Welcome to 2022, where the vast majority of businesses now rely on their online presence to grow their customer bases and generate sales. Suppose you have an entrepreneurial mindset and dream of pushing your brand toward sustained success. In that case, you will HAVE to embrace online marketing to have any chance of achieving your dreams (unless you are in a very specific niche).
But with so many businesses online, many of which are in direct competition with your own, how will potential customers cut through all the clutter on the internet to decide on your product or service? There are millions and millions of websites, promotional emails, social media accounts, and pay-per-click ads for consumers to sort through.
How will you stand out from the rest to build your customer base and increase sales? Maximizing your online marketing efforts is the key to generating interest in your brand. To do so effectively, take try out the following tips to renew your online presence.
Simple UI for the Website
When a user navigates to your website, there are a few things that they want to see; an attractive design, helpful content, and a pleasant user interface. If your website is difficult or confusing, most visitors will quickly click away.
The online space is a world of instant gratification, and if users don’t see what they came for immediately, they will look for it somewhere else. A simple yet pleasant user experience can keep a website visitor on your page for a longer period, increasing your chances of producing a sale or follow-up action.
If you do not have the know-how to improve the UX and UI of the website yourself, look for a third party who can do it for you. It will be worth the investment to improve your website and promote the brand’s online presence.
Create Excitement and Engagement on Social Media
Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are crucial channels for many businesses. However, not all brands are using these platforms effectively. Some simply use them as another method of putting out marketing pieces, posting regularly, or sharing helpful articles. While that is fantastic for drawing in followers, it fails to take advantage of the unique opportunities that these channels provide.
Social media are meant to be social. This means actively engaging with potential customers. You can do this by providing valuable content for followers, of course. But you also need to create interactions with them. Join the groups that your target audience is involved with.
Be active in conversations. Host fun contests for followers where the winners can get branded merchandise as prizes, such as custom tote bags or t-shirts with your logo on them (on their own, promotional products are a fantastic offline marketing method, especially for local businesses).
Your social media accounts should be spaces of connection and community, not just another channel where you can talk to people. Use social media in the way they are meant to be used, and you will see more loyalty and buy-in from your followers.
Social media is a powerful platform to demonstrate the incredible features your products offer so more people are motivated to make a purchase. Use social media platforms to share images and videos with customers that showcase the unique product features, giving potential buyers an opportunity to see the item in detail and decide if it fits their needs. For products like technology and software, consider using informative explainer videos to help the viewers understand the features of the product by breaking down complex topics into manageable chunks. By collaborating with a professional tech video production company you can get full concept design, pre-production, and post-production services for video content which leaves you with time to focus on your other marketing strategies.
Avoid Spammy or Gimmicky Emails
If you have an email account, then you are likely inundated with hundreds of emails a day that you don’t even open. Check the promotions or social tab on your Gmail account, and let me know what those numbers are. The reason these emails so often go unopened is they all sound the same. “Hurrrrryyyyyy Up to 75% off!” “Last chance, extra 25% off ends tonight.” “Stay in Shape. Discover something NEW.” Half of the time, I have no idea what the email is selling based on the subject line.
Subject lines are the lifeblood of successful email campaigns. It is a very short statement that needs to be compelling enough to make someone curious but not so gimmicky or spammy that it blends in with every other promotional email. Hire a copywriter if you have to who can generate punchy subject lines that make viewers think, “hmmm, I need to see more.” Otherwise, your email marketing will continue to fall flat.
Stay Current on Advertising Trends
In terms of online advertising, pay-per-click is a very common strategy. These ads can be found on Google, Facebook, Instagram, or other websites. Businesses pay for the campaign based on the number of people who click on the ad. Many companies use these channels to target specific audiences online.
But knowing how to create an effective online ad is crucial. Trends are constantly shifting, and formats get old quickly. Recent trends include artificial intelligence, vertically shot videos, audience targeting, and voice search ads.
Test, Test, Test
If you are not testing your various online marketing efforts, then what are you even doing? Your goal for every campaign, if it isn’t to increase sales, is to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Conduct A/B testing to figure out the best headlines for social media ads or the most effective subject lines for a particular email. Plan your KPIs so you can easily measure which campaigns were successful and what made them work.
The more you try things out and test various online marketing channels, the more you will know when you craft the next campaign. Even when you design the perfect strategy, you should recognize that audience needs can change quickly, and that campaign might flop if repeated a year from now.
