Digital marketing is changing the game and nowadays the opportunities for growth are boundless.
Why?
Because there are an abundance of new opportunities available for you to connect with your customers.
Not sure how to begin?
Good news!
We’ve broken our advice down into simple digital marketing tips to help you skyrocket leads, and sales, for your business.
#1: Optimise Your Website For Mobile Devices.
Whether it’s for shopping, games or reading – smartphones have changed the way in which we use our phones, which is why it’s more important than ever to ensure your website is optimised for mobile.
A website layout, image galleries and pop-up features will all have an impact on the way in which a website displays on certain devices, so it’s important to ensure that your website can adjust to the relevant screen dimensions without losing any usability.
One way to do this is with a responsive design, which means it self-adjusts to the relevant screen size.
Another option would be to have a separate mobile site designed. This would enable you to create a custom layout with clear text and large buttons – perfect for small screens and large thumbs!
The best method for optimising the responsiveness of your website will depend upon the purpose of your site, however, Moz has a great breakdown on all the things you should consider when doing so.
#2: Sales Boost Sales!
If we’ve learnt anything about buyer behaviour, it’s that people love to score a bargain.
You only have to look at events such as ‘Black Friday’ to know that there’s something about sales, which drives competitive behaviours.
But in order to host a sale, your customers need to know! Ways you can advertise this include:
- Homepage banner
- Social media advertising
- Email campaign
- Retargeting Ads
But be careful with how you frame your promotions though. It’s easy for people to become addicted to discounts and you don’t want to devalue your product in the long-term, for a short-term spike in sales!
#3: Utilise Your Email Subscriber List.
Snail mail used to be the ultimate form of marketing, but the digital age meant that a lot of things moved online, and letters were one of them. Nowadays, companies don’t have to worry about printing costs or damage to the environment, because snail mail has received a digital makeover!
Automation tools such as MailChimp, SendLoop and Aweber enable businesses to reach a global audience at the click of a button; regardless of whether they operate in B2C or B2B industries.
But the perks don’t stop there! With email, you’re able to:
- Reach customers directly
- Targeted emails to different audience segments
- Track results such as open rate, click-throughs and conversions
It’s low cost and capabilities, mean that email marketing is an attractive outlet for a marketing campaign and therefore if you have a list in place, you should utilise it with regular communication.
#4: Start A Company Blog.
If you haven’t heard the term blog yet, where have you been hiding? (And do they offer vacations?)
But if so, a blog is a place on a website where you can share content that can not only help to boost your sites SEO but can set you apart from your competition.
How?
By providing a space where you can demonstrate your expertise and share your knowledge.
Each blog post should be industry relevant, and provide something that is of value for your audience.
For example:
If you’re an automotive trader, your audience may find a guide on what to look out for when buying a car incredibly helpful.
The best way to approach writing this would be to research keywords and search volume and then plan your layout to answer the user’s intent.
For example, you could include insider tips, such as: what to look out for with older vehicles, common signs of wear and tear and things you need to check before purchasing a vehicle.
#5: Utilise Influencer Marketing.
If you’ve got a product or service that you want the world to know about, then you can bet that there’s a social media influencer in your niche just waiting to talk about it!
Influencer marketing (when done right) has an incredibly high return on investment.
And?
It can truly boost a businesses sales!
Why?
Because working with them enables you to tap into a relevant, highly engaged audience.
There are two ways you can work with an influencer—either directly, or via an influencer agency.
Whichever way you choose, it’s important to work with those with a relevant following.
For example:
If your product only ships to the UK, then an influencer whose audience is 70% American, isn’t going to be suitable for your project.
In addition to this:
You should ensure that clear expectations are set up front in terms of deliverables, posting schedule and the metrics so that you can measure the reach of a post.
#6: Look Back In Order To Move Forward.
It’s easy to get so swept away in creating campaigns, that you don’t stop to analyse the results.
But!
It’s incredibly important to look back on past projects to evaluate how effective they were against your marketing objectives.
To do this you should look at existing campaigns and the results of each.
For example:
- What was the engagement rate on your social media uploads?
- How many people opened your email blast?
- How successful were your paid search campaigns?
- Have brand mentions increased with your influencer outreach?
Evaluating your campaigns enables you to analyse what you did, what worked and how it could have worked better.
For example:
An email campaign that only received 100 sales, may have fallen short of what you were hoping for.
It’s easy to write this off as a fail but by looking back you may discover that the campaign was good, but the distribution of information needed work.
For example:
The lack of sales could have happened because a segment of people only received the email hours before the offer expired.
