also expert in SEO, SEM, Video SEO, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Online Advertising (Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc), Video Marketing, Content Marketing, Training
What Is Email Marketing About? 119 Facts You Need to Know
In the Digital Marketing section of this site, I have written about the rebirth of Email Marketing. In that article, the advantages and disadvantages, automation tools and email sales funnel were presented. In particular, why your business must do Email Marketing. Today, this post expands on that with an Infographic on What is Email Marketing About? And 119 Facts Your Need to Know about it.
Below is the Infographic, courtesy of my friends from Web Builder. Thanks to their extensive research that created this colorful image that is easy to digest and filled with very useful information. After the Infographic, there is additional valuable information written by me. Don’t miss that.
Now, let us get on with this. I hope you do find the data in the Infographic useful. And if you have any questions about Email Marketing or this article, ANY at all, please submit your questions as comments below. I will be happy to help you out.
Infographic by Website Builder
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Why Email Marketing Works?
The reason why Email Marketing works can be easily seen in the Infographic above. But kindly allow me to add to it.
Email Marketing is the second most effective online marketing tactic. The potential reach is huge. There are 4.3 billion email accounts, and more opening every day. In that large number of email accounts is your target audience.
When your target audience is interested in your product, service or information, they will give permission for you to send them emails on a regular basis. They become Subscribers of your emails, which can be newsletters, promotional offers, and so on. As indicated in the Infographic above, 77% of Consumers prefer email for Marketing Communications. And that is a very encouraging number.
Speaking of target market, here is another reason why Email Marketing works. The email list you build can be segmented. Some of your subscribers may have particular interests. And by segmenting, you can customize certain functions or features of your product or service that matches those particular interests.
This will increase the chances of your email being read, and can lead to higher conversions, too. Look at the part in the Infographic that says 44% who received targeted emails admit at least one purchase because of the promotional message.
For example, a hotel may have a special package for families on a particular weekend. They can target the particular segment of subscribers who are married with children. If the subscriber is someone with family and looking for a package deal getaway, chances are he or she will open the email, and click on the offer.
Another good reason why Email Marketing works is because the ROI (Return on Investment) can be easily tracked. What is the percentage of your subscribers who open your emails? How many click on the Call to Action link? How many eventually make the purchase? All that can be tracked, and the ROI is quite exact and accurate.
There are many more reasons why Email Marketing is working nowadays. As technology evolves, this digital marketing strategy becomes more powerful and stronger. See the Infographic for more reasons. Also, don’t miss the part about the Biggest Email Marketing Trends in 2017
Email Converts 3 Times Better Than Social Media
For Email Marketing, the ROI that businesses are most interested in are Open Rates, Click Rates and Conversion Rates. What are these ROI? Well, Open Rate is simply the percentage of subscribers who open the email when they received it.
Click Rate is when they click on the Call to Action link presented in the email. This shows that the subscriber is interested in the information or offer, and would like to find out more.
Finally, there is the Conversion Rate is when the subscriber makes a confirmed purchase. Conversions can be simply going to the website to read an article, or accepting an invite for an event, or making a purchase. For example, it can be actually buying a product online, and payment has been made.
The Infographic above shows the average rates for each ROI, and for different types of emails. This is very useful. You can use the data to gauge how successful your campaign is.
Should the campaign not reach the average rates or your expected ROI, you can refine your Email Strategy. It will help you as you test and find out what works, and what does not. The goal is to eventually run successful campaigns.
Most Used Email Marketing Techniques
The Infographic reveals which Email Marketing Technique is the one that most businesses use. And no surprise here that Email Automation takes the lead at 74%.
Email Automation helps to make your job easier. It helps you to automatically respond when people subscribe, build lists, segment your audience to get better ROI, create campaigns and send them to your subscribers.
There are many more techniques shown above. Take a look, and try them.
Psychology of Email Recipient
When you understand the Psychology of your subscribers, you can communicate with them better, and even encourage them to make that choice to buy.
