Every year brings new challenges, new opportunities, and new technologies that can be used to improve your marketing strategy.

No matter what industry you’re in, you’re going to face competition and you need to do whatever it takes to stand out from the competition. The only way to succeed in this ever-changing world is to continuously improve your strategy and implement new tactics. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how you can develop an effective online marketing strategy in line with the new year and the ever-changing world of marketing.

Attracting New Audiences With The Right Strategy

The first step to any successful marketing campaign is understanding your audience. You need to consider things such as their demographics, psychographics, and digital behaviour patterns.

You’ll also need to gain a clear view of your competitors and the strategies they’re using to attract users. With these insights in mind, you can craft the right marketing message, offer, and channel to reach your target audience. On the surface, these tasks may seem difficult but with a little bit of planning and research, they’re not. With so much data at your fingertips, you can easily find the information you need.

Marketing Channels To Reach A Target Audience

The next step is to choose the right marketing channels. The old model of marketing, which placed a heavy emphasis on television ads, is being replaced with a variety of digital channels that can be used to reach potential customers. The rise of digital marketing, social media, and the popularity of YouTube means that a whopping 89% of consumers now use digital platforms to research products and brands before purchasing them. [Source: HubSpot Blogs 2020 Marketing Pro Survey Results]

While traditional outlets such as radio and TV can still be used to reach an audience, the growth of social media in general, and YouTube in particular, means that marketers can target their ads to an audience of millions rather than hundreds of thousands.

YouTube marketing is a cost-effective way to reach consumers where they are, rather than forcing them to come to you. This form of marketing also allows you to target the right audience, engage them, and develop a relationship with them.

Depending on your product or service, you may want to consider focusing on specific groups within your target audience. For example, if you’re a skincare product company, you may want to target women between the ages of 18 and 29 who use your product on a daily basis and also use social media to research product reviews. Alternatively, if you’re a car company, you may want to target men between the ages of 35 and 44 who own luxury vehicles and are passionate about cars.

Whatever your industry, you can choose a variety of marketing channels to reach your audience. While traditional outlets such as radio and TV can still be used to reach an audience, the growth of social media in general, and YouTube in particular, means that marketers can target their ads to an audience of millions rather than hundreds of thousands.

Pro-Tip: Selecting The Right Platforms For Your Marketing Campaign

Once you’ve established your target audience and marketing channels, you need to choose the right platforms to carry out your campaign. If you’re new to digital marketing, social media, and you don’t want to over-expand your efforts or your budget, start small and choose the platforms that you know you can succeed in.

For example, if you’re a skincare company looking to grow your online presence, avoid social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, which are geared toward younger audiences. Instead, you may want to explore platforms such as YouTube for video content or Vimeo for short-form content. These platforms are more suitable for an older audience.

Choosing the right platforms for your marketing campaign is an important decision. As a general rule of thumb, choose platforms that match your target audience. If you have a specific niche, consider choosing a platform that specializes in content relevant to your target audience. For example, if you’re a skincare company that’s also interested in makeup products, you may want to explore TikTok, which is primarily aimed at young adults.

These platforms can be a goldmine for marketing research and allowing you to test different messages, offers, and channels. Just remember: like any new venture, experiment with these platforms and learn from your mistakes. If you want to move forward, you have to be willing to change and improve.

Marketing Research Is Important

The old model of marketing, which placed a heavy emphasis on television ads, is being replaced with a variety of digital channels that can be used to reach potential customers. The rise of digital marketing, social media, and the popularity of YouTube means that a whopping 89% of consumers now use digital platforms to research products and brands before purchasing them. [Source: HubSpot Blogs 2020 Marketing Pro Survey Results]

With so much data at your fingertips, you can easily find the information you need to conduct research. However, you need to ensure that the information you find is reliable. Conducting paid advertising on social media or through search engines can be very expensive, and the results can be highly competitive. In these situations, you want to be sure that the results of your research are as objective as possible.

For example, if you conduct a paid search for kitchen appliances and two companies appear at the top of the results page, you should consider the source of the information. One company may have paid to appear at the top of the list and the other may have invested heavily in sponsored posts on social media platforms. In this situation, you would want to avoid the company that paid for the placement in order to maintain your objectivity. Remember: even the most well-thought-out campaigns can get complicated, so ensure that you take the time to analyze all the data and see the whole picture. This is why marketing research is important.

Pro-Tip: Selecting The Right Metrics for Your Marketing Campaign

In any marketing campaign, the key metrics to analyze are conversion and ROI (return on investment). The ideal scenario is to see a considerable increase in website traffic that results in a significant rise in conversions. Once you have these numbers, you can calculate how much money you’ve spent on advertising and compare this to the return on your investment.

The basics of ROI include the number of people who’ve heard of your brand, how many of them want to buy your product or service, and how much it cost to achieve this.

The most effective way to improve your marketing strategy is by focusing on the metrics that matter most to your business. If you track these metrics diligently and use the information you gather to continually refine and improve your strategy, you’ll be able to drive more leads to your website and get more out of your marketing budget.