The online marketplace continues to rise in recent years. Competing with other local businesses can be tough. That is why as an arborist running his own tree care business, taking a 360-degree view on how to successfully grow and differentiate your business. At the end of the day, it is all about ensuring a positive and memorable customer service in the world of fierce business competition.
A strong online presence, building a stable team of trustworthy professionals, and fine-tuning your digital marketing are not new in online marketing strategies but just mere table stakes or minimum requirements for a business arrangement. Read more
Game of Thrones — a HBO TV series (not Neflix!) — is undoubtedly a phenomenal hit. It has changed the television landscape, and caught the Internet by storm. The American fantasy drama has recently kicked off its eighth season last April 15.
Are you set for the Long Night? If you haven’t already, it’s never too late to jump onto the Thrones bandwagon in time for season eight. Here’s all you need to know about the latest goings-on in Westeros and what you can expect moving forward as the series approaches its finale. Read more
Two weeks into its release, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame made history when it cemented itself as the fifth film to rake in $2 billion in worldwide box office earnings. With this smashing feat, the latest of the five Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films has zoomed past Titanic when it crossed the $2 billion mark in just 11 days.
The massive opening weekend for Avengers: Endgame accounted for 58 percent of its overall domestic earnings, making it the first film in history to ever earn $1 billion in ticket sales out of its debut. Read more
To someone who has limited experience, digital marketing can be overwhelming. Digital marketing campaigns generally consist of multiple strategies, and if you are not familiar with how these strategies work together, you may not know where to begin.
Successful digital marketing campaigns may
include strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing,
pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, email marketing, and social media marketing that
work together to help achieve the desired marketing goals.
It is important to know how each of these
strategies can benefit your digital marketing campaign on their own, as well as
how they complement each other to increase your brand awareness and visibility
online, drive more traffic, and ultimately increase conversions.
With so many strategies that comprise a
successful internet marketing campaign, it is common for businesses to be
overwhelmed and confused about which strategies they should use and how these
different strategies complement each other.
In this guide, we will cover the main
strategies that make up a successful digital marketing campaign and explain how
these different strategies can work together to achieve your marketing goals.
Why
is Digital Marketing Important?
Digital marketing is extremely important
because much of the buyer’s journey takes place online. People begin searching for a product or
service on search engines and video sites like YouTube, and eventually move to
deeper research that includes reading blogs, reviews, and what people are
saying on social media.
The following graph from Vendasta
shows the steps of the customer journey as well as the actions that consumers
take online in each step:
This graph is an excellent representation
of how the different facets of your digital marketing program can work together
to increase leads and conversions. As
the potential buyer moves through the decision-making process, they will
encounter different aspects of your digital marketing presence.
In the early steps, a consumer may become
aware of your product or service through social media, email marketing, or YouTube
videos. As they become more interested, they
will search for the product or service and come across your paid ads, Google
listings, blogs, social media posts, and reviews.
If your business does not have a strong
online presence, then consumers are more likely to come across your competitors
on the buyer’s journey. A solid digital
marketing campaign will help ensure that consumers encounter your business
through each step of the decision-making process.
Digital
Marketing Strategies
It is important for businesses to
understand the following digital marketing strategies and how they work
together to drive traffic, leads, and conversions:
Search engine optimization
(SEO)
Content marketing
Online advertising (PPC)
Email marketing
Social media marketing
Search
Engine Optimization (SEO)
An effective digital marketing plan starts
with good search engine optimization. A study
by Forrester found that 71 percent of consumers start their customer
journey by searching for products and services on search engines like
Google.
This makes it very important to ensure that
your website is properly optimized to rank well in Google for the keywords
related to your products or services. SEO
itself consists of many facets to ensure your website is properly optimized,
including:
Title tags and meta
descriptions with relevant keywords
Alt text for images
Landing pages for each product
or service you offer
Quality content, including
product/ service pages and blogs
On site and off site links
Fast loading time and full
functionality for mobile users
All of these factors will help boost the
rankings of your website in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and establish
authority with Google. This will help
generate high quality organic leads through Google search.
Businesses that are not sure how to
properly optimize their website can work with a digital marketing agency that
provides SEO
services.
