Who wants to be known as the “marketing guy” in the office? Chances are, you don’t. That’s why you need a website that helps you brand yourself as an expert in online marketing.

What is online marketing?

Simply put, online marketing is spreading the word about your product or service among potential customers. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. There are five important steps to take before you start spreading the word online. Read on to discover them.

1. Define Your Audience

First of all, you need to figure out who you’re going to target. What is your audience? Think about your existing customers and what they might want. You can also ask friends or family members for their opinions. Do some research and create a persona.

You can use the persona you’ve created to create personas for each of your target audiences. A persona is a complete character that represents one specific type of person. For example, you might have a professional persona and a fun persona. Your marketing plan should include messaging for both of these personas.

2. Identify the Growth Marketing Channels

The next step in establishing your online marketing presence is to figure out which channels you should use to reach your audience. The word channel connotes a medium or platform for distribution. For example, you could use social media to reach your target audiences or you could create and distribute flyers or print ads.

The growth marketing channels you choose will depend on your business model, the type of customers you have, and your budget. If you have a limited marketing budget, you may need to narrow down your choices to just a few channels.

3. Select the Growth Channels

The next step is to decide which of the growth channels you’ve identified you’re going to utilize. You need to pick the channels that fit best with your business. If you have a limited budget, you may need to choose the channels with the highest potential for growth first.

Once you’ve established the parameters of your project, you can choose a tool like HubSpot to create content that will engage your audience.

These tools can make creating blogs and landing pages much easier. While you might prefer to use a different tool, HubSpot has a sizable user base among marketers. If you’re looking for a free platform, try Squarespace.

4. Create Content That Will Engage

The next step is to create content that will engage your audience. The term content implies a variety of things, from blogs to webpages to videos. The type of content you create will depend on your business model, the type of customers you have, and your budget.

The goal is to create content that will attract, compel, and entertain your target audiences. This content is going to form the foundation of your brand identity, so make sure it’s top notch.

5. Measure The Results Of Your Efforts

The final step in establishing an online presence is measuring the results of your efforts. Just because you’ve created some amazing content for your target audiences to enjoy doesn’t mean your work is done. Now you need to follow up with continuous analysis to see how well your chosen channels performed. If you had a limited budget, you might need to choose the channels with the highest ROI (return on investment) first, but you should always measure twice and cut once you’ve started. The analysis will also let you determine which channels perform best for your business.

Once you’ve established your presence online, it’s important to keep measuring the performance of your channels to determine which ones are providing the best return on investment. If you’re looking for more information on how to measure the results of your digital marketing efforts, check out these marketing analytics tools: