When trying to get your business off the ground, one of the biggest hurdles you face is growing your brand online and increasing its digital presence. Developing the perfect strategy allows you to reach new and existing customers, increase the chances of engagement and converting potential customers.
When it comes to online development, there is no size fits all. You must develop a strategic approach to building your digital voice and growing your brands' online footprint.
In this article, we provide you with pointers you can use to kickstart your growth online.
Start with what's your Why?
You must know your 'why' and how to launch your brand.
Why should consumers care for your brand, need your product or require your services? A simple way to start is by mapping out your value proposition and how this addresses your target audience's needs.
What are you offering that addresses consumers' concerns?
What benefits do they get?
What sets your services apart?
How do you deliver an unforgettable experience?
What fears can you manage for your customers?
Addressing the above vital points will help you align your business to the user and keep you focused as you expand.
Give customers what they want and need
It is essential to serve your audience members with what they want. If you're unsure what they want from you. You can ask them directly by running a survey or putting together focus groups.
If you're running a business, as an owner or freelancer, it's worth paying attention to the things they don't know they want.
People aren't always going to know what they need until they need it—and often, one person's solution will solve another person's problem even better than their solution would have done at the time.
Be consistent with your marketing tactics
When building out your digital voice and footprint, consistency is vital. Be consistent in your approach, adapt to your channels, and ensure your brand is always recognisable.
Keep your tone and style consistent across all platforms. Ensure your content is always fresh and relevant to your target audience.
Don't be scared to test and experiment with different content formats. What works for one channel may not work so well on another. Test the times you share content, and experiment with themes that address the users' wants.
Once you land on a sweet spot, ensure you keep the momentum going by being timely and relevant.
Remember, it's okay to fail if you learn from your mistakes. The great advantage of digital is that it allows you to be flexible. You can essentially test as you go until you see results.
Suppose a specific content type doesn't work. Go back and start again, review your insights, and use the data to start afresh.
Listen to audience feedback and give them what they want
Ask for feedback from all your customers. Asking for feedback from customers who are unhappy with your product or service is imperative.
You can also use this opportunity to get a feel for how they use your product or service and what they like and dislike.
Listen when people give you negative feedback because sometimes those comments will help improve the users experience.
Use social media marketing to grow your brand
Social media is an incredible resource for building your brand and connecting with your audience.
Connect with your tribe: Social media allows you to engage directly with your customers, answering their questions and helping them feel supported.
Promote your brand: Use social media to share updates about what you're doing, whether it's an upcoming event or a new product line launch (or both). This kind of promotion helps build buzz and gains you more traction.
Showcase your work: You can share behind-the-scenes photos or videos that showcase the hard work you put into making what it is that you do—from designing websites to writing books or creating music videos—and encourage others who might need similar services themselves by showing off how happy clients are with the results they got from working with you.
Make use of Google paid Ads and the different formats available
Paid advertising, including search engine marketing, social media ads, and sponsored content, is another excellent way to get more traffic to your website.
Paid advertising can be used with organic strategies or as a standalone strategy.
Here are some examples of Google paid ads you can start doing today:
Standard text ads: Standard text ads are now called ETA (expanded text ETA Ads). These are ads that only display text-only information.
Responsive Search Ads: These are like ETA ads but offer more options for headline descriptions etc., and allow for AB testing.
Dynamic Search (Ads): Automatically populated by pulling content from your website.
Image Ads: These run on the Google display network. In turn, some images will appear on a website that partners with Google.
App promotion Ads: App ads appear mostly on web devices and apps. You also have Video Ads; as Google owns YouTube, you can create video ads to occur within your chosen sector.
Product Shopping Ads: These appear on the top of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Call-Only Ads: Run on mobile and allow you to advertise direct calls. Once a user clicks on a call-to-action (CTA), they direct-dial you.
Social media ads: These ads can appear in newsfeeds on platforms like Facebook, Instagram or live videos on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Ads may also appear in apps for companies like Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Pinterest if you're running an app campaign.
Lastly, Sponsored content: content created specifically that appears within website articles. These can be banners and splash pages.
Become an expert in your field
You can place yourself as a thought leader by producing well-written thought leader pieces, informative blog posts, guest blogging, and hosting webinars and podcasts with industry peers.
You can even set up and launch a YouTube channel to share some of your insights. Your brand's digital footprint will grow as long you produce great content that your audiences require and recognised by search engines.
Make it easy for potential customers to find your business online
Give people a reason to visit your website. What's the purpose of your website? Do you want people to purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or learn about your company? Whatever it is, ensure that's what they'll find when they land on your page.
Make sure your website has easy and clean navigation. Nothing will turn away visitors faster than a confusing interface, poor load time, too many images, and poorly written text. We've all been there before: You click on a link promising something tremendous but then get frustrated when it takes five minutes to figure out what you're looking at.
Make sure mobile users have an equally good experience as desktop users when visiting the site. Your approach to building any digital platform should be mobile first and factor in mobile SEO and user experience. Poor experiences will lead to consumers losing interest.
Follow these steps, and you can grow your brand's online presence
Get your Digital voice and footprint consistent across all your platforms.
Test and learn as you develop content; do not be scared to ask your audience members what they want.
Know your value proposition and deliver on it.
Be original with content, and produce what your audience wants and needs.
Use social media to connect and show your authority.
Design a website that meets user experience and populate it with what they are after.
Make use of paid advertising platforms to reach new audiences and customers.
To learn more about building your business online and growing your target demographic. Please look at our latest masterclass, digital marketing fundamentals, for new and small business owners.
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