Most business owners are not marketing experts. Their expertise are in supplying great products/services, serving customers, managing employees, and leading the way. When it comes to marketing, most new business owners are confused, overwhelmed, and don’t know where to start.
There is no single digital marketing tactic that can grow a business significantly on its own; marketing success requires an integrated approach in which multiple tactics work in unison to achieve specific goals. Whether you own a startup or your established company needs a marketing revamp, this guide will help you start from square one and build a custom digital marketing plan that gets real results.
Set Goals
The ultimate goal of any digital marketing plan is to get more customers and get customers to spend more money. Your specific goals will rely on the type of business you operate. You should always set timed, measurable goals. Track the results of your marketing efforts to see that you are hitting those goals on time.
Analyze the Competition
Before you devise your own digital marketing plan, you should take a hard look at the competition and see what they are doing for marketing. When you search for your products/services on Google, what websites appear in the top rankings? Check out your competitors’ websites, blogs, social media accounts, newsletters, etc. to get an idea of who they are targeting and how they are reaching that audience. Feel free to take plenty of inspiration during this stage of your planning, but rather than copy your competitors, look for holes in the market that you can fill.
Create a Website
Your greatest online marketing tool is your website. It’s the digital representation of your business and the hub of all online interactions with customers and prospects. Before anyone will consider doing business with you, they’ll want to see your website.
When you produce content for your website, think about your target audience and what they need to know before they’ll be ready to make a purchase. Educational content helps prospects understand your product and it helps build trust. Visual content is a must. Professional photos, videos, and infographics do wonders to help convert website visitors into customers.
Every single page of your website should include clearly visible contact information as well as persuasive calls-to-action that prompt visitors to take the next step. You can increase conversions by adding value to your calls-to-action. For example: “Enter your email to receive a 15% discount on your first order!”
SEO
It’s essential for your website to rank on Google for relevant searches, so you need to develop an SEO strategy to drive quality traffic to your website. The first step is to find out what keywords your potential customers search when they are looking for your products or services. The best way to conduct keyword research is by using the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. With this tool you can type in search terms and get analytics like search volume and location. It will also give you ideas for similar keywords. Then, take the keywords that you want to rank for and create content that includes them. Your best bet is to go after highly specific keywords and if your business only serves a certain geographical area, local keywords. For instance, it would be a lot easier and more efficient to try to rank for “divorce attorney in Tucson, AZ” than it would be to try to rank for “lawyer”. There are 2 essential strategies for improving your search ranking organically:
- Separate your products/services into individual pages on your website. Let’s say you’re a general contractor and you do all kinds of jobs from painting to roofing to fence building; you would want to make a separate page for each service you provide so that you can rank for those keywords. Individual pages dedicated to one subject are preferred by search engines and they generate traffic from people who are actually looking to buy what you sell!
- Start a blog. Search engines love websites that produce new, original content on a regular basis. People don’t just search for products, they search for solutions to their problems. A blog takes people who are just looking for information and brings them to your website, where they may decide they need to buy your products. A good blog positions you as an industry leader and shows prospects that you are credible and worthy of their money.
Here are some helpful articles we’ve written about web design for businesses:
Three Key Factors That Separate Great Websites From Good Websites
Is Your Website Helping Or Hurting Your Business?
Establish a Web Presence
Once you get your website up and running, you need to establish a web presence in order to start getting traffic. Take the following steps to start making a name for yourself online:
- Get listed in online directories like Google My Business, Yellow Pages, Yelp, etc. Make sure that your profiles are complete with professional photos and that your information is consistent on each. Start encouraging customers to leave reviews online by offering a small gift or discount on their next purchase.
- Create social media accounts on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Start sharing your content (like blogs and videos) on social media. Start connecting with other local businesses and influencers in your industry by engaging with their posts.
- Build backlinks. This means getting other websites to link to your website. One of the best ways to do this is to connect with other bloggers in your industry and do guest posts on their blogs, which link back to your website.
Start Digital Marketing
Once you’ve set up your website and established a web presence, you’ll start getting organic traffic. Now it’s time to boost that traffic with targeted advertising.
Facebook Advertising
Facebook Ads are great for promoting specific products and services and for getting your offers in front of the right people. The platform offers great targeting options like age, gender, location, interests, and more.
AdWords
When you perform a Google search, the first few results are usually paid advertisements. You can get your advertisements to appear at the top of relevant search results by using AdWords and bidding on the right keywords. This is a form of PPC (pay-per-click) marketing, and if done right can produce tons of ready-to-convert traffic. You get to choose your budget, so any business can get started with digital advertising, regardless of budget.
Remarketing
The average website only converts about 2% of its visitors. Remarketing is how you re-capture the other 98%. Google will give you a piece of code to put on your website so that when someone visits your website, Google registers this and displays your advertisements to them for weeks following. Your ads will appear on the banners and sidebars of their favorite news sites, blogs, youtube videos, and more, strengthening brand recall and reminding them that your services are available.
Choose the Right Partners
Now that you understand the moving parts of a complete digital marketing strategy, you can customize a plan for your business. It’s more than likely that you’ll need some kind of professional help along the way, and that’s okay! Digital marketing isn’t just for big companies with expendable budgets. In fact, high-quality web design and online advertising services can be tailored for small startups with little to spend. The key is to partner with an agency that can do it all; that means in-house web design, graphic design, and copywriting, as well as expert marketing strategy/advertising management.
Plum Direct Marketing is a full-service marketing firm that can help you put together a solid foundation for marketing your business online. We offer all of the services needed for small companies to build a web presence and grow quickly. Feel free to call us at 1-800-992-9663 for a free consultation, or visit our services page to find out more about what we can do for you!
