It doesn’t come off as a surprise that marketers find themselves overwhelmed because there are about a thousand companies that are trying to sell one type of marketing technology or another in about 40 categories.
With the exception of software companies, there is a very low rate of adoption of marketing technology.
Companies in other major industries are only utilizing around two out of nine important marketing technologies that exist.
This is nothing but a wasted opportunity because a significant and rapid increase in return on investment have been reported by marketers who have adopted these tools.
Therefore, it is essential for every company’s marketing department to use, at a minimum, at least a few technologies for growing opportunities, leads and opportunities.
In most cases, these marketing technologies are an online form of direct marketing. Here is a list of some of them that should definitely be used by every business: Recommended online marketing strategies and technologies
1. Analytics
Marketing has reached an inflection point because everything, from offers and ads to technologies and channels, has become trackable. It is very easy for smart marketers to figure out the loopholes and problems in their advertising strategy as long as they have an analytics program handy. The most popular analytics tool that’s used by businesses these days is Google Analytics. It is available for free and is an excellent starting point before opting for paid tools.
2. Conversion Optimization
The process of conversion optimization is one where a business gets consumers to visit its website or social profile for engagement purposes and makes them do what it wants them to do. This could include getting them to fill a form where they at least provide an email address, which can be used in marketing. Conversion optimization will increase the number of customers filling this form and there are various tools that can be used for this purpose such as Landing Page Grader, Unbounce or Optimzely.
3. Remarketing
This concept has been experienced by almost everyone who uses the internet; people visit a website and then leave. When they open other websites, they will notice that ads of the previous site visited will be displayed on the new ones. This is highly cost effective and easy to set up because a business only advertises to individuals who have shown an interest in their product or service. The most common tools used for this form of marketing include Google Adwords remarketing, Perfect Audience and AdRoll.
Nowadays, businesses of all sizes have the added advantage of getting access to expert insights into consumer behavior because of highly sophisticated tracking tools that accumulate customer data. Businesses are using this insight for developing targeted brand marketing strategies and remarketing is one way of doing it.
It is understood that one visit is usually not enough for convincing visitors of a website to take action and convert into customers. Remarketing gives businesses the opportunity of using specific and tailored ads and offers relating to their experience on the website to lure back indecisive customers. Hence, in simple terms, remarketing gives businesses another chance to close the deal.
With remarketing, a business can segment their audience of website visitors in the past and deliver relevant ads for display and search campaigns based on the actions taken by the visitors on the website.
This practice has proven to be immensely successful because the ads that are shown to the audience are connected to their previous encounters with the product or the brand. This connection increases the possibility of a visitor turning into a customer by making a purchase. Remarketing can enable businesses to enjoy tremendous success because allows them to perform the following actions:
- Add dynamic ads to the remarketing campaigns: The impact of remarketing can be amplified by incorporating dynamic ads in the campaigns. Dynamic remarketing allows a business to create customized and highly relevant ads for reminding shoppers of items they have purchased or seen in the past on the business’s website and also for giving suggestions of other products they may want. As long as it’s done right, dynamic remarketing has the capability of generating 5 times more conversions as compared to regular remarketing campaigns.
- Capitalize on important moments through real-time bidding: Not every visitor of a website is same. For instance, a visitor who placed an item in the shopping card an hour ago is more likely to complete the transaction as opposed to one who added an item three weeks ago. Remarketing enables real-time bidding, which means that a business can reach thousands of customers and also determine where the best response will be received. A transparent bidding process is followed so a business has full control over their bids.
- Connect with clients across screens: For any marketing campaign to be a success, it has to connect with the right customers. By taking advantage of remarketing with Google, a business can use search for reaching past visitors on their website. Mobile and display ads can also be used for reaching tens of thousands of customers with targeted offers, relevant products and customized messaging.
For remarketing to begin, a tag has to be implemented on the website once and then granular remarketing lists can be created for making display campaigns directed towards specific segments of the audience. In this way, past visitors can be encouraged to return and even new ones can be reached. Thus, remarketing is a concept that will provide a great return on investment to businesses.
4. Mobile
Nearly half of the emails sent are opened on mobile phones and tablet computers and it is expected that half of search will also be done on smartphones. Therefore, it is essential for a business to make its website responsive and mobile-friendly. The problem is that less than one-third website use this rule and get penalized by Google and other search engines. Mobile-friendly websites are just the first step from where businesses move onto mobile search advertising and others.
With these technologies, along with social media marketing, search engine optimization and email marketing, a business will get a greater return on investment.
5. Social Media and SEO
If you talk to 10 people in the digital marketing industry and ask them whether they believe that social media has an impact on SEO, they will probably give you 10 different answers. Some will agree instantly that SEO is indeed influenced through social media while others may say that organic rank remains unaffected.
Others will claim vehemently that social signals do impact SEO, but not in obvious and direct ways. The actual situation is probably somewhere in the middle of all three statements. According to Matt Cutts of Google, direct social actions such as retweets and Facebook likes don’t affect rank because incorporating this information into the algorithm is extremely difficult.
However, it cannot be denied that there is overlap in SEO and social media and the overall organic success of websites can be improved through social media. Here are some ways it can be done:
- Link Potential: Brand awareness or website content can be increased through social media activity. Links can be developed through this heightened familiarity.
- Search Query Volume: Through social media, it has become possible for businesses to expose their name to a wider target audience. In this way, the overall awareness of the brand can be enhanced, which means that more and more people will search for it. When search engines notice that the search queries for a particular brand have increased, the brand is considered popular and is therefore given a higher ranking in results. But, this depends on the query that’s being searched.
