Creating a powerful brand requires a digital marketing strategy. If you want people to become familiar with your business, your story, and how you can help them, you need to have a solid marketing plan that reaches them. However, sometimes finding the perfect plan is challenging. You may have no idea where to begin, who to target or utilize social media outlets. These challenges can easily be fixed with a digital marketing consultant. What is a digital marketing consultant you might ask?

This is an excellent question that requires an insightful answer. This article will highlight what a digital marketing consultant can do for you and why you need one for your business. 

What Is a Digital Marketing Consultant? 

A digital marketing consultant offers a lot of knowledge in many areas of digital marketing. 

They should not only know about different marketing strategies, but they should also know how to implement them effectively. A digital marketing consultant should also be familiar with Google analytics and other marketing measurements. 

These measurements are critical in evaluating your current online presence, deciding what is working in your current campaign. 

After some evaluation, the digital marketing consultant will determine the best course of action. They will provide suggestions on how you can improve your website traffic, conversions, or whatever your ultimate goal is. 

However, it is only after a thorough review that a digital marketing consultant should make this recommendation. 

Before you meet with a consultant, you should consider evaluating your current goals. You want to decide what your ultimate aim objective is. Then, when you do meet with a consultant, you can explain what your objective is and why it’s not working. 

How Does Your Business Benefit? 

Hiring a digital marketing consultant can benefit your business tremendously and in a lot of ways. Taking a look at these benefits can give you insight into what they can do for your business. 

Here’s a breakdown of some of the benefits you’ll receive from hiring a digital marketing consultant. 

More Refined Brand

A marketing consultant will also help you define your brand. They will make sure your brand tells a story clearly and concisely. More importantly, a marketing consultant will make sure that your target market understands your brand. 

When someone sees your brand, they should feel an emotional connection to it. They feel like it helps them overcome a problem. 

A digital marketing consultant will tell you how to enhance your brand in different ways with different marketing strategies. They will make sure that your brand tells a unique story that’s much different from your competitors. 

Higher Conversions & More Engagement

A digital marketing consultant will also help generate higher conversion and more engagement. 

They can evaluate where there’s a bottleneck in your sales funnel. They can see why visitors aren’t converting to your website, seeing how they can change the engagement. 

A digital marketing consultant can also advise on which parts you need to change the most when it comes to your online presence. They can tell you if your website needs adjusting or if the lead magnet or ads you have need tweaking. 

This can result in more conversions and more engagement with your brand. 

Better Content

Another area that a digital marketing consultant benefits your business is how they help you evaluate your blog content. 

If you have blog content, they may tell you what you need to do to produce better SEO-driven content in order to rank higher on Google. 

While they may not do the work for you, they will still offer suggestions on how to do keyword research and offer suggestions on what topics to write about. This can help your business rank higher on search engines. 

Better Targeting

A digital marketing consultant can also help with targeting your audience. If you’re unsure of who your target market is, a digital marketing consultant can provide insight into how you can find your ideal customer. 

They can help you identify a buyer persona so your ads are more effective. They may look at your analytics, specifically conversions and clicks, and determine what kind of marketing is most interested in your business. 

This can provide your business with focus because you know who you are targeting in order to achieve better results. 

More Videos

Another way that a digital marketing consultant can help your business is with more videos. They can help you make your online presence more engaging with videos. 

This can also help you determine what kind of videos you need in your business if its testimonials are tutorials. They can provide insight into what kinds of videos do the best in your area of business. 

If you already have videos in your business, they can tell you how to optimize them for engagement on social media, YouTube, or your website. This can also help reach more consumers in your business. 

Now You Know Everything About a Digital Marketing Consultant

A digital marketing consultant can help your business in a variety of ways. They can help you figure out how to achieve better results in every area of your business. They can help you benefit faster without you struggling to figure it out yourself. 

It’s important to realize that hiring a digital marketing consultant is beneficial to every area of your business. However, it’s very important that you think about the goals you want to accomplish in your business before you contact a digital marketing consultant. 

Now, next time you wonder, what is a digital marketing consultant? You’ll have a better idea of how they can help your business. 

If you want digital marketing consulting for your business, you can contact us here. 

Creating a digital marketing strategy is tough at the best of times. Right now, it can feel near impossible. 

COVID-19 has turned conventional marketing wisdom on its head and even the most experienced marketers are having to go back to the drawing board. In the new world order, no one knows what rules to play by. 

But throwing the rulebook out of the window doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, COVID creates a unique opportunity to engage with consumers and foster long term brand loyalty.

