We do not need to tell you how competitive things are out there right now. As we head towards the holiday season and look ahead to the new year, everyone is thinking about how they can take the biggest leap forward without sacrificing too much of their budget. January and February can be the hardest months to make an impact on your target audience as everyone is feeling the hurt of all that holiday spending and watching every penny. You need to make sure that your online presence is working for you, but sometimes that can feel like it is easier said than done.
For a lot of people, raising brand awareness is associated with massive spend, but it does not have to be that way. There are plenty of steps that you can take that can be cost effective. It may take some self-education, it may take some patience, and it may require a bit of spending, but you can make sure that you are being driven up the search rankings and standing out on social media. Here are a few tips to help you find the audience you are looking for online.
It Is Time To Give Your Website A Facelift
Let’s start with an important aesthetic upgrade. If you look at your homepage and the words that come to mind are things like “functional” or “basic” then you may need to tear it all down and start again. Now that stores are back open again, we are starting to see people return to in-person spending, but online shopping habits are not going to go anywhere, and businesses everywhere understand that. This means that consumers are not going to hang around if it feels like the website that they have clicked through does not deserve their time and attention.
No matter what anyone tells you, aesthetics are important. Your page should convey your brand personality and ethos. It should communicate your expertise and your enthusiasm. You could also think about adding an AI chatbot to your homepage. You can program the bot with frequently asked questions to help to keep visitors on your page for longer. You can also program it to switch over to a live employee if needed.
SEO Is Your Friend
Most business owners have a pretty good idea of what SEO is and why it is important at this point. But there is a difference between knowing that you need to include keywords and understanding just how impactful good SEO practice can be. We have come a long way since filling content with keywords would give you a big boost up the search rankings. These days, Google is a little more discerning. The search engine giant is constantly refining and retooling its algorithms to put quality ahead for its users.
That means that you need to be creating high-quality content that is SEO-friendly to avoid spam filters and meet those search criteria. And it’s not all about attracting users to your website, it’s about making them want to stay there. You should be updating your written content regularly to address the new issues that arise which your customers will want to know about. You should also remember that this is a prime opportunity for you to show off. Your content should absolutely reflect your expertise and experience and it should set you apart from the competition.
Digital Marketing Requires Focus
Digital advertising is one of those areas that continues to develop with each passing year. There are always new insights that you can use, new technology to help you get your message out there, new channels to explore. The days when you could just throw money at a campaign and be relatively confident that it would find enough people to make the investment worth it are long gone. These days, it all requires a little more time and finesse. For example, it is much more effective to do research on your target audience and to identify the channels that they actually use rather than investing in a much broader campaign. There is no point investing in a campaign on TikTok if your customers are mostly over 50, for example.
One of the most important things that you need to think about is the advertising itself. So much can be lost in translation when you hand off complete control to another agency. It can be an expensive and time-intensive process as you wait and hope that the people you have brought on board understand what you are trying to get across. Why not create your own messaging? If you are looking to create ads for your own business, you should think about investing in a creation tool that will allow you to take control of the project and involve everyone on your team for improved collaboration and feedback. Creatopy offers a complete ad making solution for a wide range of different purposes and platforms.
Do Not Neglect Your Social Media
Over the last two years we have all seen how important social media has been to maintain contact with our customers and clients. But there are still some businesses out there who see social media as a necessary evil rather than a useful tool. If you are simply using your accounts to post the occasional meme or motivational message interspersed with personality-free links to your content, then it is time to take a step back and rethink things.
This is an opportunity for you to get your brand out there, to show people what sets you apart from everyone else. You should be using these channels to craft your brand personality, to demonstrate your expertise and to show how much you value your customers and appreciate their concerns. For example, many users will have questions about environmental responsibility in the wake of the recent COP26 summit. You could use your social media to state your business’ own climate pledge, whether that is using recyclable packaging or donating to green charities.
