With the rise of technology and our society’s ever-growing obsession with digitized living, the need for physical marketing has rapidly diminished. Many paper-based strategies have been substituted for digital methods that are catered for the online audience. Traditional channels such as the Yellow Pages, newspaper advertising and direct mail are not utilized like they were in the past. There are 3.2 billion people using the internet. It’s where the new generations hang out, and it’s imperative that you mold your business to fit the digital age.

If you have an intuitive site in combination with some of the marketing strategies that we’re going to cover, you’ll be able to grow your brand exponentially. The following areas are the core components of digital marketing, and they’re what will propel your business forwards if you get them right: 

Company Website

Similar to the purpose of a shop front in a brick-and-mortar business, your company website is the place where your customers can find you. But, websites are arguably more important to master than a shop front, because a site can potentially be exposed to billions of people. First impressions are huge, so if your site is well-designed, informative and easy to navigate, people will be more inclined to connect with your business.

To elaborate on that, people will really judge your business based on your site. If you’re website design is ugly, your payment options aren’t secure, or there’s far too much going on, visitors will just click off and forget about you. Just think about the sites that you tend to trust; they have clean and professional styling, and they’re simple and secure, right?

Google Local

Getting your business listed in the search results for your local area can have a huge impact on your business. For instance, if you’re a hairdresser in Alabama, you want your business to appear high on the list when people search for “hairdresser in Alabama.” To achieve this, utilize Google My Business, which will also get you featured on Google Maps for free.

Add your business, verify it’s yours, and ensure your details are up-to-date. Remember that Google now works on the Local 3-Pack, which means that only three businesses are listed for an area. So make sure your meta description stands out and be patient. Google Local tends to function based on the location of the IP address of the searcher.

Google PPC – Keyword & GEO Targeting

Pay Per Click advertising should be a huge part of your marketing strategy because you’re guaranteed exposure. Most people use Google AdWords as their preferred choice, simply because it’s the platform that has the most users. But, when you create an ad, it’s important to make sure it’s laser-targeted to your intended audience.

Although, you want to focus on topics and placement, keywords and geolocation are critical. When it comes to keywords, it’s important to pick ones that relate to your product or service, and with geolocation, you obviously want to select the area that you serve. For example, if you’re a plumber in Boston, you’d use “plumbers” as your keyword, and “Boston and nearby areas” as your geolocation. That way, you’re only spending money on advertising that gives you the best possible chance of gaining customers.

Facebook Presence

With 2.19 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a social media platform that must be utilized if you want your business to be successful. It packs so much power and offers so many opportunities to grow. You’ll want to set up a professional Facebook Business Page, which you can use to engage with your audience, post content and testimonials, and forge a positive reputation. Remember to use your logo as the profile picture, have in-depth contact information, and maybe try to get your page verified to add credibility. And don’t forget about Facebook Ads, which are incredibly effective as they have such a wide reach.

With Targeted Facebook Ads, you can target specific criteria, which you can hone following split testing. That means you can pick an age range, geolocation, gender and even interests. With ads, use catchy visuals, compelling copy, and a clear call to action. Oh, and don’t blow your budget; keep it minimal until you find an ad that works — then you can go all in.

Yelp & Trip Advisor Listings

The great thing about the internet is that there’s an abundance of platforms that can help your business. Other than Google and social media, you can also get a Yelp Listing and Trip Advisor Listing to increases overall visibility. These sites are extremely popular when people are searching for things they need online. Whether you’re a café in France or a hotel in the UK, people will trawl through Yelp and Trip Advisor to check you out and establish how credible you are.

If you can bulk out your profile with great images and descriptions, update your contact information and then secure five-star reviews, you’ll be in a much stronger position to attract customers. A simple way to do that is to politely ask existing customers to leave reviews if they were happy with your goods or services.

YellowBook & Super-Pages Listings

Both of these are free business directories, which makes it a no-brainer to add your business to them. Why wouldn’t you increase your presence on the web with no extra cost? Simply fill out a quick form and then verify your company to ensure a listing. Get your Free Yellow-Book Listing and of course your Super Pages Listing here. Make sure you fill out your information thoroughly, though, because the platforms provide people with directions, contact information and an insight into your business. You want to make a fantastic first impression with attractive copy and an official logo to encourage them to choose you. Being present on two more local, structured citation sources may pay dividends in the future.

If Google recognizes that your business is representing itself well across a plethora of trusted platforms, they’ll be more likely to reward you with higher local search rankings for your desired keywords.

Email Marketing & Company Newsletters

In a nutshell, email marketing will provide the foundation for your business to grow and succeed for many years to come. It’s the strategy that will give your business longevity, because it will empower you to continue retargeting. Oh, and it’s very financially-friendly. When you sign up for an email service, you’ll first need to implement an email capture on your website, which is very easy. Provide a simple incentive such as an infographic or case study to entice customers to hand over their email. If you need a proven service, Constant Contact is a superb option that offers the ability to reach your repeat customer base with a few clicks.

Once you’ve collected emails, you can schedule communication and set up autoresponder to save you time and energy. Other than that, the opportunities are endless. You can build trust with your customers, enhance your brand, boost sales, understand your strengths and weaknesses, generate leads, and promote new products.

Professional Telecom Management

Communication is king in any business, and when it comes to a professional telecom system, Grasshopper is by far the superior choice for any business. With numerous features such as professionally recorded greetings, customizable extensions, hold music, follow-me call forwarding, and incoming fax features. First impressions matter when fielding calls from clients and customers to your business.

Affordable for any business size and requiring no expensive telecom equipment, Grasshopper is a must every business.

SMS Text Marketing

In a similar fashion to email marketing, SMS marketing is phenomenal when it comes to digital marketing. Just take a look around. Everyone is glued to their mobile phones. So, if you’re able to directly communicate with customers any time or any place, you’ll notice fantastic results. Yes, you’ll need to secure their phone number first, but that can easily be done when they enter contact information upon purchase. The nature of this type of marketing makes word of mouth sky-rocket, because people talk when they’ve got their phone in their hand. It also helps to make your loyal customers happy — especially if you’re sending out offers or discounts. If you are a Salesforce CRM customer, you may want to consider adding their SMS feature as it is streamlined directly into the system, making SMS marketing a snap. If not, you may want to take a look at a service such as SimpleTexting.

So, there you have it, the complete guide to marketing in the digital world. Whether you’re familiar with one or all of them, they can drastically evolve and expand your business when implemented correctly. You’ll be surprised at how many leads you generate, new customers you gain, and sales that you make.