If there is one silver lining to the pandemic that turned life on its head in 2020, it’s that online businesses are growing at an exponential rate. While brick and mortar companies have scraped and struggled, online businesses have come into existence, upped their services, and thrived. If you have a website, and it’s pretty likely that you do, you may have seen an uptick in online customer leads and sales. And having a website is a great and important place to start. But once your website is up and running and reflects your products and values, it’s not enough to rely on a virus to grow your business. It’s time to take your digital presence to the next step – digital marketing. If the words intimidate you, take heart. Anyone can start and develop a digital marketing plan for their business. But before you launch that digital marketing campaign or even finalize your plans, it’s important to think about your goals. Here are five goals you should consider including in your digital presence.
1. Create a digital connection with your customers.
One key component of digital marketing is social media, and there is a good reason it is called social. Social media is a place for forging connections and developing relationships with people. And for consumers today, a relationship is extremely important. Connecting with company on a personal level and developing a relationship with it lays the foundation for future sales. Consumers today want to know who a company is and what they stand for. They want a relationship. And relationships pay off. Customers who feel that they have a relationship with you will turn to your company when they are ready to buy. Though it might not seem to be the case early on, creating an effective digital presence will, in the long term, improve conversions and increase sales.
2. Meet your customers’ needs.
You may have heard the expression “You can’t get something for nothing.” But that is exactly what customers today want. (Or so it may seem.) We live in the information age, and today’s customers expect to get the information they want easily and immediately. You want to show those customers that you care about their needs and that you can give them that information that they seek. Therefore, providing valuable content to your customers should also be one of your digital marketing goals. When you can provide that information to your customers, they benefit. But you also benefit. Your customers see you as a knowledgeable source or field expert. Customers trust companies who know what they are talking about. When you provide valuable content to your customers, you set yourself up as someone they can turn to for the information they need.
The key is getting that information to them. You might be the most well-informed, knowledgeable company there is. But if your customers don’t see the content that proves it, even if it is exactly what they are looking for, it does neither of you any good. So part of providing valuable content to your customers it creating that content. Another part is getting that content to them. Sharing your content on digital media gets that information to your target audience. When they read that valuable content, they will share it too. Their shares will create backlinks to your site. Google takes notice of backlinks, that is how many times other sites and people post a link to your page. The more backlinks you have, the higher your pages will rank in Google’s mysterious algorithm. And when you get high up on the google results page, you will be seen (and contacted) by more people. All that contributes to your bottom line in the long run.
3. Increase your SEO.
When used right, your digital presence can also increase your SEO. You probably know the importance of SEO even if you don’t know everything hiding behind those three little words. It stands for search engine optimization. And it means how easy it is for search engines like Google to find your website. Ultimately it comes down to a simple connection: good SEO helps customers find you. You can increase your SEO effectiveness through a good digital marketing campaign. Do this by using the right keywords. Determining good keywords is enough to fill a post (or fifty) on its own, so we won’t get into that here. But once you have the right keywords, making sure you include them in your digital materials will increase your SEO. Better SEO, more customers find you, your organization benefits.
4. Learn about your customers.
A good digital media strategy is like a two-lane highway. Yes, it sends the right information out to your customer, but it also brings the right customers back to you. In more technical terms, digital marketing drives customers to your website. Once your customers are there, you can learn a lot about them through analytics. You can learn what pages on your site they visit, how long they stay on a page, and even what they look at when they are on that page. If you don’t know where to start when it comes to analytics, try Google analytics. The learning curve might seem steep, but the more you know about your customers, the more targeted you can make your digital marketing campaigns in the future. And that will only make you even more effective in your efforts increasing your ROI.
5. Finally, do consider sales in your digital marketing plan.
Sales is not necessarily the primary goal of your digital marketing campaign, or at least not overtly, and that is why we have left it until last to mention. But it is something you need to think about. What products do you aim to sell? Where do your customers first connect with you? Whether you sell product online or the digital connections you make online lead to sales down the pike, your digital presence contributes to your bottom line. Take a good look at how your sales are affected by your digital presence now. And then imagine your ideal scenario. Once you have that picture clear in your head, you can begin designing your digital presence to reflect that ideal and increase your sales.
It’s always good to remember, when talking about digital marketing, that it is a long game. Experts say it takes 6-12 months to get traction off a digital marketing campaign. And you can expect two years before your strategies reach their full pay off value. So keep your long-term goals in mind, and don’t expect a quick turnaround from any digital marketing campaign. And now that you know why you should jump into digital marketing, it’s time for the fun part – designing a cost-effective plan that fits your budget and goals. It’s up to you whether you use social media, email marketing, pay per click advertising, or plenty of other options. Regardless, with a little effort you can create the right plan for you.
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What is your primary goal when it comes to digital marketing?