Digital marketing is for all and is everywhere nowadays. So, it must be important and helpful in making Small/Medium businesses (also known as SMB) and eCommerce stores thrive, correct?
Yes, that is correct.
Whether traditional marketers love or love to hate it, ROI digital marketing is everything in today’s marketplace, seeing as it can help you achieve your goals like nothing else.
The plethora of tools certainly helps, with free subject line testers for email marketing, tactics, and strategies that will get you featured in social media influencers’ posts, and highly targeted ads that can get you viral.
But the question remains: How can an SMB or an eCommerce store that is just starting out, reach stardom on SERPs and social media marketing? How can they implement and use said tactics-and more!
It may seem hard, but it really is not. And this is one of the cases where the word is so so much more than the trouble one must go through (which really is limited to none at all). And here’s the reason why:
I don’t think that you’d like to miss out on all of the revenue these numbers are practically promising.
Therefore, perhaps you should read the handy suggestions I’ve prepared for you. I promise that, by the end, you’ll find that things are not too complicated after all!
Target Audience and Goals
This is always the very first step you need to take, in order to make sure that you -and your team of marketers, if you’re not a solopreneur- know where you’re headed.
At this stage, I’d like to point out that people go after products that can help them be the best version of themselves they could be, and this is the basic principle around which all digital marketing revolves in this day and age.
But determining your target audience is not always easy. So, the first thing to do would be to analyze your product and be very clear and honest about what kind of solutions it can provide to a prospect.
SMBs and eCommerce stores that provide luxury products or services will need to narrow down their target audience, in terms of budget first. With budget, comes the age group in which a prospect could belong. With that, comes the prospect’s employment status and so on and so forth.
If you’re an SMB or an eCommerce store that provides something all stay-at-home parents should have, on the other hand, you’ll need to take into consideration the age group, first. You can have very young parents in your prospects’ list. However, your product could be something not as appealing.
Analyzing your product will help determine your target audience. And analyzing your target audience will help set your brand’s tone, which will influence the sum of your product’s look and feel -from design and colors to the overall tone of voice.
The infographic above states why the tone of voice is so important. But what it doesn’t state, is how determining your target audience and set the right tone for that, could help you set your goals straight as well.
If going viral is what you need, you can’t expect it from the “Boomer” age group, much like you can’t expect easy sales without an active social presence from the Millennial age group.
This is what all the best eCommerce marketing companies -and marketing companies in general- will tell you.
AI and Machine Learning = Perfect Segmentation
It may sound expensive and I’m sure you’ll be thinking “what is she on about?”, but let me clarify.
AI and machine learning are a thing of the future and there are more than a few SaaS companies nowadays that offer very cost-effective solutions and include that in their service package.
The whole reason behind this is the undoubted fact that data is what rules this world, and while data scientists are of crucial importance when it comes to segmentation and cannot be replaced by machines or otherwise, there are tidbits, patterns that a human just cannot distinguish.
A machine on the other hand…
The whole point with AI and machine learning is the following: Machines can analyze data-both discrete and continuous distinguish patterns to a point where they’ll be able to go through a one-on-one type of segmentation, which will lead to hyper-personalization.
Essentially, you’ll need to reach a point where you’ll be able to make personalized suggestions to draw your prospects’ attention.
As you can see, more than 90% of businesses use Facebook-at least. So, why would someone pay attention to your content when they’ve got a plethora of choices ready and available?
Hyper-personalization can help you make sure that you won’t ever ask yourself -or your marketing team- this question, seeing as you’ll be able to distinguish patterns within patterns and create segments within segments.
Eventually, this will make your content creation go from basic to something quite fantastic that can be shared around, be it interactive quizzes or some fantastic email content.
Content Is King
Undoubtedly, content is what makes or breaks brands in most cases, and yes, you’ll need to have fantastic content to survive a market-the the more competitive the niche, the better the content needs to be.
With quality content, you can do pretty much anything. Content can be anything of course, from your website’s copy to your blog, your email marketing, and social media posts.
You just need something catchy and engaging, something different for each occasion.
Video content is one of the best tools you can use to drive engagement and go viral. User-Generated Content (UGC) is a cost-effective way to get more shares, more followers and, ultimately, more conversion. Webinars are the best way to educate prospects when it comes to your product or service.