Content
Marketing
Quality content has always been at the
heart of good online marketing and this is not going to change any time
soon. Every facet of digital marketing,
including SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, and online ads rely on
quality content to be successful.
Google algorithms have become sophisticated
enough to recognize quality content that provides value to your audience. The days of keyword stuffing are long gone,
you must create well-written content that is useful and original.
When creating content, you must consider what
type of information your audience values as well as which stage of the buyer’s
journey that your audience will encounter this content. The content in your
emails, social media posts, and blogs should look different to reflect the
stage of the buyer’s journey.
Online
Advertising: PPC and Social Media Ads
This may seem counterintuitive but paid
online advertising with pay-per-click (PPC) ads and ads on social media can complement
your SEO. SEO strategies, while
effective, take some time to start producing results. Online ads help speed up the process and give
you instant online presence.
PPC ads created through Google Ads appear
on top of all search results when users search for the targeted keywords. Usually
users encounter PPC ads early in the buyer’s journey and while they don’t often
result in a sale, they do drive traffic to your website.
This video from StrategyBeam contains a
more thorough explanation of how PPC ads can complement your SEO marketing
strategies.
Social media advertising is another form of
online advertising to consider. Your
social media ads may not result in an immediate sale, but they can help get
more followers who will then see your social media posts.
Social
Media Marketing
Social media marketing is an effective way
for businesses to increase their brand awareness online and attract more online
traffic and quality sales leads. Social
media also provides a platform in which your customers can interact with your
business directly.
There are many social media platforms that your
business can engage with including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and
Pinterest. It helps to know which social
media platforms your audience prefers so you can find them and engage with
them.
Facebook is an important platform for
increasing your brand awareness as according to statistics from the Pew
Research Center, 68 percent of adults in the U.S. have Facebook
profiles. A good presence on Facebook
can help you reach a wider audience.
You can use social media platforms to
engage with your audience through posts and paid ads, and social media can also
be used to promote other aspects of your digital marketing campaign. Using social share buttons on your product web
pages, blogs, YouTube videos, and more helps visitors promote your content and
brings more traffic to your website.
Email
Marketing
Email marketing is an important aspect of
successful digital marketing campaigns because it allows you to send exclusive
offers and promotional content directly to your audience. However, you need to build a list of email
addresses for this tactic to be effective.
The previously discussed digital marketing
tactics play a major role in helping your business build a list of email
addresses. Effective SEO, content
marketing, PPC ads, and social media presence will bring more people to your
website who are likely to subscribe and provide you with their email addresses.
You can also upload your email list to
Facebook to build a custom audience and make Facebook ads specifically for this
group.
Email marketing will not generate new
leads, but rather help you retain the customers who are already interested in
your business. In March 2016, 80
percent of retail professionals surveyed
by eMarketer responded that email marketing is excellent for customer
retention.
According to Colin
Nederkoorn, the founder of Customer.io, “If you’re running a real business,
email is still the most effective way to universally reach people who have
expressed interest in your product or site.
For that, it really can’t be beaten.”
There are several types of marketing emails
you can send your email list to help retain customers and generate leads:
Welcome emails for new
subscribers
Newsletters to keep subscribers
updated on your business
Promotional content for new
products, services, sales, or discounts
Information about special
events
Promotion for social media
campaigns
Digital
Marketing: Putting it All Together
When forming a digital marketing campaign,
it helps to think of each strategy as a different component of the same
campaign instead of thinking of them as separate stand-alone strategies. There are many opportunities for the
different facets of a digital marketing campaign to work together and
complement each other.
The importance of a good digital marketing
campaign cannot be overstated. The
majority of consumers start their buyer’s journey with a Google search, and as they
continue this journey, they will encounter your blogs, social media posts,
videos, and paid ads.
If your company is not visible online in
the most crucial stages of the customer journey, you will lose quality leads to
your competitors.
Putting together an effective digital
marketing campaign can be difficult for some businesses to handle on their
own. If your business does not have the
resources or expertise to create and implement an online marketing campaign,
you can work with a digital
marketing agency.
Digital marketing experts will take the
time to understand your business, as well as your marketing goals, and form an
online marketing plan that will help increase traffic, brand awareness, and
quality leads.
