With a few days of 2018 gone by, it is time to plan a brand new marketing strategy for your business in 2018.
As a new year begins, it’s time to learn from our previous digital marketing strategies and upgrade them for more success in 2018.
\The objective of a digital marketing strategy could range from brand awareness to lead generation. But no matter what the objective is, a successful digital marketing strategy requires focus. Focus on crafting a strategy that makes your brand go viral and hence creates brand awareness. A well-framed business marketing strategy clarifies objectives to be achieved. It is requisite that businesses must stay updated about the trends in marketing which in turn helps to frame the winning marketing strategies for a business. Strategies that were deployed in 2017 are now the past. For a great digital presence, you must embrace the new and apply it to maximize exposure for your own business.
Here are a few ways to map out marketing strategies for your small business:
The only way your customers know about your business is probably through the business website, hence it is important to keep your business website always updated. For customers who don’t visit your organization in real time, your website acts as a great marketing tool and as an outlet too. Your website must look neat and clean, modern and professional. But more importantly, your website must provide the information a visitor is looking for.
Make sure your website contains all the information that a prospect is likely to search for, including your products, services, history, clients etc. A flawless, responsive website is a great start to a relationship with your prospects and leaves a good impression on your visitors. So, even if you have to revamp your business website this year, make sure it’s done!
The main focus of most digital marketing strategies for almost every business is to highlight what they have to offer. If you offer a particular medical service, your marketing (and website) should say the same as clearly as possible. One of the most important aspects of developing a digital marketing strategy is to highlight what your business is all about. Of course, there are other peripheral things like facts and quotes; but your main focus should be on what your business has to offer.
One of the best ways of conveying this is by adding clear call-to-action buttons on your website or social media posts. Adding a CTA makes your product or service more easily accessible to your visitors or prospects. Another way of doing it is to showcase your best sellers as the first thing on your website or social media profiles.
A great strategy that plays a big role in enhancing and developing your overall business is to consider customer feedback. Giving importance to customer feedback is the best way to naturally improve products or services that you offer. Customer feedback is highly valuable and should be given a lot of importance. Why? Because your target audience is telling you exactly what they want from you! You must take this information and put it to good use to develop your products or services into something that your customers desire.
Responding to customer feedback in a positive manner is also a great way to manage reputation and build a relationship with your target audience. If your business receives a lot of customer feedback, add it in your strategy to respond to these comments or messages in a positive manner. This will help you build a trustful relationship with your customers.
The expenses that a business is spending on a project or promotion must be closely monitored. Identify the areas that require more promotion than others, and deploy your resources in getting better results. For example, if you’re running an AdWords campaign and notice that Ad A is performing better then Ad B, put more resources into Ad B for more success. Keep a tab on all your promotional expenses to identify if you’re putting the right money into the right place.
Before investing money into online promotion, analyze the domains which requires more attention and resources. This will give you a good idea on where to start.
Social media is the most powerful tool in the hands of a marketer. Businesses are exploring social media channels to the maximum potential in order to discover how they can leverage it for maximum exposure.
A powerful and engaging technique on social media is to ‘ask’ your audience questions. For example, If you simply asked them “What do you think should be added to 2018’s business marketing strategy?”, chances are you’ll get a lot of opinions and answers!
Questions make people curious, and curiosity gives rise to opinions. Social media is loved by people for sharing their perspectives and opinions on different topics. Therefore, it’s a good idea to ask your audience what they want in order to give it to them!
The buyer’s psychology effects a lot in deciding whether they will proceed further or will they leave the option of buying from your brand. If you are targeting a completely new set of buyers, showcasing your strengths and achievements will help them get familiar with your brand.
All in all it is important to analyze a customer’s psychology. You must be familiar with the different stages that a customer goes through before they make a purchase. However showcasing brand achievements guarantees no surety of generating huge leads, but you as a business definitely make a place for your brand, way ahead of your competitors.
Do you like speaking to a bot or a machine that talks in a tone similar to a human? Businesses are now more focused on giving a more personalized user experience. No doubt that bots have made the life of the businesses super easy but at the same time businesses do realize that a customer feels alienated while talking to a robot.
So whatever your objective is, keep in mind that the customer will be feasible and flexible in talking to a human rather than a machine that seems to be talking like a human.
Video marketing is something that your business just cannot miss out on in 2018. Make sure to add videos to your marketing strategy if you want to see online success. Video marketing carries the maximum potential in this era of marketing. No matter how good your content is, it is never going to beat a video that is ever luring and attractive.
Surf on any social media channel and what you will come across will be 80% videos which get the maximum engagement as compared to written content. This is the reason why businesses are now focusing more on videos.
Your customers and also the people who are new to your business services and products might always be in doubt, hence they should be made well versed with the capacity of your business. The best way is to showcase your business via a video displaying all your services and products in an appropriate way.
To conclude: The growth of a business online depends on its digital marketing strategy!
Basic marketing strategies for almost all businesses are the same. However, the difference lies in the nature of business and the services and products it offers.
Anuja is the Co-founder and CEO of RedAlkemi Online Pvt. Ltd., a digital marketing agency helping clients with their end to end online presence. Anuja has 30 years of work experience as a successful entrepreneur and has co-founded several ventures since 1986. She and her team are passionate about helping SMEs achieve measurable online success for their business. Anuja holds a Bachelors degree in Advertising from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chandigarh, India.