In today's business marketing, there seem to be increasingly more focus on mastering social media as the tool of choice but so called "old school" digital marketing tactics being used in the past decade are still very relevant today albeit the methods. According to digital marketing principles, and knowing who your target customers are and how to engage them, below are the list of 10 of these digital marketing tools that are similar to the methods before the digital age but are still relevant to enable today's prospects who want to make their own informative decisions.
Without content there is nothing to draw the prospective client and good content is essential to attract prospects to engage and be converted to a sale. Well then, good content is king if you want to market your product successfully. In fact, good content has never been more important now than ever because of the highly competitive digital markets. Carefully crafted, engaging, written content that helps you stand out and sets you up as a reliable respected source of information is key to ensuring potential and loyal customers to visit your web site to buy or hire your products / services.
2. Videos That Make a Difference
Visuals attract more than written content and colour is the first thing that attracts us. Being visually attracted we are just simply drawn to images. This is the reason for our "addiction" to our smart phones / mobile devices and computers. With the throngs of social media available and on our mobile devices we are constantly staring at images and videos. Thus the success of YouTube, Instagram and the like. With such platforms , billions of users are available for you to market your products and services to them. The popularity of viral content of unusual , strange, scandalous or funny video clips are the stuff that gets virally circulated and get you the much needed traffic for you to market to.
3. Email Marketing
This is very essential for any marketing campaigns to be initiated, and to be able to continuously keep your mailing list interested and to market to them on a regular basis. If done properly, emailing to potential customers has a pretty high success rate. That means developing the right mailing list and creating the kind of copy that makes people want to click on links and find out more. It's important to build a mailing list from your websites. Buying mailing lists is not a bad thing but one may not achieve the desired results for the cost that one pays. Unless highly targeted I wouldn't recommend buying a list. On top of this the desired results will not be achieved if poor copy or not enough emails are sent out regularly. A good way to build a list is to ensure you have a good landing page on your website which will bring the prospect to a sales funnel that will eventually convert to a customer. It requires a good deal of thought and planning to work.
4. Landing Pages that Convert
Running a sales campaigns to get potential customers to interact with your site, requires a landing page that's designed to convince a visitor to want to sign up to your offer converting them into leads. With the plethora of other marketing opportunities out there it’s something that many businesses have managed to forget about. A well designed landing page that is engaging and leads to a persuasive call to action will get you the leads desired and it's vital in a marketing campaign.
Do not be deceived by some articles that indicate that SEO is not important and should not be bothered about anymore. Take note that without SEO - search engine optimization, your content will not be found and not get the right traffic you are targeting for. As long as you have a website and are posting content you need to optimize for the search engines.
Search engine optimization is a long term strategy and covers everything from keywords and inbound links to how you tag your videos and images or put in a site map. They are the building blocks of your business online and without them you stand less chance of being seen.
6. You Still Need a USP - unique selling point.
Whatever your product or service may be, you need a unique selling point to set you apart from the competition to stand out. Example: You may be selling a mop but yours has a device that dispensers cleaning agent. Whether you are engaging in traditional marketing or digital, you still need a unique selling point. It’s one of the most difficult things to come up with, especially in today’s markets that are often saturated with similar products. It can be a single feature or a combination of features that make it more attractive to your potential customers, but if you want to succeed in your marketing campaign, your USP has to be achieved and easily well received.
Every business strive to build a good reputation which in turn builds trust which prospects will rely on to make their buying decisions. Reviews are much sort after by potential buyers and there are various websites that offer reliable reviews such as Trip Advisor, Google reviews, Yelp, etc.
Customer reviews have grew more importantly with the growth of online shoppers. Can shoppers really trust them? Some businesses may opt to put fake ones on their sites you can be forgiven for thinking they are all but irrelevant but these are short lived because prospects who are online savvy will find the relevant reviews. Whether it's through website testimonials, online reviews, or on social media comments from customers, they are highly important. On the other hand a bad review will have disastrous effects. One bad review or testament on any social media can be costly so unlike in the old days, today's review gets circulated online a lot faster. Therefore managaing and making sure you keep track of one's reputation is vital.
8. Word of Mouth
Like in older days, word of mouth , is trusted as it comes from a friend or someone you trust. Today more than ever it's as important and word of mouth these days can spread very fast whether it be good or bad, especially with the large numbers of social media networks. Word of mouth are carried out through , social media groups, brand ambassadors, running competitions, posting online catchy / funny articles, or via videos especially with content that will go viral.
9. Data Analysis - Measurement Helps Develop Digital Strategies
Measurement is at the core of effective digital marketing. Indeed, the power of measurement is what makes digital marketing so alluring. When developing your digital marketing and measurement strategy, here are eight steps you must take. You need to define your business objectives, goals and priorities.
No digital marketing strategy should be without some metrics to help measure and assess a campaign. Metrics help you to refine your online marketing and shouldn’t be ignored. To measure effectiveness of different campaigns, there are several important metrics that marketers should look into.
The number of clicks indicates the traffic generated from campaigns; CTR (Click Through Rates) measures how many viewers actually clicked on the ads.
When marketers launch different campaigns (search, display, retargeting, mobile, etc.), it is important to know the traffic source, i.e. keywords/sites that brought it.
Conversion rate can define your online marketing success no matter if the goal is to convert visitors to sales or gather key information of potential clients (for example, sign-up, etc.).
Bounce rate represents the percentage of visitors who enter the site and leave rather than continue browsing other pages.
Rate of returning visitors gives marketers insights on visitor loyalty and how marketers can improve and make these audiences who are not converted yet to finally take actions.
Whether it’s the number of visitors that are coming to your site through your blog or how social media is influencing your customer conversion, the key to success is to test, adjust, test and then test, adjust, test some more.
Although there are many other digital marketing metrics available, the above metrics should be able to give you a clear overview of how well your marketing efforts are. Each metric serves particular field so marketers should make use of a good mix of metrics to spot on which marketing strategies work and which need to be changed.
10. CRMs Keep it All Together
A Customer Relationship Management system helps businesses and organizations attract ideal prospects, retain loyal customers, and grow profitable long-term customer relationships.
A Customer Relations Management system enables you to track different campaigns, segment your audience and develop long term strategies that work. Marketing integration is vital if you want to make sure you have everything in the mix that needs to be there.
A successful CRM system becomes an appreciating asset of shared knowledge and processes. You'll know your customer much better so you can serve their needs more effectively than your competition.
People, process and programs work together to create a Customer Relationship Management system that supports growth and profitability. The right software successfully supports your business processes to increase its effectiveness. And effective business processes make the most of your talented people and enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Every business is unique, but few businesses have faced unique challenges. There’s no doubt that digital marketing is one of the most important aspects of business development and is set to be around for a long time to come. The companies that succeed with it are the ones that make the right choices and don’t simply jump on the band wagon of the latest technology. The traditional drivers are still relevant; they just need to be integrated with what’s new to make a more powerful marketing strategy.