For your business to become successful, you have to find ways of staying ahead of the competition. With the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, competition for clients has become even stiffer as businesses make the move to digital markets. There is so much online noise that it is easy for your voice to be drowned out. So how do you rise above the noise?
In this article, we are going to look at some basic yet often overlooked tips that can help you to get you ahead of the competition. Let’s dive right into it.
8 Digital Marketing Ideas To Get You Ahead of Competition
- Create customer-driven digital platforms
Effective digital marketing goes beyond creating profiles on every available platform and making endless posts promoting your business. The first question you should always ask yourself is, how well do you know your customers? Do your website and social media pages answer to their needs? Digital platforms provide an avenue for engaging your customers and understanding their needs will enable you to communicate better with them. You can do this by building buyer personas.
Listening to your customers is the foundation of successful digital marketing. When you create customer-driven digital platforms, your business will also be easily accessible through search engines.
- Do competitor research
You probably want to mind your own business and focus your energy on growth. So you are thinking of letting your competition be. We have bad news for you, that is a suicide mission. Besides, how are you going to stay ahead of the competition if you have no idea what they are doing? You always have to keep one eye on them. Competitor research helps to:
- Understand the tactics your competitors are using for digital marketing.
- Find weaknesses you can capitalize on.
- Learn from their strengths to improve your own digital marketing strategies.
- Learn how to be different from them and stand out.
There are two ways of doing competitor research. First, dig through their social media channels and learn who their target audience is and how they communicate with them. How well do they answer audiences’ questions? What are their strengths and weaknesses? You should also look at how they grow their audiences. Secondly, you can also online competitor analysis tools such as Google Trends. You will find valuable information such as competitors’ keywords and organic performance.
- Create great content
We started by saying that you need to cater to your audiences’ needs. One of the ways of doing that is by providing quality content. And being consistent at it. Instead of creating content that is aimed at convincing your audiences to make a purchase, try creating valuable content that helps them to make a purchasing decision. Feed their need for information. Educate your audiences and you will earn their trust. It is that simple. It also helps with attracting organic traffic to your website. Besides that, it is only through high-quality content that you get many backlinks to your website. When creating content, pay attention to keyword research.
Remember to leverage multimedia content such as graphics, pictures, and video. Video content is growing every day and is expected to make up at least 80% of online content by 2021. Leaving multimedia content out of your content marketing strategy would be shooting yourself in the foot.
- Embrace local SEO
Optimizing your website for search engines is great. But optimizing your website for local searches is even better. There are 3.62 million smartphone users in Ireland, according to Statista. Furthermore, 61.09% of internet users in the country access the internet on either mobile phones or tablets. Desktop users account only for 38.91%. Local SEO will help you target the majority who are looking for businesses near them.
Get started on local SEO by setting up your profile on Google My Business. It not only helps with improving your online visibility but also chances of conversion.
- Publish your reviews
Would you believe that 91% of online shoppers read reviews and that 84% trust them as much as they would trust recommendations from family and friends? Well, that’s the truth. So if you are the only one who can see reviews about your business, it is time to change that. You are probably worried about the damage negative reviews would do to you. Negative reviews are only a problem if you see them as search. Smart businesses use them as a ladder to climb to even greater heights. Read here on how you can use negative reviews to build your reputation.
So get your business on Yelp, Yellowpages, and other major review sites. This is also the best time to get started on Amazon marketing.
- Use different marketing channels
When it comes to digital marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. One marketing channel will never be enough. Search engine marketing, social media advertising, and email marketing all have different features and benefits that you can ride on to grow your business. Create dynamic ads on Google ads and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Do not forget about the good old email marketing. It is the most effective digital marketing channel, yet often the most overlooked. Some email marketing tips to keep in mind include:
- Personalize your email marketing campaigns.
- Creative subject lines increase your chances of conversion.
- Create mobile-friendly email campaigns.
- Make the journey easier for your customers
Complicated eCommerce sites scare away customers. The purchasing journey should be simple and easy. Visitors should not struggle to find information on your website. Since you can’t handle business lines and respond to emails round the clock, why not leave the job to chatbots? Chatbots ensure that your customers are always attended to, and in real-time too. It is estimated that 67% of businesses are already using chatbots. Get started on chatbot marketing now.
- Build your brand voice
Most importantly, be in charge of the online narrative about your business. If you don’t tell your own story, others will tell it in a way that benefits them. Establishing an online presence is not enough, you have to develop your identity too. What will clients identify you with? Once you establish a unique brand voice, you are already one step ahead of your competition. Your audience can tell you apart from the others. Remember that brand identity should be consistent across the different digital marketing platforms.
These tips are not exhaustive. There’s so much more you can do to outclass your competition when it comes to digital marketing. For example, influencer marketing is also on the rise. These tips are only intended to get you started. Executing these strategies while also working to achieve business goals can be tiring. Engaging your employees on digital marketing while they also perform other business-related tasks can affect their productivity in both areas. That is why it is advisable to hire an experienced digital marketing agency to take care of your digital marketing goals. Anyone can get you started on digital marketing, but only experience and expertise will grow your business and get you ahead of the competition.
