In its short thirty-year history, the web has completely transformed modern business and offered firms competitive advantages that simply were not possible in the pre-internet days. From e-commerce sites to streaming media providers and even simple brochure sites, the web has allowed companies to explore new markets and expand their customer bases, regardless of budget or physical location.
It could be argued the internet has democratized business, providing a level playing field for companies, big or small. However, to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that exist online takes planning and strategizing to develop a coherent branding campaign that works across all channels.
If you are struggling to get your head around the confusing world of internet marketing, read on for some tips and tricks used by the pros that could help propel your firm’s online profile so you too can start capitalizing on the potential of the web.
Web/digital marketing 101
Before discussing the multitude of ways to promote your firm online, it would perhaps be best to define what is meant by web marketing - also commonly referred to as digital marketing.
In essence, digital marketing refers to any promotional tactic used (mostly) online to grab the attention of customers (potential and existing) in the vast ocean of information that already exists on the internet. In a world where there are now more web pages than there are people, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for firms to stand out online - and that is where a successful digital marketing strategy comes in.
Web marketing encompasses a whole range of methods and styles of promotion, normally carried out through search engines, paid advertising and the major social media platforms. These processes aim to grab and hold the attention of consumers to build a following and instill a sense of brand loyalty to increase the chances of repeat customers.
In a similar way to traditional offline promotion, these branding messages can be delivered through a variety of media including text, photos, animations, video and music. Any format that emboldens a brand online can be considered digital marketing.
Should my firm concentrate on online or offline marketing - or both?
If you think of the world’s most famous and successful companies (e.g. the likes of Apple, Sony and Coca-Cola), you will see that these bigger firms tend to invest in both online and offline promotions. However, companies of this size have considerably deeper pockets than most, so they can afford to spread themselves easily across both the real and virtual worlds.
Really, the decision of which type of marketing works best for your firm will be largely dependent on your business type and budget. However, one thing is most definitely for sure - if you do not invest in digital marketing, you will be missing out on the potential to tap into much wider markets on a local, national and even international scale.
Also, it is worth remembering you will almost always get considerably more bang for your buck with online marketing compared to traditional, expensive channels like print, TV, radio and billboard advertising. Spending on online promotions will give comparatively more reach and penetration than offline - plus, it has the distinct advantage of offering analytics so you can visibly track which channels, adverts and promotions are working best for you.
Indeed, analytics software has progressed so much that these days it is even possible to optimize your creatives so you can study in-depth which artwork, images and marketing messages are your top performers, then dynamically refine your promotional campaign as you go. This level of business agility, monitoring and tailoring creative content simply is not possible with traditional forms of marketing.
The ground zero of online marketing - your company website
The absolute base level of web marketing is your website. However, while it used to be the case that just being online was enough, these days there are many more considerations to make for running and maintaining a site if it is to bring any tangible value to your company. There are multiple guides online with tips for building a successful website. However, at the most basic level your site should have at least the following:
Content Management System (CMS): A Content Management System (CMS) is, as the name suggests, a way for web admins to manage the content on their site including add, edit, delete functions across pages, as well as text, images and multimedia. These days, it is almost unheard of for sites to be built without a CMS but, if your website does not allow you the facility to update content, it is time for a redesign.
Content is King: It’s been 25 years since Bill Gates penned his famous essay entitled, “Content is King”, however, the message remains as true today as ever. There is little point in having a CMS if you do not update your content and, likewise, you need to ensure that content is relevant, interesting and engaging for your target market. There is no single bigger driver for traffic than content - both for new and returning visitors.
Responsive format: As our devices and connection speeds have improved over the years, so too has the web has gone mobile. Internet use on mobile devices (e.g. phones, tablets, and so on) now accounts for over 50% of internet use. If your site does not scale to fit the multitude of different screen sizes in use today, it will be rendered virtually useless. Moreover, Google will also penalize you with lower Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) ranking - more on that later.
Other key considerations you should bear in mind are usability, functionality, clean design, effective colors/design, an easy-to-use navigation system, short loading times and well-written underlying code. As well as improving your site’s visitor experience, these factors will also have a huge bearing on the next topic – your search engine rankings.
The important role of search engines
Without search engines, the web would be little more than a disorganized collection of pages, impossible to use or decipher. Search engines make sense of the web making it navigable and searchable.
However, while the web may be the greatest library in the history of man, with so much information online already vying for the attention of users, it is almost impossible for sites to stand out.
These days, it is estimated around 68% of all online activity starts with a search. Perhaps more importantly (at least from a business perspective), 71% of all consumer journeys begin on a search engine - and that engine is, more often than not, Google.
Through May 2021, Google accounted for a staggering 92.2% of all search-engine-generated traffic, eclipsing its rivals Bing and Yahoo, which held just 2.27% and 1.5% respectively. When you think about it, in many ways, Google’s prominence is understandable - after all, these days, we do not simply ‘search’, nowadays we ‘Google’.
How Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can transform your firm’s performance online
With Google owning such a massive share of online searches, when marketing experts talk about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they more likely mean optimizing for Google - but just what is SEO and how can it benefit your firm?
SEO refers to the in-depth and highly intricate process of pushing a website and its associated pages up the search engine listings using tactics as varied as employing targeted keywords and phrases, posting relevant content, generating inward links and tinkering with the underlying code of a site.
While it is true there are some aspects of SEO you can try to do yourself, if you are to have any chance of seeing results and taking advantage of better rankings, you will need to call in the services of an expert firm. Unfortunately, effective SEO goes way beyond the skills and knowledge of a casual web user. Indeed, the methods are so detailed and varied that we do not have space to discuss them here, but, in short, effective SEO takes considerable time and experience so you should hire a professional.
The statistics behind the importance of SEO and appearing high in the search engines speak for themselves in terms of Click-Through Rates (CTRs) – that is, the number of users that click links on results pages. While these vary slightly from mobile to desktop, the evidence is clear that high rankings are essential:
Position 1: CTR Mobile 26.46% - CTR Desktop 32.49%
Position 2: CTR Mobile 14.40% - CTR Desktop 15.79%
Position 3: CTR Mobile 9.10% - CTR Desktop 8.57%
Position 4: CTR Mobile 6.17% - CTR Desktop 5.52%
Position 5: CTR Mobile 4.39% - CTR Desktop 3.74%
By the time you get to position 10 on the first page, the CTR figure drops again to 3.09% while second-page results drop yet further to just 0.78%. When coupled with the idea that 71% of all consumers start their buying process with a search, the importance of appearing high up in results is clear. Bottom line - ignore SEO at your own peril.
Staying social - the increasing role of social media in marketing
Too many company bosses and CEOs continue to take a dim view of social media, considering it the domain of teenagers posting messages about what they had for breakfast. However, social platforms are playing an increasingly important role in online marketing. These days, clients expect firms to have a presence on the major social sites as an additional way to find out more about them or make first contact.
Social sites allow firms the opportunity to reach out to clients, make a positive connection and build a following. Perhaps more importantly, if your pages attract followers, you will be able to project your message quicker and more effectively than by almost any other channel - possibly even resulting in posts ‘going viral’.
If you post content to your website, the onus is on the user to come and visit your pages to read that content. Conversely, if someone follows your social pages, when you post something new, it will automatically feature in their feed with zero effort required on their side. In very real terms, social sites have enabled all of us to become mini-broadcasters and the same applies to your firm.
To see the power of social media at work, let’s take the example of posting to Facebook. Statistics show the average Facebook user has 338 friends. If just one of your followers likes or shares your content, you have the opportunity of appearing in the feed of another 338 people (their friends) - and if one of those friends then reposts again, you could be seen by yet another 338 people. This reposting model helps show the phenomenon of viral content and explains why the world’s biggest and best firms take social marketing so seriously.
Choosing the right social channels for your firm
Most of us are aware of the larger social platforms - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube - but different types of companies will likely find different benefits from each. Also, depending on your type of company and its target market, you may well find concentrating on one of the smaller players could be more beneficial (for example, LinkedIn for B2B connections or Pinterest if you have a highly-female target market).
However, while there are multiple platforms to choose from, you should not spread yourself too thin and attempt to cover too many bases. Having a rough understanding of the typical users of each service should help you prioritize which to target:
Facebook: With over 2.7 billion active users, Facebook is by far the world’s most popular social network although its popularity is waning with younger users who have migrated in their droves to Instagram. The largest percentage of FB users lie in the 25-34 age group.
Instagram: Many people are not aware that Instagram is also a Facebook company but that has not stopped a huge growth in the youth market. Instagram is the second-largest social service with around 1 billion users.
Twitter: In third place is Twitter, with around 187 million active users, about 44% of whom are in the 30-49 age group.
YouTube: The titan of streaming media also doubles as the world’s second-most popular search engine (behind sister company Google) and has around 2 billion active users. In terms of demographics, the platform is widely used by all age groups and both sexes, making it a potentially important vehicle for promotion - especially if you have the skills to make engaging video content.
Other players in the social sector that you might want to consider include LinkedIn, Pinterest (as noted above), Snapchat and the new kid on the block, TikTok - the latter two being particularly popular with younger users.
Additional types of online marketing
As mentioned earlier, any form of online promotion can be considered digital marketing including email campaigns, Pay Per Click advertising (strictly speaking, not ‘marketing’ by definition), affiliate marketing and in-bound link promotion via content. Which combination works best for your firm will likely be a process of trial and error but working with a specialized web marketing firm will give you the greatest chance of success to hone your message and method of delivery.