As can be seen from the image above, for example, when the subject line of an email has movie titles or song lyrics, the Email Open Rates increased by 26.2%. For example, one of the email campaigns that I ran with the subject title as ‘DC Comics Super Heroes Cafe‘ had an Open Rate of 57.1%, which is much higher than the average.
Study the statistics shown above, and get some tips on the psychology of email recipients to get better ROI.
Timotheus – Final Word
There is plenty more useful information from the research done by Web Builder. I hope you do take time to go through the entire Infographic. Do take notes, and use the data to help you do better in Email Marketing.
For example, there is the section on Personalization that helps you understand why it is important to personalized your emails. Then there is the Segmentation portion that I keep stressing on how valuable this is. When you segment your email lists, you will get higher open rates; at least 39%!
These days, almost everyone is using the mobile phone for various activities; one of which is reading emails. I know I do, too. Read the Mobile Email Statistics to get a better idea of the Usage and Growth of emails on mobile.
And especially do not miss the Companies Case Studies. Not that the rest is not important. But the case studies are great for learning.
Once again, my thanks to our friends at Website Builder for the very helpful Infographic. I look forward to more future collaborations with them.
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Again, as I said earlier at the start of this article, if you have any questions about Email Marketing or this article, ANY at all, please submit your questions as comments below. I will be happy to help you out.
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Add a Lead Capture System to Your Website
Driving traffic to your business website alone is not enough. You mustn’t be a passive participant who waits for people to contact you and purchase your product and/or service.
You need to take control of the communication process by adding a lead capture system to your business website.
A lead capture system enables you to have the opportunity to acquire the names and contact information of those who visit your business website. You know what this means, right? Now, you can capture information of potential customers, build it into a database, and market your products and/or services to them!
Effectively, you have created a database of sales leads. This is something tangible to work from to get more sales. I am sure you can see the value of having a lead capture system by now.
Lead Capture Systems Defined
A lead capture system comprises an opt-in online form on a web page where visitors can enter a name and an email address in exchange for more information; for example a free report, free audio, free online video or free eBook. Sometimes it is simply to subscribe for e-newsletter to be updated on latest news of a product or service.
Some lead capture systems may ask for more details such as a mailing address and/or a phone number. When setting up a lead capture system, try to refrain from asking the visitor to provide too much information. It will turn people off, and reduce the likelihood of them completing the sign-up form, or worse they won’t submit it.
Those who visit your business website, and opted in to be on your email list have actually indicated to you that they are interested in your products and/or services. You can be confident that these leads will mostly likely be your future customers.
After setting up the lead capture system on your business website, you need to nurture the leads that eventually end up in your database. You must keep regular contact with these people, and you can do this by sending them newsletters regularly, keep them updated on new sales and offerings, make them feel special by offering unique deals only for those who are in your email list (a good way to generate business when sales is slow).
The entire lead capture system requires not just an opt-in form. As part of an entire process, you need to do some of the items mentioned in the 6 Things You Should Be Doing chapter. For one, you need to have autoresponders in place. This is so that when people sign up, the autoresponder will automatically send them a greeting, a welcome email to acknowledge their inclusion in your email list.
In that same welcome email, take the opportunity to introduce a little more about your products and/or services. Over time, with regular e-newsletters, you can feed more information about your products and/or services so as to encourage them to make a purchase.
As you build your email list, and market your products and/or services to them regularly, with useful information, you will enjoy the power of a larger customer base, and be able to generate cash on demand.
Building an Email List
Most large businesses recognize the value of email lists. And lately, more and more small and medium businesses are beginning to realize the benefits of having an email list, too. Here are the advantages to having an email list:
Multiple Selling Opportunities
Without a lead capture system, visitors to your business website may just leave without buying anything, and they may be gone for good, too. At least, with a lead capture system, you will still be able to maintain contact with them. This way, you have lots of opportunities to sell your products and services to that visitor in the future.
Selling to Existing Customers
Your existing customers should be on your email list. If they are not, you should make sure they are. Then have some form of indication in your database to show that they are your existing customers. Every now and then, create special offers and promotions to your loyal customers, to induce further sales.
