Digital Marketing

Online marketing helps promote your business to a larger market and connect with a wider audience.

Websites, social media, blogs, email, and video marketing – these are just a few of the tools and channels available for promoting your business online. For your digital marketing plan, focus on these suggested platforms so that your time is well spent.

Website

Your website is your main marketing piece and is the foundation of a digital marketing strategy. Your website is where you direct visitors, generate leads, and share useful information about your company.

Surprisingly, about half of small business owners still do not have a website. How can a business compete online without a web presence? Make sure you have a website, no matter how large or small, so people can find you.

First Impression: Show your brand consistently with a logo, colors and voice in your website text.

About Page: This is one of the first pages people look for. They want to know more about you and your capabilities. Take the time to create an interesting, engaging About page.

Blog: Writing blog posts on your own website helps to build credibility. Share your knowledge about news in your industry. Blogs help boost traffic to your website.

Mobile-Friendly: Websites must be responsive so your content will size itself based on the screen size your visitor is using (desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, TV, watch).

Google Analytics: Add Google’s free analytics tool so you can track visitors and website metrics. This will help you see what’s working so you can make improvements to your website.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the most important strategies for your business and gets the most attention from visitors, especially when shared on social media. Videos tell a better story, help build brand awareness, and can put you ahead of your competition.

High Quality: The modern audience is very keen on quality production so make sure your video gives them the right first impression. If your video is for high quality output like TV commercials and movie theater advertising, you should hire a professional (it’s not as expensive as you think!).

DIY Video: A perfect time to make a DIY video is when you want to share on social media right now, and Facebook Live is perfect for that!

Social Media

Managing social media channels like Facebook and Instagram help you increase visibility to a wider market. (Social media is a great way to connect with current customers, too.) When it comes to social media content, make sure you’re more human in your communications.

Post Links: Make sure your posts include a link to your website content. This will help increase traffic to your website while being able to communicate directly with your customers on social media.

Pick One to Start: You don’t need a presence on every social platform when you first start out. Facebook is still the major player so create a Facebook Page for your business. As time permits, venture into other social media channels like Instagram, Pinterest, and Linked In.

Claim All Channels: You don’t have to be active on every social site in the beginning, but you should register a profile on all social channels. This will prevent someone else from using it (like your competition, perhaps?). While you’re at it, claim your business on Google.

Consistent Branding: Use the same logo, bio, header graphics and color schemes to keep your brand consistent on all social channels.

Create Conversations: Social media is about creating two-way conversations. Social media is not the place where you promote and sell. Design posts to engage your followers and invite comments, shares, and conversation.

Email Marketing

Communicating with subscribers via email has proven to be the most successful marketing tool. Send messages on a regular schedule, and make sure your content is relevant and interesting for your subscribers.

Subscribe Form: Be sure to add an opt-in to your website and social media channels.

Newsletter Utility: There are lots of online options for sending email to subscribers. Our favorite is Mail Chimp, but there’s also Constant Contact and Vertical Response. Choose the one with features and pricing that works for you.

Newsletter Template: You can choose from a library of templates or you can create your own, then reuse the template for consistency going forward.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an important part of how websites get higher rankings in Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. Your website content needs to be optimized, or you will continue to struggle to get the right people to find you in a search.

Research: Do a search on Google to see where you rank. Compare your results with your competition. It’s important to be familiar with how your website is performing in comparison to your competitor’s website.

Keywords: Once you’ve done your research, pick the best keywords for your website and include those keywords in page content, page titles, and blog posts.

Use SEO tools: There are many free SEO tools available that will help you optimize your content. Pick the tools that are more relevant for your business.

Google Analytics: You added Google Analytics to your website, right? Analytics will show you how your optimized content is performing and if your site is improving.