Creating customer awareness, historically, has been disruptive. For example, a beer commercial during a football game or a cold call at work interrupts what the target audience was doing. By comparison, when a prospect has typed a query into a search engine, there is an active thought. During this purposeful search, informative content at this moment, by contrast, helps the process. Organic results are more trusted as evidenced by time spent on site, page views and higher conversion rates. Creating valuable content that addresses the pain points of prospects is called inbound marketing; the cost per lead for this tactic is 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing. Social distancing and remote working have doubled daily search volume and has motivated businesses to bolster their digital presence to increase visibility, relevance, and (potential) customer communications.  

A business’s digital presence includes its website, social properties, content (on and off site), online reviews, and web directory listings. So, what are some tactics that could drive traffic to your website and improve your online presence? Here are ten that have little to no cost.  

  • Ask for reviews 
  • Establish a calendar, automating the parts of your process that are repetitive or routine 
  • Insert trust factors 
  • NAP (name, address, phone) consistency 
  • Learn your keyword volume and track your rankings 
  • Use analytics, focusing on QQCR (Quantity, Quality, Conversion, Retention) 
  • Create Content  
  • Build an email list 
  • Facilitate social sharing 
  • Cross link with complimentary (local) businesses 

REVIEWS, CONTACT and HISTORY BUILDS TRUST 

A recent article cited 99 statistics to help crystalize the importance of digital marketing. The list could be intimidating to some, but we will intersperse several in context throughout this article:  

A positive experience is less likely to generate written praise compared to a negative experience prompting a critical review. Meanwhile:  

  • 90% of people who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influence their buying decisions. (Dimensional Research) 
  • Customer testimonials and case studies are considered the most effective content marketing tactics. (B2B Content Marketing Trends Report) 
  • Product reviews are 12x more trusted than product descriptions and sales copy written by manufacturers. (eMarketer) 

So, it is important to get your house in order to minimize negative experiences. Businesses should be proactive about asking for reviews from the silent majority of their customers who have positive experiences. Automating the process of asking, via policy or software, will yield huge benefits.  

When a customer comes to your site for the first time, why should they trust you? What can you share to foster that trust? Publish your phone number and other forms of contact in a visible spot. Indicate the year founded or the number of customers served. Be succinct about the main service you provide. Have links to case studies or testimonials. On your website and across directory listings, have consistent name, address, and phone listing. Know that there is a difference between: 

183 Main Street, Suite A  

183A Main Street 

183-A Main Street 

If you move offices, remember to update your address on your website, your Google My Business and, all your social media platforms such as Facebook. This is as much for search engines as it is for humans. An inconsistent or conflicting address could be confused with another business. 

KEYWORDS, ANALYTICS, CONTENT & SOCIAL SHARING 

Many businesses are uncertain about their keywords but have a sense that they are important. Let us start out with a couple of clear definitions: 

From Oxford language dictionary: 

A keyword is an informative word used in an information retrieval system to indicate the content of a document. 

From Moz: 

Keywords are ideas and topics that define what your content is about. In terms of SEO (search engine optimization), they’re the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines, also called “search queries.” 

Keyword planning starts with what are relevant terms to your business, what are their volume, and what initial ranks, if any, has your businesses earned vis a vis search results. Then determine geographic target in terms of national, regional, or local SEO. Finally makes sure that analytics and search console are activated on your site. Traffic should be measured for quantity, quality, conversion, and retention (QQCR). With these tools set up, automate reporting (via Google data studio). Create content such as blog posts, newsletters, or e-books to attract traffic and clarify what your brand is about. 

  • 50% of search queries are 4 words or more. (Propecta) (I.e., do not ignore the long tail…) 
  • Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic. 
  • 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. 

 The mantra in Field of Dreams is “if you build it, they will come.” This is simply not true of websites.  

No one is visiting a website without: 

  • A known brand name (say Disney) 
  • Earned media (say a topical article in the local newspaper)  
  • Paid media (display advertising or pay per click) 
  • Relevant content drawing organic traffic  

These tactics could be pursued individually or collectively. Investing in a brand name takes time and money. Earned media requires PR (public relations placement) or randomly fitting a topic that a magazine wants to cover. Paid media could be pursued immediately but once payment stops, traffic stops. Also, given the perception some have of paid ads, conversion or engagement is not as high. Besides drawing traffic, the added benefit of content is that it clarifies your brand and it can be used to communicate via email. Analyze your data to prioritize those activities that help you achieve your goals of QQCR.  Include social share buttons on your content.  If the content you created is useful to realtors, then a mortgage banker reading your post might be inclined to share your content with their network via their LinkedIn account.   

