Advertising your business using SEO and social media is necessary, but it also opens your business to criticism, especially with rating and review websites such as Yelp, Google Reviews, Amazon, Angie’s List, Facebook Reviews, TripAdvisor, etc. With these review sites acting as the new word of mouth, it’s especially important to have a strong digital reputation.
Many businesses and brands, from Fortune 500 companies to small-business owners, realize the need for good SEO and the potential benefits they can get with respect to brand awareness and exposure. SEO is a vital component in improving a business’s visibility and overall searchability online – but does it offer any additional value for businesses aside from increased exposure? Why is SEO such an important part of digital marketing strategies?
In today’s digital marketing world, trends and tools are constantly evolving and changing to appeal to the consumer – whether that be through social media, internet, television, or third-party applications (and this is just touching the surface). While the need for marketing has been and always will be essential – the way that businesses market their products and services, as well as what platforms they’re using, has changed drastically.
Marketers find no shortage of advice online about marketing best practices, marketing trends, and marketing do’s and don’ts. In an ever changing environment, a lot of this advice is outdated within a matter of months. There are some pieces of advice, however, which are not and will not ever be true. We’ve listed them here.
Truth: SEM continues to prove its importance to marketers as a lead generation tool for businesses. There’s no doubt your business should be up to date on its Google rankings, but your focus should spread between branded and generic searches. While branded searches are an important aspect of quality lead generation, most searches begin as generic searches. A business may not know exactly what they are looking for, or may not use the correct verbiage for the services they require. That’s where you come in, by helping them even before they know that you are.
Myth: B2B marketing should always target the highest-level executives
The average internet user sees thousands of ads a day. They pop up in the corners of social media sites, they show up in sliders above websites and they stack up in inboxes. The odds of a marketing campaign getting strong visibility become increasingly difficult for marketers in this digital age, so what makes the difference between a campaign with wild success and a campaign that flops? Most marketers will tell you it all starts with a strong brand identity.
A brand identity is all the components of the brand that make up a business’s perception by its consumers. Every business has one, whether they’ve intentionally crafted it or not. The name, the tone, the logo and the visuals all communicate brand vision to the consumer. It’s important to note, there is a difference between a brand identity and a strong brand identity. The strong ones tend to experience much more success and it is those that will create a strong marketing campaign.
A strong brand identity makes your brand more visible, thus more recognizable in campaigns. A streamlined interface will go a long way in supporting your company. You may not have an iconic logo like the Target bullseye, but you can incorporate your logo into all aspects of your campaign. Target ads are easily identifiable by the red and white color scheme that makes up their logo. The ads may run across different platforms but are similar in look to increase familiarity. The more consistently recognizable your campaigns are, the further they will reach.
Your brand identity indicates the level of professionalism of your business. Consumers choosing between businesses will use all available knowledge to help them make their decision. This could very well include the look of a website, the language used to communicate a brand or manner in which the business conducts itself online and in person. Take the time to plan out your online strategy, and hire a web developer if you’re not absolutely sure you can do it yourself. The effort you put into your brand at the beginning will pay off later.
Consumers are more trusting of businesses with strong brand identities. If your brand is recognized in multiple places and it looks respectable, there isn’t much for your target audience to be wary of. Your professional material, well-designed logo and effective tone demonstrate credibility needed for your business to create long-lasting relationships with customers.
With so much energy put into marketing campaigns, businesses must make the effort to make campaigns worthwhile. That’s why a strong brand identity is crucial to businesses. Traffic Jams provides professional marketing solutions and understands the importance of strong, unique brand identities. Our experts deliver customized services that enable businesses of all sizes to succeed at the highest level. For more information, call us at (855)599-3999 or fill out our contact form.
The holiday season is the perfect time for businesses to draw in new clientele. Promotions, seasonal products and other perks generate a high volume of leads for a business and attract new customers. This year, extend your customer relationships past the holidays. Once you’ve drawn in the newbies, keep them! Keep in touch with them through productive, targeted marketing to bring them back to your stores. By paying attention to these tactics, you will retain new customers and strengthen relationships with old ones.
Engaging Content
Whether it’s in an email, on your website or stuck up on your wall in store, the way you word things is important. Your content should be appropriate for the type of service or product you provide and should carry a consistent message across all platforms to solidify your brand. Big and bolded promotional material isn’t always the best way to capture your audience. Emails need subject lines that will grab the attention of the reader. You have to decide what type of messaging is going to be most well-received, which brings us to our next point.
Know your target audience
In order to create content, sell your business or generate any type of success, you have to understand who you are speaking to. Simple as it may sound, you absolutely have to get to know your target audience when creating relationships with customers and viewers. This means doing a little bit of research about who specifically you are trying to reach. Their age and demographics matter because they determine the type of content you publish on your website. Find common characteristics and popular platforms among the group to best address them. Recognize the patterns between your customers and create a strategy from there.
Know your Information
The holiday season is busy for businesses and those who shop there, so when someone has a question, it’s essential that you have the answer. Whether this is through an actual person or online support, make sure you are equipped to answer anything that may come your way promptly. If your website has multiple pages, make a clear and easy way for viewers to find a contact page. It may also be helpful to provide some FAQs. A knowledgeable business is likely to receive positive feedback and retain customers.
Many businesses see changes during the holiday season, but if you can create simple incentives to keep your viewers and customers coming back, your leads will soon turn into conversions, and your converters will turn into repeat converters. Traffic Jams enables businesses both big and small increase lead generations and conversions to steadily grow. Contact us today for more information about how you can maintain and increase your relationships with viewers today.