11 Tips for Your Online Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
We have decided to offer you some marketing strategies that have become classics so that you can find the most suitable one’s for you.
These strategies will not work in every situation. Therefore, we invite you to a reason given your specific marketing objectives, before making any decision.
One last indication: the strategies must be designed based on what your company can reasonably manage. So, without further ado, let’s proceed with our list of some of the major online marketing strategies.
Maintain a blog
Having new content on your business website is always a must for SEO. Not only that: offering useful information to your customers will allow you to establish yourself as a leader in your field.
Staying on the subject of content, the indication that we are keen to give you is not to copy articles written by others. Many blogs, citing the source from which the contents were extracted, do nothing but report what others write.
The solution? Read, read a lot, take inspiration from others, but then take some time to rework that information, giving it a personal edge, and maybe introducing your personal experience. The case studies are among the most interesting content for people, for example.
Work on an editorial plan for your newsletter
The ‘Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your audience, promote the content of your website, convey your values and goals, giving promos or discounts designed for specific customers, sell services or products target, invite the events, thank, after the events, for participation, and so on.
In short, the emails are not dead, and, speaking of email addresses, you cannot contact your public only to ask for actions, likes, subscriptions, or purchases. Offer free content to download, such as white papers, eBooks, without forgetting to acquire email addresses, to increase your mailing list.
Optimize your presence on social networks
This is not the place where we will tell you how to develop a social media strategy, but with the certainty that you have a strategy for your social channels, what can we advise you? To spread your social buttons everywhere, to share quality content – yes, nothing new so far – and to interact with people by inventing new ways of communicating your brand, differentiating the strategy on each social.
Speaking of social buttons: are they visible on your site and the pages? And are the destination links right? These are obvious questions, but we have seen “things you want human, you can only imagine.” An example? Company accounts linked to personal accounts, unavailable social buttons, and social networks not updated or managed as if they were personal accounts.
One last tip: make sure your brand information is complete and up to date.
Experiment with new formats
For example, create podcasts. Podcasts offer the opportunity to connect with customers using your voice, which can help them get to know you better. And if you know how to make your podcasts interesting, you will get regular visitors.
You can try a webinar: nothing better to show yourself competent on a topic and pass on your knowledge to others.
Also, try making videos. A professional video, or better, a video marketing strategy, can bring benefits to your business, whether you choose YouTube or if you prefer to live on Facebook.
Everything, as always, depends on your target and the context in which your service or product is placed.
Simplify navigation of your site
And it simplifies the forms on your site, where users are required to fill them out. When you ask your audience for information, think of two concepts: simplicity and brevity. Otherwise, instead of converting your contacts into customers, you will see them abandon your pages.
We also spend two words on the fact that it must be easy to get in touch with your brand, so be careful where you enter this information. Let’s skip the part where we ask you if your site is mobile-friendly or not because we take it for granted.
Browsing, as we said, should also be user-friendly, and if you can use the testimonials of your customers for the site. When you purchase a product or service, perhaps, are you not the first to seek advice from acquaintances, family, and friends or to read reviews online? Exactly.
By doing so, you will establish a relationship of trust with your audience, which will have one more reason to complete the conversion. Last but not least: the domain of your site. Short and memorable. No too long URL strings for your articles. Yes, to personalized URLs also for your social networks.
Use pictures to get your audience’s attention
Among the various formats, why not also create info graphics to simplify more complex and unappealing documents?
On social networks, they are among the most shared contents. Think about it.
Listening
You can do it in various ways, but do it. Use keyword research and find out what words people type to find you, or what words are related to your brand and your products or services; in this way, you can optimize your site and contents.
Search the influential people in your niche: the Influencer; because they will help you resonate with your messages to a wider audience. And, if you have carefully selected them, this new audience will be in line with your values and your mission. Ask Influencers to write articles about your products, or to be hosted on their blogs.
Also, search online for your competitors to find out what they are doing well, what they are doing badly, and to cover the flaws that leave uncovered.
It is also important that you know what others are saying about you on channels you don’t oversee, whether the sentiment is positive or negative, and how to improve.
Use Google Analytics, because you will never reach the desired goals if you don’t know what works and what doesn’t.
Reply to reviews
Negative ones should not be ignored or canceled; take all the time you need, to find calm after a too harsh comment, marry assertiveness, and always try to solve the problem that is posed to you, showing yourself empathetic and collaborative. Also, respond to positive reviews, and thank for your audience’s feedback, regardless of the message.
You must have a strategy
We took it for granted at the beginning of this article, remember? The only way to make online marketing work is to create a strategy in line with your company’s goals and then put it into practice. We love creatives, but embarking on activities unrelated to Marketing strategy will not help you.
The press release is not dead
The scenario in which to write and send them has changed. Today it is important to take care of the relationship not only with print journalists but also with bloggers, online journalists, and influencers.
It is important to know how to write for the web, to always look for new content, and to learn how to manage new tools because the posts, tweets, and Facebook notes have been added to the press releases. Press conferences are streamed live on social media, and photos and videos of an event can be downloaded directly from Flickr and YouTube.
Learn to keep up with change. This serves and anticipates it if we can.
Automation and call to action
Does your brand have an online chat? It could be a great way to get in touch with your customers; more than with emails, podcasts, or webinars.
As for the call to action: do not exaggerate but make them visible, for example, by placing them at the top of the page.
For the FAQ section, if you have it, give it a name that attracts your audience. Because people tend to avoid it, but we are sure you will know how to find an excellent title to intrigue and amaze us.