In times of economic hardship, many businesses impose cost saving measures in a bid to reduce expenditure. As companies adopt different strategies in an attempt to cope, well-honed contingency plans are being rolled out. However, the recent outbreak of coronavirus is having a greater impact than almost anything before it. As a result, even the most well-prepared companies are struggling to stay afloat.
For small businesses, in particular, the economic outfall will be hard to overcome. Already, firms are significantly reducing their marketing budgets or scrapping them altogether. Although this may seem like a savvy way to save money, failing to market your business now could make it harder to recover in the long term.
All organisations will be affected by the pandemic that’s sweeping the globe but there are ways to mitigate the impact it will have on your business. With the right leadership, making the decision to maintain your marketing now could help your business overcome the widespread threats it’s facing. Here’s why:
As any business owner knows, acquiring customers is costlier than retaining them. That’s why companies place a significant emphasis on securing repeat business and increasing customer lifetime value. Failing to implement marketing activity now means there’s a good chance your existing customer base will be lost. So too will the investment you’ve made into cultivating this loyal band of customers.
If your brand is able to suspend trading, there’s no guarantee your customer base will be waiting for you once you’re able to return to the market. Having to start from scratch and build a new customer base may be a burden too far in upcoming months. To avoid this risk, maintain your marketing activity now and let the comparatively minimal investment pay dividends in the future.
Traditionally, companies reduced their marketing and advertising efforts when they needed to cut costs. However, offline advertising was far more costly than new forms of digital advertising. Today’s marketing methods offer better results at a fraction of the cost. By reducing your digital marketing activity now, you could make a relatively small saving but lose far more in terms of income.
As many companies use a combination of online and offline marketing, modifying your budgets may be prudent. By reducing offline advertising, for example, you could save significant resources and minimize your costs. Conversely, investing these funds into digital marketing will help you to connect with your target audience and maintain your place in the market.
The majority of businesses are looking for new ways to trade amidst the confusion and disruption caused by coronavirus. Depending on your sector, this may mean delivering your services in new ways or launching different product lines. To do this, you’ll need to make your target demographic aware of your company’s intentions and upcoming events.
Digital marketing is the most effective way to do this in times of economic success and the same is true during times of financial hardship. With low cost campaign options, widespread reach and profitable results, digital marketing will enable you to convey critical information, such as service changes, to your target audience.
One of the reasons digital marketing is so effective is because so many people use the internet regularly. In fact, over 3 billion people worldwide are online. With people spend more time in self-isolation, they’re turning to the internet more than ever before.
An increasing number of people are logging on to work, to communicate, to socialise and to ease their boredom and anxiety. Companies who choose to continue marketing their businesses online will have the opportunity to reach a growing audience. No matter what demographic your target market consists of, they’re present on the internet in growing numbers and digital marketing gives you the tools you need to connect with them.
Retaining customers and gaining their trust is always a top priority for businesses and it should be one of your main focuses now. As society faces an unprecedented threat, people are turning to brands they trust for information, guidance, support and even entertainment and distraction.
Digital communication is the fastest way to issue a message or reach your audience. As businesses are forced to respond swiftly to changing government guidelines, digital marketing is the only realistic way to communicate with your customers and target audience in these times.
Whether you need to issue real-time updates about changing business practices, you want to reassure customers that you’re still providing services; or you simply want to offer people a light-hearted diversion in a difficult time, digital marketing is the way to do it.
From tweets and Instagram stories to video messages, emails and blog posts; digital content can be delivered directly to your customers and shared worldwide in a matter of seconds.
At ClickSlice, we understand the benefits digital marketing can bring, now more than ever. We’re working hard to ensure businesses can overcome the troubling times ahead. With a compassionate, nuanced and strategic approach, our dedicated team is working diligently (and remotely!) to help our clients retain and improve their place in the market.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a growing business, an owner of an established SME or running an international company, we’re on hand to provide the advice, assistance and expertise you need to navigate this unchartered territory.
Talk to us today on 020 3287 3638 or email us at hello@clickslice.co.uk
Achieving high search engine rankings is a top priority for most businesses and site owners. By ensuring your webpages rank highly for relevant keywords, you can increase brand awareness, secure a high conversion rate and boost your sales. It’s essential, therefore, that you outrank your competitors and reach your target market.
However, effective SEO isn’t just about achieving high rankings. To ensure on-going success, you need to maintain these rankings too. Many businesses assume the hard work is over once they’ve secured a top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs). In reality, rankings aren’t static, and your webpages could drop down the list at any time.
If you’ve noticed your rankings are gradually reducing, it’s important to understand why. Once you know what’s causing you to lose your position on SERPs, you can take action. The most common reasons for losing rankings include:
Backlinks are a critical element of SEO. Known as a key factor of off-page SEO, they connect your webpages to external sites. High authority domains are particularly important when it comes to securing backlinks as they help to endorse your own webpages.
