Do you want to learn how to market your business online? Learn how to go beyond using social media and take a more tactical approach?
Let’s imagine that you’re a company with a small budget, where every cent has to be used effectively in order to drive results and increase revenue. You might even be in the situation where it all comes down to time and not money, and time is money. What’s the best way to manage this in the digital space? How can you turn this spend into revenue for you? Below, I will give you a run through of the most popular methods of increasing revenue online and how to market your business online.
Facebook Ads
What are Facebook ads? Well beyond the obvious answer of “ads on Facebook”, they are demographic based targeted ads based around who you are and what interests you have. On top of this they also allow you to gather information on people who interact with your page or website and retarget them. If used correctly they are very effective at building a following and converting that following into sales.
The benefit of Facebook ads is the amount of information and targeting you can do for a relatively small budget provided you are smart with your money. Results are also nearly instant. The negative part is that you can mistarget people and also gather a lot of attention of people who are in no way interested in converting with you.
Google Ads
Google ads are similar to Facebook Ads in the sense that they are paid, online advertising. There are clear differences however. First of all, you can use a similar demographic based advertising as Facebooks. On top of this Google lets you target certain search terms relating to your business. These will let you appear ahead of all the organic results related to these search terms, providing you have a good quality ad. Research is the key to a successful campaign here. You can waste lots of money on a poorly researched campaign and ultimately wield no results, or comparatively expensive results.
The benefits of Google Ads is that you target people who are in the market based on what they’re searching and have relatively instant results, the negative side is that this can take a lot of time to get right and considerable money if done poorly.
A Blog
How can a blog be used effectively to market your business? This is a question with multiple answers. The obvious one is that you can show off your knowledge and expertise in your field. Making yourself appear as a “thought leader” and becoming the go to person for whatever the situation. On top of this you can write posts that target certain keywords related to your work to boost your business’s Google ranking.
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation involves increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website. In normal words, it’s putting you at the top of the results page for certain search terms. It can appear to be expensive, but if done correctly can make multiple times back what you put in. Unlike Google Ads or Facebook ads the results are more permanent. Upkeep is still required but in the long run it will work out cheaper than Google Ads. Results usually take a few months to appear. If you do appear near the top of the results page you will automatically gain trust from people and appear to be an authority within your line of business.
The benefits of SEO is that it’s a near permanent solution to increased traffic. The negative side is that it can be initially quite costly and if done poorly can greatly affect your business.
Groups
What do I mean when I say groups? I mean groups within Facebook or LinkedIn. Search for groups that are in the line of work that you are and join them. Search for groups of business owners in your area and join it. If you seek out these communities, you can be guaranteed to find some. Engage and interact with these people and business owners, you may become their go to person if you manage to build up trust with them.
Email List
Ask people who visit your site or page to sign up to an email list. Gather their emails and send them out a blog post or some sort of content each, week or month. To get them to sign up offer some sort of deal like “10% off next purchase” with a code. You can offer them sort of guide or pay wall blocked information for free. If you can get in people’s email boxes they won’t forget who you are, and you have a much higher chance of turning these people into a lead.