I’m going to show you how to create a marketing strategy that fills your funnel and remains sensitive to the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. All you need to do is follow the 6 steps below!

1. Research Your Target Consumers

If you think your pre-COVID buyer persona still applies, you’re in for a shock. In the US alone, 42% of the workforce now work from home full time, whilst 33% are not working at all. Your buyers’ likes, interests and fears will have been impacted by the pandemic and their spending power may have changed too! 

Review your target buyer(s) and create a new profile based on their pandemic-driven behavior. You might even discover segments with a newfound need for your products and you’ll be able to tailor your marketing strategy to them later in the process. 

I’d also recommend altering reporting if you compare year on year performance. Comparing sales results from October 2019 to October 2020 is like comparing a cucumber to chocolate cake: impossible. Instead, opt for month-on-month comparisons whilst the situation is so volatile.

2. Re-Evaluate Key Channels

The more time we spend confined to our homes, the more time we spend online. Search, online shopping and streaming have all increased during the pandemic but its social media enjoying the biggest popularity boost. 46% of women and 41% of men said they’ve spent more time on social platforms during the pandemic, so if you’re not already active, it’s time to reconsider how you can use social to your advantage. 

I know it can be tricky choosing which platforms will have the biggest impact. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, check out this post, where I discuss how to determine the best platforms for your business.

If you’re already on social media, it’s still worth re-evaluating the channels you’re using. People are stressed and they want to see light-hearted, visual content, meaning platforms like Instagram and TikTok are on the up. 

3. Check Ads and Core Business Information

Easy to do but easy to forget! With so many companies working remotely and many having to close up shop for good, customers will be looking online for key business information. It’s never been more vital for your marketing strategy to include regular reviews of your opening hours, contact options, shipping policies and location. 

In the same vein, it’s a great time to check in on PPC campaigns you’re running and optimize them for pandemic friendly searching. Phrases like “remote”, “online order”, and “work from” have increased significantly, whilst overall spending on PPC has declined over the past 6 months. 

What does this mean? Your competitors are scaling back their digital ads so it’s easier (and cheaper) to get the visibility you want. Make sure you review paid campaigns regularly as search trends are constantly changing. 

4. Review Your Content Mix!

From Dalgona coffee to TikTok, the pandemic is creating micro-trends that offer an insight into the consumer psyche. I’ll let you into a secret, they’re not after lengthy, scholastic articles right now. Consumers want content that is light-hearted, comforting and ultimately entertaining. 

Anyone else found themselves lost down a YouTube rabbit hole recently? Recent research by Kantar found that in the post-pandemic age, people want to suspend reality when viewing digital ads, which suggests that escapism is key to today’s consumers. Rather than weighing your target audience down with text, introduce content ‘snacks’ such as GIFs, videos and infographics to your content mix. 

You could even engage with your audience directly and ask them what kind of content they want to see under the present circumstances. Showing that you’re aware that your audience’s needs have changed and being seen as empathic, can help to increase long term brand loyalty. 

5. Futureproof Your Digital Marketing Strategy

It can be difficult to move away from ‘firefighting’ under the present circumstances but it’s important to think about your long-term digital marketing strategies as well as adapting to the new normal. 

For instance, are you prepared for a post-pandemic rebound? Recovery may seem like a distant possibility but once restrictions and the threat of illness start to decline, consumer spending is expected to pick up. You need to be ready for the initial rush. 

What does your “Welcome Back” campaign look like? What promotions will you offer? How are you going to encourage consumers to spend with you vs. the competition?

Having plans in place early on will enable you to react swiftly to significant shifts in the market, especially if you’ve already secured stakeholder approval.

6. Spread Kindness Not Panic

In times like this, everyone’s got to do their bit. And brands have a role to play in that too! When you’re working through the above steps, be mindful of the messages that you are sending out to consumers.

We’re all thinking about the Coronavirus, so don’t be afraid to mention it and acknowledge how your audience is feeling. However, if your audience ends up feeling like you’re using the opportunity as a cash cow, you could lose them for good! 

Above all, your marketing strategy should focus on helping people. If you can directly help consumers navigate these confusing times, then that’s great! Otherwise, focus on what you can do, which may be as simple as offering a product that will brighten a difficult day.

Digital Marketing Strategy During Coronavirus

And there you have it! COVID-19 is throwing up new challenges for marketers, but it shouldn’t hold you back from having a foolproof digital marketing strategy.

Follow the 6 steps above to get started or get in touch to arrange a custom consultation!

What’s the number 1 secret to effective marketing?

Quality targeting? Knowing your audience? Creating engaging ads?

