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In this technological age, companies who ignore the importance of a digital strategy can lose as much as 8% of their earnings per year because they cannot keep up with the competition. Conversely, the 10-15% of companies who fully embrace digital strategy – and do it well – will watch their earnings grow. If you want your company to be in that top 10-15%, you need to choose the right digital strategy. If this concept is new to your business, your best option is to hire a web marketing agency who will not only help you decide on the right strategy for your business, but will implement it as well. If you prefer to experiment with a few different areas to see what works, below are some options to consider.
Email Marketing
Time and time again email marketing has proven itself to be the most effective marketing channel—more people prefer to receive marketing messages via email than via social media. Quality email marketing starts with a solid list of customers who can be divided into specific segments to receive targeted messages that are part of a sales funnel. Once you have established your targeted list and your sales funnel, here are 3 ways to create effective emails.
Social Media Engagement
Despite the fact that most people prefer email marketing to social media, your strategy should not exclude it if your target demographics are heavy users of it. Your approach should just be different. Instead of an ad, you may want to utilize the power of influencers to market your product. Another alternative is to come up with creative ways to engage potential customers, such as through video content.
Video
Marketing surveys show that 78% of businesses who use video content see an increase in their ROI. If you intend to employ video as part of your digital strategy, your next question should be: where do the videos come from? Do you create them yourself or do you encourage your customers to develop them? The answer to that question also lies in your intended channel for those videos: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or your own website. A compelling video content strategy requires that you know the preferred social media location of your target market.
Thought Leadership
This strategy is all about credibility within your industry. If you want to establish yourself as a thought leader, your business needs to be creating value-added blogs on sites like Medium and LinkedIn—sites professionals are more likely to notice. The goal of this strategy is to have people share and link to your posts, which will drive traffic to your website. The assumption is that the best posts will come from executive level individuals within a company; however, there are ways to establish yourself as a thought leader, regardless of your position.
Pay-Per-Click Ads (PPC Ads)
If you are willing to pay to learn more about customers, specifically which keywords and messages draw them in, then pay-per-click ads may be a great addition to your digital strategy. Success in the PPC realm requires research to know which keywords and ideas are not only attractive but relevant to your target market. It also means entering the fray slowly so that you are not spending exorbitant sums on clicks that do not generate useful leads.
Your company needs a digital strategy to stay competitive. If you decide to create your own instead of hiring a professional, don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works. Try tactics such as email marketing, social media engagement, thought leadership, pay-per-click ads and video content to see which strategies most effectively attract your target market.
