A few years ago page 1 of Google’s search engine was the holy grail of online marketing. Although it’s a great marketing channel to leverage, appearing organically in search results has become harder and harder over time.
This post gives you some good ideas to leverage other online marketing channels to drive business your way.
Ads
There is no shortage of ad options online. There are various agencies which have all fought for a place in the ad space market. Two of the most popular channels are Googe AdWords and Facebook ads. These ads are very useful for branding, educate your audience, inform customers of company news, updates and special offers sell products directly and can also both be used to increase your following on social media.
One thing to remember is that you want your ads in front of a relevant audience. Say for example you advertise on Google Adwords and you’re selling beds (for example), you want the keyword to feature ‘beds’ and not tangents of the keyword. This is because you’re audience is looking to buy beds. Facebook ads leverage an audience by interest. So if you sell cycles for example, putting your ad in front of a cycling audience is key.
The trick is to experiment with ad platforms to determine which of them generates the best results for your business.
Social Media Conversions
Although leveraging social media traffic has been talked about for years, it’s getting conversions (sales) that count. The fact is that millions of users (or thousands thinking of this through a Maltese perspective), several of which will be looking to buy what you offer, is something you cannot afford to miss out on. There are several aspects to consider to make a successful social conversion, but in essence:
- You have to make sure that the content you post to your social media mediums is relevant to your business, products and services you are selling
- Make sure that you clearly specify a call to action – what should the customer do upon seeing your post? Click the link? Call for details? Visit your business premises?
- In case of a link, make sure that the page on your website that displays all the information to your customer is clear, easy to understand, short and to the point and that it also displays an adequate call to action so that the customer can take the next step, for example “add to cart”, provide your company contact details so that the customer can get in touch or any relevant booking forms.
The context between the social update and the landing page being key, and some products and services work and some don’t. It is a case of experimentation, and patience. If you can get the combination of update, landing page and sale in the right order, you will see your revenue streams increase.
Content Generation
Content generation is not a new thing, with blogs being one of the most popular options. Using formats, away from traditional blogging may allow you to leverage new target audiences. Videos, podcasts, infographics, free downloadable resources, research and trends, surveys and more could give you a good opportunity to get out there.
That said, traditional blogging to promote your sales message remains just as important today as it did five years ago. So keep the content coming.
Email Marketing
Email marketing has always been strong, and now it is fair to say that utilising a good copywriter will bring results. When combined with content to generate new subscriptions to grow the reach of your marketing, you will find that promoting your products and services using the medium can and does yield success.
Email marketing is as much about providing good content to build subscription lists as writing good sales copy to get results.
Search Engine Optimisation
Some marketers are moving away from trying to feature on the first page of Google and Bing. This is not without reason, given the recent updates the two search engines have brought into being. That said, if you have a brand, and you can build links, you may have a shot at taking on the big guys.
The question to ask is, should I invest the time and effort into search engine optimisation, or should I look at the other options to build my business and brand.
Overall
Every business is unique and different marketing options will work for you. The key is experimentation to perfect your online marketing options.