We are gathering by now that you have heard all of the hype around digital marketing and how important it is for your business. You might, like many of our clients, have been focussed on the basic marketing strategies in the past. You might, like plenty more companies, be focussed on the day-to-day running of the business and relying on word-of-mouth for your business. 

Either way, digital marketing is certainly the future of marketing and most of our clients have found it to be an efficient way of reaching out to new audiences. What is more, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a difficult, expensive endeavor. 

We thought we would look at the basics that you need to kick off your digital marketing strategy. In this list, we mention the absolute essentials that you need to have in place to begin the marketing process. Ready? Let’s get stuck in. 

 

A Website

 

This may seem obvious, and most companies do have functional websites for their businesses. The catch is that most of these businesses are not using their sites as a good, solid marketing platform. 

What  you need to keep in mind is that in this day and age, your website is your calling card, it’s the face of the business and it’s a sales tool. So, it needs to be correctly optimised to perform all of these functions. Think about how many times you Google something to find an answer. Well, so are your clients. And you want them to find you first! 

Your website needs to be correctly laid out and have the right content on to not only be found in search results (toward the top of the page), but to convince visitors to convert. You will need informative, educational content on your site that is packed with the relevant keywords. This will ensure that your website will be found in Google when people search the relevant information. But it will also explain in simple terms who you are and what you are offering.

 

A Blog 

 

So many companies just simply do not see the value or importance of a blog. And they are really missing out. We think that every single company that exists should have a blog. In fact, we know it. A blog works in two ways. Remember what we said about keywords and being found in search, well that works here too! 

A blog will simply increase the number of keywords that your site is putting out there. So, Google will scrape your site and pick up these keywords. They will then know where to categorise you (i.e aviation, manufacturing retail etc.) and it will know where you should be ranked based on your SEO standing.

A blog also exists to act as an educational hub for potential visitors. Say for example, you are an air charter service. You will be wanting to target people who will be searching for relevant keywords and searching certain questions and content. So, things like “quick ways to fly to Cape Town” or “last minute flights” will be your target keywords. 

You can then create informative and educational blogs around guidelines and how-to’s which answer these questions. Topics like “5 Alternative Ways to Travel on Safari”. “4 Reasons Why Air Chartering Should be Your First Choice”. By answering these questions, you will resonate with the visitor and become a point of authority on the topic. You will be first on their mind when thinking of an air charter!

 

Social Media Channels 

 

Next, you need Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. These are your basic channels. Based on your business, you might also want to consider Twitter and TikTok, but it really depends on your audience and target market. TikTok is really video-focussed content for the younger audience, while Twitter is a very trend-based platform that needs constant attention. 

You can create campaigns for all of the channels simultaneously, changing up the formats for each platform for each post. But remember, all posts need to be uniform, on brand and have similar messaging. Schedule posts in advance across all of your channels, and try to theme your campaigns. 

The next thing to consider is boosting your posts. That is, putting some budget behind high-performing posts. So, when you see a post getting a lot of attention and traction, put a small budget behind it, target an  audience and reach people beyond your fanbase. These posts will pop up in the timelines of people who are actually interested in your industry. 

 

A Mailer Platform and Mailing Database 

 

Mailers are critical elements to your marketing strategy. They are regular emails that go to your database of clients and potential clients. These mailers share vital information about your company. New releases, new products, specials, discounts, launches, featured products, anything you want your database to see. 

You can even integrate a blog in there to try and upsell them to new products, place informative content that you want them to see and create great CTA’s. Try and keep your blog posts, mailer and social posts on a certain theme each week. The uniformity will pull through and resonate with your clients. 

So, we recommend posting a blog, launching it through your mailers, sharing it to your socials and creating associated posts that tie in with that blog. If you are launching a new product, be creative with your blog in your mailers and try and answer questions that your clients might have with it. 

 

Google Ads Digital Marketing

 

Now,  many clients have asked us what the importance of Google Ads are, especially if you are doing all of this other work. Well, keywords on your site and in your socials are great, and will get you placed on search engines, but if you really want to hit the top of the search engines, and the top of that Google Page, you will want to put some money behind it. 

Remember, Google is a corporation that makes money too. So, in order for you to get bumped up and featured in those top results, buying ads will do wonders for your brand placement. 

It is important here too, to do regular keyword research and target the right words. Find out what people are searching and what is trending, and buy into that. You can also put money behind products and services you want featured on your site. So, have that budget ready; the ROI is worth it. 

 

The Bottom Line 

 

Although digital marketing is not extremely complicated, it is resource intensive. You will also need to stay on top of the trends, and have content ready to go at all times! If your day-to-day operations are taking up most of your time and you need your digital marketing taken care of by the professionals, speak to us today. We can help you get your strategies sorted and ensure that you get your brand seen digitally.