“People don’t want what you make. They want the way it will make them feel” – Seth Godin, Marketing Genius

Marketing has changed significantly in the last ten or so years. Gone are the days of fighting for attention. To an extent. What’s important now is that we’re creating products and services that fulfill a specific need or want from a group of people. Instead of pushing a product or service onto some one who doesn’t know whether they need it or not, we should be creating products and services based on the needs of individuals.

We should also be designing for outcomes instead of outputs. What do your customers really want out of your service? When selling digital marketing to a prospective client the first thing we ask is “what outcome would you like from our services?” We typically get answers like “we want more traffic on our website” or, “we want great content for people to read”. These are outputs and not outcomes. What these people really want are very different. Wanting more website traffic is great but what they really want is more paying customers. What they want even more than that is to provide for their family and to be respected by their peers.

Starting from outcomes instead of outputs and working backwards with a marketing strategy can not only create great outputs, it can make the client feel wonderful as you’ve satisfied their need by giving them the outcome they so desire.

I’ve outlined what I think is the top 5 most important tips for getting a marketing strategy underway.

1.) Invest in SEO

Whether you like it or not Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is around for the long run. As long as Google exists, so will SEO, in whatever form that takes. Google’s algorithm is at it’s most evolved state right now. They have just released a content update which focusses on writing for humans and NOT for bots. We see this as a great step forward. It encourages marketers to write engaging copy with a purpose to to entertain and inform the people who read it.

LinkedIn has ranked SEO as the third most desirable marketing skill in the World. With Social Media Marketing at number two and Digital Marketing at one. (Ref: Linkedin learning blog: Learn top skills to future proof your career – Sep 1st 2022)

Ranking highly on Google is essential not only to bring traffic to your site but also to increase brand awareness and establish your business as a force to be reckoned with. Invest in good SEO and you can only improve how your business is viewed by your peers as well as attracting more paying customers.

If you’re interested in how we can help from an SEO perspective, contact us here or request a free website review.

2.) Take time out for social media

A good 25% of our clients use our digital marketing services to improve their visibility in the sector and for brand awareness. The rest are to attract paying customers. Social media can do both. What it’s particularly great for is the former. Increasing brand awareness. What better way than to brag (humbly of course) about what your business does well. And for free! It’s a no brainer.

Think about your business and it’s industry. Is it particularly visual? Are you selling a product? Are you a consultancy firm and do you sell professional services? Answering these questions can help you establish which social media platforms are right for you. For us, Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram are great to showcase the work we do. Twitter is excellent for keeping on top of industry news and what our industry influencers are talking about.

Take time out and create a social media strategy. Start with one social media platform. Create an editorial calendar and get posting. Building a presence on social media can do wonders for your brand and it doesn’t have to be a trial.

If you’re interested in how we can help from a social media perspective, contact us here or request a free website review.

3.) Create content with clear call to actions

For some time now, creating great content has been a smart way of attracting traffic to your website. This traffic can then be turned into paying customers. The idea is that writing content about topics that potential customers would be interested in (much like this blog post) could attract them to the website and persuade them to pay for a product or service you provide. It’s a great marketing technique and has proven to work time and time again.

However, it is time consuming, and the content creator must take the correct steps in making that content optimised for search engines. They also need to follow best practices for conversion. Turning those interested parties into potential customers. One such best practice is ensuring your content contains CTAs or Call To Actions. Without these you do all the work attracting potential customers and then they drop off without handing over any contact information or contacting you to find out more.

You’ll notice at the end of each tip on this blog post there is an opportunity to contact Broadbelt Digital for further help on the topic. That’s our CTA and will hopefully encourage you, the reader, to contact us for a free website or marketing review. It’s how we capture a lot of our leads.

Don’t waste time creating great content without including multiple opportunities for your reader to contact you to find out more.

If you’re interested in how we can help from a content creation or content marketing perspective, contact us here or request a free website review.

4.) Conversion Rate Optimisation

Conversion Rate Optimisation or CRO is fast becoming the new SEO in terms of how often it’s talked about. It refers to the practices and techniques one must execute in order to convince a website visitor to perform a desired action. For example, what steps must you take to convince a casual website visitor to fill out a simple form?

There are ways you can optimise your website to improve your conversion rate. They span from simple things like ensuring you have an easy-to-use form with simple field inputs, to optimising your product images to ensure they load quickly and are accessible to all.

The first thing to do is create a conversion rate optimisation checklist and work through it against your website. You can find these free lists all over the internet. By checking off the basics, you can be sure that your conversion rate will improve as you attract more and more visitors to your website with your previously mentioned SEO strategy.

If you’re interested in how we can help from a CRO perspective, contact us here or request a free website review.

5.) Get yourself out there

Our fifth and final tip to kick start your digital marketing campaign is to get yourself out there. Find out what’s happening in your industry in your local area. Attend and contribute if you can. Apply to speak at conferences on topics you feel most confident about. Network at events where you know influencers and industry leaders are attending.

The age-old tip of networking is still as relevant today as it’s ever been, and you can’t put a price on making a name for yourself and you business through chit chat and shop talking. Be confident and get yourself out there. Trust me, people will be interested in your story and your business. You’ll be surprised what you learn and even more surprised at what you can teach others.