Technology is constantly evolving and you need to keep up with the latest trends in order to be successful in digital marketing. Innovation opens up new opportunities. Your plan should evolve and grow with technology in order to stay a step ahead of your competition.
New digital marketing strategy are constantly evolving in this current era of technology and internet. Businesses need to adopt these techniques for them to flourish. What might have worked last year is not necessarily going to work this year.
Read below are the top 10 digital marketing strategies for 2019:
1. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the impersonation of human intelligence by machines, especially computers. AI is slowly taking over the world. AI has become helpful by simplifying data-based experiences and improving user experience.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is one good example of a company utilizing AI. They have been able to optimize their services by using the messenger app. They have created a plug-in with the app that has bookings, check-in and flight status updates. Customers can access travel data from anywhere. The airline provides them with the information they need without complications.
Incorporating AI can save your business money and speed up growth.
2. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR)
Businesses are taking advantage of mobile cameras to enhance the experience of their clientele. VR and AR enable you to enhance brand consultation and influence purchase decisions by bringing your products to life. By engaging customers in immersive adventure, they are more likely to find what they want and also enjoy themselves while doing so.
For example, Amazon set up VR booths around their annual Prime Day, enabling their customers to experience different products as they would in real life. This allowed buyers to picture themselves owning their desired products and greatly refined the customer experience.
If getting your clients to a given location is not possible, Augmented Reality has provided to be an amazing alternative by offering reach through integration with mobile apps.
3. Vertical Video.
Every man, woman and child has a mobile device these days. They are more than personal computers and TVs. This explains why mobile video ads are so popular. Shrewd digital marketing strategy are utilizing videos to engage their customers, especially on social media. The recent introduction of Instagram’s IGTV has validated the shift to more vertical videos. The success of IGTV indicates the transition to vertical videos online.
4. Social Messaging Apps.
Social messaging apps are increasingly being used for business purposes and not just for sending emoji’s. You may find this hard to believe but look at these statistics:
Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly users
Billions of messages are sent between people on Facebook Messenger
Whats-App has 1.3 billion monthly users
55 billion messages are sent on Whats-App every day
Since most people are using these social messaging apps, it makes a lot of sense to market your company where the so many people are spending their time.
5. Visual Search
This is where a user uploads an image in order to conduct a specific search for it. Pinterest is one good example. They have a platform whereby their clients are able to take a photo of an item they want, find where to buy them online and also search for related items. Savvy marketers have integrated their businesses with platforms such as Pinterest to reach more customers.
6. Influence Marketing
This is a type of word-of-mouth marketing. They utilize influential people on social media, with large followings, to market their brand. These influencers are paid to drive your brand message to their large following. This is very effective because people trust consumer opinions. Businesses that hire influencers to market their products with are great reach and reward.
7. Video Marketing
Using videos in your digital marketing strategy is very important. Videos are not only eye catching, but also engaging.
Videos improve conversion rate by roughly 70%
It gives customers more confidence in online purchase decisions.
Consumers also share these brand videos
8. Voice Search
Use of voice search has become increasingly popular and smart companies are incorporating it in their digital marketing strategy. Marketers should come up with content that takes advantage of conversational platforms like Alexa and Siri.
9. Micro-Moments.
People spend hours on their smartphones every day. There is almost too much information to absorb online. Micro-moments involve delivering your marketing message to your consumers within a very small span of time before losing them. Companies can improve their chances of a conversion by coming up with short and interesting ads for their brands.
10. Personalization.
Personalized marketing mean you personalize content, products, emails etc. Thanks to technology we can understand so much about a customer, like purchase history, consumer behavior and links clicked. Coca cola did something simple with personalization. They created packaging that was personalized with the common names for people in a given region/country. It was a simple way to encourage purchasing.
This year stay ahead of the competition by improving your customer’s experience by incorporating the strategies outlined above to improve your conversion rate.
Most business owners today are aware of the fact that internet marketing is the best and most valuable resource they possess. All it takes is one computer and internet connection to put the word out about your business. For others, this information will tell why switching to internet marketing is less expensive and more profitable than conventional marketing.
