In today’s digital landscape, the way that we interact with consumers is transforming. Between newly updated algorithms that dictate marketing methods and highly perceptive audiences that are less susceptible to traditional marketing techniques, digital marketing strategies are changing. Although many organizations have been at the forefront of digital marketing trends, others are falling behind, causing a disconnect between businesses and consumers.
If your current strategies aren’t performing the way that they used to, it may be time for a change. Here are four simple ways that your organization can improve its digital marketing strategy:
Shift social media platforms to customer support channels
Currently, most organizations have some form of social media marketing strategy in place. Although sponsored Facebook posts or curated Instagram grids are great for targeting potential consumers already searching for your product or service, social media presence is better for establishing brand credibility than it is for converting users into consumers.
From a sales strategy, reliance on social media to convert users into customers can become problematic over time. Instead of consumers searching directly for a product or service, social media becomes the middle-man that brokers sales between businesses and consumers. By relying on social media for sales, organizations lose out on direct traffic, which causes the success of your sales strategy to be determined by an ever-changing algorithm.
However, organizations shouldn’t immediately eliminate their social media budget. By leveraging social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter into customer support channels, organizations can directly interact with users to address customer service issues, bolster positive reviews, and in turn, address negative comments. Establishing a sense of peer-to-peer engagement between businesses and consumers can reinforce positive consumer relations so that one-time buyers become loyal returning customers.
Redirect traffic to your website by prioritizing SEO content
Direct and search traffic should be a primary focal point for businesses and organizations looking to optimize their web presence. Web searches are one of the primary ways that new users find businesses or services online. By creating content that is search engine optimization (SEO) friendly, companies can create a passive content strategy that continues to engage web users over time. Compared to the lifecycle of a single social media post, SEO will continue to generate traffic months or years after it is published.
Contrary to previous methods, SEO content no longer needs to be oversaturated with keywords that create a disjointed or distracting reading experience. Instead, successful SEO content focuses on creating value-driven content for consumers based on trending or highly searchable keywords. By creating content that attempts to answer the intent of the user’s query, businesses can increase their SEO rankings and capture potential customers in all stages of the sales funnel.
As a bonus, you can also implement SEO content into an organization’s social media strategy. Sharing value-driven articles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be useful for establishing credibility with B2C and B2B audiences. Additionally, repackaging content for Instagram is also beneficial for developing brand growth and increasing audience engagement.
Use lead generation content to capture consumer data
For more in-depth subjects, lead generation material can be a useful tool for capturing consumer data. By filling out a simple form, users gain access to expert knowledge in exchange for consumer data. And best of all, it’s easy to implement.
Depending on the amount of marketing data you wish to receive, the length of lead generation forms can vary. It can be as simple as asking visitors to provide a name and e-mail so you can develop a bank of recipients for e-mail newsletters, or you can use it as a tool to learn more about consumers. Simple questions like age, gender, location, and referral source are helpful for analyzing areas of a marketing strategy that are producing results, and those that might be underperforming.
Similar to SEO content, lead generation content produces value for consumers. However, unlike SEO content, lead generation material requires a higher amount of initial investment. In place of traditional blog articles, lead generation content usually comes as white papers or ebooks. The length of this material tends to be significantly longer than blogs and require visual design elements that encourage the reader to read the text thoroughly.
Develop an e-mail marketing strategy
After capturing a sizable list of e-mails, it’s essential to develop a diverse e-mail marketing strategy. Unlike the initial search that brought a potential client to you, in e-mail marketing, you’re the one doing a hard sell.
However, it’s necessary to understand that the success of an e-mail marketing strategy is reliant on the number of opens that e-mails receive. If the e-mails go ignored, eventually, they end up in spam or trash folders, which means that you’ve already lost that customer. Instead, a robust e-mail marketing campaign offers a balance of value-driven content and sales copy that resonates with readers.
Here are a few factors businesses should consider when developing an e-mail marketing strategy:
Quality vs. Quantity
Blasting your e-mail list with too many e-mails is a great way to lose subscribers or alienate customers. Instead of spamming inboxes with too many e-mails, consider creating an e-mail marketing campaign that focuses on sending e-mails that will resonate with subscribers so that they look forward to updates from your organization.
Content vs. Copy
If you used content marketing to develop your e-mail list, then it is crucial to consider the use of content versus copy. Content adds value, copy attempts to sell. If your readers found you to gain valuable information, then too much much pushy copy can drive away potential customers. Diversify your e-mail campaign to include both content and copy-driven materials.
Learn how to communicate with your audience
When writing e-mails, its crucial to learn how to communicate with your audience. Do you have an audience of young millennials that love emojis and slang? Or, are you communicating with business professionals? Tailor your e-mails to communicate in a way that relates to your audience.
Nail the timing
Consider your reader’s inbox before hitting send. Whether they’re playing catch up, or ready to clock out for the weekend, Monday and Friday don’t typically garner the best performance. Although there is no magic formula for getting your e-mails opened, it’s helpful to send e-mails when readers are likely to be most active in their inboxes – experiment to see what days and times generate the best results.
Segment your e-mail list
Segmenting your e-mail list into categories can be helpful for direct marketing. Whether you segment by geography or time zone, recently purchased products, or consumer audience, having a segmented e-mail list can help you curate content that will better resonate with readers.
Be consistent
It isn’t easy to measure the success of an e-mail marketing campaign without a cohesive strategy. If you’re only sending your readers the occasional update or send too many e-mails in too short of a time frame, you may be skewing your results. Instead, create an editorial calendar of e-mail marketing content and stick to it.
Want to learn more ways to improve your organization’s digital marketing strategy? Contact the CS-STRATEGIES team for a personal consultation.
