Never has digital marketing been more important to a business than it is right now, but for business owners who aren't particularly tech savvy it can feel quite overwhelming to get to grips with.
But don't worry, I've got you. As someone who has spent the last decade building my own brand into a successful business via the power social media and digital marketing, I have plenty of tips to pass on which is why I recently started offering my social media management services to clients. But social media isn't the only thing to focus on when it comes to digital marketing. Here are my top 5 tips on increasing your client base with digital marketing.
1) Understand your ideal customer and their customer journey
The most important thing to do before you even begin with your digital marketing is to get really clear on exactly who you're targeting. Who is your ideal customer? Spend some time building up an image of the person they're likely to be - think about things like where they might live, how they spend their time, and what other companies they use. Doing this will be incredibly helpful when it comes to creating your marketing and social media content as you've built up a clear image of who you're pitching your product or service to. It will also be helpful when it comes to creating audience keywords to target your social media posts at.
Once you're clear on who your ideal customer is, spend some time thinking about their customer journey. How are they likely to first discover you, and what does their journey to you look like from then on? Put yourself in their shoes and trace the steps they'd need to take to contact you - for example, if they find you via a post on social media - how easy and accessible is it for them to find their way to your contact form? Tracing their customer journey will enable you to spot any potential issues that could be keeping business at bay.
2) Perfect your website SEO
Having a well-functioning website is crucial to the success of any business, but a website without an SEO strategy can be a wasted opportunity to maximise your businesses reach. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of ensuring that your website ranks highly in search engine results, which helps to increase traffic to your website and to maximise visibility of your business to potential customers. If this is something outside of your comfort zone it may be worth considering outsourcing for SEO services in order to see the best possible results.
3) Build an e-mail list & be consistent
Rather than focusing purely on social media or websites, it's also important to build a list of e-mail subscribers. These are likely to be existing customers or those who have contacted you previously, which can make them a great target for repeat business. Having an e-mail list means that you can market enticing offers and new launches to people who you already know have an interest in what you do. Try to email out to your list consistently but be careful to find the right balance between keeping yourself on their radar and annoying them with too many emails - you don't want to flood inboxes and end up with a lot of unsubscribes. Aim for 2 or 3 emails per month, and focus on the quality of the emails you send rather than the quantity.
4) Create engaging social media content with a clear CTA
Social media can be an ideal way to showcase your business to new clients, but in order to do that well you need to create engaging content that showcases your business in the best possible light. You should use a mix of photo and video content in order to be as visible as possible, and to encourage the algorithms to prioritise your content.Be aware of the different audiences you may reach on each social media platform and ensure content is targeted to them, and remember that most people use social media in a self-centric way so they're much more likely to engage with content that is relatable to them or solves a problem they have. Make sure that you're packing value into your content, and encouraging shares and comments by giving a clear Call To Action on every post. Something along the lines of "Tag a friend who would love this!" or "Don't forget to save this post for later" can be simple but so effective.
5) Measure your successes & failures
One of the most important things you can do with digital marketing is to keep an eye on what's working and what isn't. You can do this by paying attention to your social media insights and taking note of which posts got the most engaged and encouraged the most new followers, or by measuring how many opens and click throughs your marketing emails receive. Be sure to keep a record of your results so that you can compare them over time, and make changes to your digital marketing strategy according to what's working well and what isn't giving the desired results.
I hope these tips have been useful for you and your business goals going forward.
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