5 Basic Online Marketing Tips
1. Influencer Marketing
The basic premise of influencer marketing revolves around marketing products and services to those people who hold sway over what other people choose to purchase. The type of market influence that this individual has varies and can be the result of specific expertise in an area, reputation and reputation or some sort of celebrity. Arguably, however, one of the most important type of influencer is the blogger and the vlogger. They are seen by followers as more authentic as the idea of the blog or vlog is to portray the idea that you are showing followers a glimpse into your real life. As such they are prime candidates for being targeted as influencers. Peer and influencer endorsement is on the rise as the public have lost a great deal of confidence in more traditional advertising and marketing, so convincing someone that they trust that your product or service is commendable is one excellent tactic and more credible than typical brand propaganda. Top vloggers can command thousands of pounds for simply reviewing a product, such is their sway among the new generation of consumers. Money need not always change hands – clever marketing that hints at benefits in key areas that are considered fashionable or de jour can be just as effective. Let’s suppose you’re selling smoothie makers and can boast that your machine is capable of blending raw veggies and raw vegetable diets were ‘in’ – this might attract bloggers and vloggers like bees to honey!
2. Use Social Media Daily and Consistently
Signing up for a company social media page is a great first step, but that’s all it is. You must keep the page maintained as you would a well-manicured garden. Don’t fall for Facebook’s prompts to boost posts to start with as it usually isn’t worthwhile. Instead, present a consistent brand image without being wooden and build good connections with potential leads, other local businesses and the general public. Your posts should have an original voice, incorporate a variety of media from images to videos and even live streams. Use competitions and offer rewards for follows, retweets, shares etc. Establish when the best time to post and tweet is and create a rigid, religious pattern of use. Consistency and originality should be your two mantras here.
3. A Blog a Day Keeps Oblivion at Bay
Not wishing to be dramatic, but it really is almost impossible to overstate the importance of content writing when it comes to digital marketing strategy. You need to keep the content flowing and most importantly make it attractive, informative and answer pertinent questions that are being asked by your demographic in a concise, meticulous and interesting manner that may, if you approach things in the right way, catapult your page up into the higher echelons of Google’s rankings and gain you a featured snippet for your work. This all goes towards helping to cement your trust among the online community and present your company as a leading authority in your field.
4. Use the Moment!
Moment marketing is becoming big – very big. Even the most technophobic sort is probably familiar with the idea of ‘going viral’ and when an incident or event does send Twitter and Facebook around the bend then the clever companies jump on this, resulting in presenting their brands to a breadth of demographic they may never have reached before. What, specifically do we mean when talking about moment or reactive marketing? Well, the best way to explain, perhaps is through an example. During the whole EU horse meat farce, the bookmaker (with a sense of humour) Paddy Power created an online cookbook, which they called "Cooking up Mischief – Six Delicious Horse Meat Recipes", which they placed alongside their news stories on the headline page. They even offered ‘Free Horse Burgers in Dublin city centre! You cannot buy that sort of publicity!
5. This Is A Local Shop, for Local People!
When coming up with a winning online strategy, ignore the importance of local search marketing at your peril. If you get most of your custom within, say a 100 mile radius you should definitely be looking at ways to maximise your standing in local search results. Make sure you include your address and a map on at least one page, use social media to publicise events and special openings or offers and importantly encourage and feature satisfied customers’ reviews.