Referral Opportunities
With an email list, you can write to them and ask for referrals. Chances are you will most probably get it.
Deals and Offers
People love specials, deals, offers and sales. So when the time is right, send these out to your email list. It is known that during festive season, people are more in a buying mood. And sales usually go up during these times. So take note of all festive seasons, where you are at, and send out that holiday special in a timely fashion.
Branding and Image
Communicate regularly to your email list, especially with useful information that positions you as an expert in the field. Again, building a brand and image creates trust. And with trust, people are more willing to buy from you.
As you can see, effective use of your email list can help your business to thrive, and you will be able to see growth in your sales.
Making Personal Branding Changes
Strong branding can establish you as a trusted expert in that field, in your local market. Figure out the kind of feel you would like your website, and all other online property where you have a presence, to have. They should reflect who you are, and what your brand is.
By tapping into the unique resources the Internet has to offer, you can have strong branding. You can increase traffic to your business website, and create more buying customers, too.
Today, the people who surf the Internet are a sophisticated audience. Compared to the past, they are savvy, and wary of things marketers throw at them. Most will conduct some form of research before making purchases. Their attention spans are relatively short, and they make quick decisions.
More and more of them are comfortable with buying things online, especially the younger generation. Of course, often they buy from brands they trust. When they come across your business website, you would want that trust from them, or at least build that trust with them.
As such, you must show them who you are, what your company is all about, your commitment to service, and most importantly, your trustworthiness.
The right and accurate content on your business website can help you build that trust, and your brand. It can reassure these people that you are able to offer them the right products and services with good quality.
These days, especially with the advent of social media, people want to get up close and personal with businesses. You should do the same. Get to know the people who are interested in your products and/or services. Engage them, and let them know who they are doing business with.
Unless the field in which your business is in requires it, try to stay away from the ‘stuffy’ corporate type of website or any online presence that you have. Some tweaks to your business website can give that impression, and help increase sales for you.
Here are some of the things that you can include on your business website to help you create that special personal touch:
Photographs of the owner (you) and your staff, plus information about them.
Expert articles that you have written.
Professional Associations.
Business Groups that you are a member of.
References from other businesses.
Audio or video message from the owner (again, that’s you)
Audio or video testimonial from clients.
As mentioned earlier, you and your business need to be perceived as friendly, not stuffy. Take some time to invest in personal branding. You will discover that it is worth it as it will attract more and more buying customers. Also, you can gain the trust you needed to be successful in the online marketplace.
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If you have ANY questions about this article, ANY at all, please submit your questions as comments below. I will be happy to help you out.
How To Promote A Business Online? – Start With One-Time Tasks – Part Six-A
Now that you have created your Simple Digital Marketing Plan, the entire project may seem rather daunting. Do not feel overwhelmed. There is a way to approach this that will make you feel at ease.
Take a good look at the list of digital marketing tasks. Many of the items on that list are important and can make a difference to your digital marketing strategy. Some are ongoing tasks, and some are just one-time tasks.
Start with these one-time tasks:
1. Identify and find your ideal customers.
2. Do detailed keyword research.
3. Do onsite Search Engine Optimization updates.
4. Add a lead capture system to your business website.
5. Complete personal branding changes.
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These tasks are the foundation of your digital marketing plan. They are essential for increasing your online presence. Without them, many of your other digital marketing strategies may fail.
Similarly, they must work together with your other digital marketing strategies. If you only do these tasks, there is no guarantee your business website will rise to the top of search results, or even on the first page of it.
So it is very important for you to take note that you cannot simply do only these one-time tasks, and then stop. You need to do the other tasks, too. To help you and to make sure you do that, set yourself a deadline for the completion of these tasks. Then once all have been completed, move on to the other digital marketing tasks.
Identify And Find Your Ideal Customers
In the previous chapter, Your Simple Digital Marketing Plan, we discussed about this. All you have to do is to sit down, and think of who your target audience is. Consider the following:
Who uses your product or service?
What need do they fulfill when they purchase your product or service?
What is the motivation to buy? For example, are you adding pleasure or removing pain?
