10 Tips for Successful Digital Marketing
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You know that you need to market your business online, but you’re not sure where to start with digital marketing .
After all, there are so many options available, from social media marketing to email marketing , and from pay-per-click advertising to search engine optimization .
Where do you begin? This guide will help you find success in digital marketing by providing ten tips for successful digital marketing.
1) Start with a plan
The phrase fail to plan, plan to fail is especially fitting when it comes to digital marketing.
Without a strategy or direction, your efforts are likely to be wasted. Start by creating a digital marketing plan that will help you prioritize what you need and when it needs to be completed.
The most basic of these plans can include: who, what, why, where and how of your company’s goals and objectives.
2) Pick your keywords wisely
Choosing your business’s keywords is your first step to starting digital marketing.
If you plan on using pay-per-click (PPC) ads, social media advertising, and other targeted digital ads, make sure you know what keywords your potential customers are using. It’s also a good idea to consider offshoring your digital marketing campaigns.
3) Always be testing
For B2B, you should always be testing your strategies and planning on ways to test social media marketing strategies.
Companies that are sticking with a traditional digital marketing strategy will not keep up with competitors that are trying new approaches.
Stay ahead of your competition by implementing social media in your existing digital marketing plan.
4) Optimize your images
For example, you can use tools like Visual.ly to analyze your visual assets and discover ways to make them more effective.
What kinds of images do your target customers respond best to? The next time you roll out a content marketing campaign, try using some of these strategies to see how they affect click-through rates and conversion rates.
Visuals drive higher engagement on social media channels, too; if you’re trying to reach as many people as possible, don’t forget about Instagram!
5) Stick to an editorial calendar
If you’re not using an editorial calendar, you’re missing out on a key tool that will help streamline your digital marketing efforts.
Even if you only have one blogger, having a schedule of topics and posts helps ensure that they’ll publish content consistently.
This is particularly important if your business has multiple people who can contribute (or guest post) to your site, as it will keep everyone on task.
6) It’s OK to fail (start over!)
It’s natural to feel discouraged when things don’t go as planned, but don’t lose hope. Just because you messed up doesn’t mean you should stop trying.
Instead, look at it as a learning experience and ask yourself what went wrong. If you start over, you can get it right next time! Consider partnering with an offshore digital marketing company if your project is more complex than what a freelancer can handle.
7) Hire someone who knows more than you do
Since you’re unfamiliar with digital marketing, it makes sense to hire someone who can guide you through it.
The problem with going offshore is that you may not be able to find anyone in your own country who knows what they’re doing (particularly if you’re just starting out and don’t have much of a reputation), so hiring internationally has advantages.
That said, if you do decide to hire someone overseas—just make sure they work at a reputable company and stay away from contractors.
8) Practice makes perfect
It’s easy to assume that you’ll automatically know how to handle influencer marketing. Instead, learn from others—and from your own mistakes.
You don’t have to work with (or pay) a well-known influencer to practice your strategies; instead, find lesser-known voices in your niche. Work with them on a limited campaign and take it from there.
9) Set aside time to research every day
Setting aside time to research your industry every day is essential for success in digital marketing.
Influencer marketing and content marketing have exploded over recent years, and if you don’t know what makes them tick, you’ll find yourself floundering from day one.
Setting aside time each day to learn about these trends can position you as a leader in your field, increasing your chances of being chosen as a brand ambassador and helping potential clients recognize you as a skilled expert.
10) Invest in growth hacking
Growth hacking has gotten an awful lot of attention, but it’s also a rapidly evolving field, so you may want to wait until you have a small marketing budget (under $500 per month) before diving in.
Until then, it may be wise to focus on other digital marketing tactics (like SEO) that will increase organic traffic and lead generation on a low budget.
Once you get that first $500 to spend on growth hacking tools, try out some of these top tools for getting customers