An Automated System To Increase Revenue
Author David Bach in one of his New York Times best sellers notes that in order to achieve financial freedom, one needs to automate financial planning in life. Similarly, to achieve success in business, your marketing efforts need to be put into a system so you don’t have to tend to it around the clock. Automating through internet marketing will create a consistent experience for your current and potential customers. It will help you build a reputation while giving your customers a firm feeling that your business is authentic.
One way to automate marketing on the internet is to delegate this task to outsourcing companies who will then list, update and maintain aspects related to this task. Select companies that shares your vision and loves what they do to your business. Meanwhile, you as a business owner can do a lot more of what you love to do in all that spare time.
Less Expense, More Savings
Your product or service will not do anyone any good if it has been sitting in the shelf waiting for the right opportunity and time to emerge out in the open. And if you are relying purely on your marketing department to get the word out, through advertisements, flyers or other means, you will have to spend thousands of dollars hiring salespeople and holding ad campaigns. With internet marketing, you can achieve a lot more than these sales people would have achieved in their lifetime. Taking this approach, as well as considering it as a backup when other marketing efforts fail, will help you overcome many challenges that are outside your level of control, such as employee turnover and raising advertisement cost.
Maximum Exposure, More Sales
Let’s say that you were able to convince a customer who happened to visit your store to buy a product. How easy was it to convince the customer after describing the features and benefits of the product? How long did it take to convert that customer from a mere window-shopper to a purchaser? Internet marketing, on the other hand, is a media where you can put your product on display for not just a handful of customers to see but millions across the world.
Additionally, you don’t have to do the explaining or use convincing tactics to pressure them into buying. The features are easy to find. And if it is accompanied with a system to place an order and accept payments, you are all set to do business online.
Saved Time And Resources
As a business owner, conventionally marketing your business means developing and evaluating marketing systems that will work toward prosperity. This also means dedicating a certain amount of time to think, plan and put the system into action. The process can take a lot of your time, maybe weeks or months if you are doing it in-house. Assigning online marketing task to an outsourced firm can save you a lot of ‘thinking time’ or ‘planning time’.
Besides, you will save other resources spent on inefficient ways of marketing as well. You will also be removing yourself from the drudgery of doing everything inside the business. The firm you hire can easily create the same or better results because they’re experts.
Are there businesses that have done extremely well with online marketing and generated sales more than their expectations? Of course. But the ones who succeeded in this field did not rely solely on the fate of their advertisements online. They made sure to follow through and update, research and collect data about everything from traffic, impressions and sale conversion.
Your goal with online marketing should be to increase your sales number to one that is greater than your in-house marketing efforts. To do that, you need to learn things, develop skills, delegate tasks, monitor progress and hope for the best.
“Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.” — Mike Volpe
Building a website for your products and/or services does not necessarily guarantee that customers will find and purchase from you. As a business person, it is important to understand that creating a website is simply the beginning. With the fierce competition in the business world, staying on top of the game is the best way to survive against your many competitors. At the same time, promoting your website online can be intimidating and not mention, requires a large amount of investment. Additionally, not everybody has the financial capability to invest in paid advertisement campaign and event sponsorship to attract your target customers. But with the advancement of digital marketing, there are now effective ways of website advertising in Canada without breaking the bank. Read more
When the Internet boomed and online marketing turned into an essential component for businesses — even for dental clinics. Most people consider the Internet as the most reliable research tool. By using it, individuals can learn about several topics and acquire general pieces of information, including those related to medicine. The Internet will allow them to evaluate dental or medical services, compare offers, and make an informed decision when selecting a local dental clinic. Read more
Sometimes dealing with stress can be overwhelming, especially if you have to juggle many demands on your time. When it starts feeling too much to handle, consider psychological counselling to help you cope. The earlier you see a therapist, the easier it will be to see yourself through the problem. Some of the signs to indicate you need counseling include:
● Feeling extreme emotions – Emotional extremes beyond normal can be signs of underlying issues. One example is catastrophizing, where one assumes the worst of any situation. This can be a debilitating, leading to panic attacks and avoidance of potentially troubling situations.
● Disconnection from beloved activities – Painful emotions can get in the way of your enjoying what you used to enjoy. Sometimes, it feels as if there’s no point in continuing; in those cases, it can help to see a therapist to help you work out a specific issue or get out of a rut.
