Most of the buying decisions nowadays begin with the online search, and in certain industries, this percentage is as high as 90%. To be successful, a business must build its online visibility, aim for some of the top positions in Google searches for its niche, and develop its own digital brand.
In order to successfully create, market, and manage your digital brand, even from the first days of running your business, you need to pay attention to all the necessary digital assets you can use to build and grow your online presence.
These are the assets you should focus on when developing your digital marketing strategy.
Websites
Think of your website as your digital home base, a place one can visit in order to get the information they need about your business. In certain industries, it’s the only address you will ever need, so you need to make it useful and relevant for your prospects, and offer them a worthy customer experience.
Recent research shows that 38% of people won’t engage with your website if its contents and layout are unattractive, and 88% of potential customers probably won’t ever be back if you’ve provided them with bad user experience.
There are several things you can do to avoid such consequences:
- Improve the design of your website,
- Keep your website regularly updated and fresh,
- Optimize your content for SEO,
- Make it mobile friendly and easy to load on all devices.
Social media
With the rise of social media marketing, other assets you should focus on are social media channels. Almost half of the world population logs into a social media account every day, so their influence is great when it comes to creating, marketing, and managing your digital brand.
People use these virtual social networks to search for the products and services they need, to spread the news about the brands they follow, and to give both the positive and negative reviews.
Their comments are often treated as recommendations by their virtual communities and given that 49% of consumers search for a recommendation from the niche influencers when they are considering a purchase it’s clear that you need to take this feedback into consideration.
In order to be a social media success, you will need to:
- Have accounts on social media channels your prospects use,
- Be regular and consistent with your posts,
- Make your content useful and relevant,
- Engage your customers with the content you provide,
- Post videos and photos
- Use social listening to be able to give a timely response to customer feedback,
- Get in touch with influencers from your niche and try to win them over to help you promote your brand.
This doesn’t mean you will have to be fully present on every social media channel in order to become visible. Pick the ones which are most widely used in your industry, and which are the preferred channels of your target audience.
Look after your employees
Your employees are your most important brand ambassadors, both in the digital and in the physical world.
When they are satisfied with the perks and benefits you’re providing them, they can significantly influence your online presence and reputation.
Think about the ways to nurture them and care for them, even if they are working from a remote location.
Automating your payroll process via a personalized payroll card can be a way to increase your credibility and trustworthiness, as they will receive their payments in a more secure and simple way, and much faster.
Mobile assets
All the content you provide your prospects with should be optimized for mobile phone access, as up to 70% of online traffic comes from mobile devices. Research also shows that 80% of smartphone users would purchase from companies which have a mobile site or app, as that usually means they will get the answers they need in a timely manner.
Apart from making your website mobile responsive, your content should be locally optimized to appear in local searches and include geo-targeted service pages, as well as the maps with your location. This is very useful as 50% of “near me” Google searches via mobile result in a store visit.
Having your own mobile app can also do wonders for your business, as it can provide great service to your customers, and be an excellent marketing tool.
Digital databases
You need to have digital databases of your prospects in order to manage your digital branding and marketing campaigns. These databases should include as much information you can get on your prospects as possible. To make all that data work for your business, you can segment your target audience based on different demographic parameters and personalize your email campaigns effectively.
Try to include names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail address, as well as any other data you can legally collect through various contact with prospects – budget preferences, gender, age, job title, and similar details.
These databases will allow your business to identify whom to contact when you have a new product or campaign, and how to better align your offer with their needs, which is still the most important when it comes to generating quality leads.
To advance in your digital brand efforts, make sure that your digital marketing strategy includes leveraging all these assets and making the most of them.
