The world of marketing has changed – and for the better. Thanks to the internet and social media, traditional adverts and billboards are no longer necessary. Instead, you can reach your audience where they already are, whether that’s on social media, messaging apps, or even the phone in your pocket (if you’re lucky enough to have one).
Marketing as we know it is evolving, and so are the ways we can market products and services to our customers. Thanks to platforms like Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, and Instagram, it’s never been easier to target and engage with audiences across the globe. So if you’re looking to evolve with the times and offer your clients marketing services in a digital world, here are five ways to sell online marketing to your clients.
1. Utilise Digital Marketing Platforms
While it’s always desirable to have a website, social media accounts, and email lists, these are all just the building blocks of a digital marketing strategy. What’s more, the strategy needs to be continuously updated and monitored to stay relevant and effective. For example, if you’re managing a pharmaceutical company’s website, you’ll want to make sure that the content and the calls-to-action fit the brand’s voice and message throughout.
This is where digital marketing platforms come in. A digital marketing platform is a website, or part of a larger web platform, that provides all the tools and controls you need to plan, build, and manage your digital marketing strategy. Whether you’re a large corporation seeking to engage with millennial audiences or a small business seeking to grow your online presence, a digital marketing platform can help you get there more effectively and efficiently.
2. Utilise Email Marketing
While social media has become a ubiquitous part of our lives, email marketing will never be outdated. Depending on your chosen channel, you can target and engage with your audience in a way that complements your social media strategy. And while it’s never easy to decide on the right email marketing strategy, knowing what works best for your audience will make all the difference.
From traditional email marketing to modern-day email marketing, the methodologies and content types may change, but the need to engage with your audience never goes out of style. So even if you’ve never done so, send out an occasional email to those on your contact list and see how many sign up for your newsletter.
3. Identify Areas of Strength and Growth
While it doesn’t hurt to know where you’re at, how you’re doing, and what you need to work on, the key to successful marketing is building and investing in areas of strength and growth.
If you’re keen to grow your online presence and gain more customers, you can begin by identifying the platforms your audience uses most often. Knowing this information allows you to become more visible and accessible to them. For example, if you notice that your target audience mostly utilises social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you can develop a strategy to reach them there.
On the other hand, if you notice that your audience mostly uses email to contact businesses and organisations, you can develop an email marketing strategy to increase brand awareness and drive more business to your company.
Once you’ve established your areas of strength and growth, you can begin looking for ways to invest in new technologies and strategies to further improve your bottom line.
4. Identify Your Audience
If you’re looking to grow your business, it’s vital to know who you’re targeting and engaging with. In the same way that you would tailor your product range and pricing to suit your intended audience’s needs, you can craft your strategy and messaging to suit the demographics you’ve been identified as.
Knowing your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviours will give you a much better chance of engaging with them and motivating them to take action.
5. Use Big Data and Analytics To Your Advantage
If you’re serious about growing your business, you’ll want to get as much data as possible to inform your decisions. Fortunately, businesses like Google have made all this information available to marketers and small business owners for free.
The good news is that all you need to do to get started with Google Analytics is install the Google Analytics plugin on your website. Then, the data and insights provided by Analytics will guide and inform every aspect of your digital marketing strategy.
What’s more is that Google has also made all the other major platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, available to marketers and small businesses for free. So if you want to be able to track and analyse your social media activity, you can use the platforms’ respective apps to do so (although you will have to pay for some social media platforms’ premium features).
So as you can see, evolving marketing requires continuous attention and research to stay ahead of the game. This is where digital marketing platforms come in. Not only do they offer you all the tools and controls you need to succeed, but they also provide analytics that will help you measure and improve the effectiveness of your strategy.