If you’re a small business owner, having a solid internet marketing plan can increase your name and brand recognition. We all want to be on the cutting edge of technology and no one likes to feel as if lagging behind. The real obstacle is how do we prioritize any online marketing activity? How to develop a consistent workflow process in today’s complex marketing system?
This post aims to help business owners to determine what it takes to start and execute an integrated online marketing strategy.
Step 1
Develop your brand name
When you expand your brick-and-mortar business to the online world, a brand name and image is important. Your brand makes you recognizable among various competitors.
Step 2
Determine your goals
What are your objectives of marketing strategy?
• Launch a new product/service
• Reach a new genre of audience
• Build your email list
• Promote an event
• Get sales
• Create an online community for your target market
• Educate staff or clients about your product
Without a clear and an in-depth understanding of your goals, it’s nearly impossible to prioritize the different marketing strategies.
Step 3
Establish your target market
An important step is to narrow down the target market segment you want to focus on. Who are the people you want to reach? Decide who your demographic is, to target it with your strategy.
Step 4
Study your competition
Know who your competitors are and how they promote to get an insight about the market. Watching your competitors clue you of any changes coming along that you may not be aware of. Using competition as a means to measure or compare is vital to strengthen your marketing message.
Step 5
Identify the problem statement and provide a solution
The reason that someone will buy your product is to solve a particular problem that they face. So, how does your product solve that problem? How is your solution superior to that of competitor’s? Why do consumers choose you over someone else? Why do people engage with your brand? What makes you uniquely qualified to provide the best solution?
Step 6
Develop a methodology to identify appropriate marketing channels
The next step is to determine the appropriate channels to invest in to increase your brand recognition. There are countless ways to do this such as pay-per-click purchases; organic search engine listing ranking; e-mail newsletters; submission of articles; regular post entries; series of podcasts; press releases with new tips, information for your target market and lots more. Some of the common strategies for all business types include:
• Create social media accounts and assign someone to launch interesting content to attract followers.
• Create or hire someone to write articles, mentioning the popular keywords related to your product, and must also include tips or advice to introduce people to your product.
• Create videos of people using your product and share those videos at YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook or website to draw interest to your website.
• Communicate your brand image or videos on banner ads.
Step 7
Track the performance of your campaigns
An easiest way is to do this is to utilize Google Analytics tool. It allows you to evaluate the performance of your strategy and see which ones had the best return on investment. If the channel has not shown the potential to grow, you need to determine whether it needs to be reallocated or not. Also, consider about starting other marketing activities that have previously not been part of priority to properly integrate your marketing activities with new channels.
Conclusion
With a strong online marketing strategy, you will reap benefits that grow your business by leaps and bounds. Which marketing channels are you using to enhance online presence? How your marketing strategies have changed over the period of time? Let us know in comments!