Having an effective digital marketing strategy is essential for any modern-day business to survive, let alone thrive. However, in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and face-to-face interactions being frowned upon, digital marketing is even more crucial. At least 6k cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ireland with one patient succumbing to the virus. However, Irish businesses are already feeling the effect of the pandemic. 

While big firms might have enough resources to cushion them against the effects of the pandemic, it could be catastrophic for small business. While offline business feels the brunt of COVID-19, it is time to take your business online. If you have never thought of having an effective digital marketing strategy, this is the time to implement one. Here are six digital marketing tactics that can get you started;

1. Maximize On Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO will be crucial to your digital marketing strategy. It will help your business grow and expand online as offline opportunities dwindle. SEO will enable you to improve your brand visibility and generate organic traffic to your business. It will also allow you to compete with the more established brands on a level playing field. While SEO can be complicated and confusing, it is worth investing in, and the return on investment is long-term. Some tips you can use to improve your SEO are;

• Keyword research to know what your target audience is searching on search engines.
• Content marketing by creating high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience
• Link building with authority sites
• Improving website usability and user experience
• Implementing local SEO with a focus on your immediate community
• Implementing HTTPS requirements.

2. Implement Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

While SEO and SEM have similarities, the two are distinctly different, and SEM goes beyond the realms of SEO. In SEM, you pay to increase your chances of appearing in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This will need an expert who is experienced in Google Ads and display ads. Google makes it easier for you to customize and localize your ads. There are also other platforms such as Facebook that allow you to implement an SEM strategy. This is also known as pay-per-click (PPC) marketing.

Besides boosting traffic and increasing leads, SEM also allows you to be in charge of your advertising budget by only paying for results and track your metrics and tweak your campaign as necessary.

3. Have A Remarketing/ Retargeting Strategy

Not everyone who visits your website will make a purchase at the first instance. This is where remarketing comes in. Remarketing will allow you to reconnect with previous site visitors by strategically positioning your ads before these audiences. This reminds them about your business and increases the chances of them coming back to make a purchase. You will improve the rate of lead conversion with remarketing campaigns on Google and other platforms such as Facebook.

In a nutshell, remarketing allows you to;

• Improve brand recall by reminding web visitors about your business.
• Increase conversion rates by bringing back leads to make a purchase.
• Have specific ads targeting different audiences depending on the stage of the sales funnel.
• Improve the relevancy of your ads by basing them on previous actions by your site visitors.
• Reduce the loss of leads.

4. Embrace Email Marketing

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, it is unlikely that your marketers and salespeople will be willing to risk their health to have one-on-one sessions with prospects. This does not, however, mean you can’t personalize your marketing campaigns. This is the time to embrace email marketing as a way of connecting with your prospects and customers. While social media will enable you to reach the masses, you will have more general campaign. With email marketing, you can personalize your campaign to each customer depending on the stage of the sales funnel they are at. Besides that, email marketing will enable you to reach a high number of potential customers in a highly targeted manner, even on a budget. 

5. Don’t Forget About Marketing Automation

Online traffic is bound to increase as more cities enforce lockdowns, and people are put under quarantine. To reach these audiences more effectively, you will need to embrace marketing automation. This will increase lead generation and conversion by your marketing and sales team. Statistics show that you are likely to see a 451% increase in qualified leads by having a marketing automation strategy in place. Marketing automation will not only allow you to provide your customers with relevant messaging at every stage of their purchase journey but also gather useful customer data that will help you improve your marketing campaigns. With marketing automation, you will hardly notice how lean your marketing team is. 

6. Try Influencer Marketing

You already know how powerful social media can be in promoting your brand and growing your business. At least 85.15% of people in Ireland are active on Facebook with Twitter and Instagram following at 6.48% and 4.95% respectively. These numbers could go up as offline social interactions decrease. To take your social media strategy a notch higher, you should implement influencer marketing. Influencer marketing means hiring online influencers to promote your brand on various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. It does not necessarily have to be celebrities. They can be bloggers, vloggers, and social media users who are well-versed about your industry or business and have a large following. 

There are also other tips you can use to improve your brand visibility and grow your business online until everything returns to normalcy. These include video marketing and optimizing your landing page, among others. Above all, you should ensure that you have a responsive website. Without that, your digital marketing efforts will count for nothing. Most people in Ireland access the internet on their mobile devices. 

7. Retention Marketing

While it seems to be challenging to generate new sales, you must focus on your existing customers. Get in touch with them, understand how their business is changing during this pandemic and how they could benefit from your products or services. There is a lot more info in our previous blog on Retention Marketing. I am sure; you will find it useful. 

These tactics can help you to move your business from offline to online until the coronavirus threat is contained. While large firms can have the resources to have an in-house digital marketing team, small businesses are often stretched for resources to afford such a luxury. It would help if you considered hiring an expert at digital marketing so that you can focus on running the business.