Step Up Your Game And By Getting Smart In Marketing.
The internet has opened an avenue that has attracted thousands if not millions of prospective webpreneurs. However, this swarm of online marketers has to contend with the fact that the landscape is getting more competitive by the day. A decade ago, building a website from scratch was almost next to impossible. Additionally, hosting the fully-fledged site was equally expensive, and the annual fees were prohibitive to say the least. Fast forward and ten years later registering for a website is as easy as signing up for an email account. The scope is likely to get narrower in the coming years.
Unfortunately, a majority of online marketers are still stuck with the same advertising strategies from the yesteryears. As an aspiring marketing guru aiming to get smart in marketing, you might want to try a different approach that the average entrepreneur is likely to overlook.
For starters, bear in mind that your current hosting provider is not responsible for marketing your business. It’s a combination of SEO skills and aggressive marketing strategies that will get your site to rank among the creme’ de la creme’ in Google’s first page.
That said, here is a combination of practical marketing tactics that a beginner who is looking to get smart in marketing, can utilize to grow their business.
a) Are you familiar with link building?
Unfortunately, many novice online marketers tend to think that using social media platforms is the only way to drive traffic back to their websites. The only problem with relying solely on such a technique is that you won’t be in a position to relate on a personal level with your customers. You might convince people to visit your site, but there’s no guarantee that they will bookmark it and visit it future.
With link building, you can wedge this gap by including an ‘opt in’ portal where users can leave their emails or other contact details. After building a list of hundreds or thousands of customers, you can start sending them lead pages of your website, periodically, as a way of updating them on the latest developments surrounding your product or service.
Nonetheless, be forewarned that convincing people to drop their email usernames is not as easy as it sounds on paper. Be prepared to think out of the box with this one. One of the best persuasive tactics is by offering online freebies or incentives that will make them want to leave their contacts with you. We are love free things and at one time or another someone may not mind leaving their email address behind in exchange for a trial subscription, for example.
b) Have you considered automating your marketing business?
The best thing about online marketing is that it is possible to make money auto-pilot. Yes, you heard it right. With a good automation software, you will no longer have to post your articles or Vlogs manually every day or weekly. Simply put them on an auto scheduler and watch the world browse or read your content without even having to lift a finger!
The same applies to replying or sending promotional emails. For example, you may choose to include a link leading back to your site in every email you send your customers. At the same time, you can leave the emails on an auto-responder to brief your contacts every week or so by sending them pre-written messages. However, when starting out, limit the frequency to once in a month to avoid the common mistake of spamming prospective client’s inboxes.
On the same note, learn how to personalize your promotional emails. People are more likely to view your messages and even visit your site if you address them by name.
c) Sign up for a YouTube channel
It may look unnecessary at first, but marketing your services through short, engaging video clips is one of the most effective ways of building a brand name. For instance, if you’re a realtor looking to market your business, creating a video channel where you can visually showcase some of the houses on sale is more helpful than merely posting photos or writing articles on the same.
After a while, you can start leaving backlinks leading to your websites or a persuasive Call To Action (CTA) for your viewers to contact you for a more in-depth coverage of the content.
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