In today’s ever-changing online world, digital marketing plays an increasingly important role, significantly impacting your bottom line. Unfortunately, not all business owners and executives have capitalized on the opportunities afforded by digital marketing, and are falling behind the competition. According to Google, 60% of business owners have not even claimed their free business listing on Google My Business. But there is still time to create an effective digital marketing strategy that will set you up for success in 2019.
Industrial companies of all kinds should have a useful, intuitive website and should be making use of paid advertisements, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media marketing techniques.
Creating a Website
Having a website is essential. If you do not have a website, utilizing site builder services like Squarespace or Wix can help immensely, and you can maximize your impact by using a website that can be designed with a content management system (CMS) backend like WordPress. A CMS allows you the flexibility to change content and pictures without the hassle of learning code. You can also get a website created for you using freelance networks such as Upwork or Freelancer.com.
Lastly, you will want your developer to install both Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics. These two platforms, when used correctly, can help you analyze your website traffic, track leads, and optimize your website for best performance.
Exploring the World of Paid Advertisements
With paid advertising, platforms like Google or Bing display your advertisement via their search engines and networks. They do so by making use of a text ad, banner ad, or video ad. Text ads are the most common choice. These ads display on the top three positions when users perform a search. A banner ad is exactly what it sounds like — a banner displayed on various platforms, such as blogs, news sites, and mobile applications. And finally, video ads can be found on YouTube.
The ideal strategy for paid advertising will depend on your sales goals and the type of customer you want to reach. For example, if your customer is going to search on Google or Bing for your products or services, then a text ad may be the best option. If your business is looking for entrepreneurs who may be looking to manufacture their product, an awareness campaign using display advertisements (aka banner ads) may be ideal for attracting potential customers. This strategy can also work for video: You can target engineers, entrepreneurs, and product managers with a custom video that delves into your products and services and includes a pithy call to action that drives clicks to your site.
Keep in mind that paid advertisements can get expensive. The key is to cost-effectively maximize exposure based on intent; when marketing with this strategy, you’ll want to make sure that your ads are targeting your ideal audience based on their intent to purchase your product or service. For example, in the local machine shop sphere, you may get people looking for “best machine shop” — emphasis on “best.”
Understanding local intentions can also help you bring in more leads. With search queries like “machine shop near me,” there’s opportunity to close deals faster. Make sure to plan your budget ahead of time in order to not overspend or underspend. Platforms like Google Ads have support teams in place to help local and national businesses establish their ad campaigns.
Perfecting Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization helps you rank on Google “organically.” This involves the use of well-thought-out strategies that can help you become popular based on users’ searches. This differs from paid advertising, as you’re not paying Google to be a part of these listings. Instead, Google rewards your website with high rankings based on the following factors:
- How relevant your website is to the keywords that are being searched
- How many other manufacturing sites are vouching for your website by linking to you — this is known as backlinking
- The content on your website and how it translates into relevance and impact based on users’ time spent on your site
- Whether your website is able to be seen clearly on a mobile device
- How fast your website loads — the faster your website loads, the more Google will reward you
There are countless other ways to optimize, but it’s important to start with these key points, which will significantly impact how you appear on top search engines.
Quality, experience, and content are crucial for enhancing your SEO practices. Your website should be a reflection of your business, and users should be able to engage intuitively with your site. If you’re investing in website optimization through great content and are making it easy for customers to connect with you, you’re already on the path to success.
Setting Up Social MediaSocial is about more than getting “likes” or posting regularly; you should also be using social media channels as brand-awareness and paid advertising platforms. Facebook, in particular, offers valuable paid ad targeting options. Lead ads, for example, can be used to garner leads specifically from the Facebook platform. You can also create engagement ads that, as their name implies, engage the customer in conversation via the Facebook chat feature. Be sure to check out the full list of Facebook ads that can be created.
Keep in mind that social media marketing is typically used to make people aware of your brand, so the leads you gain from social media campaigning will be further away from the purchasing stage. In time, however, they can still positively impact your bottom line.
You can gain more lead purchase intent with “remarketing,” which targets users on social media based on their behaviors on your website. For example, a remarketing campaign on social media may deliver ads to specific users whom you want to place back into your funnel. Most businesses use this tactic to offer discounts or value-added upsells, increasing the possibility of conversion.
Make sure to brainstorm with your marketing team, and focus on strategies that will bring awareness to your business and recapture valuable traffic.
Looking Ahead
When done with care and with the customer top of mind, online marketing has the power to significantly your boost bottom line. Investing in Google Ads and Bing Ads, smart SEO strategies, and well-planned social media campaigns can seriously boost your growth potential.
And remember, although patience is the key to success in online marketing, the time to start is now. The longer you wait, the more opportunities you lose.
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