Beyond The Website: Developing a Comprehensive Online Marketing Strategy

Even the most reluctant to embrace technology now understand that a business without a website is a business that is dying. However, unlike just 5 years ago, a simple website is no longer the secret to online success. As the amount of websites have continued to soar, even well designed sites get lost in the shuffle. Creating a comprehensive online marketing strategy is vital to ensuring your business continues to grow and flourish in the coming years.

A comprehensive online marketing campaign involves invoking multiple strategies such as mobile websites, reputation monitoring, and social media marketing. While a developing a successful web presence that translates into concrete sales for your business can seem like a monumental task, we have organized a few tips to help you get started.

Develop a Mobile Website

In 2015, PewReasearch reported that nearly two thirds of all Americans own a smart phone. Of those two thirds, a full 7% report that their smart phone is the only way they access the internet.

If your site is not optimized for mobile, you lose potential customers. A traditional desktop website will produce broken links, distorted images, and awkward menus, assuming the page loads at all.  A desktop website takes an extended amount of time to load on a mobile device and research has shown that over 57% of people will abandon your website if it takes more than 30 seconds to load. In addition to loading faster, mobile optimized sites allow customers to reach you directly in just seconds by using the click to call feature.

Furthermore, Google, the largest search engine, gives priority to mobile web pages when a search is performed on a smart device. If you are running a standard desktop website, your web page will never be seen by a large majority of people.

Monitor Your Online Reputation

In the past, businesses had to rely on word of mouth for potential customers to hear about the exceptional products and service. Literally, they had to rely on one person physically telling another person about the service they received. This is not so in the digital age. Sites like Yelp make it easy for potential clients to find reviews, both good and bad with just the click of a button.

Business that are not tracking their online reputation are losing out on clients they do not even know about. A bad review placed online can easily be seen by thousands of people and without your knowledge. Responding publicly is a great way to mitigate negative reviews. It shows customers that you are committed to customer service and your work. Consider using a reputation tracker that compiles data from all over the web into easy to read reports that assist you in creating better reviews and responding to negative reports.

Create a Social Media Presence

Social Media provides a wonderful real time outlet for communicating with your customers. It allows for you to build your brand while staying in tune with the needs and interests of your customer base. Depending on the goal of your social media campaign, your chosen outlet or outlets may vary.

• Facebook – The casual, friendly environment is a perfect place to start your social media marketing campaign. It allows you to post industry related articles, news releases, and promotions in word, image, or video format. You can then interact with customers furthering your conversations and building your brand. The layout and visual aspects of your page are key to making your service stand out and Facebook business pages can quickly become obsolete if they are not updated.
• Pinterest – One of the hottest platforms on the social media scene today, Pinterest’s image-centered platform is ideal for businesses looking to showcase their products. It’s important to note that Pinterest users are attracted to visuals, so high quality images and photography is key to building your followers and exposing your brand to as many people as possible.
• Twitter – Twitter allows businesses to broadcast updates, follow other users, and respond quickly and directly to consumers requests. One of the unique components of Twitter is that you can often gain a steady amount of followers simply by following and interacting with other account holders. The retweet feature allows you to immediately broadcast when a customer has said or tweeted something favorable. Interaction is key to Twitter, so be sure to respond to people’s question and connect with other users as much as possible. 
• Snapchat – 700 million videos and pictures are shared on Snapchat every day. Snapchat is unique in the social marketing world in that all photos and videos last only a few moments, normally around 10 seconds before disappearing. The goal here is to be relevant and spur of the moment to connect with consumers. To successfully use Snapchat in marketing, one must truly think outside the box of traditional strategy. Think unique and engaging content for your customer base. For example, some businesses have found success in snapping promo or sales codes to customers. The chance at receiving a 20% coupon code that the customer must record before the 10 seconds is up in order to redeem can increase your number of followers. Once your follower base is established, start showcasing quick promotional pictures or videos of your products.

Developing a comprehensive online marketing strategy that ensures positive results and business growth us a tremendous undertaking. It is also essential to your business. Your business and reputation on the web, whether you are or not. It’s time to interact with your potential customers in a positive and meaningful way. Contact us to find out how we can assist in bringing your business in the 21st century.