Every month of the year, approximately 540,000 people start new businesses and become self-employed entrepreneurs.
That’s over half a million new startups every month, all fighting for customers’ attention. If you’re starting a business and hope to reach those customers, you’ll need a killer digital marketing plan to get noticed, which is something the likes of what AC Waring did in order to increase their visibility in an extremely obscure niche.
Let’s look at 5 tips for creating a powerful digital marketing campaign.
1. Target the Right People.
One of the most important components of your digital marketing strategy is to find the right target audience. If you’re not reaching the right people, it won’t matter how good your product or service is, how good you are at selling, or how great a value you have to offer – they’re not likely to convert very well.
Instead of trying to reach as many people as possible, work on reaching the right people. Do some thorough market research to figure out who your ideal customer is, then figure out how to find them.
Dig into your competitors’ marketing plans to see who they’re targeting, what they’re doing well, and what they’re not doing so well. Sign up for their mailing list, get into their funnel, and buy their product. Become their customer so you can see what they’re doing from the inside.
Create an “avatar” or persona for your ideal customer. How old are they? Are they married? Do they have kids? What are their biggest fears? Sketch out everything you can about that imaginary customer and when you plan your marketing, imagine your speaking directly to them.
2. Create a Compelling Story.
If someone asked you what your startup does at a party, how would you respond? Saying something like “we sell widgets to help with problem X” might be a factual response but it’s not very compelling.
The same goes for your marketing campaign. If it isn’t compelling, your audience isn’t going to leap at the chance to buy what you’re offering.
Spend some time coming up with a story – why you do what you do. Tell people what’s special about your company. Was your service passed down your family through several generations? Do you donate a percentage of every sale to a worthy cause? Is there something unique about your product or service that isn’t available from any other company?
Make those things part of your marketing. Grab your audience’s attention with something cool about your company. Think of this as your elevator pitch but instead of a short pitch to give someone in an elevator, it’s a short pitch to stop them from clicking on the next link.
3. It’s All About Offering Value.
Having a compelling story is important but it has to be backed up with value. Your marketing plan can’t be all sizzle and no steak.
Give your target audience a ton of value, before they ever see a sales pitch. Make them feel like they owe you something for all the valuable information you give them for nothing.
Write good content for your website, create helpful videos, send them useful information in your emails, and over-deliver on everything you can. Make them so happy they won’t think twice about paying you for your product or service. You want them to think, “If they give this much great information away, their paid offers must be fantastic!”
This doesn’t only apply to your customers though. It also applies to potential partners. If you’re working with other businesses that complement your own, do everything you can to bring them new customers. The more you help your partners, the more they’re likely to do for you in return. This can even help you get in front of workers if you’re looking for help in your business.
4. How to Get the Most Out of Social Networking.
Any effective digital marketing campaign should include a social networking component but you need to approach it with the right attitude. Most people who use social networks like Facebook and Twitter aren’t looking for something to buy – they’re looking to be entertained and informed.
This goes back to the last tip, providing value. If you write useful blog posts, create helpful videos, and make other “shareable” content, it can help you reach a wide audience on these social networks. The more people that share what you have to offer, the more new people it will reach.
Don’t try to sell your products or service directly on social media. Treat it as a way to get more people into your funnel by giving them valuable information. Once they know who you are and trust what you have to say, you can push them over to your own website where you can get them into your marketing system.
5. Email Marketing – Your Secret Weapon.
Email is one of the oldest technologies still in use on the internet but that doesn’t mean it’s old news. Email is still one of the most effective ways to reach your audience and convert prospects into customers.
One of the most powerful things about building an email list is that you own that list. If you rely on Google for website traffic or Facebook and Twitter for reaching customers, you’re at their mercy. If they change their algorithm in some way, it could wipe out your connections overnight.
With email, you can always reach out to your list. As long as you treat them well, provide value, and don’t spam them with too many sales pitches, you’ll be able to leverage that list to get sales, send visitors to new content on your website, or promote one of your partners’ offers.
Create Your Own Digital Marketing Plan.
These digital marketing tips apply to almost any type of business but you need to personalize them for your business and your personality to get the best results. Taking another company’s digital marketing plan and cloning it to use as your own rarely works as well as you’d hope.
Knowing your market and understanding what your company does better than your competition gives you the edge you need to make your marketing message land with the right people, in the right place, at the right time.
If you’re not reaching the right customers or you’re reaching them at a bad time, a lot of your time and effort will go to waste.
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