Marketing your business online contributes largely to your company’s overall success. Half or more of all marketing efforts are now concentrated online because that is where you’re able to reach the most people. The vast majority of people have computers or mobile devices they use to access the internet, which makes it a literal marketing goldmine. The key is in knowing where you can marketing your business- what is or is not worth it? Besides which, you certainly don’t want to break the bank. The less money you can spend on marketing, while still maintaining maximum results, the better. You can get your online marketing campaign off to a good start by properly utilizing these five places.
1. Social Media
Social media is always a great place to start when doing online marketing. The key is in knowing what actually works on social media. You can’t hard-sell like with other forms of marketing. Instead, you must focus on engaging and communicating with your target audience. Talk to them like you’re their friend, not a salesperson.
A few marketing ideas that work well on social media include:
- Running giveaways
- Posting visual advertisements
- Hosting events
- Creating joint ventures with like-minded companies
- Asking questions, running polls, etc. as a means to boost audience engagement
2. Your Website
Too often, marketers fail to realize what a great resource their own website is. Your website is the base of operations for every single thing you do online, and to forget the importance of that is sheer madness. Of course, hard-selling is fine on your own website, but you should also keep in mind that you’ve already done marketing to get your audience to where you want them. The marketing done on your own website should be focused on keeping them where you want them, and convincing people that they need your company.
A few good marketing tips for your website include:
- Be sure to include all contact information
- Highlight your security features, top products/services, sales, and promotions
- Make your email sign up easy, and put it in an obvious place
- Ensure you have a simple, user-friendly design
- Create unique, eye-catching landing pages to keep attention
3. Your Blog
Your blog may or may not be connected to your website, but either way it is an extremely effective marketing tool. Your blog will show your customers your voice, and it will prove to them that you really are an expert in your business niche. The key in this type of online marketing is to make content both invaluable to your customers and SEO friendly.
Some tips for marketing on your own blog include:
- Offer unique, invaluable, engaging content. Avoid cookie cutter stuff at all costs!
- Write all content to be SEO friendly without forsaking readability
- Post regularly to keep your blog active
- Link to website and all active social media accounts in a high traffic area of your blog
- Remember that- like social media-, your blog should be focused on engagement instead.
4. Other Blogs
Guest blogging is a great marketing tool for two reasons. First, it helps you to build up your primary audience. Your primary audience is composed of people you are already connected to, through email, social media, your website, etc. They are the first ones to receive information, including promotions. Second, it helps to solidify your standing as an expert in your field.
Good marketing advice for guest blogging includes:
- Target blogs in your own business niche, or complimenting ones
- Always double check for typos and errors
- You may be limited, so use only your most important links at the bottom of your post
- Always try to build a firm business relationship with blogs which allow you to guest post
- Choose topics which are unique, engaging, and somehow important to your audience
5. Email
Email subscriptions are an incredibly viable way to marketing online. Those subscribed to receive your emails have already expressed interest in your business, so now your only job is to keep that interest intact. A good mixture of soft-selling and hard-selling techniques work best with email marketing, and the two can be used together in every single email if you so choose.
A few ideas that work well with email marketing include:
- Highlighting your best selling products and/or services
- Including short excerpts from articles or blog posts, with links to read them in their entirety
- Offering exclusive promotions, deals, and coupons available only to email subscribers
- Including your contact information and relevant links in every email
- Keeping emails brief, user-friendly, and conversion-friendly
Conclusion
If properly utilized, the five places listed above can help you to effectively market your company online- without breaking the bank. Save money while still maintaining a high quality of results, and your business will surely thrive.