Embarking on a Venture into Efficient Digital Marketing for Your Own Site
What kind of digital content generation approach should I utilize? The material production strategy largely depends on the particular needs of your audience throughout the various steps of the buying course. Start by developing ideal customer profiles (use the readily available templates or persona creation tools) to decode the primary goals and challenges that your audience faces concerning your business. At its core, your online information should aspire to support them in reaching these objectives and conquering these challenges.
Further, you should analyze when your audience would be most responsive to engaging with this material, in alignment with their position in the purchasing course. This is known as content mapping. The primary aim of content mapping is to align information to:
1. The characteristics of the individual engaging with the material (ideal customer profiles are integral here).
2. The proximity of that individual to concluding a purchase (their stage in the buying process).
Regarding the format of your content, there’s a multitude of alternatives to test with. Here are some recommendations we suggest for each phase of the customer journey:
- Blog posts. Extremely effective for boosting your unpaid traffic when combined with a robust SEO and keyword tactic.
- Infographics. These are extremely spreadable, which enhances your prospects of discovery via social networking when others disseminate your content. (Utilize these complimentary infographic templates to start your efforts.)
- Short videos. These are also incredibly spreadable and can introduce your business to new audiences by hosting them on platforms like YouTube.
- Ebooks. These are superb for lead generation as they tend to be more comprehensive than a blog post or infographic, implying that someone is more likely to exchange their contact information to access it.
- Research reports. This high-quality type of content is also superb for lead acquisition. Research reports and new data for your field can serve in the awareness stage as well since they are commonly picked up by the media or field press.
- Webinars. Being a more detailed, interactive variant of video information, webinars serve as an effective consideration stage information format as they provide more comprehensive material than a blog post or short video.
- Case studies. Detailed case studies on your website can be a effective format of content for those on the edge of making a buying decision, as it assists in favorably influencing their decision.
- Testimonials. If case studies aren’t well-suited for your enterprise, having short testimonials scattered around your website is a praiseworthy alternative. For B2C brands, consider testimonials in a broader sense. If you’re a clothing brand, these could manifest as photos showcasing how others have styled a shirt or dress, sourced from a branded hashtag where people can contribute.
Awareness Stage
Consideration Stage
Decision Stage
Planning the Course for Digital Marketing
- Define your goals.
- Identify your target audience.
- Establish a budget for each digital channel.
- Strike a harmonious balance between paid and free digital strategies.
- Create engaging content.
- Optimize your digital assets for mobile.
- Conduct keyword research.
- Iterate based on the analytics you measure.
Initiating digital marketing demands the crystal clear identification and definition of your goals, as these will dictate your strategy. If your objective is to boost brand awareness, you may desire to concentrate on reaching new viewers via social networking.
Alternatively, you may wish to surge sales for a specific product — in this case, focusing on SEO and optimizing content to draw potential buyers to your website is essential. If sales are your objective, you might want to experiment with PPC campaigns to drive website traffic through paid ads. Regardless of the specifics, shaping a digital marketing approach becomes significantly easier once your company’s overarching goals are established.
We’ve touched on this earlier, but the advantage of digital marketing lies in the possibility to target specific audiences. However, this advantage is meaningless without first pinpointing your target audience. Your target audience can vary depending on the medium or goals you have for a particular product or campaign.
For example, you may have noticed that your Instagram audience leans towards younger individuals who prefer amusing memes and quick videos, while your LinkedIn audience comprises older professionals seeking more tactical advice. You’ll need to tailor your information to cater to these specific target audiences.
Your budget should reflect the various elements of digital marketing you utilize. If your focus is on inbound techniques like SEO, social platforms, and content production for an already established site, the silver lining is that you don’t need a substantial budget.
However, for outbound techniques like online advertising and buying email lists, some costs will be incurred. The extent of these costs is dependent on the level of visibility you want to gain as a result of the advertising.
A well-rounded digital marketing approach generally necessitates a mix of both paid and free elements for optimal effectiveness. For example, you can invest time in creating comprehensive buyer personas to better understand your audience’s needs and generating high-quality online material to convert them, which can yield strong results with minimal ad spend.
However, if paid advertising forms a part of your digital approach, you might see quicker results. Ultimately, strive to grow your organic (or ‘free’) reach through content, SEO, and social media for sustainable success.
Once you have discerned your audience and determined a budget, the next step is to create content for the various channels at your disposal. This could take the form of social media posts, blog posts, PPC ads, sponsored content, email marketing newsletters, and more.
Mobile marketing forms a critical component of digital marketing. In fact, smartphone usage accounts for 69% of time spent consuming digital media in the U.S., while desktop-based digital media consumption constitutes less than half.
This means that optimizing your digital ads, web pages, social media images, and other digital assets for mobile devices is crucial. If your company has a mobile app that facilitates user engagement with your brand or allows them to shop your products, your app falls under the purview of digital marketing as well.
Effective keyword research is fundamental for optimizing your site and information for SEO and ensuring people can find your business via search engines. Keyword research for social media can also assist in marketing your products or services across various social channels.
To create a sustainable digital marketing tactic for the long term, it’s vital for your team to learn how to pivot based on analytics.
For instance, you might notice that your audience isn’t as interested in your Instagram information anymore but is highly engaged with what you’re posting on Twitter. Or, you might find an older webpage isn’t getting the traffic it used to. This could be an chance to either refresh your Instagram strategy or update/remove the underperforming webpage.
Digital marketing provides businesses with extraordinary possibilities for continuous growth — it’s up to you to seize them.
Engaging in the Plunge into Digital Marketing
If you’re already employing digital marketing, you’re probably reaching specific omhbmg segments of your audience online. No doubt, you can identify areas of your approach that could benefit from some refinement.