Ingredients for a winning digital marketing strategy
A solid online presence is an essential part of any marketing strategy, whether your business is just starting out or expanding. In a world where 97% of people research local businesses online, you need to meet your potential customers where they spend most of their time.
The digital landscape isn't always kind to small businesses, and understandably, it can be overwhelming to determine your target audience, promote your business and spread the word about your products. Add a marketing strategy to the mix, and you might feel like you're trying to learn a new language.
While digital marketing can be complex and time-consuming, it can help to guarantee sales and recognition in the marketplace if done correctly. Here are six key ingredients for creating a successful digital marketing strategy for your small business.
- SEO
Google is like a directory of every website on the internet, except they sort websites by relevance rather than alphabetically. With search engine optimisation, you use your website's content with the right keywords to get your pages to the top of search engine results.
More than 90% of online experiences begin with a search engine query, and 75% of users don't scroll past the first page of results. If your website isn't optimised for search engines, your digital strategy is starting at a disadvantage to your competitors. Carefully weaving keywords into your content that describes your product or service and matches what people are searching for is the dream for Google's ranking bots.
- Content marketing
Content is still king and a vital puzzle piece of the digital marketing puzzle. When writing content, there are many factors to consider because it's often the differentiating factors that determine if your audience will stay or go.
With that said, there are several ways to efficiently use the content for engagement optimisation on all levels – SEO, social media and organic search engine optimisation. Done right, it gives you access to convert casual browsers into loyal fans who not only find your products or services interesting but then turn into trusty customers.
- Social media
All of your content can be found through organic search, but that's not enough. You need to boost the reach of your audience by sharing your content on social media channels. Your audience found through social media does not consist of paid advertisements or people who haven't asked for it. Instead, it consists of people who like your business and the products you sell, so they want to hear from you. If they hit "Like" or share your posts, that means that they will probably appreciate what you post about and be more likely to buy the products or services you recommend to them too.
Blog content can be very beneficial in getting better search engine rankings, but it all comes down to figuring out what your audience is interested in buying. Social media marketing is really exciting because you can target people based on specific parameters to ensure you reach the people you really want to.
- Landing pages
Landing pages might be one of the most important parts of your digital strategy, but they aren't the final destination. To get the most from them, landing pages need to be optimised to increase their chances of hooking a buyer.
A great landing page will include a strong call-to-action with prominent directional cues, persuasive copy and intuitive design to reduce confusion and increase credibility. While it's true that landing pages play a leading part in your digital strategy, they need to be seen as part of the journey instead of a simple stop-off point.
- Email marketing
More than half of marketers say that email marketing delivers the most profitability for their business. Email marketing is indeed a powerful tool when used correctly. A regular email campaign can help guide customers who are not ready to buy yet.
You can do several things to avoid your emails getting lost in someone's inbox, such as having a direct subject line, offering valuable content through regular newsletters, and using structured email workflows with triggers at critical conversion points. Every day 99% of consumers check their emails – this isn't a marketing channel any brand can afford to overlook if they want to achieve excellent results.
- Master plan
So you have your high-quality and SEO-backed content. You've created or optimised your landing pages, and now you're ready to start pushing content out. What do you need now? A masterplan. Your go-to-market plan needs to establish when your strategy is ready to go live and what channels will be used and how and when you will deliver your content and paid ads through those same channels. Create a calendar for at least one month that covers themes, blog ideas, and the actual publication dates for content that will live across various channels, including social media, traditional web pages and email.
A content calendar is like a timetable for your content – it goes hand in hand with an editorial plan that details all of our paid media campaigns (such as Google Search Ads), including how much funding will be allocated to them. This is your master plan, and it brings all the other five elements together to create one killer digital marketing strategy.
Need help to get your digital marketing strategy off the ground? Koola has a digital marketing plan that’s sure to fit your needs and budget.
