If your business isn’t marketing online, you could be missing out on a lot of business.
Even brick and mortar stores need an online presence. Why? Because consumers are online. And it’s essential that you get their attention to get ahead.
How can you do this?
By keeping on top of the online marketing methods that will help get you in front of those online consumers. Here are 6 online marketing skills that will get your business ahead online.
#1 Sharing videos that will bring in tons of business
Video has the amazing ability to convince consumers of the value of your business, and increase your conversions. Not convinced that you need video? Consider these stats:
- Businesses that use video increase their revenue almost 50% faster than those who don’t use video.
- 4 out of 5 shoppers claim that actually seeing how a product works is important to them.
- 7 out of 10 millennials watch a company’s video when they are shopping.
But it’s not just about consumers and sales. Video has the power to increase engagement and conversions in marketing. Look at these numbers:
- 87% of businesses marketing online are now using video.
- It’s 50x easier to reach a high page ranking in Google’s search engine results with video.
- An intro video in an email increases click-throughs by 96%.
Start using video in your emails and blog posts, and create videos to announce any new products or services, or show consumers exactly how they work. If you still aren’t sure, watch this video by Kissmetrics: How to Set the Goals that will Accelerate Your Video Marketing Success to get you started.
#2 Using email to acquire more customers
Email marketing is a great way to reach targeted customers, people that are truly interested in your business and your products and services. In fact, 44% of consumers who receive emails make at least one purchase a year based on promotional emails.
While email marketing can be a bit overwhelming, it really doesn’t have to be. Start getting people on your list, and use this list building guide, Acquiring Customers with Email, to really help you increase your subscribers and increase your conversions.
#3 Automating your marketing
One of the best ways to excel in online marketing is to automate your marketing efforts. And investing in tools that will help you automate can help.
Why automate? According to this WebFx article, “last year, there were 5 billion people on social media, which is up from 3.4 billion in 2019. This number will only increase as more people gain access to social media networks.” Keeping up with social media marketing is easier with automated marketing.
If you need help growing your business with marketing automation, or even understanding how it can help, check out this HubSpot article, What is Marketing Automation? A Beginner’s Guide.
#4 Becoming a better copywriter
There’s so much power in words. Content has the power to reach customers, connect with them and even drive sales. If you really want to make an impact online, you need to consistently publish posts on your business blog. But not just any posts. You need to make sure the posts you publish are useful and valuable to the consumers you are trying to attract.
As more consumers and businesses venture online, it’s going to be extremely important that your content is compelling and convincing. If you aren’t sure how to write great content, start here: QuickSprout’s The Definitive Guide to Copywriting. It will cover just about everything you need to write great content for your website and blog.
#5 Using SEO the right way
Online experts may go back and forth on this, but SEO is still very much an important part of building up your online audience and bringing awareness to your brand. It can help boost your traffic and bring you new customers. However, SEO has changed over the years. In the last few years, Google has recently started penalizing websites that use underhanded, shady techniques to work their way up the ranks of Google.
To compensate, SEO is a little different. Keywords still play a big part, but content has an even bigger part to play. Use this guide on an SEO Driven Approach to Content Marketing to help you determine your own SEO approach.
#6 Developing and implementing a social media strategy
Content marketing and social media strategy go hand in hand. Like content and SEO, social media is constantly evolving, and it pays to stay on top of the current trends and practices.
To help you get more strategic and help you implement your own social media strategy, use MarkinBlog’s guide: 101+ Actionable Ideas to Explode Your Traffic Growth. It can help you pick with social networks to focus on, what times you should be sharing updates, how to track your progress and more.
Online marketing has moved from a small part of business, to a necessity. If your business isn’t utilizing online marketing strategies to their fullest potential, you could be missing out on a lot of customers. Conquer these 6 marketing skills and you will be on your way to mastering online marketing.