You don’t need to be an Einstein to be successful at online marketing. You just need to know how it all works together and the steps to take to effectively market your business online.
What is the Magic Formula for Successful Online Marketing?
It’s that simple. Watch this video:
Google still owns search.
Google has over 89% of all search globally. Google’s goal is to give the searcher exactly what they’re searching for; Google wants fresh, relevant content written for the human reader in natural language = Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Source)
You have to think like the searcher. What are they going to enter into the search box to find you? The consumer is in control. You have to put yourself in their shoes.
- The consumer is in control
- What are they searching for?
- How will they find you?
- What comes up in search?
- Website – capture leads
- Blog/Video – content
- Social Media – promote
- Put yourself in their shoes
- Pain points and problems
- How can you help?
Keywords
- Use a Keyword Research Tool
- Geographic area
- High monthly searches
- Low to Medium Competition
- List of other related keywords and phrases
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Magic Formula
It starts with content — a blog, videos, podcasts or gallery providing the fresh material that Google is looking for. Plus you want to become a content magnet.
How do you do that?
- It starts with content — a blog, videos, podcasts, or gallery providing the fresh material that Google is looking for. Plus you want to become a content magnet. How do you do that? You promote that content and engage with your potential customers on social media. That’s the formula content + social media = SEO or traffic to your website. Given that, you must have a website that’s set up to capture leads. You want to convert a visitor into a lead with an enticing offer. Then have them in some sort of email automation system to nurture them into a sale. Without content AND social media, you won’t get the traffic to your website.
Trust and Credibility
All this effort is to build trust and credibility because people buy from whom they know and trust. That hasn’t changed. And we know in today’s world, a reputation can be lost in seconds. Being compassionate, caring and understanding of what your target market is going through is how you build trust and credibility. Furthermore, credibility is the most important aspect of your business that you can build. How do you do that? By participating and building relationships – being active on the social networks and creating and sharing content that shows you are an authority in your industry or field and that you care.
Who’s Your Target Market?
Before you start doing anything, you have to clearly define your target market niche. You can have more than one target audience.
B2B
Are you Business to Business? Your main targets are other businesses, but you still have to deal with people in the business. Who is the decision-maker in the company? This person becomes your “consumer”; What’s their size, location, goals, and objectives? What’s their main service or product? Most importantly, what is their problem – or pain point that you’re going to solve? How are you going to make their lives easier, more productive, or successful? How have the current economic conditions affected them? How can you help?
B2C
Business to consumer: your main customer is the average consumer who would buy your products or hire your services. You could have more than one “persona”. What are their interests, desires, wants, and needs? What are their pain points? How have they changed? Are they working from home now? They are shopping online more. They are using apps. How are the current economic conditions affecting them personally?
A company can have both B2B and B2C targets. Consider what percentage is business and consumer so you can split your marketing efforts accordingly.
So, which network should you use to promote your business?
So, which network should you use? You should have a presence on the major ones: Facebook, Instagram, X (Formerly Known as Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube; They’re free billboards & listings!
But focus on the ones that your target market frequents the most, the ones that are driving traffic to your website & where you’re building valuable relationships. You learn this by doing target market research and checking your analytics monthly. Regardless, if you are not going to post regularly, do not set up an account. People won’t follow you if you’re not posting anything.
This is how online marketing all works together
The “W” is WordPress – that’s your blog and website together. It’s also the most popular content management system on the Internet. You can be on other platforms like ecommerce sites Shopify or Etsy. The orange square is the RSS (Really Simple Syndication). That’s how people subscribe to your blog.
Let’s go around the wheel clockwise. You write your blog post, share it on the social networks, encourage comments, and put excerpts in your e-newsletter with a link back to the blog and website to read more. Talk to your target market and reach them in groups like those on LinkedIn and Facebook and of course, Google will index it in the search engine.
Content is Key
If you don’t put out content daily that is of interest to your target audience, no one will follow you or visit your website. Just doing paid ads is not enough. Check out the links below for more information on these topics.
- Blog – at least once a week! Anything less & Google thinks you’re stagnant & will ignore you!
- Videos – put them everywhere! Embed them in a blog post.
- Graphics & Pictures – both informational & promotional
- Podcasts – embed them in your blog & include the transcript.
Competition
- Who are your competitors?
- What makes you, your product or service different?
- How many followers do they have?
- How often are they blogging?
- Where do they come up compared to you on Google?
- Look at the 10th – 15th slot. What are they doing?
- Do more and better, to bump them down and put yourself in a higher position.
If they’re not doing everything: blogging, or active in social media, you can knock them off by just doing more than what they are doing — and better!
Be aware, also that you’re not just competing against your direct competition. You’re competing for your target audience’s attention among a lot of other content out there — a lot of noise. You need to stand out among the crowd.
Pulling it all Together
Today’s marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. You’re in it for the long haul. The minute you stop, people and Google will think you fell off the face of the earth. And it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes work.
Don’t dive in without a plan! You’ll be wasting time, money and effort and you’ll drive yourself crazy.
The 10 Steps to Successful Online Marketing
Here’s what it takes to get started.
- Clearly define your target market – you can have more than one. Grab the Free Define Your Target Market Workbook
- Research – where are they hanging out online? What are their habits? What keywords are they going to enter into the search engine to find you?
- Set SMART Goals.
- Develop a Strategic Plan – this outlines the online marketing strategies to accomplish your goals.
- Then a Tactical Plan -that’s how you’re going to implement the strategies.
- Set-up, brand & optimize each network page for SEO, have share and follow buttons on your website. Make it easy for people to follow you.
- Learn How to Properly – AND EFFECTIVELY – Use the Tools
- Create & Curate Content – write blog posts, record videos or podcasts, find trusted sources of related and relevant content to share with your target.
- Implement, Engage & Build a Following by sharing not selling. Just do it! It takes about 90 minutes a day for the first 30 days to build a following if starting from scratch. If you don’t spend that time up front, it will take you longer to start seeing results. Afterwards you can manage your social media in 30-minutes a day with the free tools.
- Monitor & measure your online marketing monthly – check your analytics and insights to see what’s working and not working, adjust your strategic and tactical plans accordingly.
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