#7: Utilise All Platforms.
When it comes to selling a product, it’s important to be listed in places where customers expect to find you.
After all – you wouldn’t look for washing up liquid in the confectionary aisle of a supermarket!
Therefore, if you sell a product that isn’t available in brick and mortar stores, then eCommerce platforms such as Etsy, eBay or Not On The Highstreet can provide a huge boost in sales as millions of people are already frequenting these platforms for similar products.
#8: Pick The Right Words!
Taking the time to understand keywords and how they factor into your website’s SEO, is one of the fundamental things you can do for a business.
Familiarising yourself with keyword research tools, such as Keysearch or Google’s Keyword Planner, enables you to understand the vocabulary a customer uses when trying to find something in particular.
Understanding this makes a huge difference to your business, as you’ll be able to target terms which people are searching for, which will result in more clickthroughs and higher conversions.
#9: Get Social!
Social media covers an assortment of industries, but as over 55% of buyers research vendors by using social media – it’s more important than ever to have a presence on your business’ relevant platforms.
Because nowadays – social media isn’t just for B2C!
By executing a well laid out social media marketing strategy, you have the potential to boost brand awareness on a global scale!
Promote products to relevant segments and convert observers into customers – all with the click of a button!
Your social strategy should include:
- Goals and objectives
- Tone of voice
- Target demographic
- Posting times
- Style of uploads
- Posting frequency
#10: Invest In Paid Search.
Unlike organic search engine optimisation, paid search (otherwise known as pay-per-click) does have a cost linked to it.
It works in a way which is similar to SEO, in the sense that you are able to target certain keywords and then bid for the top 4 positions in the search results.
The most widely used paid search options are Google and Bing Ads.
One downside to PPC Adverting, is that it can be time-consuming to manage, but when done correctly, the results are worth it!
Why?
Because your targeted audience has a direct intent for your product/service, and is more likely to convert in to a lead or sale.
#11: Interact With Your Audience – Both Online And Off.
It goes without saying that customer service is an incredibly important element of a business. And one of the most essential digital marketing & SEO tips.
But if that doesn’t inspire you to focus on it, think of it like this:
If a customer has taken the time out of their day to reach out, their interest in your product or service is already there.
Customer service can be the difference between an average service, and a great one.
So whether you’re replying to emails sent in, comments on social media or reaching out to thank loyal customers.
Making people, whether prospects or existing customers, feel like you value their time will always help.
#12: Focus On Your SEO Strategy.
If you haven’t got an SEO strategy in place already, you might need one.
Or… You need to hire an SEO agency to do it for you *wink wink nudge nudge*
SEO stretches across so many elements of a business, both on-site and off, making it an incredibly important investment for most businesses.
There are an abundance of tools available online which can give you an overview of SEO such as Ahrefs, Moz, Google Webmaster Console, Screaming Frog, but as a well-optimised site can save companies vast amounts when it comes to generating leads, you’ll want to proceed with a reputable agency which are experts in their industry.
The best place to start is with a website audit from a reputable SEO agency – which, we just happen to offer for free, with no obligations! (Click here to get yours!)
An audit will showcase areas of strength, weakness and opportunities when it comes to your site, which may include:
- Site speed
- Backlink profile
- Site structure
- Organic ranking
- Keyword opportunities
SEO can be a time-consuming process and the industry is always evolving, but it’s a worthwhile investment!
Because a well-optimised site is ‘The OG’ when it comes to turning traffic into leads!
#13: Utilise Facebook’s Inbuilt Advertising Tools.
There are so many different ways to generate leads and sales on Facebook, that it’s a total playground when it comes to advertising because Facebook makes it so easy.
- Sign up forms
- Product listings
- Boosted posts
- Sponsored Ads
And the ability to build in retargeting ads onto the platform, are just a few of the features available that can truly help you increase your lead generation.
#14: Leverage Video Content.
It started with Vine, Vimeo and Youtube, but has now risen to be available on almost all platforms.
Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook – video is on them all.
And people have shown no signs of stopping when it comes to consuming this media medium!
There is an abundance of ways you can utilise video to boost sales.
Whether it’s with an instructional video on how to use your product, or creative videos showing the different things you can do with a product:
There’s both space, and an audience, available for the creativity involved.
Visual feel, tone, structure and soundtrack are all important aspects to consider with video, but when you find a combination that works, it can skyrocket.
Just look at Buzzfeed’s ‘Tasty’ videos!
#15: Get Your HTTPS Into Gear!