Not quite! They’re all key ingredients, but there’s one core component that’s even more fundamental to success:

Attention. If you can get people to give you it, then you win every time.

That’s why internet marketing has become the go-to choice for modern marketers. With consumers now spending up to 11 hours of their day engaging with one screen or another, attention is well and truly online these days. If you capitalize on that fact, then there are countless benefits of digital marketing to enjoy over traditional channels.

Do you want to find out more about them? Well, you’re in the right place! Keep reading to discover 7 unmissable advantages of digital marketing.

1. It Offers Incredible Reach

Digital marketing has revolutionized reach. Seriously, with over 4.8 billion people connected to the internet nowadays, it’s never been easier to market to a huge number of people at a time.

And that’s the goal of any campaign, right? You want to get your products/services in front of as many target consumers as possible for the lowest possible fee. Succeed, and you’ll enjoy a sky-high ROI for your efforts.

2. It Presents Unprecedented Targeting

Massive reach isn’t everything though! You could deliver an ad to millions of people, but if none of them want or need the product/service, then you’ll never convert at a reasonable rate. Marketing to the right audience is key.

Thankfully, digital marketing has you covered here too.

The widespread use of the internet and social media has enabled the various advertising platforms to amass a wealth of data on their consumers. As a marketer, you get to leverage that data and target hyper-specific groups of people in your campaigns.

You can deliver ads to people based on their exact whereabouts, profession, demographic information, interests, hobbies, political opinions, and more. The result? Your ads become highly relevant and conversion rates spike.

3. It Enables Audience Segmentation

Aside from enabling accurate targeting of a new audience, digital platforms allow you to hone in on specific ‘segments’ of your current one.

Imagine having an email list with thousands of people of varying demographics. Thanks to audience segmentation, you can send offers and promotions to specific groups of people within it.

That’s a big deal when it comes to personalizing correspondence and sending relevant updates to people. Your CTR and CR will increase as a result.     

4. It Provides Easy Analytics

Tracking performance and analyzing data are core components of running effective campaigns.

After all, the data tells you what’s working and what isn’t! You can then make evidence-based changes to your ads and optimize them accordingly. By comparison, a lack of data means you’re working blind all the time, shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

Thankfully, digital marketing makes it easier than ever before to run tests, measure performance, and accrue that invaluable information. Whether you’re focused on content, social media, or Google AdWords, the platform in question will deliver accurate insights in record time. You can then make changes in accordance with the results.

5. It’s Under-Priced

Digital marketing has a lot going for it. However, one of its most compelling selling points is how cost-effective it can be.

Don’t get us wrong. You can easily splurge huge sums of money running internet ads! Even so, digital channels cost an absolute pittance compared to the extortionate price tags of billboards and TV ads, for instance.

Facebook provides a perfect example.

Using their ad platform, you can create a high-quality, well-targeted ad in moments, put a paltry $20 behind it and reach thousands of people. That’s unheard of with traditional marketing! You enjoy less financial risk, the ability to test and fail fast, and a far greater margin in the process.

6. It Can Be Done for Free

What’s the only thing better than ‘cheap’?

Free!

If you’re a bootstrapped business, you’ll be pleased to hear that digital marketing doesn’t have to cost a dime. That’s right, regular online campaigns are already under-priced. But you can also market via the internet without spending a thing.

For example, you can write blog content that ranks in Google SERPs and drives traffic to your website. You could post YouTube videos that get views and build brand awareness. And you can post straight to social media, accrue a loyal following, and get endless exposure in your industry.

In other words, you can build your brand, generate high-quality leads, and drive conversions with no marketing budget to call upon.

7. It Levels the Playing Field

Traditional marketing is heavily weighted in favor of big businesses. Why? Because they’re the only ones that can afford the high-prices of TV and radio ads.

Start-ups of old were at a disadvantage from the outset. With fewer resources at their disposal, they faced an uphill battle to get peoples’ attention and earn their piece of the pie. Big businesses got bigger while they struggled to get going.

That all changes with digital marketing though. These days, all it takes is one viral video recorded on a cell phone to skyrocket a new business to success! The budget-friendly nature of internet marketing levels the playing field and makes it a fair fight.

Newer, smaller businesses may even have an advantage. Unencumbered by red tape and outdated ideas, they can experiment, move fast, and take action in ways that major corporations can’t.

Enjoy the Benefits of Digital Marketing

Attention is at the heart of all successful marketing, which is why the internet represents such an almighty opportunity in this realm!

