Digital marketing is a constantly changing landscape. While some techniques remain effective year after year, others depend on emerging technologies that are slowly changing the way we market online. The one thing that never changes is the need for an effective online marketing strategy. By covering multiple bases, you can draw up a marketing plan that both retains your current customer base, and draws in new customers on a regular basis. We’re going to look at some of the most effective digital marketing tactics today, strategies that are guaranteed to get people interested in your business.
SEO remains a key part of any strategy
First off, search engine optimization. This remains one of the foundations of effective site design, and is still an effective marketing technique. SEO refers to the use of keywords to increase the likelihood of your page reaching the top of a Google search. There’s no concrete way of using SEO effectively, though there are a number of tactics you can benefit from. First of all, you need to work out what search terms lead people to your site. Google Analytics can provide a great deal of help with this, but at the same time, a certain amount of it comes down to how well you understand your business and customers. It’s also worth mentioning that a good SEO strategy is adaptable – you need to keep up with what is effective, as well as taking into account any short-term trends such as holidays.
Regular content sends out positive signs
One of the best ways of implementing a dynamic SEO strategy is by keeping a regular flow of content. A site with limited, outdated content sends out negative messages to your potential customers. On the other hand, regular blog posts and articles show that you’re on top of your industry, and a business to be trusted. Regular content is also a great way of utilizing SEO. For instance, a blog post about Christmas promotions can improve your likelihood of climbing to the top of the search results over the festive period. Good content also benefits from the fact that it can be shared easily via social media. A well-thought-out article can easily bring interest to your site and improve your conversion rate.
User experience makes a difference
While SEO is still important, there’s now more to Google search results than there used to be. One of their major new innovations is the use of user experience or UX. This refers to the usability of a site, and how long an individual spends on it. A well-designed site that is easy to navigate will have good UX, while a clumsy, confusing site will have poor UX. This is now taken into account when ranking search engine results. Basically, your site will have worse results if it’s difficult to use and people leave quickly. In practical terms, it’s obvious that a well-designed site is desirable regardless of Google’s use of UX. A good clear layout, indexing, and high levels of compatibility on different devices are all essential. The better your site looks, the more faith your customers will have in you.
Tailor your approach to social media marketing
Social media is obviously essential for any online marketing strategy. However, this is 2021, and there are more platforms than ever before. It’s crucial that you consider your target market, and the best ways to reach them. Instagram is a great tool for reaching a younger crowd, but it’s less effective for reaching older users. Internet users above 40 are far more likely to be reachable via Facebook, something that’s definitely worth taking into account when you draw up your marketing strategy. It’s also worth taking into account the location of your audience. If you plan to reach users in different time zones, use a scheduling tool to ensure that your posts and content reach them during their daylight hours, rather than arriving in the middle of the night and going unread.
Influencer marketing gives your campaign a trusted voice
Many people may hear of influencer marketing and assume it depends on YouTube celebrities. In reality, an influencer is simply anyone with a decent audience and a trusted voice. If you’re looking for an effective way of reaching out to a wide customer base, influencer marketing is a great way to go. The key is finding the ideal person for your business and industry. If you know of someone who is a trusted figure in your industry with access to many potential customers, you may be able to hire them to promote your product or service. It’s becoming a more and more popular and effective form of marketing, and one that your business may be able to benefit from.
Integration and automation
This focuses less on concepts, and more on actual systems you can put in place to ensure uniformity in your campaigns, and maximum outreach. Automation means that you can arrange so that mailers, campaigns, and other marketing campaigns are delivered to your contacts at exactly the right time, and any responses are automatically processed. Automation has become a massive industry in recent years, feeding into the big data analytics systems that are now a key aspect of many businesses. With effective automation of your marketing, you can gather data on your customers and use it to make concrete predictions that help your business. The best way to benefit from this is to make use of a CRM platform that already has automation features built in.
Don’t let your landing pages stagnate
We’ve mentioned the importance of keeping up a regular flow of new content. But at the same time, it’s also important that you don’t lose focus on your landing pages. The design of your landing pages lies at the heart of site design and has a massive impact on user experience. A clumsy landing page will push users away, no matter how desirable your product is. But there’s more to landing pages than just aesthetics. It’s also important that you include plenty of calls to action, or CTAs, to engage the user. CTAs encourage your customers to make use of your services but also serve as a convenient way of directing traffic through your site.
Email marketing remains relevant
While social media may have come to the forefront of marketing in recent years, email remains one of the most effective ways to reach your customer base. Obviously, it’s more about marketing to past customers rather than boosting your conversion rate with new ones. But that said, email is one of the most integrated forms of marketing, letting you combine a number of different features in a single message. Automation can play an effective role here as well. It’s impractical to send out single mailers to everyone on your list, but impersonal to deliver the same message to everyone. Automation allows you to provide each contact with a personalized message, showing that your business takes them seriously as a customer and individual.
