The internet has changed business marketing forever, allowing companies to reach a large group of potential customers with a relatively small amount of money. But with so many platforms available, it can be challenging to decide where to allocate your own marketing spend.
To make things easier, here’s a list of 12 online marketing tactics where you should be allocating marketing budget this year.
1. Google AdWords
Google AdWords is a great way to reach customers who are researching products in your specialty. But without the right keywords, you likely won’t get the most out of the money you spend. Conduct research into the best keywords to use, then monitor your results to determine whether you need to adjust your strategy.
2. Experiential Marketing
Brands are increasingly investing in experiences as a marketing tool. However, without the right solutions in place, you’re missing a big opportunity. AnyRoad’s Experience Relationship Manager (ERM) is built to leverage data from the entire customer journey. With this solution in place, you’ll be able to measure the impact of your experiences, calculate the ROI of your experiential marketing, and A/B test your experiences to optimize them for brand affinity.
3. Facebook Advertising
Facebook advertising may already be a vital part of your strategy, but there are tools that can help you get the most out of the platform. One of those tools is Hootsuite, which not only offers a complete guide, but also a solution that lets you test and measure your performance.
4. LinkedIn Advertising
The key to success with LinkedIn campaigns is within the platform itself. LinkedIn provides features like enhanced ad targeting and the ability to save previous campaigns. Take advantage of these extras to make it easier to create and manage your ads on the site.
5. Social Media Marketing
No matter which social media platforms you’re using for marketing, it’s important that your campaigns are fully informed. Tools are now available to help you monitor conversations that are happening on social, but it’s also important to know what to do with the information once you’ve gathered it. Social data can not only improve your marketing campaigns, but also your overall business strategy.
6. YouTube Marketing
Many marketers now use YouTube for their advertising efforts, but growing followers on the site can be challenging. It’s important to monitor activity on your YouTube channel, as well as comments on your posts. With the right tools, you’ll have the information you need to get more views for each video.
7. Guest Blogging
Although content on your own blog can help boost your search rankings, you should also spend time placing content on other sites. The key to successful guest blogging is identifying blogs that can help you reach customers in your own niche. Once you have a list of desired sites, you can begin reaching out with an offer to write a post.
8. Localization
Today’s tools give marketers the power to target customers specifically based on their current location. Although this type of marketing demands discretion on the part of marketers, when used correctly, it can give you the power to reach out to nearby shoppers with targeted offers.
9. Reviews
Positive reviews on sites like Yelp can bring a big boost to a business’s online reach. But those reviews don’t appear overnight. It’s important to use solutions that help you monitor reviews of your brand online so that you can take action as quickly as possible if a customer reports a bad experience.
10. Email Personalization
If you aren’t personalizing your email marketing messages, chances are your competitors are. Automation can help you create email campaigns that get results, which can keep customers reading. In addition to personalizing subject lines, though, you should also create emails that appeal specifically to customer segments.
11. Website Personalization
Currently, every customer who visits your site may see the same landing page. As marketing has evolved, though, brands are segmenting customers and displaying pages that more closely target their needs. For instance, a returning customer may see a page with one information type, while a new customer sees another.
12. Content Customization
Beyond the information on your landing page, the content you display throughout your site can also be customized. Companies like Netflix and Amazon have turned content customization into an art, displaying products that customers are likely to be interested in based on past activities. This type of marketing will only grow more sophisticated as brands access the tools that make it easy to personalize and segment.
If your business is looking for ways to refresh your marketing efforts in 2018, these tactics can make a big difference. With so many solutions now available, brands of all sizes can reach out to customers in more innovative ways than ever before.