No matter what type of business you have or what kind of company you run, digital marketing has become an essential part of any successful business development strategy. More than ever before, you have a chance to connect directly with your potential customers, existing clients, and even your peers in an authentic and specifically targeted way. As you prepare your budget for the upcoming year, now is the time to look at your marketing goals and how you plan to use digital marketing strategies to grow and scale your business efficiently.
As 2022 quickly approaches, here are the top 6 digital marketing strategies that can help take your business to the next level:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you are struggling to get people to visit your website organically and regularly, this is where search engine optimization (SEO) can skyrocket your businesses traffic and revenue. SEO is a way to strategically optimize your website so search engines can easily find it and include it in search engine results pages (SERPs) for queries (searches) that are submitted by users which relate to your business. It is a way to help potential customers searching for the product or service you provide find your website.
Although giving users what they want might sound obvious, you would be surprised to find out how many businesses fail to properly optimize their website through the utilization of SEO. By providing valuable content and an easy way to navigate the site, companies see more traffic and conversions on their websites. Benefits of applying SEO tactics to your company’s website include:
- Increased visibility and online presence.
- Increased organic traffic to your website.
- Increased leads/customers garnered from your website.
- An established customer/consumer trust in your brand.
- Higher organic search keyword(s) rankings.
- Overall increased ROI for your business.
- Enhances any PPC and/or paid advertising campaign success.
SEO is an on-going, long-term strategy that takes time, careful attention to detail, and the right expertise to make an impactful difference. It is not a one-size-fits-all strategy or a paint-by-numbers approach to digital marketing. Search engines, such as Google and Bing, periodically release algorithm updates that could change your website’s ranking for your most important keywords. A professional digital marketer with extensive expertise in SEO will stay on top of these changes and can consistently adapt and adjust strategies in order to keep your website on top of search results. As far as digital marketing strategies go, SEO is by far the most important for establishing long-term success.
2. PPC and Paid Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is an advertising model that affords prospective advertisers the ability to advertise their business and/or services on a plethora of advertisement platforms for a fee. As the name suggests, advertisers pay for each click their ad receives on these platforms (and oftentimes an abundance of “partner” platforms within these platforms). These ads are relevant to what the user may be searching for and displayed in a visibly ideal position on the page to garner new customers and encourage clicks and engagement.
Using PPC and paid advertising as part of your digital marketing plan can provide several opportunities for your company. One significant benefit is that you can create highly targeted campaigns to reach the right audience wherever they may be located. Although sometimes you may not get as many clicks as people organically landing on your site (generated by good SEO), the clicks you do get are usually active shoppers who are ready to make a purchase, contact your team with specific inquiries, or learn more about your business and/or products offered.
Paid advertising efforts also help to increase traffic to your website and capture qualified leads who are eager to close the deal. You also have the advantage of collecting measurable and trackable data and analytics to help you understand what your potential customers want, which ads are performing the best, and what direction to take going forward. It is a great way to engage with users and provide useful information that may just be the solution they have been looking for.
3. Digital Content Writing
Creating fresh and unique content for your website can easily be overlooked when there seems to be so many other things to do. However, it would be a huge mistake to ignore this essential piece of the digital marketing puzzle. Good content writing gives your brand a voice that connects with your audience. It helps convey your expertise and authority within your industry and provides valuable tips and insight to those searching for more information. Most importantly, search engines value fresh, relevant, and informative content higher than anything else when deciding which websites to rank the highest on page one.
Regardless of what types of products or services your business offers, publishing relevant and insightful content will help you develop a strong online presence. You create opportunities for engagement and retention with customers who relate to your content. Types of digital online content are:
- Web pages.
- Blog posts.
- How-to articles.
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs).
- Paid advertisements.
- Social media posts.
- Press releases.
- Newsletters.
- Journalistic articles.
- White papers or industry guidelines.
Developing strong content will ultimately build a loyal audience and increased brand recognition. Working with an experienced content writer who understands digital marketing strategies ensures you get quality pieces that can make a difference. It will also support your SEO marketing efforts by putting you in a good position to acquire the proper backlinks and organic traffic.
4. Social Media Marketing & Management
Of course, social media is a huge part of building your company’s brand identity. It creates a platform to speak directly to your potential customers or clients and gives them the unique ability to engage with you in a very direct way. The most popular social media platforms for businesses include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and, most recently, TikTok.
When managed the right way, social media marketing is a powerful tool you should be using in 2022 if you are not already doing so. If your business is already active on social media, there is always room for improvement, innovation, and creativity. Social media can also connect you with influencers and user-generated content that can help boost your reach, trustworthiness, and engagement.
As previously mentioned, effectively managing your social media accounts is the key to unlocking their potential. This involves more than simply posting occasional images and liking other users’ posts from time to time. Social media marketing consists of planning a strategic posting schedule with creative copy, images, and videos. It means dedicating time to engage with your followers and using trends strategically to create buzz and drive traffic to your website. Additionally, you will most likely need a social media advertising element to help you connect with your desired target audience in a meaningful way.
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing has been a go-to digital marketing strategy in the past as more and more consumers have moved to eCommerce and purchasing items online during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a way to keep their audience updated on special deals, discount codes, new products, and general information about the company, businesses should think about using email marketing as we head into 2022.
However, there is a fine line between successful email marketing and becoming a nuisance in a potential customer’s inbox. Sending too many emails could quickly come across as spam and create a negative association with your brand. This is where it is helpful to work with professional digital marketers to find that delicate balance to keep your customers hooked, while also ensuring you abide by all online email marketing guidelines. It could be the difference between your customers wanting to work with you again and pushing them away with overly aggressive advertising. You also want your emails to have a professional layout, easy navigation, and proper functionality to take users to the right page when clicking through it.
6. Interactive Marketing
A good website is defined by its functionality, responsiveness, and ease of navigation when a user is looking for something they need. But is this enough? It has never been more important than now to improve your website’s user experience to attract new customers and build brand loyalty and satisfaction. A new and innovative way to do this is to create opportunities in which the user can interact with the website and engage with your brand.
Some examples of interactive marketing you can include on your website or social media platforms are:
- Quizzes.
- Short questionnaires.
- Fun games.
- Insightful polls.
- Interactive videos.
- Contests or raffles.
Showing immediate results to quizzes or short polls provides back-and-forth communication that is quickly becoming an essential way to create a fun and unique user experience. It gives users added value when visiting your website. As a bonus, it will also give you measurable data and honest insight to learn more about your customers and the people who are visiting your site. In the end, it could assist in the success of other aspects of your digital marketing efforts and help you improve your products and services.
Digital Marketing for Business Success
As we quickly move through 2021 and look forward to the new year, now is the time to reassess your approach to marketing your business. These 6 digital marketing strategies are a great place to start if you are ready to invest in your company’s success. Digital marketing is an excellent way to reach your audience while building your brand awareness and should be a key part of your overall marketing strategy going forward.
If you would like to learn more about the digital marketing services Salomone Digital Marketing offers and which tactics might work best for your company, contact our team today. Our experienced digital marketing professionals can help you develop a strategy that combines these elements to help you achieve your digital marketing goals for 2022!