Marketing has grown to become an important component of building a business. Especially in this age of digital technology, you can’t harness the power of the Internet for your business if you don’t have an online presence.
Digital marketers have kept pace with the development of the Internet. It has changed the way consumers make their decisions to purchase a product or to patronize a business.
The growing influence of the Internet and its various channels have given rise to a number of marketing processes each designed to drive more online traffic to websites.
But which ones are worth your time and money?
To avoid guesswork, we’ve created a list of the 5 best marketing processes for your business – the ones you can’t live without.
1. SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of using various techniques and tools to increase your website’s organic search ranking in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The search rankings play a key role in driving online traffic to your website.
According to a study by Chitika, the first 3 positions in the SERP draw 61.5% of all search traffic. The website that lands in the pole position gets 32.5% of the traffic. There is a huge drop-off after the top 3 with the 10th position only getting 2.4%.
Can you imagine the volume of traffic – or the lack thereof, of the websites that end up on the second page of the SERP?
When we describe SEO as a process of driving “organic traffic” to your website – we mean free traffic.
SEO practitioners use techniques and strategies that entice, encourage, and compel people to visit your website because they are convinced it is a valuable resource.
You cannot put out content on the Internet and expect them to be read by the market you are targeting. Your potential customers will run a search query using keywords that best define the information they are looking for.
The search engine’s web crawlers track and index content that has the best ranking keywords and includes them on the SERP. Without these keywords, it will be difficult for your content to get found.
The strategic use of keywords is just one technique used by SEO practitioners to optimize content.
There are other techniques in the SEO toolbox such as link building, focusing on User Experience, improving website speed, the use of featured snippets, and mobile-first indexing.
The bottom line is without SEO, your website and its contents will have a very difficult time getting discovered on the Internet.
2. Video Marketing
To be clear, video marketing is considered a component of content marketing. However, we decided to give video marketing its own section in this article because of its value to the overall digital marketing strategy.
Second, content marketing is popularly associated with text-based content, the blog being its cornerstone. In that regard, video-based content marketing is often viewed as separate and distinct with its own allocation in the digital marketing budget.
While blogging remains a mainstay in the content marketing process, more businesses are investing in video-based marketing.
A 2020 survey conducted by Wyzowl revealed that 85% of businesses are using video as a marketing tool. In comparison, the 2016 survey by Wyzowl disclosed that only 61% utilized video-based marketing in their digital marketing strategy.
Digital marketers are more optimistic about video marketing with 92% of respondents stating the process results in positive ROI.
Here are a few key statistics that support the use of video marketing:
- Video-based content is shared 1,200% more than text-based content or links.
- 25% of the most searched websites have video-based content.
- Embedded videos such as an explainer video on the home page can increase sales conversions by 55%.
- 44% of consumers prefer using the medium of video to learn more about a product or service.
- Businesses that incorporated video marketing in their digital marketing strategy outgrew businesses that didn’t by 49%.
Contrary to popular opinion, it does not cost a lot of money to produce high-ranking, high-performing videos. With today’s smartphones, built-in cameras can capture high-resolution videos that look like they were professionally made.
3. Content Marketing
Every day, more than 4 billion people are searching the Internet for content that is useful, relevant, and informative. After all, when you search, you are looking for the best solutions or answers to your pressing questions.
Content that is frequently accessed, shared, linked to, and referenced is regarded as great content.
Your business could offer the best solutions in the industry. But first – your business, its products and services – must first be found.
This is where content marketing comes in – the strategic and purposeful creation of optimized content that provides useful, valuable, and informative information to a specific target market.
The keywords in the definition are “optimized” and “target”.
Content writing is a skill. Just because you have a degree in Creative Writing does not mean you can write online content.
The rule is: Your content must be found before it can serve its purpose.
To be found on the Internet, content must be optimized with the right keywords. Content writers know how to find the right keywords for your industry and how to use them for maximum searchability.
