There are many options when it comes to digital marketing services in Shreveport, and it can be a little overwhelming knowing which one is the best for your business. Truth to be said, not all online marketing services are created equal, and some may not be the best fit for you, your business, and your marketing goals.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing, also known as attract marketing, embraces the philosophy that customers should be able to find the information they need online without having to ask for it from a salesperson. An inbound marketer aims to provide content that is valuable, easy to understand, and interesting enough to retain the attention of the reader.
The emphasis of inbound marketing is on creating content that is useful and relevant to the target audience. The end result is that the customer will have more positive interactions with your business, and may find you more easily when they have a need for your products or services. Inbound marketing is a lot more than creating pretty websites and filling them with content; you must also be looking at the performance of those websites to determine whether or not they are providing any value to your business.
Email Marketing
An email marketing campaign is a great way to reach out to existing customers and potential new customers. With email marketing, you can use a tool like HubSpot to create emails that will be both interesting and valuable to your contacts.
The benefits of email marketing are that you have the ability to segment your contacts based on what they’ve already said or done on your site. For example, you can create an email marketing list containing only those who spent more than a certain amount of time on your site. Or, you can target people who visited a certain product page and didn’t make a purchase, but still want to hear about your upcoming events.
The drawback to email marketing is that you need to have a steady stream of engaged and interested customers to keep your email list healthy. You can’t just go through the motions of sending out a weekly email without them feeling like you’re just wasting their time.
It’s important to find a good balance between the two. While you don’t want to undervalue the power of a weekly email, you also don’t want to overwhelm your contacts with constant emails.
Social Media Marketing
Let’s not forget about the most popular form of digital marketing: social media marketing! Every business owner and marketer should be at least somewhat familiar with social media.
The popularity of social media among consumers has reached record levels, and business owners and marketers should take note. As of April 2021, there were over 500 million active monthly users on TikTok, with one in five people having watched a YouTube video to learn something new.
The upside of social media marketing is that it’s very easy to use. You can post on several platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, and reach a wide audience. The downside is that you need to have a significant audience to make this form of marketing work for you.
For example, let’s say you are a hair stylist in Shreveport. You have a hair waver account on TikTok and a Facebook page for your business. You also have a Twitter account set up, with just over 300 followers. If you want to use social media to attract potential clients to your business, you’re going to need to acquire at least 500 followers on each platform.
Search Engine Optimization
When a potential customer performs a search on Google or another search engine, your website will appear in the search results. If your site doesn’t appear in the top three positions in the results, you’ll lose potential customers who could’ve found you easily had your site been included.
The nice thing about SEO is that you are not required to have a lot of followers to get started. You simply need to have a website with relevant and useful content.
The downside to SEO is that it can take a while to see results. You need to be patient and build up a significant audience before you can determine whether or not SEO is helping your business.
If you are looking for an easy way to gain credibility and popularity in your city, local SEO may be the answer you’re looking for. Just remember to be patient and build up a significant audience before you can determine whether or not SEO is helping your business.
Content Creation
If your business is looking for an easy way to increase their credibility and popularity in their city, they may be interested in using your services to create blog posts, op-eds, or other types of content. You can use an app like Contentment to quickly create content that will be valuable, not to mention easy to curate.
The benefit of content creation is that it is very easy to do, and it doesn’t require a lot of expertise to create something valuable. The downside is that you need to have an interest in writing to make it a worthwhile pursuit. Even then, content creation can be a very time-consuming process.
If your business is looking to create additional content to increase their popularity and standing in their city, consider using an agency that can assist you with content creation. Agencies like MKTG can help you choose the right content (such as blogs or op-eds) for your target audience, and then help you to develop and curate content to reflect your objectives and messaging.
Paid Marketing
This type of marketing is also known as brought marketing, and it comes with its own set of perks and drawbacks. Similar to search engine optimization, paid marketing involves paying to have your website or blog placed at the top of the search results for certain keywords. The upside of paid marketing is that you can get started quickly, and you don’t need to have a significant audience to get results. The downside is, of course, that you are paying to have your site placed higher in the results.
Many people prefer to use paid marketing to gain credibility and popularity in their city. For example, if you are a florist in Shreveport and want to gain credibility and popularity as a local business, you may wish to consider using paid marketing to have your website or blog featured on local Facebook or Instagram posts with the hashtag #MyFloristShop.
The big question is: Which type of digital marketing services do you need to focus on, and which one do you want to avoid? It’s good to be versatile, but in this case, being too broad could hurt you. Take some time to think about your business goals and needs, and then pick out a plan of action. You may be surprised at how much simpler and more effective your marketing strategy can be.