The tech world is full of genius attacks that flopped - things like Segway, Betamax and AOL. Others never even made it to the name recognition level. For example, did you know at one point that there was an iSmell device? It was supposed to sit by your computer and emit scents based on the websites you were viewing. Not surprisingly, no one wanted it. There are things we think (or hope) will be short-lived...but aren’t, like digital marketing. The digital marketing juggernaut continues growing and is no longer something you can ignore, hoping it will go away. It isn’t.
We get it - it’s easy to miss the mark. With so many new ideas constantly being released, how do you know which ones to follow and which ones to ignore? You only have so much budget, and the knowledge required to know how and what to do can feel overwhelming. You want to play to win...and a missed shot can be costly, especially for small and medium size businesses. Here are a few digital tactics that are entrenching themselves in marketing strategy that are proving themselves successful and not going anywhere any time soon.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is your overall strategy for marketing products and services offered by your company. Content is defined as information shared online. It’s things like blogs, ebooks, white papers, videos, webinars, infographics and more. Content marketing, then, is about creating relevant, helpful content that matches the desires of your customers. Effective content marketing anticipates a customer’s needs and delivers content showing you have the solution to their problem. Done correctly, it is an extremely targeted way of growing your SEO through keyword strategy and helping interested customers find you online. It is lead generation that helps prospects find you that didn't even know were out there.
SEO/Keyword Strategy
Once you understand your target audience, you should do everything possible to get your content in front of their eyeballs. Search engine optimization (SEO) involves revamping your website to boost its search engine rankings. That includes inserting specific words and phrases, or keywords, matching search terms visitors enter during a web search. SEO strategy helps search engines evaluate how relevant your website is to a user’s search and ranks it accordingly. By knowing how to optimize all of your online information, you set yourself up for success in inviting customers to your website simply by helping them more easily find you online.
Social Media Marketing
Having a professional manage your social media marketing sets this critical marketing channel up for success. Once you grasp the importance of SEO and keywords, apply those same techniques to different social media channels, including Facebook posts, Instagram photos, and even YouTube videos. Adding keywords and SEO to your social media sites supports your overall content strategy by:
- Increasing user engagement
- Helping with local SEO
- Telling your brand’s story to different audiences
- Providing more insights into customer shopping habits
- Leverage ideal consumer targeting through paid ads, boosted posts and retargeting.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing covers everything tied to marketing to individuals using the internet or browsing electronic devices. That includes email campaigns, social media outlets, your company website, and the search engine prospective customers use when looking for specific items or services. Digital marketing helps your brand reach a larger audience and target individuals likely to purchase your products or services. Your digital marketing professional should understand how and when to use paid listings, banner ads, web ads, geofencing, retargeting and a myriad of other digital strategies.
Connected TV
A shift in viewing habits over the years changed how many people watch TV. Many now use devices connected to the internet versus a cable connection to watch video content. Connected TV ads placed on internet-connected video streaming platforms like Roku or OnDemand, and are a highly targeted way of ensuring viewers are “served” the ads you want them to see. They allow brands to track response and provide a more effective and more efficient delivery of ads than with regular broadcast television.
Video Marketing
Video marketing involves creating videos designed to market products and services provided by your business. Fifty percent of consumers want video content from brands, according to a HubSpot Research report. Your videos can be anything from how-to tutorials to answering questions sent by customers. The goal is to create engaging, useful content that encourages viewers to engage with your business further. You can embed videos on your website, upload them to a platform like YouTube or Vimeo, or make them part of your sales team’s promotional kit. Making sure they are optimized will help people find them when they are searching for solutions or information you can provide.
An Up-to-Date Website
There’s no excuse for your website to look like it was built with GeoCities. (If you don’t know what GeoCities was, don’t worry - just another tech flop that ended in 2009). If you want your website appearing at the top of search engine result pages (SERPs), give it a complete revamp using everything you’ve learned about keywords and SEO. Make sure your site is mobile-ready, optimized, easy to navigate and easily understandable. You can’t build a website and then forget about it either. It takes regular updates to keep it fresh and relevant for viewers.
Segmented Email Marketing
When done correctly, email marketing helps you build genuine connections with the people who engage with your business. Segmented database marketing creates customized email marketing campaigns that are personalized to a prospect’s interests. As a result, they have a much higher success rate than simply sending a generic eblast out to your entire database. You can, and should, send relevant email to interested prospects, and the combined effort of the above strategies gives you a way to do just that.
Start Building Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Just as technology evolves rapidly, so does digital marketing. It’s not a game and it isn’t going away. In fact, it is rapidly becoming the most effective and efficient way to find and engage with prospective customers...who now more than ever, want their information to come to them personalized and relevant, and in the way they like to be communicated with - digitally.
Don't DIY - Work with a Professional
A downside to the rapidly changing world of digital is that so many people don’t understand it...and so therefore don’t do it. You need a trusted partner who has your best interest in mind and can customize a campaign to fit your brand, budget and business growth goals. Contact us for a consultation to learn more. We know the pitfalls to avoid, can show you fully transparent results tracking, and will design & implement your strategy from beginning to end.
