Online marketing can be a confusing topic. Just reading a single blog post or book can leave you with hundreds of strategies to implement. With all of this information buzzing around your head it can be difficult to get started with an actionable plan.
Sometimes you need a simple place to start. In this post we highlight five actionable strategies you can implement today to get your online marketing efforts off the ground.
Obviously, the list below won’t give you a full-fledged strategy for each area, but it will give you a great jumping off point to begin your online marketing journey.
1. Create An Email Optin And Incentive
An email optin can be the start of an effective marketing funnel. A lead magnet is something relevant you provide to your visitors in exchange for their email address. Once you have their email address you can start an email marketing campaign to build trust with your subscribers and sell to them over the long term.
Common email optins include valuable industry reports, videos courses, ebooks, and anything else of value you think your visitors will love. Usually you can create a valuable optin from content you’ve already created.
2. Create A Blog And Content Strategy
A blog can be a great cornerstone to your content marketing strategy. A lot of companies use their blogs as an online journal and end up creating posts that aren’t very valuable to their visitors. Instead, if you take the strategy of creating company blog posts that are going to be very valuable to your customers, then you’ll create a blog that they come back to time and time again.
Think of your blog as a way to build trust with your audience by creating valuable content that solves their needs. Then, if they want to work with you on a deeper level, they’ll intuitively know your products and services are very high quality.
3. Improve Your Call-To-Action
Your website needs to have a definite call-to-action that’s enticing and gets your users to act. A lot of websites have multiple calls-to-action across their pages. This only leads to confusion and makes it more difficult for your visitor to make a decision.
You’re better off refining the goal for every page of your website and including a single call-to-action. This encourages your user to take the desired action, and reduces overwhelm.
4. Create A Multiple-Winged Traffic Strategy
When you’re designing a traffic strategy it’s important to include multiple means of generating traffic. When you’re first getting started it’s important to include multiple plans of attack, as you don’t have the data to conclude which platform will be your best focal point.
Luckily, you can use content repurposing to construct a strategy that attacks multiple platforms without too much extra work. For instance, you can repurpose older blog posts into YouTube videos, social media status updates and cool infographics. In the early stages make sure your marketing strategy includes social media, inbound marketing, and onsite strategies.
5. Create A Social Media Plan For Your Most Useful Network
If you’ve been hesitant to jump into social media because of the “time sink” nature of it you can focus on a single network that has a majority of your ideal audience. Use this resource to determine which network will be the best place to spend your time.
Once you’ve chosen the platform create a simple posting strategy that will allow you to study build an audience and collect useful data over time.
Online marketing doesn’t have to be confusing. Oftentimes, to be successful you don’t have to be in multiple places at once. It can be beneficial to focus on just one or two strategies or platforms at once. Then, once you’ve mastered these domains you can move onto new channels.
