Welcome to week six in our series, “The New Digital Marketing.” Over seven weeks I’m going to lead you through the steps of developing your own online marketing strategy from start to finish. Whether you’re a traditional brick and mortar business getting online for the first time – or have had your digital ducks in a row for years… the world has changed and we are adapting. Let’s do it together. It’s time to “Organize Your Digital Presence.”
If you’re just joining us, don’t miss the first five pieces in this series:
Week 1: Realign and Get Online
Week 2: Virtual Meetings and Conferences
Week 3: Engage to be Engaging
Week 4: Digital Strategic Planning
Week 5: Empathetic Marketing
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The Internet levels the playing field for businesses. It enables small and medium-sized businesses to compete successfully with large businesses that have more resources and money at their disposal. When you create a solid digital presence that provides great and relevant content for your prospects and customers, backed by great customer service, you will win and prosper. Plus, your customers will love you!
The following are seven steps that will help you get your digital presence organized (and effective) from stem to stern…
- Create (or update) your website. Your website is your 24 hours a day hub with all your “digital roads” leading back to it. Every business needs a website. Besides generating leads and closing sales, your website establishes your expertise and credibility. Plus, it’s an opportunity to tell potential customers what makes you unique and why they should do business with you versus your competition.
If you already have a business website, it’s a good time to consider ways in which you can improve the effectiveness of your site. Are you using outdated themes and technology? Is it mobile friendly? Does a prospect immediately know that you are the solution to their problem? Is it easy to navigate? Is it visually pleasing? Does it appeal to the clients you are trying to attract? And so on.
An easy way to increase sales and customer convenience is to add e-commerce functionality to your website. A big benefit of selling a product through your website (other than a greater profit margin) versus selling through an online marketplace is you acquire the customer’s contact information. This gives you the ability to market to them in the future which allows you to build a relationship of trust with them. This is important because repeat customers are nine times more likely to convert than a first-time shopper, according to a report by Adobe.
- Create (or update) social media sites. Social media is the least expensive form of marketing and allows you to repurpose your content over multiple channels. A smart social media strategy can quickly increase your brand awareness, boost engagement, generate leads and sales, provide customer service, and drive traffic to your website. It can lead to mentions in the press, plus it is a way for you to “listen” to conversations about your brand. At the very least, your business should be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Beyond that, great things can happen with YouTube, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok. Decide what your goal is with social media, which platforms best attract your target audience, and create a plan to reach them.
- Create Common Branding. Consistent branding across all aspects of your business will mold a positive perception and it will instill trust and loyalty in your customers. Your branding (and messaging) should be uniform across both your digital platforms and your offline marketing efforts.
- Embrace an online meeting platform. While video conferencing has never been more popular, even in normal times it’s a way for businesses to save time and cut down on travel costs. Besides talking with your customers face to face, many video conferencing services allow users to share screens, exchange files, communicate using digital whiteboards, and so on. For more information, check out my post, Virtual Meeting 101.
- Create an email newsletter. Email is still one of the most popular forms of communication. An email newsletter will keep you top of mind with your prospects and customers. This will increase traffic to your website and help grow your social media community (which, in turn, will increase conversions). An email newsletter is not intrusive. You are providing your customers with useful information, not inundating them with advertising.
- Create (or update) your blog. Writing a regular blog post strengthens your relationship with your customers. A blog will also improve your search engine ranking and increase your online traffic as Google loves fresh content. Plus, you can repurpose your blog posts by also featuring them in your email newsletter.
- Organize it all in a task-management platform. When you think of the various components of your digital presence, you might feel overwhelmed when thinking about making it all run smoothly. Fortunately, there are programs designed with just this in mind. We use Asana and it has been a complete game-changer. More on that to come. As Asana certified professionals, we can also get you a link to save 10% off of your first year – plus we can help you onboard and train your team.
To get (and keep) a leg up on your competition, a comprehensive well thought out digital strategy is vital. And while a strong digital presence is all about technology, it’s important to remember that marketing is all about engaging your prospects and customers and providing them with the solutions they are looking for in an empathetic way.
Take your brand boldly into the new normal. Keep pushing for real, authentic interaction with your tribe and keep your brand top-of-mind. If you need more ideas or a plan to get started, let’s talk. Remember, we are on this journey together.
Wishing you light and love. ~Hema
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