the same report, 74% of US shoppers visit at least two non-retail websites before purchasing a product.
Strategy 6: Influencer Marketing
Adweek, a well-known publication in the advertising industry, made a observation about how and what influences customers’ primary buying decisions a few years ago.
Here’s their take:
Social media has made it easier for consumers to look at other consumers when making purchasing decisions. Instead of looking at companies as they used to in the past they now look at each others and at their favorite personalities who are building huge followings on YouTube and Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. |
This is a significant shift in how customers are motivated to purchase products and services from companies. Customers no longer trust traditional advertisements and instead look to their “favorite characters” to help them make buying decisions.
These personalities are known as influencers. They have a large following that is highly engaged and will purchase a product or service based on their recommendation. Their followers trust the expertise of the influencer and don’t consider the recommendations to be ads.
This realization led to the development of influencer marketing, a new marketing strategy that brands and businesses now use.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Your company searches for an influencer who is interested in your products and services. If you sell accessories for phones, you would want someone who reviews them and is tech-savvy.
Step 2: Contact the influencer to ask them to review, recommend or simply mention your product within their content. You could ask for an article, video or even an Instagram photo in exchange for a fixed amount.
Step 3: The influencer will recommend your product to their highly engaged followers. You gain brand awareness, increased sales and hopefully new customers.
Linqia published a report that 92% of marketers consider influencer marketing effective. According to the same report, Instagram, Facebook, blogs were the most important channels for influencer market research.
If you’re interested in influencer marketing, it is a good idea to start with these channels. It’s not surprising that Instagram is a very important channel. This is the social network that is used by a large number of millennials who will have a combined purchasing force of more than $1.4 trillion USD by 2020.
Bonus Digital Marketing Strategies
This article has covered the most effective digital marketing strategies for small- to medium-sized businesses such as yours. A few less-known strategies are also worth mentioning.
These bonus strategies are starting to emerge, although they have yet to prove themselves worthy. However, there are some encouraging signs. Other strategies are more traditional and less well-known, but they can still deliver positive results. These strategies may prove to be useful in the future.
Market Your Company on a Podcast
Edison Research reports that over the past six years, podcast listeners have increased in number each year. Nearly 124 million people listen to podcasts every day.
Business owners will find the podcast-listening audience attractive. Podcast listeners make up 45% of the population with an income greater than $75K USD and 27% have a college education.
Podcast listeners are highly engaged. They are open to hearing audio ads. This is a great opportunity for your company to advertise products or services on podcasts. You may even decide to create a podcast yourself.
Here’scomments about podcast listeners:
| Podcasts can be a great way to reach advertisers. Listeners are usually very engaged when listening to podcasts and don’t mind ads. Podcast ads are often kept to a minimum and relevant to the program’s content. This is often done via host-read ads. Podcast ads have a higher trust and brand recall than other audio formats. |
Create Google My Business Listing
A listing called ‘Google My Business’ is what you will see when you type in a business name.
If you type in the name of your favorite restaurant you will see its photos, directions, phone numbers, reviews, FAQs, and other details. A Google My Business listing will include nearly every detail that a person could need about your company.
If you own a brick and mortar business, you should create a listing to increase your visibility on search engines. Your address and location will be displayed when people search for you using Google Maps.
List your business in a popular directory
No matter what product or service you offer, there will be a directory for you.
Yelp is a great place to list your restaurant. A platform like Product Hunt is a great place for digital products, such as SaaS products.
You can also list your business on different directories so that people can review your products and services. Positive reviews are more likely for potential customers to purchase from you.
Digital Marketing Made Easy
Last point:
Although the strategies we have mentioned are highly effective, they work best when you combine two or more of them.
If you want to use email marketing, then you will need to do content marketing. Because unless you create great content that attracts the right audience you won’t be convincing people to sign up for your email list.
Similar to the previous point, you need somewhere to direct your social media followers if you want to start a social marketing campaign. You can’t market if you don’t have a website, landing page or somewhere where your followers can read your content and subscribe to your email newsletter.
You can succeed with any of these marketing strategies if you provide high-quality content. Find the right approach for your business and make digital marketing work.
Do you have any experience with these strategies? Let us know how it worked for you in the comments!
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