However, websites change over time. Securing a high authority backlink one month doesn’t necessarily mean it will be there next month or month year. In the same way that your internal links may need to be updated or removed to eradicate dead links, it’s important to check the validity of your backlinks.
If you’ve cultivated a good backlink network, don’t simply assume that it will continue to help you get great rankings. If these pages are removed or modified, your backlink could disappear. As you won’t necessarily be notified, the first sign of disappearing backlinks could be a drop in your rankings.
Google rates websites that regularly update their content. As well as giving users access to fresh information, posting new content gives people a reason to revisit your site. In a best case scenario, failing to update your content means an increased bounce rate, reduced time being spent on your site and a boring user experience. At worst, out of date content could mean you’re delivering inaccurate information or advice to your users.
It’s easy to see why Google won’t rank webpages highly if they’re not updated. The search engine is focused on redirecting to content that’s accurate, valid and useful. Out of date content simply doesn’t tick these boxes, so you can’t expect to rank highly with it.
To secure consistent high rankings on SERPs, you need to cater to user behaviour. Knowing how users search for information is critical to making sure they find your content, for example. But user behaviour can change at an alarming pace. When users begin to search different or consume information in a changing way, your site needs to be ahead of the game.
A good example of this is the move towards non-text based searches. Increasing numbers of people are using voice searches to access online content. If your SEO strategy is still focused solely on text-based searches, you aren’t catering for the change in user behaviour. As a result, you can expect your rankings to drop over time.
No matter how effective your SEO activities have been thus far, you need to pre-empt and respond to changes in user behaviour if you want to maintain high rankings.
If you’ve noticed your rankings dropping, it’s essential to take steps to rectify the situation. The fact that you’re already moving down SERPs means things are already going wrong with your SEO campaigns. By responding swiftly, you can prevent your rankings from dropping even further and, potentially, climb back to the top of the rankings once again.
To stop your hard work and SEO campaigns going to waste, take a look at these top tips for preventing a decline in your SERPs rankings…
Google and other search engines introduce new algorithm changes all the time. In addition, existing algorithms may be modified slightly. If you’re managing your SEO in-house, it’s vital to keep on top of these changes.
When algorithms change, the way sites are indexed and ranked can change accordingly. This means you’ll need to tweak your webpages and SEO activities to ensure you’re satisfying the latest algorithms. Maintaing high rankings is an on-going process, so keeping on top of algorithm changes should be a top priority.
If you’re losing your position on page 1 on Google, it may be because users are searching for content slightly differently. They may be using a different form of tech to access content or they may simply be inputting different words and search terms. Whatever the change is, it’s important to understand it. Once you know how user behaviour is changing, you can update your SEO campaigns in response. This will ensure your content is still being presented to users when they search for terms and keywords that relate to your business, brand or site.
As well as checking your own site for dead internal links, you’ll want to ensure your backlinks are still alive and kicking. If they’ve been removed or if the authority of a site you’re linked to has dropped, this could be affecting your rankings. Fortunately, this can be very easy to rectify. By securing new, high authority backlinks, you can effectively re-endorse your webpages in the eyes of Google. In doing so, you’ll prevent your rankings from dropping any further and begin to climb back up to the top.
If you haven’t implemented a content marketing strategy, it’s time to do so. Your site needs to be updated on a regular basis, so plan ahead and schedule information, insightful and original content. In addition to this, revisit your existing content and update it where necessary. If you feature cornerstone or evergreen content on your site, for example, make sure it is still accurate and relevant to your users.
Remember – content is solely about what’s present on your site. Your content extends to your social media posts, video marketing and email newsletters. Regular audits will help to ensure your content is up to date, accurate and properly optimised.
If you’ve updated your content, checked your backlinks, studied user behaviour and responded to algorithm changes but your rankings still aren’t where you want them to be – it’s time to seek expert help. With a free, personalised video audit, our expert SEO strategists will analyse your website and identify issues which could be harming your search engine rankings.
With a tailormade video for you to access, you can benefit from bespoke advice and information relating to your site. Why make do with generic tips when you can access custom advice for free?
To find out more about maintaining top SEO rankings, get in touch with ClickSlice today. You can arrange your FREE personalised video audit by contacting us on 020 3287 3638 or emailing us at hello@clickslice.co.uk.
Simply tell us your URL, keywords and areas you’re targeting, and our in-house SEO consultants will begin preparing your bespoke website audit. With limited free audits available, there’s no time to waste if you want to secure top rankings. Contact ClickSlice now and secure the top spots on SERPs today!
Studio 10 Shoreditch Stables 138 Kingsland Rd Hoxton, London E2 8DY
© 2024 — ClickSlice All Rights Reserved.
Company No. 10876199 | VAT No. 278157959