EMAIL, NURTURING & E-COMMERCE 

Email has been around for a while. With two trillion pieces delivered weekly, it is no longer new and exciting; some even view email negatively, with 54% of all email classified as spam. As a result, many shy away from deploying email; however, with a return on investment (ROI) of 4400%, email is a cheat code to successful digital marketing.  

  • 49% of consumers say they would like to receive promotional emails from their favorite brands on a weekly basis. (Statista) 
  • 47% of emails are opened or discarded based solely on their subject line. (Business2Community) 
  • Email subject lines with 6-10 words have the highest open rate. (Invesp) 
  • Sending 3 abandoned cart emails results in 69% more orders than just one email which helps you reduce order form abandonment. (Onminsend) 
  • Exit-Intent campaigns convert between 2-4% of abandoning visitors into email subscribers (OptinMonster) 
  • 66% of people says that email nurturing was the best way to reengage leads. (Databox) 

So, email generates an impressive return-on-investment while simultaneously being annoying. How can that be? Many approach emails poorly – failing to segment their list or not customizing their content.  To rise above the clutter, be thoughtful – even about the subject line!  Avoid generating an unsubscribe by producing email content that is relevant to the recipient. It is best to continue a conversation already started or that follows up on a demonstrated interest. B2C emails benefit from personalization, but customization options are more limited when operating at scale. For B2B emails, especially when purchase decisions are infrequent and decisions are protracted, a little more precision can be the difference in earning a sale in the tens of thousands (if not millions). 

NURTURING, CONVERSION, SOCIAL SHARING & SOCIAL PROOF 

It is easier to sell or keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one. Yet, “on average, for every $92 spent on acquiring a customer, just $1 is then spent on trying to convert them.” (Econsultancy). Think about that: 

Only 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates. 

But.. 

68% of small businesses don’t have a structured or documented conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy 

Despite… 

74% of conversion rate optimization programs increase sales. 

Many professional firms we have worked with, say law firms with 10 or more partners that primarily work on commercial issues for corporate accounts, do not have a firm-wide LinkedIn strategy. According to HubSpot, only 7% of respondents said that social selling was a priority for their sales organization, Meanwhile:  

  • Thanks to implementing a social selling program, IBM boosted sales by 400%. (IBM) 
  • 87% of B2B buyers have a favorable impression of a salesperson if they were introduced to them through someone in their professional network. (LinkedIn) 
  • 40-70%+ of businesses qualified leads aren’t yet ready to buy. (Databox) 

…and therefore, need to be nurtured! 

In this new era of liberal usage of Zoom meetings:  

  • 20-40% of webinar attendees become leads. (OptinMonster) 

Increase attendance pre-event by nurturing leads with marketing automation. Then post attendance from a webinar, have more automated email follow-ups. The content of those correspondences could be time or action triggered. The correspondences should feature what problems your firm solves, who you serve and why they should consider your services (instead of your competitors).  

Businesses of all sizes have a deeper appreciation of the need to be easily found online, especially in this era of coronavirus. Research where your customers are searching for solutions, what your competitors are doing online, which keywords have good volume, and what tactics are yielding results. Make sure that your website is technically sound – pages load quickly, are mobile ready and have meta tags. Spend time understanding and speaking to your customers’ pain points. If you target customers based on their profession, demographics or on what they are saying, viewing, or doing, have a social media marketing strategy that is consistent with your website. To further leverage your marketing dollars, consider partnering or cross linking with other businesses that target a similar audience and offer a complimentary product.  For example, a hotel serves travelers and could partner with a car rental agency or nearby restaurant. 

Have long term objectives but check that you are making short term progress by monitoring your metrics. 

85% of all purchases begin with an online search. Is your digital marketing strategy responsive to this consumer trend? If not, hire a web designer to better feature your services. Use Google Analytics to better understand how your traffic consumes your content. The better you target your geographic reach or demonstrate your expertise to your customers, the lower your customer acquisition costs.

Make 2021 the year to measure your results, be competitive, and better convey your value proposition to your target audience.  Be sure to register on our site to be notified about new content.  If you are considering engaging a digital marketing agency, email us at  [email protected].  If there isn’t a good fit, we might be able to direct you to a more suitable resource.