HTTPS (or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure if you like long sentences!) is the secure older-sibling of HTTP.
Enabling secure communication over a computer network HTTPS is widely used on the Internet because it authenticates security certificates and encrypts information.
This ensures that online transactions are safe because it establishes a secure connection between the client and the server.
It’s a small, easy to implement, website change that goes a long way in making your customers feel secure when using your website.
And also provides a tiny ranking boost for your SEO! 🙂
#16: Use Landing Pages To Personalise Your Ads.
When somebody clicks on your ad, interest and intention are both there, so where you send them post-click can make or break your campaign.
After all, if you clicked on an advert for trousers, and it took you to a page about socks – you’d be less than impressed!
To best serve a searcher’s needs, create landing pages which are tailored to your ads is incredibly important. By doing this you’re able to maintain consistency, relevancy and—with a well-placed call to action—convert those leads like crazy!
#17: Host A Contest Or Giveaway!
Contests and giveaways are a fun way to drive traffic and build a lot of awareness about your company, in a short space of time.
Whilst people get competitive in physical competitions, online it’s the opposite, with people eagerly sharing contests with friends, family and colleagues who may be interested in the prize.
Whilst social media can be a great way to host a contest, it doesn’t offer a direct capability for capturing data. Therefore creating a designated landing page for the contests or giveaways on a website, is a better option as it will enable you to capture the data required.
Just make sure your terms and conditions are clear on how and when a person’s data is used to ensure that you are GDPR compliant.
#18: Optimise Your Conversion Rates.
When a person buys something, it often has more to do with psychology than the technology itself.
People buy things that make them feel good or alternatively solve one of their pain points.
Which is why ensuring that your website makes the process easy for users, is a vital step!
Thanks to Google Analytics, tracking a user’s journey and seeing where time is spent, or people drop off is incredibly easy.
By reviewing this data you’ll be able to see where your website converts, and which pages or processes require a little tinkering.
For example:
You may have a tutorial on your website for a particular product which ranks well in organic search but doesn’t have a buy/learn button for those looking to purchase it.
A simple tweak for the above would be to provide a direct link to the product, utilise sidebar space, or add a shopping function to the article.
Helping customers find what they’re looking for by displaying information that the customer wants to read (rather than what the website owner thinks they should read) can make the buying process easier, which in turn can help to convert more of your leads.
#19: Utilise Your Network And Step Up To The Mic!
If you’re an expert in your field, show it!
Reach out to hosts of other platforms to see if they have a need for your knowledge.
This could include:
- Interviews
- Blog posts
- Radio talks
- Podcasts
- Q&A’s
- Magazine articles
- Live talks on social media
By providing valuable information to somebody else, you’ll be able to increase brand awareness with a new audience whilst also providing value to the person graciously hosting you/your content.
#20: Build Upon Existing Results.
One thing that businesses often forget, is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel with every campaign.
Simply find what works and do more of it!
It could be that attending trade exhibitions is your biggest moneymaker or advertising on a particular platform brings in the highest quality leads.
To analyse past data you’ll need to look at your past campaigns.
This includes:
- Email open rate
- Numbers of leads
- Click-through rates
- The success of your call to actions
- Highest converting landing pages
- Paid search spend
- Conversion rates
By taking the time to do this you’ll be able to understand what works best for your business.
This data will then enable you to identify the areas which produce the highest converting results so that you can continue to build upon their success.
#21: Experiment With Split Testing.
When done properly, A/B testing is one of the most effective ways of testing which converts better.
By creating two versions of a landing page you’ll be able to hold a controlled experiment to see which version your customers respond to with the desired call to action.
For example:
If you’re landing page is for purchasing a particular product, you may wish to test different writing styles to see which has the desired effect.
For example; Page A may host informal casual language, whereas site B may host a more formal tone.
By carefully crafting two versions of your campaign, you can see which one attracts more interaction and boosts conversions.
#22: Build Awareness Early.
Whether it’s an event, a sale or a product launch, drumming up awareness early is vital in ensuring that a campaign is seen by as much of your target audience as possible.
Hosting an event?
Drum up excitement about it in the weeks leading up to it with an email campaign an.
Having a flash sale?
Send out a ‘save the date’.
Launching a new product?
Let publications know it’s coming by utilising digital PR.
Add the introduction of exclusive information or the ability to pre-order tickets, and you’ll have yourself some keen customers!
#23: Keep It Niche!
If you’re in the business of cars, then it goes without saying that you probably shouldn’t start selling healing crystals via your website.
