Get to know your customer
Your first order of the day should be to develop a deep understanding of your customers, what they purchase and why. You may also want to learn how they are making purchases and where from as this information can also be useful when you develop a strategy. In order to fully understand what they want to buy and their motivations, you’ll need to dig deep into quantitative demographics and qualitative data such as cultural, social and political interests.
A comprehensive audience profile will provide you with enough data to inform your strategy and tactics, including:
- Identifying the most appropriate channels
- Build an engaging voice and language
- Understand their motivations
- Develop buyer profiles or personas
- Appropriate partnerships and influencers
- Develop the right brand emotions and personality
- Audience segmentation and targeting
Marketing Strategies for Business- Top Tips
We’ve put together our top suggestions to help you breathe new life into your digital marketing strategies for business improvement — all based on the advice of digital marketing service professionals and what’s working well today.
1. Make it personal by tailoring your marketing messages
Today’s consumer loves to feel as if they are being sought out by the brands they are interacting with. They prefer personal connections as opposed to broad, generalised messages. They seek out experiences and interactions over flashy content.
This is why so many successful digital marketing and SEO services work with their clients to create personalised messages for their target audiences. This can be as simple as tacking an automated first name into a direct marketing email or may be as personal as individually-tailored ad and reward experiences on a mobile device.
How personal you want to get with your consumer is up to you, but the rewards of getting personal are indisputable.
2. Keep your content fresh — even content that isn’t new
When it comes to harnessing tools like Google Ads, you must have content that helps you make SEO connections with the consumers you’re looking for. Remember, keyword-stuffed copy isn’t going to get you anywhere in the long run. You regularly need new, creative content that gives consumers something to engage with.
This doesn’t just mean cranking out new content to keep things fresh — it also means sprucing up existing content. To ensure that you’re making the most of your SEO efforts, comb through older content and find places where you could tighten up the copy and add new information. Look for opportunities to make even older pages work to your advantage. You might be surprised at the goldmine you’re already sitting on!
3. Make practical moves with video content
Video marketing has been considered a smart bet for more than a decade now, but at no time has it been more relevant than it is now. With rapid changes in technology and accessibility to clever editing software, there is a mountain of ways to produce, edit and utilise video to your advantage — with the added bonus of record numbers of people consuming video content.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced major changes to our way of life, some good and some not so good, but among the industries benefiting from the changes were video entertainment and education. As a result, many savvy companies jumped on board the swiftly changing trends, by increasing digital video marketing as a way to promote goods and services. They are also creating engaging content by sharing practical tips that recommend using their products or services for the “new normal”, giving people something that feels valuable while also promoting their business. It’s a win-win for everyone — and a strategy you can’t overlook in the years to come.
4. Reach out to bloggers for guest blogging opportunities
When you’re focused on selling products, creating content may not be at the top of your to-do list. Even if you are running a blog that is accessible from your company’s website, finding the time to regularly create fresh, engaging content can be tricky.
That’s why so many successful companies partner with established bloggers. This isn’t just social media marketing, though that certainly has its place too. These professionals — and hobbyists alike — can offer you maximum visibility by creating content for their own blogs or for yours, highlighting your products or services. It’s an important and often overlooked aspect of a successful e-commerce digital marketing strategy that will keep your audience and consumer base growing.
5. Jump on the podcast bandwagon
It seems like everyone these days knows someone who hosts a podcast. These radio show-like digital broadcasts have become enormously popular, both for information purposes and entertainment. You can harness the power of either — or both — by partnering with the right people as part of your marketing strategy.
Talk to companies related to your own but not direct competitors, about hosting a podcast together. Suggest sponsorship with an established show. Set up your own show and feature others. There are so many ways to turn this trend into a marketing success story!
6. Harness the affordability of email marketing
If you aren’t already leveraging the benefits of email marketing, you really should be. Why? Because few things garner a greater return on your investment quite like this marketing channel. It’s a simple, easily deployed and incredibly effective tool to reach a large number of consumers very quickly — and it costs next to nothing to utilise! That’s the formula for a winning strategy and one that you should absolutely be using to reach consumers in 2020 and beyond.
While every marketing email message may not reach them and create a purchasing decision, enough of them coming across their inbox dashboard regularly fosters brand familiarity and gently reminds them that you’re there, ready to serve them whenever they’re ready. It’s a great method of passive advertising on a channel that we are all familiar with and use almost every day.
