It’s no secret that in the internet age there are many options to market your business online. If you’ve spent significant time marketing your business through networking, radio advertising or PR then it’s likely you’ll be familiar with all of the offline channels available to you (and have probably seen mixed results).

If it’s now time to explore how you can take advantage of the internet to grow your business, fortunately for you there are many options.

Here’s five ways that you can market yourself online.

Search Engine Optimisation

The world of SEO can be a vague and murky one and it’s easy to see how people are put off by exploring opportunities. This said if you can push past the smoke, SEO is an extremely valuable marketing route.

Increasing your rankings to appear higher in searches relating to relevant keywords means you are positioned right when a potential customer is searching for a service or product like yours. Unlike paid advertising, you can achieve these results with a relatively small investment and enjoy sustainable and affordable results in the long term.

SEO should be considered a medium to long term marketing option and is therefore best when coupled up with a channel that will generate website visitors quickly (such as paid advertising). This said, if you are a local business you will be facing less competition and therefore see results relatively quickly.

We’d love to go further into the actual “how” but unfortunately it’s beyond the scope of this post. In the meantime, read through this local SEO guide to understand more.

Pay Per Click Advertising

When it comes to generating an influx of interested website traffic quickly it’s hard to beat pay per click advertising. The two main options when it comes to PPC, both with positives and negatives.

Google search ads are great for reaching people at the moment that they are looking for a service or product like yours, with your ad being placed above organic search results. Google ads work really well for selling both products and services, regardless of whether your business is B2B or B2C.

To effectively run your own campaigns does take a bit of research and you’ll want to pay particular attention to what keywords you are targeting using a tool like this one.

Your second PPC option is through the social media platform Facebook. Facebook advertising works differently to Google in that you are positioning your advert in front of people that you think may want to engage with your business. For this reason it works slightly differently.

You are required to configure a demographic of users that you feel would respond to your products. You are able to show your ad to specific age groups, people with certain interests or by gender. Again, some research is required to run campaigns effectively and you may want to start with this guide.

Content Marketing

Many business online have invested heavily in creating a content strategy to increase their leads. The easiest way to engage with your potential customers is via blogging regularly.

Adding a blog to your website and committing to blog post schedule can be a highly effective digital marketing strategy. Not only does it position your business as credible and knowledge, blogging also builds trust with your customers.

It’s been demonstrated many times that blogging regularly improves your search rankings as well as gives you great content to circulate on your social media platforms.

So with this new found knowledge, organise a weekly blog schedule covering topics that are useful for your clients. Think about your frequently asked questions, useful guides and helpful insights into your industry.

Social Media

First and foremost, social media helps get the word out about your business. On top of this, it also presents a great opportunity to build links with others in your niche and those that are interested in your products, services and knowledge.

Generally your following will primarily be made up of your current customers, past clients, people that are interested in your business and above all, people that will be recommending you to their friends.

Since social media is mostly public, it’s really simple to showcase the great job you do when it comes to customer experience. Similarly, by monitoring your customer feedback cross your social media channels allows you to improve on any common issues.

Above all, be personable and post content that will resonate with your audience. Your new blog posts would be a good starting point!

Build an email list

The mere exposure effect is a well known and powerful psychological phenomenon whereby the more you see a brand the more likely you are to buy from it.

The best way to benefit from this online is through a mailing list. Creating a newsletter that you can circulate regularly to a list of already interested individuals can yield fantastic results when done correctly.

Come up with a good way to collect email addresses, whether it be through offering a discount or a useful piece of content in exchange for a signup. Once you begin to build your list, ensure you’re able to send out valuable content on a regular basis to place your company first and foremost in your audience’s minds.

Bonus: Live chat

Once visitors reach your website you have a small window to convert them into customers. All of your content, your visual formatting and images should be optimised to encourage users to follow your call to action (most often this is to get in touch) however often this isn’t enough.

You’ll be surprised by the amount of leads you can generate simply by enabling a live chat service on your website. There are a number of small mental obstacles that people have to overcome to send you an email or pick up the phone and live chat removes these. Have a chat with your website developer to see whether this is possible and we promise that you’ll see an increase in leads!

Final thoughts

When it comes to coming up with a digital marketing strategy it’s important to understand that all of your activities will complement each other. For instance your content marketing strategy will be great for bringing in new customers directly and will also have a positive impact on your search rankings. Your social media activities will build an audience directly as well as provide a great platform to promote your content. Essentially your overall strategy should be considered joined up and consistent.

If you have any questions about this post please let us know.