The digital arena has opened up a new world for business owners, marketers and communication specialists. With the advancement of technology, everything is now shifting online and you have to be ahead of the moment to keep up with consumer preferences or risk being left behind. There are so many things to consider when you're planning your strategy, but here are some of the most important tips from digital marketing experts:
1. Create content that people will care about and will add value to the reader
The creation of content is at the heart of digital marketing. Content is king and content marketing is a must! Content strategy is key to success here, so take time to plan out what kind of content you want to create for your target audience. You want to make sure that your strategy will help solve their problems or answer their questions.
Your job as a marketer is not just creating good content, it's also about creating engaging experiences for your readers through visuals, video and audio…and writing with voice! And you need to make sure that all this great stuff fits into an overall strategy so it doesn't end up being scattered and confusing for people who visit your site or social media pages.
2. Be strategic and intentional about building your brand
If you're not intentional and strategic about building your brand, it can be easy to get lost in the hustle of day-to-day work. But, if you're going to invest time and money into developing a brand that customers connect with—and ultimately spend money on—you need to take this task seriously.
Your brand is what people think of when they hear your name or see your logo. It's how they associate themselves with your products or services. It’s how you want them to feel about what you do for them, whether that’s giving them quality products at an affordable price or offering an experience no one else can match.
The first step in building a brand is to develop an identity. This can be as simple as coming up with a name and creating a logo, but it should also include defining what your company stands for, who your target audience is, and how you're going to reach them. Once you have this information down pat, then you can move into developing marketing materials that tie back into these qualities.
3. Invest in your website
You need a website. In today’s digital world, it is no longer possible to run your business without one. Your website is your online store window and it should be used to sell your brand story, products and services as well as provide valuable content for your customers.
Make sure that whatever you do on social media channels has a corresponding landing page on your website so there are always places for people to go when they hear about you from other sources such as word-of-mouth or advertising campaigns in print or radio.
4. Get SEO done on your website
If you want to make sure that your website is easily found by people looking for the goods and services you offer, then it’s absolutely crucial to perform SEO on your site.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making sure that search engines like Google can “see”, rank and deliver pages from your website when users search for relevant keywords.
You may be thinking, "But I've been doing SEO for years!" Well, have you made any changes lately?
The landscape of SEO changes constantly. Google and other search engines are always updating their algorithms to make sure that they're delivering the best results to their users. If you're not staying up-to-date on these changes—or even just making sure that your website is being updated as needed—you could be missing out on potential customers who would have found you otherwise.
5. Automate your business
Automating your business is the key to scaling it. You can automate repetitive tasks, such as order fulfilment, email marketing and social media posting. You can also automate tasks that take up a lot of time and don't require too much human intervention, such as sales outreach or customer support.
Automate everything you can!
Here are some examples of how we could help you do this:
Use booking and scheduling technology to automate appointment setting
Leverage chatbots to manage qualified leads and provide answers to frequently asked questions
6. Utilize both search engine marketing and social media marketing
Social media marketing and search engine marketing are two very different things, but they're both important. One is used to build your brand, while the other drives traffic to your website.
Social media marketing is great for branding and reputation management. It gives you a platform to communicate with existing customers, as well as potential new ones who might not otherwise hear about you or be aware of what you offer. It's also an excellent way to stay on top of current trends in digital marketing so that you can adapt accordingly and keep up with ever-changing customer expectations regarding their experiences with brands online (and off!).
Search engine marketing provides another stream of traffic (i.e., people looking for something). You can drive them to specific pages on your site where they'll find exactly what they need—or even just get an idea about whether it's worth their time at all before making any sort of decision about purchasing anything from anyone else who might come along later down the line!
7. Elevate your user experience (UX)
User experience (UX) is how customers feel when they interact with your brand. It's not just about your website or app. It's about how easy it is to use your product or service, not just how it looks. It's also about how you interact with your customers:
Are you helpful and friendly?
Do they want to come back?
One of the best ways to improve UX is by leveraging technology in new ways - think chatbots, voice assistants, etc.
8. Practice social listening and search listening
Social listening and search listening can be your best friend for understanding what your customers want. Social listening allows you to see what people are talking about, sharing and engaging with on social media. Search listening means that you can hear what customers are saying when they’re searching for answers or products related to yours on search engines.
You should leverage this information strategically by using it to inform how you market yourself, grow your brand and develop new products or services.
9. Include video marketing in your social media strategy
As more and more internet users are using social media platforms, these platforms are prioritising video content over static images and text. Videos are a great way to engage with your audience because they have the ability to grab their attention and leave them wanting more. They can also be used as a powerful tool for promoting events such as trade shows, conferences or product announcements.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn make it easier than ever before for companies to create high-quality videos that can be shared on any platform without any technical know-how required from the user end (though some basic editing skills will still be needed).
