1. Combine SEO and Content Marketing
SEO is certainly nothing new. For a long time, SEO was a function of keywords and coding. Then Google got smarter. Google learned that SEO is about rewarding brands with helpful content. That’s why combining SEO (what questions do our customers ask) and Content Marketing (what answers do we provide) is one of the most effective of the marketing trends we’re going to see in the future of marketing.
Today, most of the metrics included in Google’s algorithm have to do with content (even Google admits this) and the engagement you win through the distribution of great content. Using various types of content (visual, text, video, infographics, audio, etc) does much better than using a single type of content.
2. Have a Visible Presence on Relevant Social Media Platforms
Being seen online is the key to success for every business, especially in today’s world where almost all businesses have gone digital. It is one of the ways to stand out from the crowd.For this reason, you need to build your online presence on social media networks of relevance. Note that there are plenty of social networks available but you need to identify where your customers spend most of their time and target them there. Pick those that are relevant to your business and prospects and build your online presence there.
As my daughter will tell you: share more than once on Instagram and she’ll unfollow you! In addition to sharing your own content, you should share content created by other great companies/ experts. Many experts recommend you promote or sell in no more than 20% of your content. At least 80% of your social shares should be valuable content in your industry.
3. Optimize Your Website for Mobile-First Browsing
Many consumers in the US and around the world only access the internet from their mobile phone. So you need a website that loads quickly, works across all types of mobile devices, and looks amazing in the process.
You also need to make sure your content is mobile friendly, and that your website and social media networks are accessible on desktops as well as mobile devices. One thing we are always looking to improve is the reader experience. We are constantly testing which fonts,
colors, and font sizes, for example, are best for reading on a variety of small mobile screens. We are also always optimizing for page load times.
4. Use the Right Digital Marketing Tools
In order to ensure that you have an integrated marketing mix, you need the right digital marketing tools to help you run effective campaigns. You also need to develop expertise in using them and applying the insights in the right context.
For example, you need a CMS to power the content on your website (we use WordPress just as 60% of all websites do). You also need email marketing tools to distribute your content (we use Mailchimp). You might use a social media management platform to manage the social distribution (we use Hootsuite). You should also consider lead generation, marketing automation and CRM.
We use a landing page service called ConvertFlow for lead generation and I track leads using a sophisticated google sheet. Works fine for us! You’ll also want to use an analytics tool like Google Analytics to understand your website details.
5. Be Awesome at Design
Design underpins much of what makes digital marketing success. Whether you’re designing a website, a landing page or creating an image for your website, ad, or infographic, you need to have good design skills. Not all of us are whiz kids when it comes to design, but there are some tools to help.
Canva – is a great tool for creating social media images whether you need them for your profile or as images to include in posts. One aspect of Canva I really like is the templates that help design great looking images even if you know nothing about layout or what fonts go together.
6. Create and Grow an Email List
Make sure your website includes an email newsletter sign up form. Deliver valuable content to your subscribers not just promotion. Tell stories. We use our email lists to mainly share our content. We also do email nurturing to our leads and convert quite a bit through this process.
The trick is to balance content, stories and calls to action. For example, our first nurture email just tells you a little something personal about me (“I have 4 kids and they ask lots of questions. Do you have any questions for me?)
7. Spend Wisely on Digital Advertising
Digital advertising, including PPC (pay per click) Google Ads, YouTube Ads, social media advertising on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok are all things you could test in order to deliver digital marketing success.
We’ve tried it all. The one approach we have found that brings in relevant traffic, engaged visitors, and converting leads is what we call contextual content promotion. We find your target audience wherever they are on the web and we serve them an ad. But not an ad for your product.
8. Add Visual Content To Your Digital Strategy
A picture is literally worth a thousand words, and people will share them more often than text-based content. We love infographics because they can be attractive, engaging and display lots of information. Our brains can process pictures much quicker than text.
Some other examples include Social media graphics, Videos, Webinars, even the title image of our blog posts is designed and branded in order to set us apart from just any old thing you might read on the web.
9. Closely Watch Your Analytics
Almost the other end of the spectrum from creativity is analytics, but that’s exactly the combination you need for digital marketing success. Google Analytics is perfect for understanding critical elements of your website and how visitors navigate through it. If you’re trying to learn how to gain insights from Google Analytics, you can use the Google Data Studio to give it a test drive using data from Google’s e-commerce site.
For analytics outside of Google Analytics, a number of great tools exist. You can use individual analytics from each social network (ie. Facebook, Pinterest, etc), you can bring them all to one place by using a dashboard programs, or you can pay for more powerful tools to gain more insights.
10. Integrate Strategies and Campaigns Across Channels
Integrating across these tactics can be really challenging, especially in a larger firm where different teams may manage different platforms or where different ad agencies handle different aspects of marketing, such as content marketing, paid, and social. But, integrate you must to achieve true digital marketing success.
Let’s talk about how you go about integrating across these tactics that contribute to digital marketing strategy success.
Also read: SBA Customer Service: How To Get The Help You Need
