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Why Your Business Needs A Rigid Digital Marketing Strategy
1inSha
The online landscape is constantly shifting, and what works for
your business today may prove insufficient or even detrimental tomorrow.
Generally speaking, this is because Google and other major search
engines are continuously updating their search algorithms. If you’re
persistently chasing these changes, the chances are you’re always going
to be one step behind.
Instead of concentrating all your efforts on meeting the needs of
search engines, you should focus on you audience and look at building a
steadfast user-centric Digital Marketing strategy.
The best digital strategies are targeted and adaptable, built around
the needs of a desired audience not only thinking about pleasing the
search engines.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of having a well thought out
strategy, as well as the drawbacks that you’ll face if your business
isn’t properly prepared.
Advantages of a strong Digital Marketing Strategy
There are a number of reasons to invest time in developing a bulletproof strategy:
A Structured Campaign
A good strategy is the backbone of any successful online campaign.
Look towards the future of your brand, discuss what you want to achieve
with your Digital Marketing and which goals you want to meet. This
should include a mix of Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing,
web design and user experience.
Optimise Your Website
Websites can quickly become stale. The technicalities behind good web
practises change regularly, which is why it’s so important that you
utilise up-to-date SEO and Copywriting services to optimise your
website.
Not investing in quality SEO can lead to your site declining in the
SERP rankings and in turn result in you losing valuable business
opportunities.
If you’re caught using outdated techniques, or any practices that
might be deemed spammy (such as creating link wheels or stuffing pages
with keywords), your site could suffer from penalties, leading to a
dramatic loss in online conversions and revenue. Read more on how SEO can benefit your website.
Build Your Brand
Each facet of your Digital Marketing Strategy will contribute towards growing your brand’s presence online.
This will allow you to enter new markets and attract new consumer
segments. You can gain familiarity with fresh audiences whilst
maintaining recognisability with existing customers. This way, you’ll
stay at the forefront of the consumer’s mind with a far-reaching brand
online.
Your strategy should include all aspects of your online presence.
Having an integrated digital plan will help keep your brand consistent
throughout all your online profiles, thus providing a familiar and
trustworthy resource for your audience.
Produce Quality Content
High-quality Content Marketing should be a staple of any digital
strategy. This can give your brand a voice, both onsite and offsite.
Create content that engages, entertains and informs your audience,
establishing your business as a knowledgeable thought-leader within your
industry, and a valuable resource for consumers.
Content can be utilised at all stages of the sales funnel, including
nurturing leads and aftersales support. Tailor your content and
marketing efforts depending on which groups you’re focussing on,
providing a personalised service to your customer profiles.
Maintain Existing Customers and Cultivate a Following
By regularly engaging with your existing fan base via Social Media
and Content Marketing, you’re able to keep your audience satisfied and
updated on all the latest activities within your business.
Once you’ve built your following, it’s important to nurture them by
providing with fresh information and resources. Social Media, Content
Marketing and Paid Advertising can be used in all stages of the buying
funnel, from lead identification right through to monetisation.
You’re also able to monitor audience reactions to your content and address any complaints or suggestions instantly.
Drive New Leads
An effective Digital Marketing Strategy will be focussed on
successfully completing your goals, whether they are raising brand
awareness, expanding your business or increasing conversions.
New customers are essential for business growth, and Digital
Marketing opens up a number of channels through which you can
communicate with these potential leads.
In order to efficiently market your brand’s message to these
consumers, you’ll need to break down your target audience into different
segments, and understand how each group thinks and acts when online.
Understanding your audience, and knowing which profiles you need to target, is vital when it comes to promoting your campaign.
Stay Within Budget
Digital investment is highly measurable – ROI can be determined
across many channels and can be contrasted against your marketing budget
quite easily.
Having a detailed plan will help your business maintain its budget
and progress through to the next financial year without overspending on
marketing.
Dangers of Not Implementing a Digital Marketing Strategy
If your business enters the digital space without a detailed and structured plan, it may experience the following:
Loss of rankings – This leads to a loss of exposure, traffic and subsequently revenue. Not good for business.
Loss of market share – Meaning that competitors will move in and take away your customers.
Loss of potential customers – If your competition is reaching possible leads before you do, how will you attract new business?
Loss in customer retention – Consumers who have invested in your
brand expect to be supplied up-to-date resources and information. You’ll
need a dynamic plan in place to deliver this.
If you’re not marketing your products or services to your target
audience effectively, then you can be sure that other businesses in your
niche will.
You’ve all heard the famous statistic that it’s 6 times more costly
to attract new customers than it is to retain your current ones (source),
but without a detailed Digital Marketing strategy you may find your
business unable to retain current customers or attract new ones.
The online marketplace is incredibly competitive and without a plan you’ll have no way to get ahead.
What You Need To Know
A well-rounded Digital Marketing encompasses all aspects of SEO, PPC,
Content Marketing and Social Media. Join me next week when I look at
what a Digital Marketing Strategy entails and the many benefits it
provides.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch to
find out more about the benefits of having a rigid Digital Marketing
strategy or you can leave a comment below and I’ll be in touch as soon
as possible.
