All businesses - big and small - know how hard it is to attract new customers and beat out the competition. The digital marketing space is a battlefield, and without expert tactics, your business will fall by the wayside.
You may be doing all the "right" things in terms of your marketing, but you could always be doing more. If you want to experience amazing returns and get ahead of your competition, try out these expert digital marketing tips.
1. Optimise for your competitors' branded keywords
Did you know that you can optimise your ads for your competitor's branded keywords? It may sound underhanded, but this is a legitimate search marketing practice.
Firstly, conduct a competitor analysis to determine the keywords that are garnering the highest volume of traffic. These keywords may be the brand name itself or may be an alternative variation of keywords. Then, when you have uncovered the keywords that it would be effective to rank for, you should optimise your ads to bid for a top ranking position in the SERPs.
When your ad matches a user's search query, your ad will appear at the top of the SERPs and that user will be encouraged to click on your ad. This is where you should have a designated landing page for their search to encourage the chance of conversion.
2. Leverage printed marketing materials
Another way to get ahead of your competitors is to leverage a marketing avenue that they are not taking advantage of - traditional printed marketing materials.
You may assume that in this digital age printed materials are redundant, but you'd be wrong. Used in conjunction with your digital marketing efforts, printed materials such as business cards, booklet printing, brochures, banners and posters can seriously enhance your brand awareness and keep your business top-of-mind.
The psychology behind this is simple: because the digital space is so saturated, online users have become desensitised to the constant flow of ads and marketing. However, if they see your brand name online and then see it again offline - in the form of a poster, leaflet or business card - your brand will become more significant in their consciousness. Then, you can continue to nurture leads through email marketing and have more success with converting them.
Don't underestimate the effectiveness of printed marketing materials - if used smartly they can help you surpass your competitors.
3. Implement specific Facebook ad targeting
Many businesses utilise paid Facebook ads to drive engagement and conversion, but many are missing a trick when it comes to targeting.
Facebook ads are incredibly customisable, meaning you can fine-tune the audiences you are targeting. By analysing your customer base data, you can determine the exact demographics of the people most likely to invest in your business - their age, location, gender, interest, family life, relationship status, etc.
Then, under the "Detailed Targeting" option on Facebook ads, you can choose to specifically target people that your specific campaign applies to the most. For example, if you are a restaurant business and you have a "Dine in for two" special offer, you can go under "Detailed Targeting" and select the people who are "In a relationship" on Facebook, or "Married" or even "Engaged".
Similarly, if you are an eCommerce apparel store and you are launching a new collection of running shoes, you can set the ad campaign to target those who have shown interest in fitness and wellbeing. Simply click on "Detailed Tracking" - "Interests" - "Fitness and wellness" and then tick the boxes that apply to your ad (i.e. "Running").
4. Retargeting on Facebook
Retargeting your ads is a key marketing tactic that will increase your conversion rate tenfold. Your website may experience good traffic, but it is common that your actual conversion rate is not significant - say 5-10%. So, in order to convert the remaining 90-95% of your page visitors, you need to employ Facebook pixel code and retarget previous visitors.
Retargeted ads can help to boost the success of your Facebook ad campaigns, as you can stay top-of-mind and urge users to invest in your business in a way they were previously tempted to. To do this, place a Facebook code on your website. This code will add a cookie to your visitor's browser and allow you to retarget your ads to them. This is crucial for conversion rate, and not employing retargeting is a missed opportunity.
5. Create evergreen content
Content is the future of marketing, and creating an effective content strategy will help to boost your business' online presence and generate leads.
Your aim should be to create content that is engaging, valuable, informative and shareable. Google's algorithms no longer favour content that is 300-500 words - it considers it "thin". What Google does a favour, however, is content that is 2000+ words, is well-researched, well-written and features a lot of internal and external links. It also must be evergreen, meaning it must always be relevant and not "news". Evergreen has a long shelf life and can be optimised over years and years to come.
What's more, when long-form content is optimised for keywords, it gains authority over those keywords and earns a place at the top of the SERPs. Therefore, if your business creates a "how-to" blog post that shares expert industry advice and you promote it effectively across your social media channels, it will evoke a positive audience engagement and Google will consider it of high value. Therefore, more people will land on your website, learn about your products and services and your business performance will boom.
Conclusion
If you harness these expert marketing tips - optimising for your competitors' branded keywords, leveraging printed marketing materials, target Facebook ads to specific audiences, implement retargeting, and create evergreen content - your business will witness incredible results and leave your competitors way behind.
Guest Author
Helen Cartwright is a passionate blogger, who excels in the Digital Marketing and Technology niche. When not wired in marketing strategies she ghost-writes for a variety of authors who have their work published on leading online media channels such as The Huffington Post and Entrepreneur.com.