The primary goal when engaging in online activities is to improve the value of the business. This refers to the value of the business in terms of its cash flow and profitability, as well as the perceived value of the brand. With these core objectives in mind, businesses will strive to outshine competitors in their marketplace in the hope of becoming the business leader in their industry niche. While there are a few businesses that have been able to successfully manage their marketing success in-house; many of the leading businesses enlist the services of a digital marketing agency, where they gain instant access to a range of specialist teams that can successfully execute the marketing needs of the business. For the business to succeed in their marketing efforts, they need to accomplish the following.
Place strategic importance on competitive benchmarking
The business must commit to becoming a leader in their industry. In marketing, the areas that need to be covered include:
The innovation and perceived value of the product or service
A good product or service is the ultimate proof to justify the perceived value of the business. A good product or service will transcend price. Businesses must commit to continuing product innovation and delivery.
The perceived value of the product in relation to price
A strong pricing point can be challenging for businesses. Many businesses price themselves out of the market because they lack an understanding on how to develop value.
Product and service delivery
The way that the businesses distribute the product in terms of delivery, timing of delivery, the packaging of the product and the overall experience will have bearing on the perceived value. Plus, many companies make it easy and affordable to create product packages
Promotional methods
The key to a successful promotional activity is increasing its share of voice. By using the model Trigger, Seek, Consider, Act and Advocate in the online sense, businesses will succeed in generating exposure, calls-to-action and referrals that will see their business activities grow for the better.
Increase your business’s online share of voice
If the business understands their market well and they have a strong product or service to offer, then they need to engage in strategies and tactics that will make their target customers aware of their offering. To achieve this, businesses need to know where to find and promote to their potential customers online. Furthermore, businesses need to leverage the marketing channels and technology available to reach their targeted market. Below are a few of the marketing channels available.
Paid search marketing
This paid advertising medium is available across search engines Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, Baidu and more. This method of marketing is great because it allows the business to get in front of potential customers actively searching to engage with the brand, whether it is for sales or web engagement. Furthermore, this medium is measurable, flexible and provides instant access to the market. Measuring the results from the marketing activities allows businesses to test what is and isn’t working. This allows for greater flexibility when executing campaigns and testing different advertising copy and bid strategies to enhance their campaigns.
Search engine optimization
Increasing the business’s share of voice via search engine organic listings will increase the perceived authority and lead traffic generation. Should the business appear on page one (ideally position one) for a set of keywords, the business will stand to gain traffic leads, sales and perceived authority in the niche. This would lead the business to receive free traffic that would lead to increasing the business’s sales revenue and profits.
Display advertising
There are many sites that offer display media options and there are networks that have access to millions of websites that will generate exposure for web businesses. The business will need to create and test a display marketing model that will either generate actions through sales, leads and traffic, or to generate brand recall for their business. This is also a quick and effective way to target your specific niche and increase your brand perception.
Retargeting (Real Time Bidding aka RTB)
The rise of real-time bidding via the Ad exchange networks has led to an increase in opportunities for people to promote their message and initiate stronger brand recall for their business. Rather than have a potential customer visit your website and potentially lose them forever, the business can now target them with cookie technology to promote their advertising message to them that will further enhance their recollection of the brand.
Copywriting
Copywriting services are of utmost importance on the web. The Internet is essentially a collection of information. Google’s key objective is to make the web more organized. The more businesses align their web marketing strategy towards this, the more they stand to reap the rewards offered both financially and in terms of recognition through the sharing of content and search engine rankings. Copywriting services can be used to enhance editorial content that is published by the business or endorsed by another website. Additionally, advertorials, which are the paid form of editorials, can offer added value. When strong copy is presented in front of the right web audience, the content can start generating more traffic; revenue and increase perceived value in your product or service offering.
Social Media Marketing
This is still relatively new to most businesses, but it is an essential component that will give businesses the leg-up, should the strategy be executed correctly. There are several social networks that allow exposure to large audiences. Should the content spark a viral effect, it will increase the business’s exposure, traffic, SEO friendly links, network connections and could actually be a strong game-changer for the business. Some of the social networks to consider include:
- Tumblr
- Google +
These are just a few. There are many to consider that are specific to industry niches and act as an interactive forum for those communities.
Businesses must commit to becoming leaders in their industry if they want to seriously outshine their competition. This can be achieved in-house, however digital marketing agencies are typically the ones that take the business to the next level. Should businesses commit to pursuing excellence across their marketing mix, they will bask in the glory of excellence in their field and reap financial rewards that come at the end of the marketing rainbow.