A Beginner’s Guide To Marketing Online
You’ve come up with a fantastic idea for a product or business. You’ve done your research, and you’ve built your website. You’re a bonafide entrepreneur and business owner. There’s just one problem, you don’t have any customers yet. Starting at the bottom of the mountain, with no users, clients or customers is terrifying and confusing. How exactly do you start building that interest? Starting from zero is hard, but digital marketing will help get the ball rolling. Still confused? Let’s take a more detailed look.
SEO – Every day people are searching Google for businesses and products like yours. It’s your job to make sure your website pops up on Google when they search for relevant keywords. If you sell snowboards, your website needs to appear when people search for ‘snowboards’. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s all about making sure Google ranks you highly. SEO is a series of tweaks and techniques that make Google take notice. Research more about the process, and start to implement it.
Social Media – According to statistics, we each spend around two hours per day on social media sites. Much of that time is spent interacting with brands, reading content, and hunting out offers. As a small startup Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the best places to start. You can begin to build a small community of loyal customers and followers. They will help spread your content farther, share your updates, and organically grow the business. Start with the platform you’re most comfortable with before advancing to others.
Email Marketing – Ask any marketer where most of their sales come from and they’ll all tell you the same thing: emails. Email marketing is great because it gives you direct access to your customers and leads. Start by setting up an email signup form on your website. You’ll instantly begin collecting names and email addresses, especially if you offer them a ‘lead magnet’ in exchange. Now you can send regular and timely updates right to their inbox. These are people that have already shown an interest in your business, so they’ll be easier to convert in the long run.
PR – Coverage in local and national media will always give your startup a boost. In terms of customers and brand recognition, there are few better ways to build your business. Even a few small features on relevant industry blogs will turn attention to you. Think about creating a story and sending out press releases to journalists. You can even use a press release distribution service to make this process easier.
Advertising – The last piece of the puzzle is online advertising. It’s an incredibly powerful way to reach out to your target audience and turn them into leads. Facebook has the most intelligent advert system letting you choose the age, location, and personality traits of your audience. Using our snowboarding example, you would target young people in alpine areas who love snow sports. It’s a quick way to send the right traffic to your website and strengthen your brand.