In order to make sure you’re down the right path and you’re using content that your prospects can actually understand and find useful -not to mention, interact with-, you’ll need to take a deep dive into your data, as I mentioned before.
So, quality content will engage, sure, but what does that even mean? Why do you need engagement to have people keep thinking of you? Can’t traditional ads do that?
Search engines are real fans of engaging content as well, meaning that engaging content that prospects can interact with is of crucial importance. The longer a prospect stays on your page, the better it is for your SEO efforts.
The time spent on your page is what helps search engines “understand” whether your content is useful or not. So, the more the better.
Not to mention that content that can engage and entice gets shared around, resulting in more virality, more lead generation -especially if combined with a landing page- and nurtured leads that believe that your brand is credible and has some sense of authority.
Oh and a super pro tip from ours to yours right here: Engage in social listening for optimal SEO results!
Email Marketing Saves Conversion
Email marketing is one of the oldest tricks in the book and with good reason. Its ROI is nothing short of magnificent:
As you can see, you can make $40 for each $1 you spend on email marketing. Being cost-effective as it is, email marketing is a very good solution for both eCommerce and SMBs.
Of course, you’ll need to segment, prioritize and use an email marketing and marketing automation platform that can provide you with all the tools and features you’ll need, from templates to everything you may have to use to automate the process.
Of course, you’ll need to create segments and keep an email list that will be super-clean with prospects that are interested in your emails and are, at least, actual openers and have subscribed knowingly.
Otherwise, you may have a GDPR infringement case in your hands, and no brand, no matter how big or small, wants that.
In order to nurture your leads and gently nudge them further down the sales funnel, you’ll first need to earn their trust. Your email campaigns can be pretty handy in doing that, so long as your email marketing is done right.
Plan your email marketing sequences carefully. What do I mean by that?
Everyone expects a welcome email when they first sign up. Don’t fail to provide that. Remember to follow up after a purchase has been made -this is also a great way to try and upsell or cross-sell products.
Abandoned cart emails can do the trick as well when it comes to upsells and cross-sells. And mind you, an abandoned cart email is for everyone, not just for eCommerce.
Imagine being a SaaS company or a publisher trying to sell a service or a subscription, having the prospect exactly where you want them to be and suddenly have them slip right before purchase. Shame, isn’t it?
Oh and super-pro digital greatness right here: The bottom of your email should have social media buttons that will lead to your social media accounts. Don’t keep a prospect looking for your digital presence. They won’t.
Seo to Get More for Less
When do you not need SEO services, really? Search Engine Optimization will help you stand out and can be the best addition to your marketing strategy -actually, it should be a staple, like personalization, segmentation and A/B testing.
SEO will help your page, be it a website or social media pages, rank higher and higher on the SERPs, especially if you do it properly, create an SEO routine, and are in it for the long game.
Just focus on certain keywords that match your niche and begin optimizing with guest blogging, interactions much like the ones I mentioned before, and some mobile optimization on any single part of your presence. Emails, landing pages, your website, everything should be mobile-responsive.
On keywords, they will need to be long-tail ones, of course. You need to think like a user on that one, as their search engine history will look more like “How to create a membership site” than “membership site tips”.
Speed is also a very important element when it comes to SEO. Pages that don’t load properly or have broken elements when they load are pages nobody will wait for, especially in today’s digital world.
The quicker your page loads and the easier to navigate, the better, as it satisfies the user’s intent, it keeps them interested and looking and it will definitely keep their fingers far away from the “back” button.
Of course, SEO is, like I said before, something that will bring you long-term results. It will eventually help you with your efforts and save you quite a bit of cash on paid advertising.
Takeaway
360-degree Digital marketing is nowhere near complicated, provided you do it right. Take your audience into account first and foremost-they may not like every little detail you’ve planned-keep your mailing lists clean and keep their interest peaked.
And last but not least, always A/B test, segment, keep things super-personal and real, and include social proof in your digital efforts, whether it is through UGC or through influencers in your niche.
Author Bio:
Téa Liarokapi is a content writer working for email marketing software company Moosend and an obsessive writer in general. In her free time, she tries to find new ways to stuff more books in her bookcase and content ideas-and cats-to play with.