Dominate the online world!
Taking the plunge to market your brand online can often be daunting. Where do you start? How much budget do you need? What platforms should I use? We’re often asked these questions so you really don’t have to feel like you’re alone. We’ve worked in this dynamic digital era for 10 years and understand the ever-changing landscape and the importance of staying at the top of your game to ensure your business goals are met.
We’re celebrating 10 years in business on the 1st July 2021 so thought we’d share our top 10 favourite marketing tips with you to help you grow and boost your business.
Before we get started, remember that if all of this sounds daunting, our team of marketing experts are there to help guide you every step of the way. Let’s get started.
1.
Create & segment your database for effective communications
Def: A database is a collection of contacts who you can market to and send emails to through email campaigns. Note: Due to the POPI Act, you need to make sure every subscriber in your database has given you permission to communicate with them! We can’t stress this enough because if someone complains you could face a hefty fine!
What is segmentation: Segmentation is taking your database and splitting them into categories based on likes, interests, demographics etc. E.g., Online store: Add a tick box for women, men or baby onto your website forms – Got a promotion on baby clothes? Only send to the audience who has ticked baby on the website form. It’s simple and your subscribers won’t feel spammed when you send emails! If you don’t segment your audience, you have a high chance of people unsubscribing which can affect your reputation with your email marketing providers.
2.
Use email marketing automations
E-commerce businesses…listen up! This is your best friend.
Def: Email marketing automations – Emails that are automatically sent based on an action (E.g., Left items in your shopping cart online? Automatically sends an abandoned cart to pull through the conversion).
Email automations (aka: flows) are a great way of reaching your audience at the right time because it’s based on their behaviour. Signed up to your newsletter? Send a welcome email with a discount code. Haven’t opened the email? Send a follow up in a week’s time. The best part: Once they’re setup nothing further to do and no more fees.
3.
Make sure your website is attractive & functional
Great website = more leads.
To run a successful campaign, there are many factors to take into consideration, one that stands out the most is your website (where you’ll be driving your traffic to). Your website needs to be functional, easy to use and attractive. Suggestion: We run website audits for all our new clients, why not market your brand with us and take your brand to new height! Let us run a website audit for you.
4.
Develop a powerful digital marketing strategy
Def: A roadmap for your brand to follow. Clearly outlining all the channels required to meet your marketing goals in the most effective way possible.
A strategy is not a one-day kind of task. Developing a strategy for a brand involves workshops and brainstorming sessions to uncover the unique elements of your brand (why you exist, why you do what you do) and creating a strategically sound outline of each step required to getting your brand to exactly where it needs to be. It should include your purpose (or ‘why’), vision, mission, values, positioning & ideal client.
Every marketing action required for your brand should tie back to your strategy and work as collaborative elements to achieve your business goals and become a more skillful marketing machine.
Blog: 7 reasons you need a digital marketing strategy in 2021
5.
Nurture your leads through a CRM system
Def: CRM stands for ‘Customer Relationship Management’, which helps businesses manage their customers and leads in one place.
Never miss a lead! Capture all your leads in one place with an integrated CRM system! With a CRM system like Hubspot, you can capture and communicate with your leads all in one place – making HubSpot the ideal marketing platform to drive your sales team! It’s FREE – Yes there is a pro version, but we find the free version provides everything you need to drive sales and get started.
6.
Grow your organic search rankings
(In a nutshell) Organic search is when someone searches on Google and finds you, without being targeted by an ad.)
Growing your organic search rankings isn’t as simple as some make it out to be. It involves a lot of time, but it’s so worth it if you have the patience to keep doing it.
7.
Know your target audiences
You may think your brand is for everyone, but it’s not. Even if anyone can use or benefit from it, people are not all the same. And even if they are the same demographic, it doesn’t mean their interests, values and mindsets are the same. Get granular with your target audiences and don’t take the ‘easy’ but very ineffective route of dumping everyone together. It’s so important to understand exactly who your target audience is when running campaigns to avoid wasting money.
8.
Know your target audiences
We live in a world where people connect with brands. Think about Coca-Cola, they’re globally recognized, and everyone knows them. You wouldn’t think they would need to spend money on marketing, but they do. According to statistic (2020): Over the last six years, Coca-Cola has spent an average of $4 billion per annum on advertising worldwide creating the most inspiring campaigns.
Think about the share a Coke campaign?
Don’t be tempted to hard sell, people need to feel connected to a brand to trust it and that takes consistency and clear positioning.
9.
Focus on Mobile
Have you ever viewed a website on your mobile device, but the text is so small that you have to zoom in just to read the copy? This ultimately leads to poor usability and Google will rank your website lower in mobile search engine results (not even Google likes a poorly designed website). Think mobile first when designing anything.
10.
Be consistent
Know why your brand exists, where it sits in the minds of your customer and how it communicates. Think about Nando’s advertising, you only need to see their font and you already know the message is going to push the boundaries and make you smile. Consistency is key to ensuring your customers remember and recognise your brand without having to see your logo!
We hope this helps to outline some of tips to growing your business online.
Celebrate our 10th birthday with us by entering our lucky draw and stand the chance of winning a free e-commerce or website audit.
Entries until 31 July, winner to be announced first week of August. 1 winner only.
