Flashback: 20 years ago, you pick up a magazine, on the cover, a freshly groomed man with a mullet urging you to try his new shaving blade. You are tempted and you end up buying the shaving blade as well as the magazine.
Plugging back into Reality: That, was marketing at its finest. Such strategies lag now and a lot of it has to do with the emergence of digitalization. If a business is not on a digital platform on any scale, they are more likely to falter than the ones who have a strong digital presence. Skeptical? Take a look at this infographic.
Digital Marketing can be called The Internet for Businesses. A massive chunk of 40% of the human population are users of the Internet. Compared to the meagre 1% in 1995, this is indeed a huge growth. Now if that massive statistic still makes you think that Digital Marketing isn’t truly necessary in the age of the Internet, allow us to demonstrate.
The world is always constantly going through the process of evolution and only if you’re willing to make a change can you survive. Traditional methods of marketing can be weakened by the up-and-coming digital advancements of marketing. This does not mean that traditional methods of Marketing are weak. It only means that you should open up to the newer ways whenever available to you, which will raise your business beyond the expectations you had of it.
This post is a compilation of the 5 steps you can take, in these times, to become a pro at Digital Marketing:
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Distributing Content Wisely: Content is extremely important for any business which wishes to stick in the long run. Think of it as the manual of your business that you are handing over to your customers. It should demonstrate what you do, why you do what you do, and how you do it. Good content is bound to spark curiosity in your consumers which means they will be willing to give your business a shot.
But here’s where the true challenge lies i.e. the distribution of your content. Often times, many businesses have great products and services, great content, great customer experience. Some might even be better than the competition in their markets. But where these kind of businesses lack is distributing their content. Distributing content is actually the best way to pull in customers, provided if done wisely. And with the peak of the Internet upon us, distributing content has never been easier. Here are some ways you can try for your business:
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Paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are effective and have a very wide reach. This is one of the best, most cost-effective way to pull in the masses. Plus, you have the option to choose which countries you want your content to be showcased in.
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Blogging has been here for quite some time now and it is bound to stay. Blogging on a regular basis allows your customers to be aware about your whereabouts, your thoughts, your ideas and your interests. It’s a long-form format which gives you the freedom to actually provide information to your clients better.
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Retail websites are your friend. Think about the beauty ads you see on websites like Sephora, Ulta etc. Or the clothing ads you get on Amazon, Harper’s Bazaar etc. Distributing content on websites will definitely raise an interest in your consumers leaving them wanting to find out more about your business by clicking an ad.
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Use Voice: In the past couple of years, you might have seen more and more companies using voice as the number one tool. Siri usage has increased from 40% to 52% starting 2013 and 2015. Alexa, the new personal assistant by Amazon has taken over CES. Voice is a very powerful tool to engage clients AND give them the flexibility to multitask. Here are some ways you can use voice as a digital marketing strategy:
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Podcasts: Give your customers more value by providing and audio podcast for your blog posts. Magazines like the Economist Times have an entire Audio news segment for their magazines. Podcasts will allow customers to listen to your content when they can’t read, for example while driving or doing chores.
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Inform people about sales on your products and services: You can use voice to let your customers listen to all the sales, promotions etc. are running on your website.
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Creating a Brand Identity with a Hashtag: Hashtags work. As simple as that. They group up all the people which used a particular hashtag in the same lot which gives you transparency about who your clientele is. This grouping up of people ultimately helps you in creating a brand identity. Hashtags are exceptionally powerful on social media channels. Here’s how:
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Hashtags should be synonymous to your Business/Social Media profile name. The reason for doing this is because 1) it promotes your business 2) it is very organized. The synonymized nature of your hashtag and business creates a hype amongst people and compels them to use it in their further posts when they did business with you.
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Another great way to really use and promote your business is basically by promoting others. You can have a “contest” of whoever posts the most inspiring, aesthetically pleasing etc. kind of post will be featured on your page or given away a freebie. This gives your clientele to have the motivation to promote you and keep an eye on your further contests and giveaways.
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Hashtags have a huge role in social media. Always try to keep your hashtags same on all the social media channels you are present on, for this will make any new post, complain, compliment of a customer appears faster. You should also keep in mind how your hashtags spell out, because trust us, typos are really, really common. And you don’t want to lose out on any customers OR even worse, let your customers make fun of your business because of the way your hashtags spell.
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Remind users about your Brand Narrative: Another important strategy of new-age digital marketing is to keep reminding your customers about your Brand Narrative. As a business owner, you never want to dilute your brand narrative or let it just be forgotten. A good brand narrative gives people all the more motivation to purchase your products or services. You don’t have to do this on a daily basis, but probably a monthly, quarterly basis is fine.
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Tell your customers about how you started up your business. Whether from scratch or it’s a family owned business. Tell them stories about how it all worked out in quarterly or annual posts. It can be via Blogs; Social Media posts or small videos.
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Host a giveaway or a give a discount on your products and services because of a special day of your business. This will keep people coming for more and more. For eg. how the chain 7/11 has a bring your own cup for a slurpee day. Slurpee being the iconic frozen drink by 7/11.
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Being available on Social Media: It takes one match to start a forest fire. By being available on social media as much as you can, you will give your customers a sense of security. Doing the same will also make them think highly about you, considering your availability after office-hours. This is the world where news spreads like fire, good or bad. If you demonstrate great customer care skill, you will definitely be noticed. Here’s why you should be available on Social Media more:
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It’s fast. It helps you solve a problem in real-time and avoids any frustrations from the other party.
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It’s very cost effective. It doesn’t cost an arm and leg to reply to your customers in their time of distress. If anything, it’s only going to cost you some of your time and you gain a lot of respect, which is priceless.
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It’s viral. Great and Poor customer service can go viral within seconds.
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Digital Marketing works for a bucket-load of reasons, but the five most integral reasons are:
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It’s fast.
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It’s trendy.
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It’s accessible.
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It’s online.
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It’s cost-effective. (if done right)
Digital Marketing is genius. It is the best way to bring together a mass of people and expose your business, products, services etc. to them. It’s a great way to advertise and it’s the best way to know what’s working for you; in real time. Now that, is exceptional, and exceptional is what BluEnt offers. Contact us today to know how we can help you break into the shoes of Digital Marketing.
Maximum Value. Achieved.