Now that you’ve spent a few weeks learning about digital marketing, it’s time to summarize the takeaways. It isn’t enough to know about each individual aspect; you should also understand how they connect and work together to provide the results you need to grow your business.
Build a Solid Foundation
The foundation and beginning of your digital identity is your website. Design a professional, credible website you can be proud of that properly portrays your business. Make sure to make it “mobile-friendly” so it’s appealing from any device, and fill it with useful content that provides the experience your target customers expect when navigating a website.
Get Found Locally
Now that you have the proper online foundation, it’s time to drive targeted local traffic to your website. That being said, not all traffic will do, because you offer a service or product in a very specific geographical area. Let the right customers find you by setting up and verifying local profiles on websites like Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Yelp, and Manta.
Consumers often use websites like these to find local businesses that offer the services they are looking for, and having these listings also helps boost your keyword ranking at the same time.
Make Social Media Work for You
You have a kick-butt website and you are starting to be found locally, but you would like to keep building your brand and interact more with your customer base. Leveraging social media will help you reach these goals and then some!
Create professional profiles on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram — whichever ones you think potential customers use — and connect them to your website to add credibility and professionalism to your online presence. This also gives your target customers the opportunity to be heard and for you to hear them.
If you engage your customers on a consistent basis, you should find yourself getting more new customers and keeping more of your existing client base.
Manage Your Reputation
Your Internet foundation is solid, your online presence is growing, and now you want potential customers to hear the great things your existing customers say about you.
Your next step is to setup profiles on review websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor and respond to any posted reviews that you haven’t acknowledged already. Whether the review was positive or negative, your response shows you care and gives you the chance to present your company in a positive light, regardless of the situation.
Want to take it a step further? Consider asking your customers to write reviews about their experiences with you in an effort to increase your reputation activity online.
Keep Up with the Changing Times
The Internet changes on a regular basis, which can be extremely frustrating. Even so, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest digital marketing trends to keep your business relevant online. Why spend the time and effort to develop a robust Internet footprint if you aren’t going to do the necessary work to maintain it?
Use Paid Search to Boost Results
Everything is going well. You are generating leads, and your online presence is as strong as it has ever been. Now is not the time to stop and rest on your laurels — it’s time to consider paid search, otherwise known as Google AdWords.
While pay-per-click campaigns do increase your digital marketing budget, they also generate more leads by placing highly targeted ads in front of Web searchers looking for the exact products and services you are promoting. Done right, AdWords should improve the short-term results of your digital marketing efforts.
Reach Out to Your Customers
Once you’ve found your place in the digital ecosystem, there are many ways to keep your customers in the loop. Blogs, for example, can be a powerful tool for multiple reasons. Consistently posting useful content on your website’s blog enhances ongoing SEO efforts and helps to maintain your hard-earned visibility.
Blogging also gives your customers a better user experience because you’re providing consistently updated information related to the services and products they are interested in. Helpful blogs also can draw more Web traffic, especially when businesses promote posts through social media or email newsletters.
Email marketing is another method for connecting with current and future customers. Once you’ve built a robust client base and have a long list of email contacts, which will certainly happen over time, take advantage of that useful data and send emails that educate them, inform them of new services, and ask them for referrals.
Ask for Help if You Need It
Digital marketing isn’t a fix-it-and-forget-it task. It is an ever-evolving creature that changes day in and day out. But rest assured that following the steps laid out in our “What is Digital Marketing” series will help your business succeed in the modern Internet-based world.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of digital marketing, The Web Guys can take care of it for you and remove that burden from your business life. From building your website to building your brand, we are here for you, each and every step of the way. Contact us at (317) 805-4933 for more information!
What is Digital Marketing?
Part 1: Building a Solid Foundation
Part 2: Joining the Local Search Community
Part 3: Managing Your Company’s Brand Online
Part 4: Managing Your Company’s Online Reputation
Part 5: Keeping Up on SEO
Part 6: Making the Most of PPC Campaigns
