Marketing serves to get the word out, increase your level of sales, and build your brand name. You can’t expect higher sales or an excellent company reputation without some marketing effort because it’s a way to clearly spell out why consumers should buy from you.
How you market depends on what type of business you have. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, then your marketing mix might include public relations, print, TV, radio, and trade shows. If you have a strictly online business, then it will consist of a variety of digital marketing strategies that deploy free and paid advertising. However, even if you have a brick-and-mortar business, you will greatly benefit from creating a website presence.
When it comes to promoting your website, some of the most important elements in a successful marketing campaign consist of SEO, content creation, and social media. Since these make such a huge impact on promoting your business, let’s take a closer look at each one.
1. SEO Marketing
The power of search engine optimization (SEO) is often underestimated. When done properly, it can account for more than half your website traffic. While this is something that SEO companies understand, many marketers often prefer paid marketing strategies, like buying Google PPC and Facebook ads or using free marketing strategies, like guest blogging and making YouTube videos. This preference is not because these methods are more effective, but because they are easier to understand. However, paid advertising can get increasingly expensive and writing high-quality guest blogs and developing engaging videos can become increasingly time-consuming.
As an illustration of how effective SEO can be when done in the right way, try the following SEO-based strategy:
- Go to Google keyword tool and type out words relevant to your business. For instance, if you’re a professional photographer with a studio and website, you might use words like “professional photographer”, “freelance photography”, “photography tips”, and so on. These generic keywords will lead to better long-tail keywords with high volume and low competition. Better still, they will help you tune into words that customers actually use when looking for a business like yours.
- Download the top 20 keywords by using the export feature.
- Create titles that use these keywords. For instance, if the keyword is “photography classes denver” create a title like “Top 10 Photography Classes In Denver”.
- Turn the titles into blog posts. For instance, write a review about the top ten photography classes in Denver.
- When you publish the post, strip away the title so that you only have the keyword. So, instead of “www.acefreelancephotographer/top-10-photography-classes-in-denver” use “www.acefreelancephotographer/photography-classes-denver”.
Then, rinse and repeat, writing a blog post once or twice a week. You’ll be amazed at the surge in your traffic.
2. Content Creation
Content creation is both simple and complex. It’s simple in the sense that you can easily write blog posts or make videos or share interesting ideas via different channels. It’s complex in the sense that it can be inconsistent and quality can dip. To stay consistent, develop a content publishing schedule and study the top content creators in your field to see how they “wow” their audience with their content.
The biggest challenge with content creation is the time it takes to create great content. So it’s important to pace yourself when creating content. You might also want to invite other people to create content for you. For instance, you could invite guest posting on your blog.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a simple, free way to tell others about your latest content and to build rapport with prospects and customers. Create a profile on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can add more if you have the time to manage your accounts. Share your blog content, write insightful posts, share other people’s content, make comments, and use social media’s advertising options.
Marketing is to business success what a sail is to a sailboat. Without it, you’re not going to go anywhere. Not enough people will know about your business or product for you to stay in business. Think of it as a skill that it takes time to get good at. It also takes time, so you may want to outsource much of the work, from hiring marketing specialists to hiring content creators. There are also many subtle things about marketing that you will learn to make–for instance, the server speed of your web hosting and the deliverability rate of your email provider for your ezines can make a significant difference.
