Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, Web Marketing. There are so many phrases used to describe what essentially is utilizing the internet, social media, websites etc. to market you business and bring in new customers. This is a huge field full of a massive amount of information and we will be covering different aspects in future posts. Today however, let’s cover a handful of basic concepts that will get you started on the road to marketing your business online.
- Really get to know your customers and potential customers. With the internet and social media giving you so many ways to segment and specify your marketing tools, it really helps to know what drives your current and potential customers and clients. What will make them stop and take a look at one of your ads or one of your blog / social media posts.
- Write engaging topics, not just hard sell. This is SO VERY IMPORTANT! I see failures around this tip all the time. People are burned out on hard sell all the time. Your potential new customers and clients want to get to know you. They want a peek inside your business, your life, your interests etc. As we have mentioned in previous posts, a good rule of thumb is to make your content about 10% – 20% selling and 80% – 90% engagement. This doesn’t sharing what you had for breakfast with your audience but perhaps you visited an industry related event over the weekend or purchased a new piece of equipment for your business. This may make for an interesting blog or social media post for your followers and they may also appreciate a look at the “personal” side of your office or studio!
- Make sure you include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services into your campaign and understand that you should be in this for the long haul. Any authentic, organic online marketing campaign will take time to bring you back sustainable results. Search Engine Optimzation (SEO) is a fantastic, solid way to help bring your business and your website more visitors, which translates to more potential customers and clients. SEO is a long term prospect and you need to know that going in. Any company that claims they can guarantee you front page results on Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) in days or weeks is either using an unsustainable, artificial means to boost your presence or is just flat out lying to you. SEO takes time, but it is very much worth it.
- Keep your brand consistent. Sure you want to create eye catching ad campaigns with lots of engaging visuals, but make sure to keep your brand visible and consistence so that your viewers know immediately who the content is coming from. We have all had those instances where we see a visually stunning ad campaign only to realize we have no idea who or what is being marketed!
- Don’t be afraid to try new things! As I have told my clients, online marketing is different from designing and printing 10,000 direct mail pieces. Once they are printed, that’s it! With online marketing you can try something and if it doesn’t work, just adjust it and try again!
That should be a good jumping off place. As always, if you have any questions or would like more information, just contact us at any time
Take care,
Skip & Sandy