Marketing is as old as humankind. And it's still evolving. The challenge for small business owners is knowing what works. Especially for digital marketing.
Tactics by themselves do not constitute a marketing strategy, but the tactics used in a good strategy must be effective in and of themselves.
The More Things Change... What Works in Digital Marketing Today
Some things in marketing never change. Like having a quality product or service to offer. Or doing your very best to serve your customers and clients each and every time.
And, while the concepts and principles of marketing - and digital marketing in particular - tend to remain the same over time, the details and specifics change and evolve. So, with that in mind, let's jump into this round-up of expert tips and insights for the best digital marketing tactics at this point on the evolutionary timeline.
SEO Marketing and Best Practices
One of more comforting facts for those who just really don't like change, especially when it comes to the mysterious realm of search engine optimization, is that some of the best tactics are the same ones we were told to focus on for years.
Voice Search
For example, here's what one industry source shared recently:
Write long-form content that targets long-tail question keywords.
Optimize for voice search. I know I know. It’s been in every marketing trends list for the past three years. But it’s true. No one is going to type that long question... into a search bar. They’re going to speak it. So you’ve got to optimize for voice search. (WordStream)
Optimize Blog Titles
When it comes to improving the traffic from your company's blog posts, simple things matter:
By increasing the effectiveness of your titles, you can increase click-through rate (and, in effect, traffic). One way to do this is by using tools like this headline analyzer to see what you can do to improve your headline.
Better yet, you can always analyze your existing blog posts to see which headlines aren't doing enough heavy lifting. By improving the click-through rate, you'll be able to get more traffic from that asset without a heavy editorial lift. (HubSpot)
Use Visual Content
Then there's the old maxim of "I'll believe it when I see it." which, for SEO purposes, goes hand in hand with, "I wanna see it."
Research has shown that people prefer visual content to plain text. You just have to look at the growth of image-focused platforms Pinterest and Instagram to see the proof of this. Google, Pinterest, and several other companies are also investing in visual search technology. Images are already returned for 19% of searches on Google, and 62% of millennials say they are more interested in visual search than any other new technology. (MarketingInsiderGroup)
It's always a good reminder to see what the 800-pound search engine gorilla Google considers when it ranks your content and website. This handy graphic from WordStream does a fine job of that.
Social Media Marketing and Tips
Marketing on social media platforms and channels is certainly not a new thing in the digital marketing realm, but how to do effectively is, as they say, subject to change:
Here are some starter tips:
- Treat your profiles like listings (Facebook especially—it’s one of the top online business directories).
- Add your business to Facebook Places so you (and others) can tag your location in posts.Use location-based hashtags on Instagram and Twitter.
- Share local news articles on Facebook.Share industry insights from influencers in your geographic community on LinkedIn. (WordStream)
Social Commerce
Even though "social media" is primarily just that - a medium for online social and community platforms - marketing and commerce on these platforms has become more acceptable and, one can now argue, much more the norm:
Social commerce isn’t new, but it is finally becoming a mainstream form of shopping. Brands are becoming savvier than ever about leveraging influencer marketing, creating ads that fit seamlessly into social media feeds, and integrating their ecommerce platforms with social media channels. Research by Statista shows that social commerce is on the rise for 2022 and not slowing down any time soon. (WordStream)
Video Marketing
Video has overtaken blogs and infographics as the number one form of media used in content strategy. So not only are consumers looking for audio content; they're looking for video content as well. And savvy marketers are getting ROI in the form of engagement and repurpose-ability. (HubSpot)
And , as our friends at HubSpot also note, video is flexible. You can create videos for YouTube, embed them on your blog, share item on social media, attach to the end of emails, and more.
Content Marketing in 2022
Content marketing consists of everything that can be categorized as content including video, graphics, images, audio, and written words. And when it comes to the written content we must consider what we write, where we publish it, and how we write:
One thing to avoid in 2022 is writing too formally. This means using proper grammar always. It also means not varying sentence length. It also means not being repetitive, using complex or boring words, or being too serious. However, it is not hard to learn how to write conversationally. This entails going against traditional grammar, but it will help you to attract customers. (WordStream)
Tell Stories for Fun and Profit
As HubSpot explains in one of their posts, the human brain is programmed to crave, seek out, and respond to well-crafted narrative -- that'll never change. In other words, humans love to hear or read stories:
If you have an About page on your website that functions only to say what you do and who you do it for, crafting a compelling narrative is a great way to uplevel that page and resonate with your readers. For maximum effectiveness, consider following a storytelling framework such as Simon Sinek's Find Your Why methodology, Donald Miller's Storybrand, or the classic Hero's Journey. (HubSpot)
Video Again - Telling Stories to Sell
There's more than one way to tell a good story. And children's book authors and filmmakers, for example, have been using visual means to tell good stories for over a hundred years. So, the proof is out there:
In 2021, 86% of businesses used video marketing (up from 85% last year), and 93% of marketers who do use video say it's an essential part of their marketing efforts. When you focus on using video, awareness of your brand grows much more rapidly. Using video will increase your sales and help you build relationships. (Entrepreneur)
Ramping Up Your Digital Marketing Efforts with Effective Tactics
Marketing your business is really a never-ending pursuit.
The trap that many small business owners fall into is letting their marketing efforts lag when times are good and business is booming. Often, they can be so busy making money that they feel they don't have time to put into actively marketing their businesses.
But boom times and good times never last.
And when the cycle comes round to the downturn and the slowdown, many owners jump into overdrive on their marketing, hoping to shore up sales. Except that the lag time between an effective marketing impression - one that will lead to a sale or new customer - and the actual sale, is often quite long.
Better to have a constant, consistent, and effective marketing strategy in play at all times. And online digital marketing was made for that.
Digital Marketing is Easier with BroadVision Marketing
Despite the plethora of powerful and effective tactics and tools that can be employed for your digital marketing efforts, it's crucial to remember that tactics do not a strategy make.
Long term digital marketing results won't happen by uploading a few videos on social media or posting an occasional blog article on your company website. And, as we've pointed out in previous posts here, no amount of "random acts of marketing" will serve as a substitute for an effective inbound marketing strategy.
Your audience must be exposed to consistent, regular, and relevant content for a period of time before they feel comfortable reaching out to you. And this needs to happen on a variety of platforms and channels.
The good news is that you don't have to figure out how to do it all by yourself!
That's because one of the best investments you can make with your marketing budget is partnering with a reliable digital marketing firm like BroadVision Marketing. We live and breath digital marketing and have decades of experience with online and Interment marketing.
So, click below to learn more about BroadVision Marketing and our proven suite of inbound marketing services so you can make an informed decision.
Or call BroadVision Marketing at 707-799-1238.