Without the right keywords, the search engine’s web crawlers will not be able to find and index your content. The next steps for the search engine are to determine if the keywords in your content are used in the proper ratios and linked to reliable sources.
The search engine will determine the quality of your content by assessing its length, structure, and backlinks.
Lastly, for best results, content writing needs to follow a schedule:
- 11 to 16 blogs per month for higher search traffic.
- At least 1,900 words per blog for higher search rankings.
- Research involved includes keywords, industry, and market.
Writing online is writing on a different level. For this reason, we recommend hiring content writers to create content for your website and social media campaigns.
Mountaintop Web Design can provide you with top quality, high-ranking content. A few of our articles have been included among the top blogs for digital marketing by UpCity.
4. Email Marketing
Why is email marketing so effective? In a nutshell, it’s like having the door opened for you by the business owner. You can walk in, make a sales presentation, and hope your pitch is good enough to register a sale.
Despite the popularity of social media, email remains the most utilized form of communication.
To make a comparison, social media attracts 2.96 billion users every day. Meanwhile, there are 3.9 billion users of email on a daily basis. According to Statista, by 2023, the number of email users will hit 4.3 billion.
Digital marketers love email marketing because the ROI is high – $38 for every $1 spent – or an ROI of 3,800%!
But don’t let these amazing numbers blind you into thinking that email marketing is easy. The biggest challenge to email marketing is creating a solid list of email subscribers.
This is where having great content comes in. If people love your blogs and other forms of content, they will visit your website to learn more about you. Once on your website, the visitor might want to click on the subscribe button and sign up for your email newsletter.
Building a loyal following takes time. A reader may enjoy reading your first blog – but what about the second or third? Creating top-quality blogs on a consistent basis will help you build a strong email list.
You might be tempted to buy a list. If you are – don’t! Buying a list is one of the most dangerous things you can do for your business for a number of reasons:
- The emails may belong to people who did not agree to sign up for newsletters. Your email will be flagged as spam and this is a violation that could lead to penalties upwards of $16,000!
- Your email distribution service will get shut down.
- Many of the emails featured in the list are called “Spam Traps” and will damage your reputation.
Go the slow and steady route and be patient with your content marketing strategy. It may take time but the results will be worth the wait.
5. Social Media Marketing
The age of digital technology has emphasized the social aspect of a business. Because the Internet has made information very accessible, it is easy for consumers to learn more about the business and at the same, find platforms to air their complaints and grievances about a company, its products, and services.
Companies can no longer just hide behind a logo. To stay ahead of the competition, there must be a face and a personality behind the brand. Customers want to know more about you and not just your business. The best platform to use is social media marketing.
What are the benefits of social media marketing for business?
- Improve Brand Awareness – Would you believe more people follow brands on social media than celebrities? 80% of respondents who participated in a survey by Sherpa Marketing revealed they followed at least one business brand on social media.
- Establish a Strong Connection with Your Customers – Social media allows customers to reach out and voice their ideas and opinions to your company. This level of engagement -whether positive or negative – creates an opportunity for you to establish a strong, human connection with your customer.
- Enhance Your Reputation – Another benefit of consistently producing great content is that you enhance your reputation as a valuable resource. Now, strategically distribute your content through social media channels and in time, more people will follow your page and visit your website.
Similar to content writing, social media marketing requires experience and expertise.
You have to know the types of content to post, the most opportune times of the day, the ideal days of the week, as well as the frequency of posting.
Keep in mind the “social” aspect of social media – these are communities onto itself. The online behavior patterns and profiles of Facebook users are different from those of LinkedIn.
Conclusion
Digital marketing isn’t just the present – it is the future. The world will continue to evolve as digital technology continues to innovate. Work and life decisions will be influenced by the Internet for the years to come.
If your business has not adopted a digital-based marketing strategy, you are undermining its opportunities for future growth. Learn from the lesson of the retail giants who became casualties of the Retail Apocalypse.
Evolve or become extinct.
Did we convince you to go digital? Give us a call and we’ll put your business on a digital marketing campaign that will get you growing over the next few years.
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