Who is the decision maker that says the final yes or no to the purchase of your product or service?
What is their gender?
What is their income?
What is their occupation?
Where are they located?
When do they buy your product or service?
What other interests do they have?
Do they have any concerns about products and services like yours?
Why should they buy from you rather than your competitor?
How do they like to be communicate with?
These are just some examples of questions that can help you identify and find your ideal customers. Feel free to add more questions that can help you achieve that.
Doing Detailed Keyword Research
Carrying out detailed keyword research goes hand in hand with identifying and finding your ideal customers. After discovering who your ideal customers are, you need to find them, lead them to your business website, and successfully convert them into actual paying clients.
Remember, they are prospects until they buy your product and/or service. Then they become your actual customer.
Detailed keyword research is typically a one-time task that should be done at the beginning of your digital marketing campaign. I say ‘typically’ because there are sites that require ongoing keyword research. For example, an ECommerce site that is always adding new products will require keyword research for every new product.
But for most, this can be a one-time task. My advice is to delegate this to a keyword research specialist for they are very good at this job, and can yield extremely effective results.
The Necessity of Keyword Research
In the past, you may have been stumbling around in the dark, wondering what your potential clients are searching for and what words and phrases they use in search when they look for similar products and/or services like what you have to offer. Keyword research is like turning on the light.
When you do keyword research, you will no longer guess, but you will know exactly what words and phrases people use when they look for products and/or services like your products and/or services.
Fortunately, this is a task that needs to be done once. It is repeated only when you have a new line of products or services to offer, or when you open a new division of your company. You get the gist, basically when your products and/or services are affected by changes.
To find out what are the keywords that people use to find products, services or businesses in your field, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
How Will People Search For You?
Ask yourself these questions:
What types of phrasing do you think your potential customers will use when searching for you?
Will they look for an occupation, a type of business, an industry, a type of solution, or perhaps even a product or service type?
Will they use geographic modifiers such as a city, a country, or even a region? What about motivation?
Some people are motivated by certain factors to search for a particular product or service, and it can come through in their search by using specific words such as ’24 hour’.
Here are some examples for your three considerations:
Specific person:
“Plumber”, “plumbing contractor”, etc.
Geographic modifiers:
“plumber Singapore”, “plumber Kowloon”, “plumber Budapest”, etc.
Motivation levels:
“emergency plumber Taipei”, “24 hour plumber”, etc.
A keyword research tool can be very useful, and you should employ it as a critical part of your keyword research. There are many such tools available in the market.
There is a free tool that is of great help as it can also generate keyword ideas for you as well as synonyms is Google’s Keyword Tool. It also cross references your keywords with geographic modifiers. This becomes very useful and effective in getting your business website ranked for strong keywords.
Alternatively, consider hiring a digital marketing firm to do it all for you. Besides building a list of long-tail keywords, your digital marketing expert can help you find out which specific keywords are most valuable. Plus, they can also gather intelligence on keywords that your competitors are using.
Document Data for Future Use
It is always good to keep records of everything you do. Archiving allows you access to past efforts or even use data for current or future projects. This is why it is wise to keep a tab on all the keywords that you discover. Also, it will reduce the need to repeat any keyword search.
The keywords will become very valuable to you. They can be used in every aspect of your digital marketing. This research that is done one-time and in the beginning, about your ideal client and what he or she searches, will be used in all your online content. You can use the keywords for the following:
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media
Ads
Videos
Audios
Articles
Blogs
Press Releases
Tags
Use a couple or more keywords from your keyword list every month. Just by simply adding one or more traffic methods to your existing traffic generating strategies can produce significant results.
Do Onsite Search Engine Optimization Updates
This is a one-time activity that will that will transform your business website significantly. Your site will be changed from its current state to a search engine-optimized version that will be very attractive to web crawlers.
It is a very important step that gets your business website ranked as high as possible in search engine results. Many website owners are not aware that while some features on a website may look aesthetically pleasing, they may not be appealing to a search engine. In fact, some of these fancy programming can be detrimental as they can produce negative results from search engines.
