No company can claim to have perfected online marketing; some would even go as far as to say that the practice is continually evolving. That being said, you can help drive the innovation and set yourself apart from the competition with a little experimentation. The more you put into your explorations, the more you will reap in benefits. This article will discuss the various aspects of online marketing experimentation and the ways you can use this approach to enhance your marketing success.
Digital Marketing
The practice of digital marketing first came to the fore in the 2010s; however, many marketers were still engaging with their audience in a more traditional manner. The difference nowadays is that we are seeing digital marketers utilize all available channels (e.g., social media, SEO, paid ads, etc.) to engage with their audience. This approach, known as multi-channel marketing, can be hugely beneficial to a business as it allows you to target the right audience without overspending on traditional marketing.
If you’re new to the world of online marketing, it can be hard to know where to start Experimentation is a great way to find the right approach for your business. By doing so, you will be able to figure out what works best for your company and how you can achieve the greatest impact possible given your budget. Through careful experimentation, you can identify the various factors that make up your cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and ensure that your marketing investments are always delivering a better return. With digital marketing becoming such a broad and ever-changing field, it’s crucial to take the time to explore the options available to you.
Pricing
One of the first questions that comes to mind when launching your digital marketing strategy is: “How much should I charge?” The answer to this question largely depends on your industry, your competition, and your objectives. The most effective approach is to experiment with different pricing tiers and observe the results. You can use this data to make informed decisions regarding your pricing structure. If you’re finding it difficult to set a price for your product or service, you might want to consider providing a free trial or using a sliding scale pricing model (e.g., starting price is free and prices increase based on an assessment of the value that the customer receives).
User Behavior
Marketers of all stripes are always looking for ways to gain insight into how their marketing efforts are performing. The standard approach is to examine conversion data (e.g., the percentage of visitors that become subscribers, the amount of sales that result from a particular advertising campaign, etc.). This type of data provides a general idea of the effectiveness of your marketing efforts but doesn’t necessarily help you identify the reasons why certain strategies work and others don’t. When you examine user behavior, you can gain a deeper understanding of the motivations of your website visitors and identify any trends that might be influencing their actions. For example, if you discover that most of your site’s visitors are arriving at the point of purchase as a result of an expensive advertisement, you might want to reconsider the strategy behind that campaign.
Content Marketing
In a nutshell, content marketing is all about generating inbound marketing interest and stimulating customer engagement. In the simplest of terms, content marketing is all about creating compelling messaging that draws in potential customers and nurtures an active, engaged audience. When done well, content marketing can lead to increased traffic, boosted conversion rates, and greater brand loyalty.
The best part about content marketing is that you don’t necessarily have to “pay for placement” (i.e., you don’t have to pay to have your content featured on a prominent website or blog). Instead, you can use various channels and strategies to reach potential customers without the fear of being shamed or penalized for non-existent results. Many big businesses, such as Starbucks, Nike, and Microsoft, have all benefited from content marketing; this type of strategy isn’t going anywhere, and marketers should take note.
Product Listing and Display Advertising
Product listing and display advertising (e.g., ads that appear as part of a product’s listing or on a product’s page) are two of the more traditional forms of online marketing. In general, companies will often use the “Cost-Per-Acquisition” (CPA) to determine how much they are willing to spend on online advertising. This is the amount they are willing to pay for a single customer to purchase a product or service after viewing an ad.
As the name suggests, product listing advertising is where you’ll find advertisements for products that are for sale. These are the types of ads that you see when you’re browsing a retail website or marketplace. Product display advertising, on the other hand, is where you’ll find the advertisement that forms part of the website’s content, such as an editorial or a review.
The problem with these two strategies is that they’re typically viewed as “low-cost” or “free” options when it comes to online marketing. As a result, many companies consider these tactics to be a “loss leader”; that is, an investment in these strategies that won’t necessarily pay back in monetary terms, but will help drive traffic and acquire new customers. While it’s true that these options are relatively low-cost, they aren’t exactly free. In order to determine how much you are actually spending on these strategies, you will need to calculate the cost of providing the product/service being advertised as well as any other associated fees (e.g., shipping costs, etc.).
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
We live in an interconnected world, and in the digital marketing world, this means that we can’t forget about the importance of social media. In the same way that marketers once sought to understand what qualities consumers had that made them susceptible to a particular brand or product, so too can we examine the behaviors of individuals and groups on social media to determine how they can be influenced.
With over 3.9 billion users worldwide, it’s clear that social media is a huge platform with broad reach. If you’re looking to understand how social media users can be motivated to take action or engage with your content, it might be a good idea to examine your target audience’s favorite social media platforms and the types of content that they find most engaging.
The downside to a focus on social media is that it can sometimes be hard to determine which platforms to utilize and which to avoid. If you’re just getting started, it might be best to begin with a few simple social media platforms and build your way up from there.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Last but not least, we have SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO is all about making your website more searchable when someone types in keywords or phrases that you’ve chosen. When a consumer or potential customer types in a phrase or keyword that your website is optimized for, they will see your website above the rest. However, if they don’t see the results they’re looking for, it’s often because your website wasn’t built to respond to their search queries.
Some of the things you’ll need to focus on when optimizing your website for a better search ranking are the headers and styles of your website’s content. Make sure that your website’s content is easily readable by Google and that all of the essential information is contained within the pages. This means ensuring that your page’s load speed is fast and that all of the necessary content is easy to find. In addition to this, you may want to consider utilizing the proper keywords throughout your content; this will not only make your content easier to find but will also help drive visitors to your website. There are many free tools online that you can use to easily find the right keywords and optimize your content for better search rankings.
As you can see, there are many different approaches that you can take when designing your online marketing strategy. When choosing an approach, it’s important to think about what you’re trying to achieve and which direction you want to take your business. For example, if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to gain customers, you might want to consider utilizing a PPC (Pay Per Click) approach. This is where you pay for each click on an ad, whether or not that individual clicks on the ad and purchases the product/service being advertised. This can be beneficial in instances where your target audience is already familiar with your competitors’ products. If you decide that this is the best route for your business, be sure to consult with a PPC professional so that you can get the most out of this strategy. Ultimately, you want to choose an approach that suits your needs and can help you achieve your desired results. By experimenting with different approaches, you can find what works best for your business and continue to grow.