As we venture into April of 2023, technology is more advanced than ever. With so many options, it may be confusing to many business owners on where to start with their marketing endeavors. But, the answer is not simple and it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. The choices may be overwhelming, but CMR Digital Designs is here to help guide you through it.
Here's the first seven must-haves:
1. A professional, user-friendly, easy to navigate, well designed website. No matter who your target audience is, a well designed website is a must in this technological world. On top of being a marketing tool, it also gives you a chance to share your story and tell your customers what you have to offer. A website is a promotional tool that reflects your brand identity, and is essential to measuring and improving the success of your marketing tactics. For instance, when you run ads on social media or google ads, you need a link to your website or landing page. With all of these different marketing channels flowing to and from your website, using analytics, you can see which marketing strategies are working best for your business. You will also receive invaluable insights into your audience.
2. Set up a Google business Profile. Setting up a Google business profile is an absolute must, and the best part is that it's absolutely free. Customers can easily find your business, your company name, your address and hours (if applicable), and your contact information. With a google profile, your business is basically promoting itself, and it's also a way to gather reviews proving your validity and trustworthiness. Additionally, you can publish posts directly to your google listing providing a great way to share your brand and your message free of charge.
3. Get found on search engines by optimizing your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Quality SEO maximizes the number of visitors to your website by appearing high on the list of results on a search engine. Google's algorithm has evolved tremendously and has utilized machine (spider bot) learning and user behavior to come up with the most accurate and best results for researchers. There are many different tactics to improve your ranking on search engines like google or bing, including relevant key words, high quality content, security, and high speed loads. Keep in mind that SEO is a long term strategy and takes time and frequent updating to get the best results.
4. Get reviews. Great ratings on reviews show that your business is credible and trustworthy. Word of mouth has always been the most effective marketing tool and continues to be in this modern age. Potential customers get insights into the quality of your work, your professionalism, timeliness, customer service, and much more. There are multiple platforms that showcase reviews, like Yelp, Google, and Facebook. *Pro tip #1 - Do not make the mistake of buying fake reviews - they can tarnish your reputation and most customers see right through them. You also risk getting your business pulled from the platform. If you are just starting out, allow yourself time to get high quality, authentic results. If you have a great business, it will naturally show. *Pro tip #2 - Respond to your customer reviews in a professional and kind way as it will reflect your brand's values and character.
5. Run Google Ads. Although there are many different search engines, Google ads is the best because it has the largest amount of search engine traffic, it has great ad building features, and detailed performance metrics. Google ads show up at the top of search engines when a user does a search, above local and organic listings, so it's a phenomenal way to get noticed.
6. Social Media Advertising. Whether it's Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, get your business on social media and start posting. If you have a clear target audience, you can be extremely successful with your marketing strategy by first choosing the right platform or platforms. You can dive much deeper by placing ads and then targeting your specific audience's details to that particular platform.
7. Email Marketing Campaigns. Email marketing is an oldie, but goodie. Astonishingly, 77% of people prefer to get permission based information to their email rather than other forms of communication. Email campaigns offer detailed information on your engaged readers, where you can monitor factors such as open and click rates, as well as see exactly who is opening and clicking your emails. This can lead to another campaign for your most engaged readers to really focus in on their interests. *Pro tip # 3: Incredibly, email marketing generates a 30x average return on investment. Additionally, it's another great way to showcase your brand, your company values, get leads, share information, and promote your business.