Keeping your business and marketing efforts niche relevant is a great way to establish yourself as an authority on a particular subject.
Ways you can demonstrate your knowledge whilst providing value and providing helpful information to your audience include:
- Articles
- Tutorials
- Live Q&A’s
#24: Get Creative With Pop-ups.
Whether you offering exclusive content, such as a white paper, or you have an e-commerce store and provide exclusive discounts to subscribers, capturing contact information from business visitors is a valuable way of being able to retarget them at a later date.
There are numerous ways in which you can do this, and the most appropriate method will depend upon what you’re selling.
For example:
eCommerce
Pop-ups tend to be more successful when you’re offering discounts for users.
Ways to implement this include:
Exclusive discounts for newsletter subscribers or a ‘spin and win’ plugin which encourages users to leave their email address in exchange for the chance of winning a discount.
Software
Software tends to be an investment for most companies, so offering a free trial period, can be a great way to capture a user’s details.
In addition to this, help boxes such as customer service live chat can also help, as the questions prospects have may not always be answered in your FAQ.
#25: Reward Your Customers.
If you’re familiar with the Pareto Principle then you’ll know the age-old adage that 20% of a business’s customers produce 80% of sales.
Yet despite this, companies often overlook existing customers and spend a large portion of their marketing budget on new customer acquisition, often taking their existing customers for granted.
But utilising existing customer’s loyalty is of great importance, because existing customers cost the least to maintain and tend to be a company’s greatest advocates.
Ways that you can reward your existing customers include:
- Reward schemes
- Discounts
- Loyalty programmes
- Free gifts with purchases
- Event invitations
#26: Engage Your Audience!
Got a new update to your product?
Or an upcoming launch of something new and exciting?
Get real customers involved in the beta test by reaching out and asking them for feedback.
People who use a product will generally have more opinions on its features, and how it operates because they use it more vigorously than those who test it for a minimal time period.
By utilising existing users as part of a focus group, you’ll be able to obtain a higher level of information to help you perfect your product and drive future sales.
Plus!
Your existing customers will feel more valued and invested in your business’ journey.
#27: Create Gated Content.
Sometimes you provide a piece of content so helpful, you don’t want to give it away for free… So you shouldn’t!
But rather than selling it for a nominal fee, you might benefit more from making it gated content.
Gated content is online materials (such as posts, videos or white papers) that require a user to fill out a form before they can access them.
This is a great method for lead generation as the leads you acquire will, theoretically, already be interested in an element of your business, or industry.
#28: Double Down On Content Marketing.
Whether your content plan involves the usual blog posts, videos and social media updates, or you’re looking to inject something more – having a well thought out content plan is a sure fire way to vamp up your prospects.
And when you combine this with irresistible lead magnets – you’ve got all of your bases covered!
Examples of effective lead magnets include:
- Webinars
- Free Trials
- Mini-Courses
- Whitepapers
- Ebooks
- Reports
- Free resources such as tools or checklists.
#29: Remarket!
If you’re not familiar with the term, ‘re-marketing’ – you should be!
To re-target is to advertise to people you already have a connection with.
This could include social media followers or visitors to your website and offers one of the highest returns, for the lowest cost.
Implementing this takes minimal set up and can be done via social media, or Google Adwords.
A full breakdown of what’s required with regards to setting up Adwords retargeting, can be found in this article.
#30: Don’t Overstretch Yourself.
Trying to achieve too much at once can leave your efforts feeling stretched and, as a result, a little thin.
Instead of trying to implement every element of digital marketing that exists, you should focus your attention on strengthening a few core methods.
Analysing your marketing plan will enable you to dissect which methods are currently working best for you, and will be the most suitable for you to build upon.
For example:
You may find that trade-shows and email campaigns have developed the largest return for you in terms of lead generations and conversions.
By staying focused with your goals you will be able to monitor which marketing platforms can be set up and left to run naturally, and which platforms will require your attention to tailor and tweak to receive the desired results.
#31: Communicate Consistently.
This tip does exactly what it says on the tin!
Whether it’s a newsletter, social media update or blog post, developing a routine helps to let your audience know what to expect, and will often have them frequenting your digital marketing channels to see if there’s something new available.
The best way to do this is to analyse past data to see when your audience are most online and use this information to determine when they’ll be most receptive.
For example:
Your audience may be online on their social media channels most at 6 am and 7:30 pm.
However:
The 6 am slot may not be the best to prompt action as many people will be getting ready for work and may not be as receptive to booking or buying something.
Whereas the evening slot, people tend to have more free time and therefore a stronger call to action at this time may yield better results.
