Stand out from the crowd: Develop a digital marketing strategy for your business

With so many businesses competing for customer attention online in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions, now is the time for you to improve your digital marketing and online presence. With more noise and more competition for the end consumer, you need to ensure your business stands out from the crowd and gets noticed.

It’s time to assess your current positioning, and develop a digital marketing plan to help your business reach customers online.

So what is digital marketing and why is it important? 

Digital marketing involves using a variety of online channels to connect potential customers to your business (1). These online channels include social media, email marketing, webinars and free downloads, blogging, sponsored content, “Pay Per Click” advertising and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) (2).

The end goal of digital marketing is to identify where your customers are most likely to look for businesses like yours online, so that they can see you, learn from you, and eventually, buy from you.

Digital Marketing is more important than ever, as more and more people are looking for services and products online, rather than through more traditional routes such as T.V and print advertising. Studies show that 70% of consumers want to learn about products through content as opposed to traditional marketing methods (3).

By developing a digital marketing plan that is going to help you show up in the right places, for the right people, you will improve your reach and brand exposure, which can have a direct and positive impact on your revenue.

Using digital marketing to stand out from the crowd and attract potential customers

While it is important to evaluate your competitors, you need to use that information to help yourself stand out from the crowd and speak to your potential customers.

There are some basic things you can do to refine your messages and engage with your audiences:

• Clearly define your key messages, taglines, and catch-phrases to ensure they speak to your unique audience.

• Provide information, videos or articles to address consumer knowledge gaps in the marketplace, and highlight the benefits of your offering.

• Creating compelling promotions for your customers, both for those who are ready to buy, and those who are still researching.

• Provide additional value to your audience in the form of blogs, ebooks or podcasts that relate to their interests, and place your product or service in a larger context.

With a bit of outside help, you can do a lot more to improve your digital marketing. With the help of designers, professional content creators, digital marketing professionals, or SEO specialists, you can also:

• Clearly define your brand and visual identity so that you can create cohesive content and offers which are easily recognised by your audiences. Your brand is more than a logo. It’s the colours, fonts, photography style, and tone of voice that people associate with your business.

• Use language that is both relatable to your target audience, and appropriate for the social platform you are using.

• Use SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) or SEM (Search Engine Marketing) to help your visibility on Google, and through advertising on the sites your customers visit.

• Design a website which has clear calls to action, a design that steers your customers towards making an enquiry or a purchase, and the technical tools you need to better engage with customers and track how they interact with your site..

• Ensure your website copy and content is clear and concise, so that readers can understand what it is that you do, and how you can help them.

Digital marketing is about more than just putting up a website and having a Facebook page

Fundamentally, great digital marketing is about effective communication. You need to know who you’re speaking to, where to reach them, and the kinds of messages that will generate a positive response. When you place an ad in the newspaper, put up a billboard, or stuff a flyer into a mailbox, you’re reaching people once with a single message. Digital marketing allows you to build a living, evolving relationship with your customers. Great online engagement will produce more sales, more incoming leads, and more chances to ensure that your customers will find you, and think about you first when they’re ready to buy.

To read the full article, head to: https://gipps.tech/blog/stand-out-from-the-crowd-develop-a-digital-marketing-strategy-for-your-business