If you own a business, the marketing strategies you come up with can either make or break your business. No, we’re not just talking about building brand awareness here, as most probably think—marketing is way more than just that. A successful marketing strategy must include proper customer engagement and education as this will not only boost your branding, it will also help you build a stronger relationship with your customers. This would then translate to actual sales and, ultimately, ensure the growth of your business, which is the bottom line of any type of marketing strategy.
Marketing your products and/or services is going to cost you—a lot if you’re just about to market your new products/services. And, if you own a small business or a startup, chances are you don’t have the same luxury of having a huge marketing campaign budget as other more established brands. Sounds pretty hopeless, right? Wrong. Traditional marketing campaigns can really be expensive, but thanks to the Internet, small business owners can be on equal footing with big businesses.
Are you ready to build your business’ online reputation? Here are 9 online marketing strategies that can help you boost your business to the next level.
Social Media
One of the most efficient and cost effective ways to market your wares on the Net is through social media. Pretty much every one is active on different social media platforms— with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram being the most popular. Use this fact to your advantage by creating an official account for each of these SocMed platforms and start posting your products, promos, and other related info. Also, you will really have to work on boosting your friends and followers in the beginning. If it proves too hard for you to manage your social media accounts, you can also hire a social media manager who focuses not just on building your business’ following, but answering potential customers’ queries and posting regularly.
Instructional Videos
Being an “expert” on things related to your online store’s products is one of the most effective ways to build online reputation. So, if you have a YouTube channel or if you like posting videos on your social media accounts, make sure that you also create helpful how-to videos and not just promotional videos.
Blogging
As with creating instructional videos, maintaining a blog is also a surefire way to build online reputation. Just write about things that provide advice and share bits of information that can really help you connect with your people and turn them into customers. Also, blogging with the proper use of keywords can really help boost your SEO, which brings us to –
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is an online marketing strategy that is basically about pushing your website up the search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo) rankings. Just think about it: if you have a strong SEO strategy, your business’ website will appear higher on search engine results. This translates to more site visitors and potentially higher sales. So make sure that you understand how SEO works and if it gets a bit too “techy” for you, you can always invest in hiring an SEO specialist who can do the work for you.
Influencers
Many people, especially the millennial and Gen Z consumers, are now using social media to learn more about new products through influencers. Who are they exactly? Influencers are basically social media “stars” who have a huge following. They are called such because they have the power to, well, “influence” their followers to buy the products they endorse. Using influencers to market your products can also help you identify and get to know more about your targeted audience or customers. Just make sure you find the right influencer for your niche.
Affiliate Marketing
One of the most cost-effective ways to market your goods is through affiliate marketing. Also known as performance-based marketing, affiliates can also promote your products/services (much like influencers) without you having to pay them for the services up front since they only get paid when their efforts result in either a lead, a click or an actual sale. There are a lot of affiliate marketing success tips available on the Net. Check them out and see how affiliate marketing can help boost your business’ success.
Email Marketing
With social media and influencers continually gaining ground in online marketing, one might think that email marketing nowadays is a waste of time. But in reality, it’s actually becoming more effective than other online marketing strategies. With billions of email users from across the globe, the advantages of email marketing are way too many to just ignore. Email marketing, for example, presents a cost-effective way for you to directly communicate with targeted audiences without having to break the bank. Also, effective email marketing, can feel more personal, thus, creating a deeper relationship between you and a potential customer.
Web Design
Have you ever been to a website that was so crappy that you immediately clicked away? Of course, you wouldn’t want visitors and potential customers to experience the same thing on your online shop. Make sure that they have the best experience possible when they visit your website by keeping the design simple and easy to understand, and interesting enough for people to actually explore beyond the main page.
Here, if you’re not artistic and tech-savvy enough to create your own web design, you should invest in a professional who can create a website for you that is modern, intuitive, and attention-grabbing. Also, it is best if your site is mobile-friendly since many use their mobile phones to browse and shop using the Internet.
The Numbers Game
In today’s digital world, the importance of gathering data and analyzing it is always going to be vital to a modern business’ success. This is because you can use data analytics to get a glimpse on how your business website is actually doing and about your customers’ behaviors and interests, which gives you an opportunity to tweak your marketing strategies and ultimately attract more potential buyers to your online store.
It’s amazing what we all can do now with the emergence of the world wide web. We use it for communication, entertainment, shopping, and a lot more. No wonder more and more people across the globe are going online. With more than half the world’s population connected to the Net, you can take advantage of this to market your wares online at a minimal cost through these effective online marketing strategies.
