Table of Contents
Introduction
It is a fundamental part of most small business success. But, while it can be a powerful marketing tool, creating an effective digital marketing strategy can seem overwhelming. Here are some ideas to help you make an effective method for your online marketing activities.
1. Evaluate and Strategize First
Before you start expenditure money, you need to slow down and consider what your marketing strategies is in the first place. For many SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses), their marketing is a patchwork effort to take advantage of as many digital marketing services as possible, including quite a few options. Digital marketing agency Hennessey Digital describes digital marketing services as an “umbrella category” that contains, among other things:
- Website development
- social media marketing
- PPC (pay per click) advertising
- SEO
The skill to use these various online options can create a diverse, affordable, and scalable marketing strategy. In other words, they are accessible to small and large businesses alike. However, the diversity of options can also be a problem. With so many options, it can be easy to push your marketing budget too far.
That’s why, before spending a penny, you must create a clear and comprehensive digital marketing strategy. It should select which online channels will help you reach your audience, how you should spend your time and resources in those areas, and what metrics can help you gauge their effectiveness.
It may seem like a lot of final work. But, it is an essential first step in creating a quality digital marketing strategy. Without setting the stage in advance, you can end up with marketing funds with little or nothing to show for your strength.
2. Use your Website as an Online Hub
Content advertising is a vital part of most digital marketing strategies. The concept revolves around consistently creating relevant content for your audience, providing genuine value, and helping establish your brand as an authority in your field. When done right, content marketing can help you attract new customers and retain existing customers, too.
If you want to have a robust digital marketing strategy, you need to build on content marketing. It is not an easy task, but it requires an initial investment and can continue to reward you in the future.
A blog on your website is one of the best forms of content marketing. A company’s blog can serve as an online database for its customers. It permits you to demonstrate your experience and knowledge in your business. It also helps you resound with your audience members’ pain points and show why it’s a legitimate solution they should consider.
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3. Influencer Leverage
Digital marketing can feel actual lonely at times. It’s easy to feel classified in your little corner of the Internet. However, there is a combination of ways you can take advantage of an army of online partners to help promote your brand.
This army is made up of influential people. Influencer marketing involves getting influential online personalities to partner with and promote your brand.
This digital marketing method taps into influencers’ loyalty and trust with their followers. It’s also easy to scale depending on your needs. For example, you can expend thousands of dollars chasing a more prominent influencer with millions of followers. However, if you’re working on a lesser budget, you can look to a network of smaller nano-influencers with audiences of 10,000 followers or less.
4. Research your Target Audience Online
As a successful small trade, you may feel like you already appreciate your audience. However, if you want to be active online, you must be willing to invest in additional customer research.
Take some time to research how your core customer demographic engages with the online world. For example, Pew Research reports that:
- Significantly more women than men use Facebook;
- More than half of college graduates have a presence on LinkedIn;
- 71% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram.
There is an endless procession of stats available for every conceivable demographic. Even if you can’t find enough information about your particular crowd online, try asking them directly. Ask for feedback on where your customers congregate online and what topics or resources they might be interested in seeing you create.
Also, consider if your audience is in a specific geographic area. If that’s the case, you’ll want to target your online efforts to focus on those regions’ marketing.
5. Set and Track Metrics
It is never a perfect science. Instead, with so many digital marketing options, it’s common to find tremendous success with one strategy and miserable failure with another.
You must create KPIs (key performance indicators) to help guide your efforts. Identifying and establishing KPIs can assess whether your marketing delivers the desired results.
Much of the current world revolves around the Internet, so you must invest in a solid digital marketing strategy. It starts with measuring your needs and resisting the urge to spread yourself into too many areas of online marketing at once.
Critical factors like audience research, content marketing, influencers, and metrics must be considered. If you can build your strategy with these elements in mind, you will be able to create an effective digital marketing strategy unique to your organization’s promotional needs.
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