In just the past decade, the world has changed almost beyond recognition. While some may lament the loss of what they might consider to be the Halcyon days of yesteryear, if you are a business owner, you don’t have that luxury. If you want to continue your business operations into the future, you must pay attention to the changes and tailor your processes to meet the world as it stands right now. Nowhere is this more apparent than in analyzing your marketing strategies.
No longer can you simply throw up a website, build a handful of citations, and hope for the best. The modern world demands a far more nuanced approach in order to succeed. And make no mistake, those who are able to adapt and persevere will not only run rings around their competition but will build an army of customers loyal to their brand and willing to spend money regardless of financial situation.
By the end of this post, you should gain a better grasp of just what it takes to advertise to your ideal customer base and not just make a living but thrive.
Take Advantage Of Email Marketing
Sometimes it’s the old-school methods that yield the biggest rewards. While everyone and their mother is attempting to utilize the latest, new-fangled techniques to reach an audience and promote their brands, most end up burning money with very little to show for it. However, one tried and true method is taking advantage of email marketing which has consistently proven to produce one of the highest ROIs of any other technique.
Nonetheless, how you go about it will tell the tale of your success. With an ever-increasing web of complex regulatory issues surrounding the collection and use of data, it’s now more important than ever to think strategically. Plenty of platforms exist that can help you navigate the sticky issue of data, including one called SafeOpt, which has been specifically developed to cater to those looking to bypass such challenges.
Nevertheless, whatever way you choose to participate in email marketing, the fact remains that the more effort you put into building a fully-qualified list, the more you will profit from each and every email you send out. Just bear in mind that an email list requires constant nurturing, and while it can take a long time to build, it can be easily lost with only a few misjudged emails.
Develop A Robust Social Media Presence (Where It Makes Sense)
All businesses, from mom-and-pop shops to multi-national conglomerates, have long recognized the importance of social media to their online marketing strategies. However, many companies make the mistake of using a scattershot approach whereby they will set up accounts on every channel under the sun and see what sticks. This might be fine for larger organizations with dedicated marketing departments (although they would never take this approach), but for smaller companies, it simply wastes time and resources that could be put to better use.
Instead, you need to take a more nuanced position and think carefully about where your audience hangs out and which platforms will provide the most bang for your buck. For example, if you own a local restaurant, then Facebook and Instagram will probably suit you better. Conversely, if you are a local baker, it might be an interesting idea to create a Tik Tok account (while you still can) and promote your brand via that channel. The point is to think about your aims and then select social platforms that enable you to reach your goals instead of signing up for everything because you believe that’s the most beneficial option.
Make Intelligent Use Of Paid Advertising Opportunities
Paid advertising used to be a bit of a joke in the world of online marketing since organic traffic was so easy to come by. However, as alluded to in the intro, the world has moved on, and those relying solely on Google et al. to provide globs of free traffic are long over. Nowadays, utilizing paid advertising is perhaps one of the best ways to reach a far broader audience than ever before.
Additionally, there are now so many options at your fingertips that it would be remiss to ignore the opportunity right in front of you. Nonetheless, there remains somewhat of a caveat regarding paid ads: if you’re not sure how to go about it, you can wind up losing a significant chunk of change. If that sounds like you, it might be a good idea to bring on board an online ad specialist who can set up your campaigns and monitor them to guarantee that you get the maximum return on your investment.
Don’t Ignore The SEO Factor
Any post about online promotion would be severely lacking if it didn’t at least pay a glancing mention to the dark arts of SEO. Search engine optimization, aka SEO, is arguably one of the best ways to skyrocket your brand and bring in vast amounts of very highly targeted traffic to your website, where you can convert them.
As with the previous point regarding advertising, outsourcing the process to a marketing agency might be prudent if you aren’t up to date with the latest techniques. Moreover, if your marketing budget can stretch to both, you can select an agency to facilitate both the SEO and paid advertising aspects of our business to really add some rocket fuel to your business and get you moving fast in the right direction.
Don’t Forget About Your Existing Customer Base And Create A Loyalty Program
It’s easy to spend your time focusing on acquiring new customers all the time, and for nascent businesses, this might be the best course of vacation. However, investing in the retention of customers who have already demonstrated loyalty and purchased from you can often yield fruitful results. You can achieve this by using your email list, as per the first point in the post, and developing loyalty programs that keep them coming back. Obviously, your mileage will vary depending on the type of industry you operate in, but there is nothing a little lateral thinking can’t solve.
No matter what your business does, it will likely benefit from online promotion, but the way you go about it will make all the difference. From the classic methods of email marketing to the more modern techniques like social media, you have so many options to mix and match that you can’t go wrong.