With more people spending time online than ever before, it’s never been easier to get your product/service in front of the right people. Hopefully, this post has highlighted the main benefits of digital marketing and convinced you to give it a try.

Would you like some professional support to help you reap these digital marketing benefits? Contact us today to see how we can be of service.

Inbound marketing can be an inexpensive way of generating quality leads if you are doing it right. Studies have shown that inbound leads have a closing rate of 14.6 percent compared to outbound marketing leads of just 1.7 percent. The best part – inbound marketing strategies cost 61 percent less on average.

Want to learn how to attract quality leads?

Keep reading this guide to learn five indispensable inbound marketing strategies to start capturing leads and turn them into clients.

1. Content Marketing

Content marketing is all about creating value for your consumers. Though value is a broad term, it can come in many different forms, including:

• Blog posts 
• How-to videos
• Infographics
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• White papers
• And ebooks

Customers enjoy having companies create valuable content for them, in fact, they expect it. According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, consumers are significantly more likely to buy from a company they trust, and one of the best ways to build trust is by creating value.

Content Marketing Example

The popular investing app, Acorns, helps individuals build wealth through investing their round change from purchases into equities. They focus on helping people who don’t have the time or don’t believe they have enough money to invest.

The company started a blog to help reach these consumers and show them that it is possible to build wealth still. The blog is called Grow and helps spread helpful information about

• Investing
• Saving
• Earning
• Spending 
• And borrowing

Through the outreach efforts of the blog, Acorns has managed to grow to over 7 million users.

2. Social Media Outreach

Social media is an excellent place to gather inbound leads due to the accessibility of information.

Over 3.8 billion people are using social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, giving plenty of potential leads. 

Generating leads on social media is easy, but getting quality leads not so much. However, there are certain ways marketing professionals are finding success, gathering quality leads, including:

• Profile optimization
• Providing valuable content
• Hosting competitions & contests
• Offering free samples
• And personalization

Social media sites can be a great place to promote your brand and make real-life connections with potential consumers. It’s essential to keep in mind what you say on social media has a significant impact on the way people view your brand, so be sure that what you post reflects the companies views.

Social Media Marketing Example

Dove is a classic example of how effective social media efforts can resonate with consumers from all over the world. 

Dove’s “real beauty” campaign was initially run in 2004 to promote the message that beauty doesn’t come in certain colors, shapes, sizes, etc. instead, it comes from the inside. 

With the coronavirus pandemic looming, dove once again promoted its core message and started the “courage is beautiful” campaign to encourage and honor the healthcare workers who many would consider being heroes for their part in helping. 

3. Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is becoming one of the most sought after marketing skills ever due to the effectiveness of the practice. 

With Google generating over 3.5 billion searches every day, and around 80 percent of people ignoring paid ads, your best bet to stay relevant is through search engine optimization. 

SEO involves creating optimized content to increase the amount of organic traffic your website receives. 

The optimization can come in the form of:

Content

Creating custom content can be an excellent way to interact with customers and provide education pertaining to the product or service you are selling. 

SEO comes from keyword research and placement throughout the custom content to increase the chances of being discovered by search engines like google.

Web Design 

Web design is another essential aspect when it comes to SEO. Web page loading speed is a crucial factor in search engine optimization. Nobody likes waiting more than a second for a website to load.

The security of a website is also a contributing factor to your search engine ranking. If you do not have a security protocol (HTTPS), it will flag you.

4. Video Marketing

It seems that every companies wishlist consists of a marketing associate with video making or editing skills. That is because videos and short clips have a way of resonating with consumers in a way that text cannot. 

According to a recent survey, 66 percent of business owners mentioned videos as their most effective form of their marketing strategy. 

Video marketing is an effective way of communicating information to consumers as 90 percent of the information sent to the human brain is visual. 

Videos are expected to become the primary form of communication in the coming years as apps like Youtube and Tik Tok rise in popularity. 

Example of Video Marketing 

One of the best inbound marketing examples is Budweiser’s “Someone waits for you at home” video that went viral. 

The video features a dog and its owner leaving to go out for a few drinks, it comes to nighttime, and the dog is still home waiting for his owner to return when a message appears on the screen saying, “For some the wait never ended.” And then it goes on to say, “but we can change that,” promoting not to drink and drive and the owner eventually comes through the door. 

The video went viral for several key reasons.

First, it draws emotion to the subject, which gets people interested and involved in the video. Secondly, it is promoting a good cause, “don’t drink and drive.” These two factors combined create a powerful message that sticks with consumers.

5. Paid Advertisements

Paid advertisements are another effective option for online lead generation. 

There are plenty of places you could buy ads – Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Youtube, etc. 