7. Focus on local SEO
When you engage a professional to deliver SEO services, you are likely thinking of the global impact that your efforts will have. Will consumers from other states or nations see your brand and products? Will your message reach across borders and bring in new shoppers? While that may seem like the most important thing for a business looking to increase its reach and expand its sales numbers, there is actually something more important at play — and much closer to home.
Local SEO helps your nearby customers find you by providing information relevant to their search queries — information that leads them to your digital door, organically. Even in this post-pandemic world, where people are spending less time in their local community, they are still relying heavily on this aspect of your marketing strategy
You can leverage local SEO to tell consumers that you offer delivery or pick-up, or that you’re now providing products or services to make life easier in an uncertain world. There is always a way to market yourself effectively in the current market landscape!
8. Consider how augmented reality may be relevant to your products and services
One very interesting approach witnessed by digital marketing service professionals in the last few years is the advent of augmented reality. When most people hear this phrase, they might think of mobile phone games such as the popular ‘Pokemon Go!’ application. However, there are very real and very practical ways that businesses can utilise these tools as well.
One example might be a clothing company that allows consumers to upload a photo of themselves and try on virtual versions of the clothing over the image of their body. Another might be an application that allows people to virtually experiment with new hair and makeup looks. All of this gives the consumer exciting, engaging content to interact with — and gives them more reasons to have positive feelings about your brand.
9. Understand the role and importance of voice search technology
In the modern world, the way we find information is just as important as the information we’re looking for. People use their search features differently than they did even a few years ago — and that change is creating a ripple effect in the way goods and services are marketed.
Whether you are partnering with a digital marketing agency in Adelaide to focus on local or global SEO or both, you’ll need to be voice savvy to meet your goals. Now more than ever, consumers are utilising voice search technology, and those patterns are changing the way people make searches in general. While some people are more likely to use straightforward phrases in a manual online search, someone using a voice search feature will be more verbose and often less precise.
Tailoring your SEO efforts to still meet that consumer where they are — and get them at your site’s door — is the key to continued success in the modern market.
10. Combine creativity and data-driven understanding of your audience
Everything you and your team do to create fresh and exciting content that engages your consumers has to be based on something. Even the most creative and enthusiastic ideas have to be rooted in fact. The data that drives the decisions your company makes about what, how, when and why things are marketed will be what ultimately shapes the creative process to get you there.
Work with professionals who understand how to combine all of the efforts we’ve suggested here or someone who can help you choose the right tools and channels to curate the perfect approach for your business.
Bonus! An oldie but a goldie — Put your money on PPC
Make every cent of your marketing budget count with smart pay-per-click advertising. One of the most cost-effective forms of paid advertising, PPC means that you only pay for the results of the ad, not the ad space.
PPC is the process of bidding on search keywords that you want your ad to appear for. When searches are made for your keywords, your ad will display but you’ll only pay if the user takes action by clicking on it. Of course, there is a range of factors that will influence where the search results from your ad will appear such as your competitors, budget and keywords.
PPC is a great way to reach people who are already interested in your product or service. It can be done across a variety of platforms including search engines such as Google, social media and apps.
Be agile
Digital marketing is a constantly changing landscape with a multitude of influencing factors, making the process of developing your digital strategy will be a bit of trial and error. It’s unlikely that you will get it right the first time but that’s nothing to fear.
Having a clear plan is critical but you’ll also need to be flexible, particularly in regard to:
- Changing SEO algorithms
- Evolving trends
- Meaningful KPIs
- Social channels
- Content and timeline
- Reporting, reviewing and implementing change.
Just because a digital strategy is successful doesn’t mean you can forget about it and walk away — it is quite the opposite. With the constant changes and trends the industry sees, any digital strategy and campaign will need constant monitoring and tweaking in order to maintain its effectiveness and success.
Make it all count
Everything you and your team do to create fresh and exciting content that engages your consumers has to be based on something. Even the most creative and enthusiastic ideas have to be rooted in fact and supported by evidence. The data that drives the decisions your company makes about what, how, when and why things are marketed will be what ultimately shapes the creative process to get you there.
Work with professionals who understand how to combine all of the efforts we’ve suggested here and the best digital marketing strategies for business, or someone who can guide you in selecting the right tools, channels and tactics to curate the perfect digital approach for your business.