Analyze What You Have
First of all, you must analyze your current business website. Check the following items:
The look and feel of your business website; for example does it reflect the type of industry your business is in?
Is it attractive to your target audience? Etc.
Is your business website optimized for visitors?
Is your business website optimized for search engines?
Does your site work for multiple browsers?
These days, more and more people surf the Internet on their mobile phones. The small screen on a mobile phone does present some problems with viewing the content of a website. To meet this need, many websites are now done with responsive web design.
This is a form of design that provides optimal viewing experience for the user. Websites with responsive web design adapts the layout according to the device used. As such, here is one more item for your checklist:
Is your website with responsive web design?
Critical Components of a Good Website
Over the years, when we did audits of many a website, we did discover many critical components missing. It is quite disappointing to find some web creators not providing their best for their clients, or perhaps they too are not aware of these critical components. Nevertheless, do know that these components are essential for the success of your business website.
They will make your business website appealing not only to visitors but also search engines. Go through this list and make sure all are in place. If not, include them immediately for the best results.
Easy Navigation
A website that is easy to use will encourage your visitor to stay a little longer and explore the site. Keep the navigation straightforward; for example, clear menu options that are always displayed at the same location on every web page.
Vital Information ‘Above The Fold’
Not everyone will bother to scroll down, go to a next page, or click on a link to another page unless you made it so enticing for them to from the home page. So it is best to place all the important information on the home page for the visitor.
All Links Working
It is frustrating to visitors and search engines when a link is broken. Make sure all links are working well at all times.
Home Page, Products Page, Services Page, Testimonials, About Page and Contact Form
Do ensure that, at the very least, all these pages exist on your business website, and filled with useful and timely content.
Lead Visitors Through The Site
Once you captured your visitor’s attention, lead them to where you want them to go on your site. Do this in order to eventually have them make a purchase.
Specific Instructions
Be specific with any instructions on any page on your business website.
Multiple Calls To Action
Encourage your visitors to take action throughout your site. Of course, do it elegantly. Don’t be loud, or scream at your audience, or be tacky. Use motivating words like ‘Call now’, ‘Buy now’, etc.
Pictures Used Correctly
Pictures should match the content. Better if it provides explanation of the content. After all, a picture tells a thousand words. Using pictures correctly includes proper sizing of pictures as well as captions for it.
Non-Distracting Design
The design should not distract the visitor from the content, unless the design is the content. For example, do not use animated background that is too distracting. Also, keep the fonts simple and standard. Do not use funny looking fonts, try to avoid italics, and preferably do not underline any text.
Dark Text On A Light Background
Studies have found that people find it easy to read when the text is dark and the background is of a light color. Keep that in mind, and make it standard on your business website.
Multiple Ways To Contact
A contact number and/or email address should be available on every page, discreetly and elegantly positioned at the same area. This makes it easy for the visitor should he or she decides to contact you.
Trust Factors
Your business website is the best place to showcase your trust certificates and awards. If possible, find a way to highlight this on your home page. If not, have at least a link to web page that features these.
Testimonials
Nowadays, testimonials are displayed on the home page, especially websites with responsive web design. Some even make the testimonials displayed using a slideshow. Testimonials are a great way to build trust for your brand. When visitors see what others have to say about your brand, they feel confident to do business with you.
Personal Branding
As discussed in Your Simple Digital Marketing Plan chapter, a strong brand is a valuable asset. Besides a logo and a slogan, there are many other elements that make up your brand.
For example, in your About Us section of your website, pictures of you, the management, and your staff communicates who you are, as a brand, to your audience. Other forms of communicating your brand include branding vehicles, online videos, audios, social media, and many more.
Optimization for Keywords
I have said it before, and I will say it again for I believe repetition to be a good learning style. You must take the time and effort to do keyword research. This is so that your keywords are optimized properly.
Using good keywords is a huge plus for search engines. For example, one way of using your keywords is to have them in your business website with title tags, meta tags, the URL, the headers and description of a web page.