One form of paid advertisement that is gaining momentum among businesses is called retargeting.

Retargeting or behavioral targeting works by the company using tracking technology called a cookie. The cookie is placed in the consumer’s web browser when they visit your website, and when they leave, they will see targeted ads from the company reminding them why they went there in the first place.

According to a ComScore study, retarget marketing had a 1,046 percent lift in business name searches. 

Looking for Help With Inbound Marketing Strategies?

When it comes to the digital world, inbound leads are everywhere. To generate these leads and effectively close them, it comes down to how well you implement your inbound marketing strategies.

Focusing on creating value for your consumers is an excellent place to start.

If you need help with your digital marketing, contact us today, and we can help you reach your digital potential.

There are a few things you’ll want to take into consideration when choosing the best social media platforms for business. 

Keep reading to find out more about how to find the best platforms for you, as well as what kind of benefits each platform can offer. Get social today with these tips and tricks. 

1. Look at Your Target Audience 

Before determining your social media marketing plan, you’ll want to take a close look at your target demographic. Consider different aspects of your audience’s profile, such as their age, gender, interests, and values to create a buyer persona. This will allow you to build profiles that appeal to your customer by using the platforms they are more active on. 

These online platforms allow you to engage with audience members, with the potential to turn them into loyal customers. Creating a marketing or buyer persona right away will allow you to craft messages that will appeal to a potential customer. To find out more about your customers, check out the demographics of your site visitors. 

You can do this by conducting customer surveys, or simply looking at your Google Analytics. After establishing a customer persona, you can then establish the voice and tone that your brand will use to market on social media. Your brand personality will come through with your social voice, but these tones may vary slightly across platforms. 

Social media is meant to be less formal, and more humanizing than traditional marketing. Make sure you keep this in mind when developing your company voice. 

2. Figure out What Platforms Your Target Audience Uses

Once you’ve done the work to analyze your customer demographics and created a buyer persona, it’s time to figure out where this kind of person is active in the social media world. There are a few tools you can use to determine this. 

Tools like Buzzsumo can help you figure out where the content in your industry is most popular. This will help you see what type of platform marketing is working for those in your industry, helping you to form your own marketing plan. You can also conduct some research to find the overlap between your target audience and social network demographics. 

Doing some competitor research on social media is a great way to see what works for your product type and industry. If a competitor is getting tons of traffic on certain platforms, there is a high probability that they have cracked the code on how to create effective content.

While doing your competitor research, make sure you brainstorm on ways you can stand out. Do something different than your competition to stay ahead of the game. 

3. Audience and Content 

You will also want to consider what kind of content will best connect to your target audience, as well as what will best showcase your product. Different social platforms will help you share certain content types.

For example, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr are all image-based companies, great for those with visual marketing content needs. Platforms like YouTube and Vimeo will be best for promotional video content.

You may find that your audience and content type could be spread over multiple platforms. While managing multiple platforms may seem like a lot of work, it could provide a key way to grow your customer base and brand awareness. Using a social media scheduling tool can help you schedule out multiple postings on multiple platforms at once so that you can plan ahead. 

While it may be wisest to use a few social media platforms to reach your audience, don’t cast too far a net. Only focus on the platforms your audience is actually using to make sure you’re making the most of your marketing efforts. 

4. Choose Platforms That Will Allow You to Build a Community 

Now that you have selected your social media platforms based on your audience and content type, you will want to figure out how you can create value for your followers. Giving your followers some value will allow you to build a loyal following and social community around your brand. It’s important to note that the only way to keep a steady, growing following is to post consistently. 

Make sure that the information your sharing via social media content varies to keep audiences engaged. Share informational blog posts, iconographics, videos, quotes, and tips along with your promotional content to build brand loyalty through authenticity. Amusing and entertaining content is most sharable, allowing you to get your brand in front of more audience members. 

Humanize your brand by sharing your brand’s story, sharing behind the scenes videos, or introducing your staff members. This allows your customers to connect with your company, your team, and your mission. 

5. Measure Your Success

With social media constantly changing, it’s best to track your efforts, calculate your success, and experiment along the way.

Collecting data about your social media performance can help you to track patterns. It can also help you understand areas that need some tweaking. Routinely check your performance routines and analytics to optimize your social media platforms. 

Make the Most of the Best Social Media Platforms for Business

As you can see, the best social media platforms for business will vary depending on your company, your customer, and your content type. Make sure that you take the above steps to find the best social media platforms for your business. 

Are you looking for expert assistance with your social media marketing? Contact me today to get started.