The excitement of the New Year is gone, people have already returned to their everyday routine, and your business seems to be stuck in the same place where it was a year ago.
If this sounds like you, we can help!
We have gathered some of the most valuable digital marketing tips to give you the momentum you need, and provide you with the inspiration required to take your business to the next level this year.
What will make your business successful this year?
The most effective way to increase your business visibility and make it reach as many potential customers in the least amount of time is through digital marketing and advertising. Leaving behind the old methods of hard copy advertising, digital marketing has taken over all other methods of marketing and is widely used by almost every existing business. We are sure you are already using some digital marketing tactics, but this is a rapidly-evolving field where you need to update your strategies regularly and be aware of the latest online promotion trends.
So, you already know that creating/establishing a business is just the first step of many. The next step is to increase and maximise your online presence.
How can you achieve your goals through digital marketing?
Even though the possibilities of promoting your business online are endless to say the least, we will remind you the main directions you need to follow to increase your companyโs profitability in the most effective way:
Valuable content:
Todayโs marketing is based on content. Instead of bombarding your potential clients with aggressive promotional messages, you need to offer them useful content in various forms โ written, visual, audio (like podcasts), and video.
- Content should always provide audience with โvalueโ;
- Content should be engaging and relevant;
- Content should also make audience feel like they trust you (trusting your brand/business is important).
Content is key and when you are trying to maximise your online visibility, itโs important to target your selected audience specifically โ just like youโd do for any type of promotional message.
Once trust is established, you can introduce prospects to the product/services offered; they are more inclined to purchase from you if they have initial trust before informing them about the product/services.
Valuable content results in increasing visibility of website; the more people that read, share, visit your website, the more your website will gain visibility, resulting in the growth of your business.
Tip: in blog posts on your website, you should include internal links to link back to your website. Internal links of products or service pages to make it easier for customers/potential customers to navigate to.
Aside from creating original and valuable content, itโs important to share it on your different social media platforms, linking back to your website. If people donโt see your content, all your efforts are inadequate.
One last thing to remember is to keep your content fresh and regular โ once your audience has begun to take an interest in your content, they expect to see new content appearing again with regularity.
Make your website mobile-friendly:
Website functionality is one of the most important digital marketing tips today. Almost everyone owns a smartphone in todayโs society, and time spent on mobile devices is increasing. Therefore mobile devices are a number 1 tool to use to market and advertise.
Furthermore, an increasing number of people are purchasing goods and services from their mobile phones. This method has gained popularity as they can do it on the go, at work, in the car, etc. You donโt have to sit down at a desktop computer to research products and services or to order something online.
The key takeaway here is that without a mobile-friendly website your business doesnโt exist. This means that your website should be built or optimised with mobile use in mind, and that your web pages should look good and functions properly on a wide variety of mobile devices.
Focusing your marketing efforts on mobile also means that you should communicate directly with your customers on their mobile phones. Creating SMS notifications is an essential marketing service because the open rate of SMS is immensely higher than the open rate of email.ย
Utilise social media:
As in really take advantage of it. Just creating accounts on the most popular social networks is not enough, you really need to be active and reach your potential customers where they spend a good deal of their time every day.
Today, the majority of consumers are found on social media โ most popular platforms being Facebook and Instagram โ therefore advertising on these is a MUST.
Here are the main activities you need to complete for a successful social media promotion:
- Facebook page. This is the public profile for your business where you provide users with promotions, tips, etc. It is vital that you have a complete Facebook page for your business, with complete information and photos so audiences know a brief summary of your services/products offered.
- Facebook ads. They deliver excellent results because they allow you to target audiences based on either demographic or geographic โ a precision you could never have with traditional marketing tools;
- Instagram posts and stories;
- Sharing content regularly on social networks โ a mix of website content, relevant content from other sources, and fun/entertaining content;
- Interacting with audiences through different tools provided by social networks, such as surveys;
- Organizing contests and giveaways on social networks;
- Encouraging users to create and share user-generated content that is connected to your brand;
- Using the customer review functionality to gain the trust of your audience โ if other people are happy with your products and services, your credibility is already established.
These are just a handful of digital marketing tips focused on the use of social networks; the possibilities are endless and these platforms always come up with something new in terms of online marketing and branding.
Email marketing:
Email newsletters relevant to your products and services remain a must if you want to successfully promote your business online. In spite of the explosive development of social media and other methods, email remains an indispensable tool for keeping your products and services in the publicโs attention. Email marketing is known for having the highest return on investment compared to other online promotion tools, which means you get excellent results with minimal use of resources. Email marketing is so effective for the following reasons:
- It help to create lasting relationships;
- Emails can be personalised and targeted very precisely;
- Your brand stays top of mind because a large percentage of people check their email multiple times throughout the day;
- Email messages use direct calls-to-action that require readers to take action such as visiting your website, checking a limited-time offer, and so on;
- Email marketing is measurable and easy to adjust based on your findings to generate more revenue even before a marketing campaign is over.
Provide free resources for every sign-up:
This digital marketing tip can be considered a part of content โ free resources such as e-books, how to guides, discount codes, and so on are all forms of content marketing and help you establish trust and credibility for your brand.
The idea of offering free resources for sign-ups is where content and email marketing meet in the most brilliant manner โ you give people interesting and entertaining material for free and you ask in exchange their email address. As a result, you are able to communicate to audiences on two different channels after using just one single marketing tactic. On one hand, your brand communicates to audiences through the free resource you have provided, and on the other hand, you also start sending messages via email, thus gaining a large part of their attention span in a short time.
However, if you want this tactic to work, you need to offer really interesting and quality content that meets the prospectโs expectation and provides significant value. Our advice is to make sure you have created good, consistent content (both the free resource and the emails) before starting โ it would be a pity to waste such a great opportunity by not being able to offer content that keeps readers with their eyes glued to the screens after convincing them to sign up.
2019 is going to be your best year โ the secret is to start using these digital marketing tips as soon as possible!
Need help? Contact us today and benefit from our variety of online services, from web design and business app development to email marketing solutions and online video for businesses โ every aspect of your online promotion is covered at VMA!
