Many business owners feel like online marketing is rocket science. They pay money they don’t always have to make the challenge of finding customers someone else’s problem. You don’t need a consultant to do your marketing for you, if you’ve got time to invest and the inclination to learn. Here are the ways to take your marketing campaign into your own hands.
Get Involved In Social Media
Social media isn’t a mystic language; it’s just networking. If you’ve ever attended a networking event, you can handle social media. Don’t let jargon like “retweets” and “likes” scare you off. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Ask questions. Engage. Don’t push your sales agenda.
Use a social media dashboard like HootSuite or SproutSocial to schedule updates to all your social platforms. You’ll save a ton of time and make it look like you’re constantly on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Start Blogging
Blogging has many benefits, such as building brand awareness, credibility, and authority. It also has been shown to increase conversion rates and even search engine rankings. Writing a blog post isn’t the same as writing a college essay, Use tips for formatting that allow for easy skimming and digestion of your content. Also, keep a spreadsheet of ideas handy so you never run dry on topics.
Build Relationships With The Media
Public relations is an important tool in expanding your reach online. But PR consultants don’t have the corner on building relationships with journalists and bloggers. In fact, many members of the media might prefer to work directly with you as the business owner.
Offer Content Your Audience Wants
Connecting with potential customers is easier when you deliver tailored content that they can actually use. In fact, 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that delivers highly relevant content.
Pay Attention To Analytics
It’s simple: the channels that send you more web traffic are those you want more from. Those that aren’t netting you results should be discarded. You don’t need to pay someone to understand that. Set up your analytics platform to send you a weekly or monthly report so you can stay on top of how well your marketing strategies are working. If, for example, guest blog posts are sending tons of traffic your way, write more of them.
Make Sure Your Emails Speak To The Recipient
Despite all the other marketing tools at our fingertips, email still remains a successful way to get in front of customers and get them to buy from you. And the more targeted these messages are, the more successful they are at sending people to your website.
Perfect Your On-Site SEO
Make sure the keywords on your website are the ones you want to be found for. If they’re not, you’ll have a higher bounce rate and fewer conversions, not to mention lower search rankings.
Try Guest Blogging
You can only reach so many people on your business blog, so expand that number by contributing guest posts to other more popular blogs that target your audience.
DIY Can Get Great Results
If you’ve got the money and are short on time, hiring a marketing consultant can help you get the results you want. But for those small business owners that thrive on DIY and aren’t afraid to dig in, these strategies are all easy enough to do and to show great results.