The competition in the digital marketing is getting stiffer and tighter as years pass by. Companies of all sizes are competing for mindshare and more marketers are spending more money on a plethora of strategies to get the consumers fall in love with their brand. In fact, a recent study from MarketingCharts reports a 50% increase in digital marketing budget in 2017 compared to 2016.
With such level of competition, do you have what it takes to bring your digital efforts to the next level?
To help you out, we compiled in this infographic some ways you can revamp your digital marketing efforts and ultimately experience better business results in 2018.
- Continuously Improve Your SEO Strategy
As the adage goes, “If you want to win big, you need to start at the foundation first.” The same rings true in digital marketing, wherein the chaotic and complex world of SEO remains as one of its fundamental aspects.
Having a well-thought-out SEO strategy can significantly boost your website traffic, even better than what social media and PPC can produce. But as you may already know, SEO is an ever-changing landscape, so you must review and evolve your strategy continuously to ensure that your actions are in line with what search engines favor these days.
Google algorithm updates alone have kept so many digital marketers awake at night. Google has, in fact, rolled out the latest broad update on its core search algorithm last April, which according to them, improves their search engine’s ability to provide better search results and better content.
Such update only proves that user expectations and search habits will continue to change the way search engines function. Therefore, you need to be more decisive in how you approach SEO by adopting new to be searchable online, such as optimizing for Voice Search. Note: 60% of people have started using voice search within the last year. Don’t miss out on potential traffic by not optimizing for this type of search.
- Create More Blogs to Generate More Leads
In relation to the previous point, posting relevant and helpful blogs will not only drive quality traffic to your website but also help translate that traffic into quality leads. In fact, marketers who blog are 13 more likely to generate positive ROI and generate 67% more leads than those who don’t.
Over the years, the number of being published on the web has saturated tremendously. Thus, creating and marketing content that attracts a particular audience has increasingly become an expensive venture – especially for bigger organizations. But while content saturation is a big problem for big players – it’s a great opportunity for smaller companies.
While companies will need tens of thousands of leads to justify their multi-million content marketing budget, smaller brands will only need a hundred of leads to maximize their few blogs. For a marketing strategy that costs almost no money – this isn’t just worth the investment for a small player – this is a tremendous start!
- Diversify Your Content: Conduct Free Webinars and Host Live Videos
To keep your target audience hooked to your brand, you need to produce new content in formats that will appeal to different “tastes.” So, don’t rely on blogging or images alone, but provide a mix of all different things to your audience in 2018.
Hosting free webinars and live videos are just two of the most effective content platforms you can leverage these days. Through webinars, you can attract high-quality leads, build authority and trust, and gain a deeper understanding of your target audience. Live videos, on the other hand, is an excellent way to showcase your products or services in action, and also to bring your consumers closer to your brand.
By providing new ways to engage with your business, you can create an experience that your customers will remember long after it’s over.
- Refine Your Email Marketing Tactics
Contrary to what most people believe, Email marketing is still alive and kicking – although the platform where it is most effective has already changed. According to statistics, email open rates have increased 180% on mobile devices since 2014, and more than half of U.S. cell phone owners access their email on their phone rather than a desktop.
That being said, you should aim to expand your email list in 2018 and get more people subscribed to receive emails. Integrate email marketing with your content strategy to send out relevant content to your email list. As a result, you start generating more leads and make more sales.
- Be More Active on Social Media
Being active on social media is an excellent way to introduce people to your brand. However, in 2018, you need to double your efforts in social media if you want your brand presence to resonate across the online space effectively. With 67% of consumers using social media for customer service inquiries, you need to make sure you have a strong social media profile so that your customers get a better feel for your business.
In our recent social media marketing trends post, we have discussed several ways companies can triumph using social media in 2018. These ways are as follows:
- Leverage the power of micro-influencers.
- Use platforms that entice younger internet-savvy generations.
- Utilize chatbots to respond to your customers in real-time.
- Have A Mobile-First Approach in All Your Digital Marketing Campaigns
Now that mobile users consume more time on the internet vs. desktop users, it is only imperative that you make your digital marketing campaigns optimized for mobile devices. This applies to your website, content, and even your paid ads.
In today’s highly competitive digital marketing landscape, it is considered a “madness” if you don’t cater for mobile users. More people browse the web and social media on their phone than desktops. Therefore, it damages your brand and hurts your lead generation each day your audience can’t reach your brand on their mobile device.
Having a responsive website and content that adapts quickly to both mobile and desktop users is extremely crucial to improving your competitiveness in 2018. If achieved, you will have an online presence that connects you with your audience in ways previously impossible.
- Hire a Reliable Digital Marketing Company
Let’s face it: Digital marketing – though has stretched the reach of marketers – is highly subjective to your expertise in many different online strategies and tactics to fully maximize its use in your business. If you don’t have the expertise to execute at least two or three digital marketing strategies, you can easily be beaten by your competitors.
That’s why you need to tap the power of a 3rd party digital marketing company so that you can execute your strategies and achieve both your short-term and long-term goals efficiently – all without sacrificing your time for other aspects of your business.
A reliable digital marketing company will serve as the extension of your marketing department and will provide you with personnel – from content creator to analytics expert and social media manager – that will execute your plan and report progress on how your business is thriving in the digital landscape.
In summary, as digital marketing becomes more complex and challenging, the level of expertise and efforts required to plan and execute campaigns also increases. The seven steps we detailed in this post should help you get on the right track and achieve better results in all your digital marketing campaigns in 2018.
Jomer B. Gregorio is a well-rounded expert when it comes digital marketing. Jomer is also known as a semantic SEO evangelist and practitioner. Check out our Digital Marketing Services today and let us help you in achieving positive and profitable results for your business.