Also, ensure that all the text on your business website is search engine-optimized with strategic use of keywords. At the same time, beware of duplicate content. This can have detrimental effect on search results of your website.
Relevancy
Search engines love it when websites contain content that has relevance to the main subject of the website. You can create relevancy by starting broad, and then drilling down within themes. Tip: Always optimize for one keyword per page. Don’t do it for multiple keywords per page.
Lastly, Avoid Flash and Frames
These do not add any value to your business website, especially when optimizing for search engines.
By now, with the implementation of the above critical components, your business website should naturally move closer to the top of search engine results.
But a word of caution here. Do not just rely on this alone.
You need to also implement the other tasks in your digital marketing plan; for example, maintaining a blog, regular updates on social networks, implementing other Web 2.0 applications, submitting articles with links back to your site in order to increase traffic, building quality one-way links, etc.
There are two more one-time tasks to discuss, and it will be in the second part of this article. It is in two parts because having all the information in one part is too long, and I have had feedback that it is too much to read at one go.
Your Customers Are Searching For You Online … Can They Find You?
Are you a local business owner? Or a business targeting a specific region?
Over the past few years, have you noticed a drop in demand for your products or services?
Or perhaps you are a new business, and sales has been really slow or not at all?
In my years of experience, I have met many businesses that were facing one of the above two situations. Of course, there were many other situations a business could be facing. Some businesses could be doing well and yearn to do better but do not know how to achieve that growth.
Whichever one of these situations that you are in, this series – How To Promote A Business Online – is for you. You will learn ways to increase brand exposure, Enhance Brand Awareness, draw traffic to your website, engage with people who are interested in what you are selling, and tactics to heighten the chances of converting prospects into customers.
To help you achieve all that, I will share with you the following:
The basics of digital marketing
The types of internet marketing strategies that can help market your business
As well as helping you to come up with a Simple Digital Marketing Plan and put the tasks and tactics in the plan to work for you.
Before all that, I will share with you why traditional marketing doesn’t work anymore, and why it is imperative that you start marketing online.
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Traditional Marketing Is Not Working Anymore
The Internet revolution is well under way, and the way to reach and communicate with your target audience must change. Today, your target audience that you seek has become increasingly fragmented due to new technologies that allow them to experience media in myriad platforms.
The fact of the matter is that traditional media such as television, radio, magazines, and newspapers are well on their way to the fate of the dinosaurs. Advertising on traditional media to reach your market may work in the past, but it is no longer as effective as before, and will not bring in business as expected. This is particularly true for print media that many people do not pay attention to anymore.
Businesses that are still using such outdated forms of advertising are throwing away many thousands in expenses on ineffective marketing every month. It is easy to do a quick survey to find out if this is true. Simply ask a few people where their copy of the Yellow Pages is. The answers will astound you.
Some may say that they have it in some storage area, gathering dust. Some may have thrown it away (may even cite waste of space as a reason). How does that make you feel about the money you’re spending?
So where are people going to when they need to find products and service?
People are shopping online
The answer is the Internet.
They are scouring the Internet to connect with their friends and family, and search for products and services they need. So businesses that want to reach out to existing customers and have new customers find them simply must have a quality online presence. And this means not just having an ineffective website that looks like it was done as a school project.
Today, most websites are well thought out. The design, layout and content are interesting and informative. The interface and experience are personable. Due to the fact that many people now surf the Internet on mobile devices, many websites have become what is known as responsive websites.
All these effective websites utilize a myriad of savvy digital marketing techniques that improve their search rankings and make them stand out from their competitors. For example, if you have a site with no keywords in it and almost no backlinks, you are missing the boat and will never get to the top of the search engine results.
And having a website alone is not enough for your business nowadays. You need to be on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, Youtube, etc., where your target audience is hanging out and communicating. Social media enables you to reach out and communicate with your target audience on a personal level. This is very powerful, and has never been available with traditional media.
Of course, besides having a website and being on social networks, there are other digital marketing techniques and strategies that you must do. We will discuss and explore all these in the rest of this series.
Why Is Internet Marketing Important?