● Addiction – Substance abuse can stem from a need to cope with difficulties in life. Struggling with addiction of any kind points to trying to cope with problems in an unhealthy manner. These substances can include drugs, alcohol, sex, or even food. One sign of stress is over- or under-eating, which can be a sign of patients having difficulty with the desire to take care of themselves.
● Unexpected health problems – Mental problems often manifest as physical symptoms. Being psychologically upset affects other parts of the body, notably the stomach. This manifests as chronically upset stomach, headaches, muscle pains, fatigue, and reduced sex drive. Muscle pain in particular can come from seemingly nowhere, even if you haven’t done anything physically strenuous.
● Poor work performance – Emotional and psychological issues can manifest as reduced work performance. At worst, you can feel disconnected and unmotivated at work, resulting in lower-quality output. Work burnout can occur even when the job used to satisfy you.
● Insomnia – Excessive anxiety and worry can impact your quality of sleep. Facing difficulties at work or working through traumatic events can make it difficult to relax enough to fall or stay asleep. The lack of sleep can further reduce work performance, which can further reduce the quality of your work.
● Relationship problems – Some counsellors specialize in helping you repair broken relationships, especially if the situation escalates. At worst, it can feel as if maintaining those relationships is no longer worth the effort. However, with therapy, you can trace any issues to their source and empower yourself to communicate more effectively.
● Avoiding social situations – Anxiety can make social gatherings, like parties, work gatherings, or socializing with friends and family, difficult to the point of impossible. The fear of social interaction can be traced to a fear of judgment or feelings of inadequacy. When these fears start interfering with your everyday interactions, therapy can help you regain a sense of normalcy.
● Concern from friends – Sometimes your loved ones can see if you’re bothered by something, even if you can’t. Take any concerns your friends bring up seriously; if they notice something wrong, the problem is likely very visible. In that case, see a counsellor to address it before it gets worse.
These signs can also indicate underlying mental issues, like depression. If you suspect that you may be exhibiting these signs, seek psychological counselling in Thornhill immediately.
When thinking of how to attract clients, it helps to look into online marketing. Most potential clients these days rely on the Internet to search for service providers. It’s important to know how to optimize your website to attract more traffic. Excellence at providing property management services is a significant part of the job, but making yourself available online to reach your market is also essential.
Consider adopting SEO strategies to complete your marketing efforts, and use the following tips to make your website more accessible for your client base:
● Choose appropriate keywords. Knowing which exact keywords you need to attract your clients to your website is crucial. Users looking for property management services for commercial sites will likely search for terms like “commercial property management”. Use those words yourself so your website appears on the search results. Insert keywords like these naturally into the content.
● Keep your focus on local SEO. Prospective tenants will look at local listings when searching for places to live. Focusing your keyword list to include local keywords will make your website more relevant to your target market. Use third-party sources (e.g. Google+, Yelp, or Facebook) to give your business more exposure. Google scans relevant sites to get a better understanding of your business and get better results. Create a business profile on those sites and keep all the data up-to-date so your business is easier to find.
● Use relevant links. Relevant links to and from other websites make your own more credible. Your site will look more attractive and respectable to search engines by showing how you relate to the location and industry. The links you use should be relevant to property management and similar fields. Search engines can detect whether your links are relevant to your business, and will punish you by lowering your rank if they are not.
● Use social media. Social media can help you establish a greater presence online and provide you with free advertising in your own community. Share property photos, discounts, promotions, and updates to provide more information for your client base. Social media also lets you engage more directly with your clients to better serve their needs.
● Provide quality content. When creating content, create it for your clients, not a search engine. The content you release should show you as an authority on property management to entice clients to use your services. This makes it easier for tenants to prioritize your properties when looking for any apartments. Add new content regularly. This helps keep your website fresh and up-to-date with any developments, presenting visitors with a vibrant place to visit.
● Optimize your pages. Every page on your website can be used to attract more potential clients. Keep your URLs short and concise to make it easier for search engines to understand what the pages are about. Pay attention to your pages’ crawlability; search engine spiders crawl through the text and follow links to inspect the quality of your site. Remove roadblocks like broken links to make visits more convenient for visitors. Make your pages mobile-friendly for the benefit of visitors using mobile devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets).