It’s autumn, which means the temperature is dropping, the leaves are changing, and everything now comes in a pumpkin spice flavor. In this time of transition, it shouldn’t be just your coffee order you’re changing up. It might be time to shake up your online marketing game.
I’m not talking about stopping what you’re doing. If it’s working, keep at it. But adding a few more tips and tricks to your online marketing arsenal could be a huge boost for your business. It’ll keep your customer engagement fresh and exciting, and could even grow your customer base.
Know who you’re talking to
Ask any business owner, and they’ll tell you their desired customer base is “everyone”. Of course it is. You don’t want to exclude any potential customers, you want everything you do to apply to everybody. But that’s not effective marketing. By making your messaging too general, you are excluding everyone… because nobody feels like you’re talking to them specifically.
Decide who your audience really is. Break it down by demographics (population data) psychographics (how they think) or whatever else is most relevant to your customer base. By speaking directly to your customers, your marketing will be much more effective.
Knowing who your customers are and why they’re your customers in the first place will help you refine and target your messaging, which will pay dividends in the long run.
Location, location, location
Almost as important as who you’re talking to, is where you’re saying it.
Your website is your main presence online, and our Website Builder has lots of ways to add compelling content to your site, but you need to make sure you’re engaging with your customers in other places.
- Expand your channels. Email and Facebook are great places to start, but take a look at where else your audience is listening.
- Create a story on Snapchat. Make sure you’re tweeting as often as you should.
- Text.
- Create a Spotify playlist.
There are all kinds of ways you can get your message to your customers. Remember how we had you narrow down your audience? Now it’s time to do a bit of research and see what social channels they use the most. Hit ‘em where they live, as they say. And once you’ve got that locked in, it’s important to think about how they’re viewing your content. In 2016, mobile internet usage overtook desktop usage for the first time in history. When your customer sees your message, there’s a pretty good chance they’re looking at it on a mobile device. Make sure your content is optimized for mobile.
Talk the talk
Okay, we’ve talked about who is reading your message, and where they’re reading it. Now, let’s talk about what you’re actually saying.
First, let’s start with the practical bit, Search Engine Optimization. Basically, that means making sure your website is coming up in search engine results when people are looking for stuff related to your site. It obviously helps people find your site when they’re looking for it, but it also means helping people find your site when they don’t even know your site is exactly what they need.
SEO is a huge factor in your messaging. You need to make sure you’re using the right keywords and SEO best practices so your content shoots up the organic search rankings. GoDaddy has some powerful SEO tools to help you make sure your content is efficient and effective, and can even help you track your results.
Once you’ve gotten the functional bones of your messaging nailed down, make sure you put some meat on there. You want your marketing to be engaging, and shareable. Yeah, you want to make sure your main message gets across, whether it’s announcing a new product, presenting an offer, and so on. But you also want to make sure people want to read it. Make it clever, or funny, or interesting. Make it feel like something you’re explaining to a friend, not just impersonal marketing. Don’t get lost in the nuts and bolts of what you’re saying. Have fun with it. Your customers will be more likely to engage with it… and they’ll be more likely to read the next one.
Pay attention
No matter how you change up your online marketing strategy, there’s one major key to make sure it works. You need to become a big fan of data.
Take a look at the results of what you’re doing. See what you need to increase, and what you need to amend. Track your engagements, follow through with the statistics on what happens with what you send out. And not just your own. Follow your competitors. See what they do that works. If you see them knocking it out of the park with online marketing, add some of their moves to your playbook. Keep an eye on the marketing trends that are burning up the marketing world. Know what works, and know what doesn’t. Research, analyze, adapt. Be versatile with your online marketing so you can change on the fly, and you’ll always be on the cutting edge of successful marketing.
We’ve hit the why and how of changing up your online marketing strategy. But where do you start? That’s easy. GoDaddy has a ton of tools to help you out, from email marketing to SEO tools to social media strategies. You can find everything you need at godaddy.ca/online-marketing.
Well, everything but the pumpkin spice coffee. You’re on your own for that.
