The world of online marketing is never-ending and can seem like a bit of a minefield. However, if this is your first step into it, whether you’re an experienced business owner or have just started out as an entrepreneur, then this is a brilliant place to get going.
So, having said that, let’s begin and take a look at some fantastic techniques, which can be used to market your business and grow a large, engaged audience!
1. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
This should be the first step with your online marketing campaign. Your customer base and audience are the very basis of your business. Once you have identified who they are, then you can build a suitable marketing strategy to target the right audience.
The first rule of marketing is to understand your customer and know what they want and what they're looking for. We’re aware that this is easier said than done, especially as a lot of businesses have a very diverse customer base.
It’s a great idea to invest time and resources into understanding your audience, as it will enable you to consider them in your business strategy.
2. MARKETING FRAMEWORK
Every talented marketer will think about wider growth frameworks, rather than just the individual campaigns.
This will mean creating a long-term marketing strategy, which has strong output creating consistently positive ROI.
3. WHAT IS YOUR BRAND'S STORY?
When it comes to spending hard-earned money, consumers tend to use both their rational and emotional brains.
In order to convince your customers to complete a purchase, you need to create a marketing campaign that appeals
to both of these brains. A powerful technique to do this is storytelling, as it is an effective tool to build connections with customers.
On all aspects of a campaign, make sure to consider the wider story.
4. ACQUIRING TRAFFIC
A website is crucial for a business in this day and age, but having a website and racking up high traffic volume are completely different matters.
There’s no point in having an amazing brand and product/service offering, if no one ever sees it.
We have handy guides on SEO and PPC, which will attract both organic and paid traffic to your site. So, make sure to check them out!
5. DRIVING SALES
Once you’ve got the traffic volume, the next step is to convert this traffic into sales.
What is conversion optimisation?
There are two aspects to this… The first is to convert first-time visitors into customers and secondly, to convert first-time customers into recurring buyers.
6. BUILDING CONNECTIONS THROUGH CONTENT
When you hear the term ‘content marketing’ the immediate thing that jumps to mind is blogging, but there is a lot more to it than this. When done correctly, publishing content on your site can be a brilliant aid in growing your business.
Content may include:
· Articles
· Guides
· Webinars
· Videos
· Blog posts
Focus on the quality of your content. The more helpful your content is, the more powerful it will be on search engines, and it will also help build up a level of trust with your consumers.
Once you’ve started posting content, then make sure to keep an eye on your campaigns to see what is receiving the most engagement with their audience. This will help generate a strong ROI.
7. ONLINE PAID ADVERTISING
There are multiple ways to undertake paid advertising online. You may have heard it referred to as ‘Search Engine Marketing (SEM)’ or ‘Pay-Per-Click (PPC)’ marketing.
In a reality, they are the same concept, and both are ways to purchase traffic through online ads.
Many marketers cringe at the term PPC, but it isn’t always a bad thing. Many companies will run PPC campaigns with unlimited budgets.
Why would they do this? Well, if it is generating a positive ROI, then it’s worthwhile.
Take a look at our guide on PPC to learn more.
8. GET FOUND WITH SEO
Yet another acronym… Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
This is another way to be found online. You don’t directly pay for SEO, but it takes more leg work as it is a more long-term strategy.
SEO is all about optimising your website to ensure it is as useful as possible, so you will rank highly on the search engine results page. The higher you appear on search engine results pages, then the more organic traffic you will acquire.
Speaking generally, the more helpful your website, the higher you will rank. That’s why it’s important to produce high-quality content (go back and read step 6…)
SEO is a huge topic, so if you want to learn more, check out our SEO guide.
9. WHAT ABOUT EMAIL MARKETING?
This is another marketing technique that gets a bad reputation with marketers.
Why is this?
It’s gained a poor reputation due to being historically spammy. However, this is an unfair generalisation.
When email marketing is done correctly, it can be an excellent tool to build and maintain a relationship with your audience.
The key to building up trust with your consumers is to find a good balance between automation and human connection – which again links back to what we said about appealing to customers’ rational and emotional brains.
10. SPREAD THE WORD WITH PR
If you have a brilliant product or service offering, then it is important to shout about it, and PR can be an effective way to do this. It can also be a lot cheaper than traditional advertising methods.
PR can be a somewhat complicated area to venture into, as connections and relationships are often vital.
To execute it well, it would be beneficial to get support. There are a range of PR services you could use, from fancy agencies to individual PR consultants.
11. GET SOCIAL
Social media marketing is a lot more than just a Facebook page or an Instagram account.
Make sure to always consider your audience first and foremost, when you’re planning your social strategy.
There’s no need to have an account on every social media just for the sake of it. It’s important to think about which platforms your audience will be on.
For example, if you provide a professional service, or want to interact with businesses and corporations, then LinkedIn will be a great bet.
Focusing on key channels will give you the best chance of generating an ROI.
We have a helpful guide on how to sell on Instagram, so that could be a great place to start.
12. MOBILE SITE
After spending a lot of time designing a website on a desktop, it is easy to forget that almost half of all internet users will be browsing on their mobiles.
So, our very final tip is to make sure you have a site optimised for mobile use!
And that wraps up our introduction to online marketing!
The key takeaways are: to always consider your audience and don’t get bogged down in small campaigns – always consider the larger framework of your strategy.
Feeling a little overwhelmed? Why not get in touch with us at hello@getaudience.co.uk for some free marketing advice?
The team at Audience wishes you the best of luck with your online marketing!
