While a website is indeed a basic requirement for small businesses, it is not a complete digital marketing strategy in and of itself. It is simply a foundation that your other digital marketing efforts can refer back to and an online hub where people can purchase from. Just because you have a website doesn’t mean customers know about it or can find you, which is why you need other marketing strategies to align with your organisational goals and promote the website. A complete digital marketing strategy involves several other elements, including:
Search engine optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a long-term marketing strategy that aims to improve your rankings in the search engine results page so when people search for specific keywords and terms, your business comes up near the top as a potential answer or match to the searcher’s query.
Paid search advertising
Paid search ads are how you can direct traffic to your website from Google or Bing through search query ads. Known commonly as PPC, or pay per click advertising, it is an effective and one of the quickest ways to get potential leads to your website.
Email marketing
Do you capture people’s email addresses on your website through a service like Aweber or Mailchimp so you can send out email newsletters? If not, you’re missing out on a powerful way of communicating with people who have already expressed interest in your brand. By building email campaigns into your marketing strategy you are reminding people that you’re still there and keeping present in their minds.
Content marketing
By having a blog and creating valuable content you are establishing your credibility and knowledge in your field. It has the potential to give you more visibility in search results, and gives you content to share across your social media channels.
Social media
Social media is where your customers hang out online. There you can find out what they think, what matters to them, provide them with inspiration and advice, and promote sales and other events. Always include a link to your website on your social media platforms, and likewise include social media sharing buttons on your blog on your website.
Video marketing
Video marketing is really an extension of content marketing, one that is particularly suited to social media. It should seldom be used exclusively, but rather alongside written content. The benefit of video is that it uses more senses so is more engaging and requires less effort on behalf of prospects. Plus the majority of us learn visually.
Want more? Get our free newsletter delivered straight to your inbox!
Image sourced: Forbes
Trending
Weekly business news and insights, delivered to your inbox.