In every form of media, there are specific marketing strategies that apply to that particular media. The Internet is no exception. In order to get traffic to your website, you need to stay on top of these digital marketing strategies, and implement them. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on one of the most efficient and lucrative sources to get new customers for your business.
In my years of experience, I have encountered many local business owners who did not apply any digital marketing strategies to grow their customer base. This is simply because they have no idea what needs to be done.
It is understandable as digital marketing is so new and foreign to most business owners. They are so busy running their business, managing their staff, and taking care of their clients. And that is all right as they should rightly focus on their core business.
Which strategies to use?
Some don’t even know where to start. Most don’t have the time to learn what digital marketing is all about. Plus, it is constantly evolving. So to keep themselves updated takes up quite a lot of time and effort.
Then there are those who know and understand the value of digital marketing, and how it can bring increasing returns to their businesses. They are aware of some digital marketing strategies, but don’t have the time and resources to do it. Like the other business owners mentioned in the previous paragraph, they are bogged down by the running of their business, staff management, and providing the best services and products to their existing clients. They, too, know that this is an arena where it is always evolving.
To find out if you are familiar with digital marketing, ask yourself the following questions:
What are long-tailed keywords?
What is keyword density?
What is Web 0? And Web 3.0?
How do you set up an autoresponder?
How do you change the tags on your website?
How do you create videos and audios for your website?
If you don’t know the answers to the above questions, don’t panic. It is okay.
It is absolutely normal. You, like most business owners, have wisely spent your time focusing on your core role; that is to manage your business and ensure it become successful. You have mastered other aspects of your business that were crucial to your business.
But now, you need to learn more!
It is time for you to discover what needs to be done in order to have an effective Digital Marketing Plan for your business.
The Importance of Having a Good Online Presence
Today, most local business owners are running lean and hungry. Hungry for more business. Hungry for that sales phone to ring. Hungry for more customers to walk in through the door. But the economic and business landscape is always changing, always in constant flux.
Today, reaching your target market cost-effectively is nothing like it was a decade or decades ago. Business owners need to understand these changes, adapt accordingly, and meet the challenges they are facing. This is essential to the survival of your business
Case Study:
In 2011, I was the newly appointed Business Development Manager of a local business that was spending thousands of dollars on Yellow Pages advertising. The business has been doing that for the previous past years, and nobody was tracking if this expenditure was bringing in any new customers.
A quick survey and phone calls to our current clientele proved that not one customer used the Yellow Pages to search and find that local business. Needless to say, when it was time to renew the advertising contract, I put a stop to it, and saved thousands of dollars for the company.
There would be those who are not savvy at digital marketing, and would be at a loss as to what to do with that big budget so as to get the best possible returns on the company’s marketing investment. All that money could be poured into online strategies that might either fall flat or backfire. The learning curve is sharp and unforgiving.
As someone who had been practicing digital marketing for 25 years, I knew and understood that this big budget needs to be re-channeled to advertising on the Internet so as to get the best possible returns on the company’s marketing investment.
Just like me, there are entrepreneurs who realize that the Internet is the future. In August 2014, Google reported that they now process “over 40,000 search queries every second on average, which translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide”. This number grows by more than 40% to 60% each year. In fact, 81% of people search online before they make a purchase.
What is more important is that a large majority of these people search online for local services and products before making a buying decision. Very few turn to the local newspaper to find what they want. Even fewer think of the Yellow Pages anymore. This is why it is essential that local business owners need to have an online presence, and have effective digital marketing in place.
Unlimited Potential for Growth
Understanding how digital marketing works, and using the tactics and techniques correctly to promote your business can easily result in huge increase in sales. When your digital marketing strategies work effectively and there is increased sales, you create positive impact on your own business that can have positive effect on the world around you.
When you encourage more money to be spent locally by having a steady stream of new customers, you also improve your local economy. There could be fewer downsizing and layoffs. Sometimes, new jobs could even be created.
High Potential Exponential Profit Growth
In fact, no matter how the economy changes, because you are able to reach those who are interested to buy from you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and your business will grow. And that is what effective marketing is all about!
