Because of the internet, communicating to an audience has changed significantly. It has never been easier or faster to convey a message to your target market. With a few taps, you can publish something online that can reach thousands of people across the world. Unfortunately, there are downsides that come with this convenience.
Digital marketing is constantly changing. Due to trends and innovations, marketing has never been this fast paced. What was effective a few months ago could be totally outdated now. This is why it’s important to have a full understanding of marketing fundamentals. No matter the nature of your business, knowing the basics can benefit you. Here are three fundamentals that you can use to elevate your sales and audience reach:
Social Media
Whether you run a food or an auto repair business, you’ll need to work on your online presence. The best way to do that is through social networking sites. Thankfully, now you can hire social media management for accountants, restaurants, or whatever business under the sun. This is great because social media can make or break a business. Instead of attracting new customers, it could lead to negative attention and boycotts.
To have a full understanding of the power of social media, you should look at the numbers. According to figures from the Pew Research Center, 72% of American adults use at least one social media site. This figure follows an upward trend that started back in 2005. So, it’s likely that the number will only grow bigger. Social media has become such a big part of people’s daily lives that it’s not used only for entertainment. More than half of Americans use social media to get updated on the news.
There are so many advantages to using social media. You only have to know how to maximize it. For consumers, it’s accessible and easy to use. For businesses, it’s a fast way to promote a brand. By posting on the right platform, you could easily reach your target market. Thanks to available data, you can mold your content depending on your audience’s age, gender, or race.
Website
Because of technology, you no longer need a brick and mortar store to operate a business. You can earn millions just by selling products online. The best thing about this is that starting a business has never been this accessible. You can avoid paying pricey utility bills and rent every month. With a functioning laptop and a reliable internet access, you can rake in profits while at home. But to be able to do this, you have to have a decent website.
You can get some inspiration by taking a look at successful online stores. You’ll notice the domain names of the biggest companies are short and straight to the point. They’re easy to remember and sets expectations right from the bat. For example, if you sell plants, seeds and tools, it’s best that your name is related to gardening.
Besides the name, the ideal website is also easy to navigate. You can keep the layout clean and minimal in design so it can look nice while being user-friendly. It’s also important to consider the mobile version of the site. When you’re making or updating a site, you’re likely doing it on a computer. It’s easy to forget that edits on the desktop version would probably look different on mobile. This is important because more and more people are using their phones to visit sites than their computers.
SEO
Once you have a functional site, you want to gain and improve website traffic. Social media is only one part of the equation. The other important component is SEO or search engine optimization. It’s the process of modifying the content of a site so that it would have a high ranking on a search engine’s results. For example, if you sell furniture, you want your site to appear first when people search for beds on Google. You can accomplish this by following SEO best practices.
The most common way is to use the right combination of words. You can use a keyword tool to find out what consumers search for in relation to your business. But besides that, you should also be maximizing your site. It shouldn’t be filled with so much videos and images that it would take minutes before it’s done loading.
Starting and operating a business may be more accessible now thanks to the internet. But this doesn’t mean that it’s become less complicated. You have to consider different factors to maximize your online presence.
