It might be asking to develop a digital marketing strategy because digital marketing involves so many various aspects of the online environment. It’s crucial to note, though, that your company doesn’t have to cover every part of digital marketing. On the other hand, you’ll probably be more effective in focusing on a few techniques and seeing how they perform for your firm (especially if you’re starting).
With this in mind, whether you’re a startup, an established company, or a digital marketing novice, the following digital marketing strategies can help you advertise your company online.
Make your website mobile-friendly.
There’s no denying that mobile marketing is more crucial than ever, with an increasing number of users exploring and making purchases on their smartphones and tablets. Although investing in mobile-specific marketing might be expensive, especially if you’re just beginning in digital marketing, you can take the first step by making sure your company’s website is mobile-friendly.
Fortunately, most website builders, such as Squarespace or Wix, and specialist e-commerce systems, such as Shopify and BigCommerce, have already done the legwork for you. Themes and templates that are already mobile-friendly are usually available using these tools. All you have to do now is make sure you’re using one of these templates and test how things look and work on a mobile device as you add or alter your website.
Furthermore, if you’ve already invested in a website builder or e-commerce platform, this is a very low-cost digital marketing strategy. You’ll only have to pay more if you want to use a paid theme or other features that aren’t included.
Set up a Google My Business account.
Making a “Google My Business” listing is one of the most basic (and free) internet marketing strategies we can recommend. If you’re not familiar with this listing, search for a business on Google (like we did in the example below). As you can see, there’s a listing on your right-hand side with basic information about the business, such as the address, hours, phone number, website link, and more.
This listing, known as a Google My Business listing, is an exceptionally beneficial tool to convey critical information about your company to potential or present clients. To make changes to your listing, claim it (if one already exists) or create one for your business.
Once you’ve done your listing, you’ll have a long-term digital marketing strategy in place thanks to Google—remember that if any of this information about your business changes, you’ll need to update your listing to reflect the changes.
To use digital marketing effectively, you must first understand your clients and target demographic.
As you probably know, one of the most important aspects of marketing is understanding your customers: What are their names? What are their tastes, likes, and dislikes? What elicits a response from them?
Digital marketing follows the same principle. You must understand your clients and who they are online to have an effective digital marketing plan. Your target audience for digital marketing may differ from your target audience for word of mouth or direct mail marketing at this time.
For example, if you own a local brewery that also ships and distributes throughout the country, your digital marketing efforts may focus more on reaching audiences that your brick-and-mortar store doesn’t ordinarily reach. In this scenario, you’ll want to determine how to get your non-local target audience and what methods will encourage them to interact with and buy from your company.
Of course, depending on your special business, your audiences may overlap. Still, it’s also important to remember that different customers are more active on other platforms—the audience you’re trying to reach on Instagram may not be the same as the one you’re trying to contact via email—so you’ll want to research implement your tactics accordingly.
Make a local marketing investment.
Following our previous point, if your company works in a local market, you’ll want to use digital marketing methods that appeal to and relate to that audience.
You can claim and edit your business listing on other local search directories, such as Yelp or Bing locations for business, in addition to creating a Google My Business listing. You can also think about alternative local marketing tactics, such as:
Creating Google or social media advertising that is geo-targeted.
Organize a direct mail campaign in your neighborhood.
Organizing or taking part in a community event.
Although some of these techniques aren’t strictly digital marketing, you can tie them in by mentioning your company’s website and social media handles on any papers or information you distribute in your neighborhood.
Create a blog and use content marketing as part of your SEO plan.
Content marketing is just one aspect of overall digital marketing, but when done well, it can significantly impact your capacity to attract clients and increase sales. One of the easiest methods to start content marketing is to create a blog on an official website.
You can write about problems connected to your business on your blog, demonstrating your expertise and giving useful information—both of which can develop traffic to your site and develop your search rank.
Furthermore, because you don’t have to spend cash on promoting your content, this is one of the best free digital marketing plans. If the content you create is good, it will naturally rank in search engines, and you can always share it organically on social media to increase its reach.
Determine which social media outlet is unique for your office.
Social media marketing, and like content marketing, is a subset of the greater sector of digital marketing—and an essential one at that. After all, according to small company marketing data, 74 percent of buyers use social media to help them make purchasing decisions.
However, social media is complex, always changing, and might necessitate far more effort than you might expect. Instead of trying to pro all social media networks, you might employ this low-cost digital marketing strategy: Determine which social media outlet is ideal for your company and concentrate your efforts there.
Suppose you’re beginning an online boutique, for example. In that case, you might find that Instagram (with an emphasis on photographs) is the most likely social media site to be successful for your digital marketing techniques, rather than Facebook or LinkedIn. Overall, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t use other channels. Still, if you’re just getting started, you might want to focus on a single platform that appeals to your target customer and experiment with alternative techniques.
Encourage customers to submit evaluations on the internet.
One of the great and most expensive-effective digital marketing plans? Encourage users to post reviews online, and keep your company’s profile on review sites up to date.
You can claim your business profile on review sites like Yelp, TrustPilot, and others, just like you can claim your business listing on Google or another local site. You can encourage your consumers to leave evaluations of your business by posting signs in your location and including links on your website or E-mails.
Then you’ll like to keep an eye on your reviews and respond immediately to any unfavorable ones. Ideally, you’ll like to maintain your rating at 4 stars or top.
Having stated that, there are 2 types of wins you can get from this strategy. You can continue to create a relationship with existing customers and connect with them. You can also utilize their reviews to attract and persuade potential customers to visit or buy from your company.
Build a dependable email list and use email marketing to promote your business.
Email is one of the greatest digital marketing strategies available. Almost everyone checks their email, whether they’re consumers or business customers, regardless of their age.
As a result, the first step in taking advantage of email capabilities is to establish a dependable email list. Email marketing is fantastic, but it’s useless if you don’t have the correct individuals to send it to. If you don’t have an e-mail list, you may use a variety of lead generation tactics to begin gathering information (including email addresses) about current and future clients.
You can start utilizing it after you’ve built up a decent email list. Create a monthly email newsletter or send out regular messages with special offers, news, and discounts to get started.
This is another low-cost digital marketing tip—and one that will continue to be effective as you build on it—depending on how you acquire your email list and the platform you use to send emails.
Consult our guide to learn more about developing an efficient email marketing strategy.
Market to your target demographic with digital advertising.
Although organic SEO and social media processes have been mentioned in some of the digital marketing recommendations thus far, it’s crucial to know that these strategies have limitations. The competition and influx of promotions and posts, in specific, can make it strong to stand out in the digital field, especially for startups or beginners.
As an output, if you’re ready to spend some money, it’s worth looking into digital advertising—whether on social media, Google, or other websites—to guarantee that your company is getting the proper people. You’ll be able to select the correct keywords, aim your standard audience, and zero in on those potential customers who are most likely to want what you sell with any of these digital advertising strategies.
Along the same lines, you can target people in your local area, a specific age group, a specialty market, and more with digital advertising. If you choose to advertise on Facebook, for example, you’ll be able to use the Facebook Ads platform, which allows you to be extremely specific about where your ads appear and who sees them.