#32: Demand Action.
Words that don’t prompt a response, are just words.
Your marketing text should inspire the reader to take action, which is why it’s important that the words you choose to represent your business are a focus and not an afterthought.
Working with a skilled copywriter can ensure that you achieve this by using concise messaging with clear calls-to-action.
Alternatively:
If you’re looking to make simple changes to the text yourself, the inclusion of phrases such as “sign up to learn more”, “buy now”, and “read more” can help prompt customers to take action.
#33: Reach For The stars Locals!
We know that everybody should reach for the stars, but when doing so you shouldn’t forget about those closest to you.
More specifically – locals.
So many businesses target global search and forget to target their local areas.
Whether it’s your local branches, offices, help desks or distribution centres, targeting local search can help to establish yourself in the local community.
Plus!
Local residents like to support local businesses – especially those which bring in revenue and job opportunities to the area.
Therefore, making yourself known can make a huge impact in driving sales in a particular geographical region.
Ways you can do this include:
- Social Media Advertising.
- Google My Business
- Local Directories.
- Advertising on local groups/websites/forums.
#34: Stay Up To Date With Your Website Design
People trust design that stays modern, so if your website has pixelated images and hard to read fonts, it isn’t going to convert customers as well as it could do.
A well-designed website should have:
- A layout that’s easy to navigate.
- Clear call to actions.
- Easy to read fonts designed for web use.
- Fast loading speeds.
- Readable text that is broken up with paragraphs, headings and subheadings.
- High resolution imagery (compressed for web-use so that it doesn’t slow down your site speed!)
#35: Make Your Content Shareable
Whether it’s a landing page, product or blog post – making content shareable can help to skyrocket leads because people love to share things that interest them.
The problem is:
That if your content isn’t easy to share, people aren’t going to bother.
Which sounds terrible, but when you consider the effort it takes to leave a conversation, go to the internet to get a link, copy it, and return to the conversion to share it, you see why!
So get those share buttons up on your website!
By making it easy for your audience to share your content, they may just reward you by doing exactly that!
#36: Utilise The Review Function.
As much as you can generate brand trust, people don’t trust faceless companies, they trust the people who run them.
Which is fine, because review sites such as Feefo, Trustpilot and reviews.co.uk are all great platforms for users to do exactly that.
You can even display them on your site so that your rating appears together with your website in search results!
The most popular ways to do this are:
- By collecting reviews via your website directly.
- By using a plugin to pull reviews from different platforms
- By having a web developer hard-code it into your website.
#37: Check Out The Competition
Understanding who your competitors are and what they offer can help you make your own product or service stand out.
Whether it’s targeting their name on paid search, or checking out their online presence to see if there’s any inspiration lurking for your own ideas.
Checking out the work of your competitor can be an educational experience.
Especially if you’re able to identify a competitor’s weakness that helps improve your own business performance.
The way in which you do this will depend upon what channel you want to scope out.
For example:
If you’d like to look at what advertising they’re doing on Facebook, you can look at the ads they’re actively running by visiting their business page and clicking on the “info and ads” section on the left-hand side.
Or if you want to see which publications are talking about a competitor, you can set up Google Alerts to notify each time a competitor or keyword is mentioned.
For more ways to scope out your competition’s marketing activities, this article from Neil Patel showcases helpful tools to help you keep an eye on your competition!
#38: Search For Your Company Name
Take some time to utilise the search function on social media channels and forums to see what’s being said about your company, and by whom.
Or enter your brand name into Google in quotation marks.
By doing this you may discover people who have been looking for a solution to a problem, which your company can solve, or that people have been asking questions about your product or service, but haven’t tagged you, resulting in their questions remaining unanswered.
By proactively seeking discussion, you can utilise overlooked opportunities for conversation with your target audience, as well as opportunities for sales and lead generation, whilst offering high levels of customer service.
Furthermore, you might find opportunities for earning backlinks.
By reaching out to any high quality publications that mention your brand but do not link and simply asking for a link!
#39: Don’t Attempt Everything Yourself.
Becoming a jack-of-all-trades leaves you as a master of none.
If you want your business to generate high-quality leads then utilise your team by focussing on their areas of strength and outsourcing everything else.
For example:
If you have a strong website developer and writer, but your in-house team aren’t clued up on Digital PR or SEO – you can outsource these elements to a specialised agency.
This enables you to utilise industry experts as and when you need them (without the full-time commitment of having them as in-house employees!) and can ensure that your business is fully optimised across all routes to market.