Whether you’re a sole trader working alone or heading up a growing enterprise, you’ll want to make the most of the tools at your disposal. When it comes to marketing, leveraging your digital assets with the right tools offers high rewards.
Using the right selection of online marketing methods enables you to maximise results while minimising costs. The potential to substantially increase your sales while reducing your outgoings is irresistible for any business. For SMEs, however, the ability to make enormous gains from even modest resources could be your route to commercial success.
If you want to increase your sales and get the most from your budget, check out the 5 marketing tools you need to be using now:
1 - Backlinks
Backlinks are critical if you want to work on your SEO and increase your Google rankings. Every business owner knows they need a website to succeed. But are you doing everything you can to increase its visibility?
Your webpages need to rank highly for relevant keywords so that users can see your content. One of the most effective ways to achieve high rankings is via backlinks. When other credible sites feature your links, it boosts your rankings in two ways.
Firstly, securing a backlink on a popular site promotes your brand and allows users to clickthrough directly to your content. Secondly, having backlinks on high authority domains elevates your content in the eyes of Google. As a result, your credibility and authenticity increase, thus leading to higher rankings and more traffic.
2 - Video Marketing
Video is the most popular type of online content, so it’s essential you’re using it. According to HubSpot, more than half of consumers want to see more video content from brands they’re interested in. What’s more, Wyzowl maintains that 8 out of 10 people have purchased digital content after viewing a video featuring it.
Many small businesses steer clear of video marketing because they assume it will blow their budget. While it’s true that producing great video content can require more resources than other online marketing tools, this shouldn’t prevent you from leveraging your engagement with video content. Although you may need to input more resources, the increased brand awareness, engagement and sales will offer an impressive ROI.
Remember – don’t just share your video content on your website. Users watch a billion hours of video a day on YouTube alone and millions of users consume video content across social media platforms. Sharing your videos on external sites will ensure your content is visible to your target audience and provide them with a direct route to your website.
3 - Influencer Marketing
Often categorised as affiliate marketing, influencer partnerships can take many forms. If you offer an influencer a commission for every sale they facilitate or a kickback for every user they direct to your site, you can implement a traditional affiliate marketing model. This works particularly well for SMEs because you’re only paying for the value you actually gain.
Alternatively, you may want to fund your influencer marketing by paying a flat fee for placements, promotions or endorsements. This means you’ll get to keep the entirety of the profits you make as a result of the campaign, although it does involve a higher level of risk.
Influencer marketing is a relatively new form of online engagement but it’s one that’s grown substantially over the last 18 months. As brands realise just how much sway influencers have over their target demographics, the benefits of partnering with them are all too clear.
If you’re looking for a way to fast-track engagement or you want to build your customer base in record time, an endorsement from a well-known influencer can help you to achieve your goals. Simply remember to select your influencer partners based on their credibility, audience and impact. By doing so, you’ll ensure that your products and services are being endorsed by someone your target demographic trusts and, crucially, by someone who has a direct impact on how they behave online.
4 - Local SEO
Any enterprise can benefit from local SEO, but SMEs are perfectly placed to add value to their business with local search engine optimisation. If you operate from a customer or client-facing location, you’ll obviously want to promote your premises within a specific geographical area. To do this, you’ll need a strategic local SEO campaign. As your brand becomes the go-to business for relevant products or services in the area, you’ll begin to outperform your competitors and secure a larger share of the market.
However, it isn’t just bricks and mortar businesses that need local SEO to succeed. Even if you operate solely via the internet, a local SEO campaign can boost your brand in more ways than you might think.
When you’re implementing a digital marketing initiative, it’s tempting to try and target everyone. After all, the more people who engage with you, the higher your profits can be. In reality, however, successful marketing requires a more nuanced approach. Attempting to target everyone with the same content and delivery methods won’t just be ineffective; it could inadvertently harm your brand.
Instead, it’s important to segment your target audience. By recognising the different needs and wants of these segments, you can cater to them directly. This enables you to provide tailormade content that piques their interest, responds to their needs and persuades them to purchase.
As you segment your target audience, their geographical location is just one factor that could have an impact on their online behaviour and consumer footprint. Due to this, you’ll want to use local SEO to cater to your target demographic and provide them with the content, products and services they’re actively looking for.
Marketing for Success
Successful marketing means leveraging a wide variety of tools and methodologies. To achieve your goals and grow your business, you’ll a need affordable, results-driven digital marketing strategy. And that’s where we come in.
To find out how we can help you grow your business, contact ClickSlice now on 020 3287 3638.
