Digital Marketing Moves to Strengthen Your Business
You can’t walk down the street, grab a cup of coffee or go into a business meeting without seeing someone intently focused on their phone or computer screen. As our reliance on electronic devices and the internet continues to grow, the potential power of digital marketing becomes increasingly apparent. Today, meeting people where they are means having a marketing strategy that includes connecting with them while they are connected — at work or play, any time of night or day.
Digital marketing — the promotion of brands, products and services using online channels such as social media, search engine optimization (SEO), mobile apps, online advertising and email — is an integral part of any marketing plan today. It opens up a world of opportunities for connecting with established and prospective customers in meaningful ways.
Here are some actions you can take to make the most of digital marketing opportunities:
Develop an integrated digital marketing plan
Having a written plan can help keep your digital marketing efforts on track. This roadmap should be part of your broader marketing plan and help you work toward the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) goals you have set for your marketing efforts overall. It should be built around the demographic and psychographic information you have about your target audience(s), and complement any ongoing marketing activities that are delivering positive results for the business.
As you incorporate new digital elements into your plan, ask yourself what your priorities are — generating leads? Driving traffic to your website? Building your brand reputation? Educating people about your product or service? Positioning your company as an industry thought leader? Then build an action plan around each of those objectives. One of the great advantages of digital marketing is that you can take a multifaceted approach that enables you to connect, communicate and build relationships with your audience on a number of levels at once.
Regularly assess and update your website
As the foundation of your online presence, your website should be engaging and informative, and provide an extraordinary user experience. Ensure that it is optimized for search engines and mobile devices, that its content is robust and up to date, and that it is easy to navigate. Consider incorporating video and engagement tools, such as live chat functionality and “Learn More” buttons, to build closer bonds with visitors. Always make sure it’s easy for them to connect directly with someone on your team.
Build a strong social media presence
Social media offers opportunities for you to have interactive conversations with your audience. Do some research into where your target audience hangs out online — LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. — and then start engaging! You can get involved in conversations and comment on posts, but even more importantly, create your own original content that sets you apart and helps your audience understand who and what your company represents.
Craft compelling content
The type of content you develop, as well as where you place it, depends very much on your audience. Focus on understanding their needs, interests and consumption habits, and share solutions and information through blogs, articles, videos, podcasts or other formats likely to resonate with them.
Let’s say you serve customers in an industry with continually evolving demands. You may want to write an ongoing series of blogs that address each of those demands as they emerge and provide insights into how your company’s products or services can help. Those blogs may live on your website, but you can drive potential readers to them from LinkedIn posts or emails. On the other hand, if you sell a consumer product to teens, you may be better served by creating lighthearted video content you share on TikTok or Facebook.
Quality is essential in the content creation process. If you don’t have a creative team on staff, consider farming out the tasks that fall outside of your team’s expertise. A poorly written blog or badly produced video can harm your credibility and reputation considerably. Remember that every time you post or distribute content, it is a reflection of your firm. Also remember to think visually: Infographics, photos, illustrations and video clips can add tremendous impact.
Upcycle materials to get more from your efforts
Maintaining an active online presence doesn’t mean you have to be constantly crafting new messages. Once you have great content produced, you can often upcycle it — that is, repackage and enhance it for different audiences, platforms or uses. For example, if you’ve produced a white paper or hosted a webinar, you can break those into meaningful segments to be shared as blog posts or short YouTube videos. Be selective about what you repurpose, making sure the content is valuable, and add any new related information or calls to action to keep it fresh.
Audit and adjust
Things change fast in the digital world, so keep close tabs on how your marketing efforts are producing for you and adjust your efforts toward areas of strength. Fortunately, there are a variety of analytics tools to help. Google Analytics, for example, can offer insight into the performance of your website, and social networks such as Facebook and Pinterest offer analytics for their platforms. You can pull all of those together with a dashboard program that allows you to view results side by side, or you can invest in a more customized analytics tool that collects and presents data in the form you prefer.
Once you have a firm grasp of the platforms and channels that work best for you, work your digital marketing plan to its fullest. Keep making connections, growing your presence and trying out new channels to build and strengthen your brand.
As you work toward making your digital marketing the best it can be, these online resources may be helpful:
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