10. Interact with customers on social media
As a marketer, you should be interacting with your customers on social media in a way that’s relevant to them. This means responding to customer inquiries and following up on customer complaints. But it also means engaging them in a way that is relevant to their personal preferences and interests. If someone tweets about her love of coffee, for example, you might send them an article about roasting at home or even ask them if they’d like to try out some new beans from your company!
There are many ways that marketers can interact with their customers on social media—but one of the most effective ways is by leveraging chatbots wherever possible. Chatbots help to increase customer engagement by providing a seamless experience where users can ask questions or get answers without having to wait around while someone else responds manually (or not at all).
11. Use personalisation
Personalisation is the process of creating content that is relevant to the user. You can use personalisation in marketing, website design, and customer service.
Personalisation can help you build a relationship with your customers. You'll be able to understand their needs and preferences better, so you can provide them with more relevant products or services that they'll actually want. This will also help increase sales by providing customers with offers that they're more likely to buy.
12. Create self-service options for your customers
If a customer has a question or problem they can't resolve, they're going to want to contact you to solve the issue. The problem is that this can take time and resources from your team, which could be better spent on other things. This is why it's important for marketers to create self-service options for their customers so that they can handle common inquiries themselves. You do this by creating detailed frequently asked questions (FAQs) on your website, for example, and providing clear instructions about how someone should go about contacting you if their issue isn't covered there.
You should also allow people to submit feedback directly through your website so that it gets addressed faster—this way, customers won't feel like they have to wait around forever just so someone from support will get back in touch with them!
You can also take advantage of chatbots for support. The chatbot can provide people with answers to common inquiries.
13. Invest in the right marketing technology stacks to grow your business
A marketing technology stack is a collection of software and services that together help you create and execute your marketing strategy.
You need to invest in the right stack for your business because it will help you grow faster, make better decisions, and get more value from your data.
Here are some examples:
Chatbots to automate conversations with customers, prospects, and lead generation forms
Email Marketing Tools so people can subscribe to receive updates from you in their inboxes (and follow up with them if they don't open it)
CRMs so you can keep track of every stage of a customer's journey through the sales funnel (from prospecting them all the way through to making a sale)
14. Track and measure your marketing activities
If you're going to be doing anything in marketing, then it's important to track and measure your efforts. You need to know what is working and what isn't working so that you can make adjustments as necessary.
If you don't track and measure, then how do you know if your strategy is successful or not?
What metrics are most important for measuring success?
Here are some tips on how to track and measure your marketing activities:
Track everything from social media posts, websites visited, phone calls made or received by specific contacts (such as leads), emails sent/received/opened by specific contacts (such as leads), phone calls made or received by salespeople during each month/quarter etc...
Set up website tracking mechanisms such as Google Analytics. These tools will help paint a picture of where traffic comes from so that salespeople can take advantage of those channels when needed.
Understand the difference between vanity metrics vs actionable metrics. Vanity metrics mean nothing unless they translate into actions taken by real people. Make sure everyone involved with digital marketing understands these concepts too!
15. Make sure that you're constantly evolving based on recent trends and current technology.
Because the marketing industry is constantly evolving, you need to make sure that you're constantly evolving as well. Otherwise, your business will be left behind in the dust. In order to stay relevant and high-performing, it's crucial that you keep an eye on current trends and use those trends to improve your strategy.
You should also make sure that you're aware of the latest technology available so that you can use it to better market yourself and keep up with competitor marketing strategies.
Marketing is not static, so you need to change your approach to keep up with trends in order to achieve your goals. In order to achieve your goals, you need to be aware of new technologies that are available.
Social media and search engine optimization (SEO) are two areas where marketers have seen a lot of change in recent years. There's no denying that these techniques still work, but marketers have had to tweak their approach because of consumer behaviour changes and advancements in technology.
You also need to know how the marketing landscape has changed so that you can adapt your strategy accordingly.
16. Outsource your marketing where you fall short
The best thing about outsourcing your marketing is that it frees up your time. You can put it in the hands of someone who knows how to do it and has a lot of experience doing so, allowing you to focus on other areas of your business.
One way this can benefit you is by reaching more people with less effort on your part. If you are trying to reach a certain demographic or set of people and don't have the resources or expertise in-house, consider hiring someone who does—it will help grow your audience faster than if you tried to do all the work yourself.
Another benefit is having access at a lower cost than if done internally by hiring an agency or freelancer, which may not be affordable for some businesses.
Now that you have the top digital marketing tips for the year, it's time to get started on your strategy. If you feel like this is more than you can handle by yourself, we recommend hiring a professional agency or consultant who will work with you to create a strong digital presence in today's world of technology.