Digital marketing has the potential for exponential profit growth. If you’re not ready for your business to double or even more, stop reading now!
Important Statistics You Need To Know
Statistics are great for understanding your customers. Here are some statistics that show you how people are using the Internet to search for what they want:
Over 5 billion searches occur every day, and 1 in 3 searches is local.
91.5% of people searching on Google will choose a business that is on the first page of their search results.
5% of clicks go to the #1 ranked site of search results.
6% of clicks go to the #2 ranked site of search results.
4% of clicks go to the #3 ranked site of search results.
From the above statistics, you can see how important it is to have a strong online presence, to be ranked high for search results. Thus, it is imperative that your business develop and implement an effective digital marketing strategy. This is so that those looking for products and services that you provide can find you. Even when they don’t know your brand or business name.
Making Changes to Your Online Marketing Methods
You would like to get maximum results from your digital marketing plan and strategy. To achieve that, you will need to make some pretty drastic changes to your digital marketing methods. To help you with that, here are some insider facts you need to know.
First, it is a fact that there is a potential to grow your business using digital marketing. And that potential can be phenomenal, no matter what industry you are in. You just have to learn what needs to be done, and cultivate this opportunity.
There are six extremely useful digital marketing techniques that you should be doing. Again, you have to learn these techniques. Then put them into practice and you will be able to outperform your competitors quickly.
Have you ever heard of Online Local Domination? Well, this is a goal you need to accomplish. And you can do by learning and mastering a four step process. When you follow the four step process diligently, you will have higher chances of getting the results you desire.
Every marketing effort needs a good plan, and has the best results because of it. You will need to create a Digital Marketing Plan and follow it as closely as possible. A plan is essential for managing all the crucial tasks that can take your business to the top of the search results as well as attract new customers for you.
It is critical to do an Audit of Your Past Marketing Efforts, if any. By taking the time to thoroughly analyze what you have been doing in the past, you are better equipped to create and implement a new and better digital marketing plan. Also, you can measure the progress by comparing past results to results from your new digital marketing efforts.
Most business owners can get overwhelmed by the number of tasks required from the new digital marketing plan. This need not be so. You just need to make the tasks more reasonable by breaking them down into bite-sized chunks. A good place to start is to do the Tasks that are One-Time Jobs. Especially those that are also the foundation of your digital marketing plan. For example, content for your website. Make them into a checklist and have fun ticking them off.
Once the one-time tasks are done, focus next on the tasks that repeat. These would be the long-term commitments that require monthly, weekly, or even daily attention. For example, blog updates or Facebook postings.
Speaking of these long-term tasks that repeat and require constant attention, you should consider hiring a vendor to do this role. Perhaps even the entire digital marketing plan. The reason is these tasks take up a lot of time. You need to do research to find fresh, interesting and relevant articles or spend time creating your own unique ones. Then there is the copywriting to be done. This itself is an art.
Good copywriting captures people’s attention and inspires them to act; e.g. visit your website or make a purchase. Plus, good pictures and videos not only captivate an audience but also reinforce your brand image. Now, videos are the choice form of communicating with your target audience. Videos are great as they can appeal to the senses, touches the emotions, and is easy to digest. I believe the future is Video Marketing, and will share more about this later. All this require the right digital marketing partner with the right experience, expediency and skills to help you make your digital marketing a success.
Finally, you need to create a system for tracking the results of your digital marketing efforts. More importantly, it can determine and improve your Return On investment (ROI) thereby measuring the increase in your business income.
This is just an example of how tracking your digital marketing results are useful. There are, of course, many other ways to track and measure the performance of your digital marketing efforts. By doing so, you know how your business is growing, and how to further enhance the growth through digital marketing.
That’s all I have for the introduction. I know it’s lengthy. I did think of breaking this introduction into two parts, but thought better not to. After all, it is an introduction. And also I was concerned that when done in two parts, the essence of the points may be diluted.
Infographic by Website Builder
People are shopping online
Which strategies to use?
High Potential Exponential Profit Growth