These days when we want to learn about something, buy something, find somewhere or connect with someone – we turn directly to our mobile phone or computer. Printed mediums are largely vanishing into the ether of history, as the digital world becomes the new norm.
So what are some of the most effective ways you can use digital platforms to market your business? The answer to this question is generally best answered with 2 more questions. Who are your ideal customers? And where are they congregating? Once you have answered these, you are in a better position to understand where you should put your initial focus when creating an effective marketing strategy.
1. Your Website
Your best tool for marketing your business is your website. In a lot of marketing, whether print or digital, your website is one of the main places your customers will go to learn more about what you do, how you can help, and how they can get in touch with you.
You can build your website for success by ensuring it is professional, up to date, mobile friendly and easy to use. Ensuring your website is optimised for search engines, will help you to naturally rank better when people look for products or services like yours.
Do you sell products? In our COVID-19 ravaged world, it is more important than ever that you have an online store to sell your products.
A lot of business starts with a conversation. So think about adding a chat feature to your website so that your clients can quickly and easily ask their questions. Make sure your answers are prompt. You can consider setting up chat bots to answer 90% of the standard questions so that your staff are not overwhelmed.
2. Google
One of the first places people turn to now is Google. It is the biggest search engine in the world, now dominating with 92.47% of the market share since June 20211. So it makes sense to look here first when thinking about creating your digital marketing strategy.
Paid Google Search campaigns will help put your business in the first results of relevant searches. With a well optimised campaign, you will only show your ads to the right people, in the right location, looking for your exact services or products.
If you sell products online, connect your website with Google Merchant and set up Free Listings. This will put your products into Google Shopping for free. To get first results, set up a paid Google Shopping campaign.
Talk to us about getting up to $600 free Google Ad credit to use on your Google marketing campaign. This is based on your first 60 days of ad spend.
3. Facebook
There are around 2.89 billion monthly active users on Facebook2 – now the worlds biggest social media website. If you don’t have your Facebook Business Page set up yet, then do that now. Share it with your friends and family to get some initial Likes and interactions. Post frequently – weekly if you can. Your posts should be a mix of interesting, funny, current – not just sales pitches.
To market your business through Facebook you’ll need to set up a Facebook Business account. Ensure you install your Facebook Pixel into your website so that you can track any conversions there. If you have products, connect them into Facebook Commerce, and through there, into Instagram.
4. Instagram
Also owned by the Facebook giant, Instagram is currently the 4th largest social media platform. It’s a great platform for marketing to young people, and showing your products, styles or fashions. You can create great memes and post images by using Canva – one of our highly recommended tools.
5. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an excellent platform for building yourself as an authority in your field. This platform is designed to help you network and connect with other business professionals. It’s also a great place to look for, or advertise, job opportunities.
6. ManyChat
ManyChat is a tool that connects with Facebook’s Messenger. Using this software you can create a database of messenger contacts which you can then nurture and market directly to.
Messenger open rates average a whopping 80% and 30% clickthrough rates3. As it is still an emerging technology, the cost to market to your messenger contacts is a lot less than in Facebook in general, making it a very cost effective option.
7. YouTube
YouTube is the world’s second largest social media platform and one of the biggest search engines in use today. There are lots of opportunities for creating great videos about your products, experiences, show casing your accommodation or business spaces, meeting your team, marketing new services or products, explaining how to use your products or services, or providing information for free to your customers.
8. Email Marketing
Email marketing is not dead, it is still a great way to connect with your customers. Those who do not wish to get your emails can easily unsubscribe, and this will help you nurture a smaller but better email list.
Ensure you send regular newsletters so that your subscribers know what to expect and when. Don’t just market your products or services, make it interesting and informative for them. Let them know about interesting events, useful information, great specials and savings, and other things that you think they might be keen to read about.
Remember, your email list is the only list you directly own. Facebook, Instagram or any of the other social media giants could at any stage remove your account, change their algorithms or shut down, and that customer base could vanish overnight.
9. Google Business Listing
In one of our previous posts we talked about how important your Google Business Listing is, and how you can improve your rankings yourself. With 46% of searches on Google being local – ie searching for something in their area – this is a key place to market your business. You can do this organically by adding posts, reviews and images, or you can set up a Google Local campaign for paid marketing exposure.
10. Sponsored Posts
The purpose of a sponsored post is to create brand awareness and build strong backlinks to your website, thereby increasing your own website’s organic rankings. You may have noticed these with the media giant Stuff.
You can also create a sponsored post through Love New Zealand. At only $150 these sponsored posts provide a lifetime of value to your website.
Summary
Honestly, we could have talked all day about digital marketing and ways to grow your business! In summary, the main things to think about are:
Who is my ideal customer?
Where are they congregating?
Once you’ve answered these questions, decide which platforms best suit that market. Generally the best option is to pick one marketing method and do it really well. Or employ a digital marketing agency to help you.
1 Cited https://www.statista.com/statistics/216573/worldwide-market-share-of-search-engines/
2 Cited https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
3 Cited https://manychat.com/blog/ultimate-guide-messenger-marketing-and-facebook-chatbots/
get in touch
Are you ready to smash some exciting goals? Or just need some help with your website, Google Ads or social media marketing? Let us know how we can help and we’ll be in touch.