- Brand Signals: It is believed by some that ranking factors are also affected when a brand is mentioned on a blog or website, but without a hyperlink. This process is termed as co-citation by Google and is regarded as a brand signal. Mentions of these co-citations can be increased through social media because it creates brand awareness and also spurs conversations about it amongst the masses.
- Traffic Volume and Site Engagement: The volume of traffic that comes to a website can be boosted through social media and this is a very important factor in determining search engine rankings. Most of the time, items such as videos, blog posts, event listings and other interesting and unique content is shared on social media for driving traffic to the website. In this way, the business is rewarded in the form of organic results because metrics such as time spent on a website, visits per pages and bounce rate are analyzed by search engines for ranking determination.
- Authorship: It has been mentioned by Google that identities will be incorporated in search rankings in the future. This means that higher search engine rankings will be given to certain people, depending on factors such as their authority, relation to the topic and the size of the likely audience.
- Profile Ranking: The social media profiles of a brand typically rank high, sometimes even before its actual website. While this doesn’t send direct traffic to the website, it ensures that potential customers learn about it and eventually decide to visit.
6. Online Reputation Tips – Being Careful When Using Social Media
Just like there are weaknesses that people can turn into strengths, there are strengths that can be turned into weaknesses. Social networking platforms and the entire social media on the Internet is quite something for promoting your business, building a rapport, maintaining a reputation and building brand loyalty, but all of this could go wrong if you don’t manage things properly.
Modern business needs have compelled all big personalities e.g. politicians, government officials, entrepreneurs, CEOs etc. to have an online presence, and win followers. Without online social media presence they know they will miss out on a lot of things that could work for them.
However, the worst is when you end up using social media against you. This is called bad management of reputation on social media. There are hundreds of things that could ruin your reputation online and in turn destroy the image of your business. That’s why it is highly recommended that you manage your online reputation with extreme care. If you think twice before speaking in real life, think thrice before posting stuff online. As for how you can manage your reputation on social media, please have a look at the tips given below:
- Be Present: This is the first thing you need to do – be present. You have to make sure that you have a presence on almost all the major social networking platforms. Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the most renowned online social networking platforms and you just can’t have enough presence online unless you have your company pages and personal profiles on these social networks. You can always have marketing specialists do this job for you. Hand over the responsibility of managing these pages to a professional who knows how to handle social networks.
- You Don’t Have To Do It All By Yourself: You might be an amazing person in real life and your friends and peers must like you for what you are, but that’s not always going to work online. In addition to that, when you are on the internet you are exposed to the entire world and every word you say publically is reachable by anyone sitting in any corner of the world. The best way to handle this situation is to have agencies work for you. We are talking about agencies that provide online reputation management services. These companies have professionals who keep a track of what is being said about your business online and what the overall impression and image of your business is for internet users.
- Be Responsive: Either hire a team of professionals, a professional or give responses to your online followers and fans yourself. There is no use of having online social networking profiles and accounts if you are not responding to your customers, consumers, fans and followers. Of course, it is nearly impossible to respond to them all on half a dozen different platforms. This is why it is recommended that you hire a professional to do that for you.
- Avoid Arguments: Giving response to a question or inquiry makes sense but arguing doesn’t. Some online users will just argue with you to provoke you. Many businesses have lost their reputation and actually stained their image by getting into unnecessary arguments. This is a world of people with different minds, tastes and choices. You can’t make everyone happy and you must know it. There will be critics and there will be harsh words said about and against you. The moment you start arguing with people for not liking you or criticizing you while the entire world is looking at comments from both sides, you have taken a wrong step.
- Talk Only When Necessary: If you are a famous individual with online profiles on several social networks, make sure you talk only when you think it is most needed. First, know what your overall impression on your fans and followers is. Secondly, know the kind of work, profession, business or organization you are associated to. Now, post comments that are worthwhile. Being CEO of a huge oil company and talking about what’s going on in your personal life all the time could be disappointing for your likers. It doesn’t mean you are not allowed to have fun and joke “at times”.
- Make Arrangements For The Unavoidable Disasters: Sometimes things go wrong in such a way that you can’t control them. For example, your online accounts might get hacked. That’s when you feel desperate. Your own accounts are not in your control. At the same time, the hacker is able to post random stuff online from your accounts. Make sure you have professionals and experts on your side to overturn such events. Design a plan all ready to protect your identity in case it gets hacked by someone. First, make sure you keep your passwords and other sensitive information safe.
- Reward Your Loyal Customers: Loyalty needs to be rewarded. If you have customers who have stayed associated with your business for years, you must reward them uniquely. Give them what you think would be something of use for them. Giving them online appreciation by posting a colorful picture of them is a big enough surprise for them already. However, you can always take things further and reward them with other perks. Send them a small gadget as a souvenir and sign of appreciation. Talk about these people on your social networking profiles and blogs.
- Keep Blogging: Blogging has emerged as one of the most important and useful online marketing tools in the recent years. On most occasions, blogs have been able to receive more traffic than the official static websites of the companies. Furthermore, blogs are created to interact with your customers and potential prospects. You can converse with your customers personally on your blogs or have a professional respond to the online posts for you. What you have to make sure is to keep on blogging regularly and updating the information on a regular basis too. Link your blog and most highlighted and worthwhile blog posts to your social networking profiles.
In conclusion, there are many online marketing strategies and technologies that your competitors are using and you should be using too.