In today’s world, a business’ reach can be dictated by the power of the web. The ability to reach potential customers and garner interest for a brand or product from around the globe is practically impossible to ignore. However, simply having a website does not guarantee that you’ll reap the full benefits of a successful online presence.
A business’ website is only the beginning. After you’ve established a web presence, you can use tools like Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, and Twitter Ads to continue penetrating the online marketplace and gaining interest for your product or service.
If you’re looking for ways to spread the word about your product but don’t want to spend a large sum of money on traditional marketing methods, you might consider trying online marketing services instead. With these services, you pay only for qualified leads that convert into paying customers. These services can be a great alternative for businesses that are looking to gain a greater foothold in the digital world.
The following are some of the most important things you should look for in a company that provides online marketing services:
Experienced Staff
As a business owner or manager, you’re no doubt aware of the importance of having skilled employees to complement your team. However, in that case, you might not be aware of how much it costs to have employees with the necessary training and experience to carry out their roles effectively. Outsourcing part of your workflow to experienced professionals (who you can trust to do a good job) is a smart move that can save you both time and money.
If possible, you should look for a company that offers a training program so that new hires can hit the ground running. Having a team of employees that are all experts in their fields means you’ll always have someone who can step in and take care of any urgent matters that might arise. Similarly, having experienced employees makes them worth their weight in gold (and it’s usually a lot more than just their weight) should things go wrong.
Quality Content
An engaging blog post or well-designed website cannot guarantee that you’ll gain customers, but it can definitely help. Having a blog post or web page that contains useful information about your product or service and is interesting to read or view simply makes that piece of web content more valuable. A good example of this would be a blog post reviewing your product or service. The reviewer might state a few drawbacks, but in the end, he or she will most likely recommend your product or service due to the positive experience gained from using it.
In any case, with content being such a crucial part of any marketing campaign, it’s important to keep in mind that not all content is created equal. You should look for a company that offers quality content that is both interesting and valuable.
Analytics Tools
An analytics tool can help you see how your web content is performing (including the location of your target audience within the online landscape). Using a tool like Google Analytics, you can track the number of visitors to your website, the routes they took while visiting, and whether or not they converted into paying customers. This information can help you pinpoint specific areas of your site that need an overhaul (i.e. the blog post that resulted in the most website traffic but had the lowest conversion rate).
There are a variety of tools that track and analyze web traffic. The most popular ones are listed below, all of which are offered by Google:
- Google Analytics
- Webmaster Tools
- Google Search Console
- Google Adsense Analytics
These analytics tools can help you get a clear picture of what’s working and what needs to be changed around the site so that more people find you when they’re looking for your type of business.
Dedicated Account Manager
Aside from having skilled employees, you also need someone willing to help you navigate the challenges presented by the digital world. Having a dedicated account manager to help you succeed in your online endeavours is probably the best way to go. Should you choose to outsource some of the work to virtual assistants, you’ll need someone to coordinate all the back and forth. Should you choose to do it yourself, you might find it overwhelming to keep up with the ever-changing requirements of a social media platform. A dedicated account manager will take the frustration out of the process and allow you to focus on growing your business.
This individual should be a people person and should be able to communicate with others to ensure that all your websites, social media platforms, and email campaigns are operating at their optimum capacity.
24/7 Customer Support
Last but not least, we have 24/7 customer support. It’s important to be available to your customers when they need you. After all, your products or services might not be usable (nor worth much) if these individuals cannot get in touch with you to ask questions or get help.
There are a variety of reasons why this might be valuable. Perhaps you’ve launched a new product or service and have almost no one to tell them about it. Perhaps you’ve hired some wonderful people who aren’t used to dealing with customers yet (especially in person). Whatever the reason, having someone available to help your customers is definitely worth it.
In any case, this is usually a separate service that businesses that offer online marketing services charge extra for. Some companies might even charge you for each call or email you send them. So, it’s important to know exactly what you’re paying for before you make a commitment. In case you’re curious, here’s a quick overview of what is usually included in these plans:
- Email marketing
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Social media marketing
- Pay-per-click Advertising (PPC)
- Content Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Marketing Automation
- Reputation Management
- Online Branding
- And More…
There are a variety of other services that digital marketers offer, but these are some of the most crucial ones.