Did you know that 8 out of 10 Americans are now shopping online? With so many online shoppers you have to be digitally savvy in order to compete in the marketing world. There are a few things that you must add to your virtual marketing plan to stay ahead of the competition.
Keep reading to learn what you want to add to your plan today.
1. SEO
Most consumers do not physically go walk around a mall anymore to do some window shopping. Instead, users open up their browsers and do a search for the product or service they are seeking. Usually, that consumer will only choose one of the businesses from the first page of the search results.
This means that if your website does not show up on that first or second page, more than likely very few people know about your business. This is why you want to have your SEO in tip-top shape.
If you know nothing about search engine optimization then it is time to call in the pros for some affordable SEO services to help your site land on the first page of the search engine results.
2. Video
When you use video to speak to your audience it allows you to break many traditional marketing rules to touch your audience on a deeper level. You also have the ability to create more targeted videos that are tailored to your specific audience.
It is always a good idea to watch the current trends of what people are watching to figure out the type of video that your consumers would stop and take the time to watch. This can help you create the next viral video that has everyone talking and putting your company in the spotlight.
The great thing is that if you create a video that is helpful or interesting other people will embed it on their websites which will help it become more popular and touch more people.
3. Virtual Event
You can create virtual conventions and conferences instead of having them in person. Hosting a virtual event comes with a lot of pros, for example, you can invite an unlimited number of people without any barriers. It does not matter where they live and you don’t have to worry about providing meals, snacks, or beverages.
The biggest cost you will have is the streaming platform you choose and then your video equipment. You can focus on the production value instead of simply scheduling a video meeting. Take the time to make it feel like a real event with lots of interactive elements and branded backgrounds.
Something else that you want to do is make sure that your hosts and presenters have enough time to prepare for the event. You definitely have to create an energetic event that is interactive for the viewers because there are endless distractions for an attendee in their own home.
This is a trend you do not want to get left behind in. Many creators had to take a leap into that unknown when the shift to online events occurred after the pandemic.
4. Website
Another part of your virtual marketing plan is your website. You have to make sure that your site is engaging and attractive. When a user first lands on your website they will judge whether they want to continue browsing your site or not within just a few seconds of being there.
The design you choose should be appropriate for your target audience. Your design will impact how your audience perceives your brand. A well laid out design will help you keep your leads on your page.
Keep in mind that a well-designed website goes hand in hand with your SEO because it will influence how search engine spiders crawl and index your site. You also want to make sure that your website enhances the user experience.
5. Add a Blog
On your website, you might want to consider adding a blog section where you upload blog posts that are related to your service or product. The more posts you add that help people or educate your audience, the more traffic your site will have over time.
This, in turn, will tell search engines like Google and Bing that your website is an authoritative website and people come back time and time again for a reason. This means that they will push your site to the front of the search results and eventually you can reach the first result of a search.
The great thing about adding a blog to your site is that it won’t really cost you much unless you hire a freelance writer to write your blog posts for you. You can opt to write them yourself if you have the time but sometimes outsourcing will not only save you time but they will understand the lingo of the SEO world.
A professional will know what keywords to use, how to use them, and they will make sure that the blog post is optimized for the search engines.
6. User-Generated Content
A great technique you can use is creating contests or challenges where your audience post photos, comments, etc. This will help engage people digitally and spread the word about your company without a sales pitch. People will have your company at the top of their mind which is a perfect way to introduce them to everything you have to offer.
Always think about what your end goal is for each campaign. Do you want the participants to take a specific action? Do you want to build your community? Is your goal to have people make a donation or purchase something?
Depending on what your goal is you want to use it to guide the type of campaign that you will implement. Make sure that your call to action is very clear and concise. A great example of a user-generated campaign was when Coca-Cola asked its global audience to send in pictures that the brand could use to build a mosaic flag that would debut at the FIFA World Cup.
7. Prepare Content Before Launching
Before you schedule an event date and launch it you want to prepare the content first. This will give you enough time to ensure that the content is exactly what you want it to be and it will give you enough time to make any edits you might have to make ahead of time.
If you do not prepare the content beforehand it can also result in not having enough time to promote your event. You want to promote a virtual event for at least 3-4 weeks to get the word out to enough people.
The content that you need to have done ahead of time includes things like landing pages, event theme, discussion points, sales kits, promotional emails, and marketing automatic logic. Once everything is prepared then check your calendar and schedule the date.
8. Consistency
In order to have an online presence, you want to be consistent. This means that you do not have to join every type of social media channel, you have to start with one or two and master those before moving on to others.
Being consistent on social media will help bring you a loyal following that looks forward to your next post, video, or picture. The same goes with blogging, the more consistent you are with your posts, the easier it will be to build a loyal customer base that looks forward to reading your new helpful articles.
The biggest key is to not try to do it all at once. You might even want to consider outsourcing to someone that is an expert in social media to help you organize your content and get your thoughts out there.
9. Influencer Marketing
Although influencer marketing might be a bit newer in the world of virtual marketing tips you do not want to underestimate the power of it. Your competition has probably not heard of this strategy which will put you ahead of the game.
The way that influencer marketing works is that instead of marketing directly to your target audience, you pay or give a product to an influential person in your niche to help you get the word out about what you have to offer.
An influencer in the world of social media will be the strongest referral that your business can get. People are more likely to buy a product that is recommended by a non-celebrity blogger. Something else to keep in mind is that millennials are easily influenced by the recommendations of their peers when they make buying decisions.
10. Email List
Many companies underestimate the power of having an e-mail list. When in fact, this is probably one of the most responsive assets that you can have. An email subscriber, believe it or not, is three times more likely to share content on social media than anyone else.
Another pro to having and building an email list is that you own this marketing list. Unlike your social media that you do not own and it can get shut down without any notice.
Although email marketing has been around for a long time, most of your competitors are probably not even thinking about having an email list because they think this form of marketing is obsolete. They make the mistake of thinking that they can simply get away with only building a social media following.
While having a social media following is important, email marketing is one of the best ways to turn cold prospects into paying customers.
11. Paid Advertising Strategy
Sometimes new business owners spend too much of their working capital on PPC. This strategy is great in the beginning to help you get some traffic and eyeballs on your business but if you fail to set up your SEO strategy and sales funnel early on you are going to strictly rely on PPC to drive most of your sales.
The problem is that this is not a sustainable digital marketing method by itself. You can eventually end up with a ton of cold prospects but no sales, and it can end up costing you a lot of money very quickly.
While you need traffic you also have to have a marketing funnel in place to get the best results from your PPC campaigns. Take the time to plan out your paid campaign before spending the money.
Create a relevant offer such as a newsletter or a free eBook and then make sure that your website content looks great and matches what your message is. Last but not least, create targeted pay per click ads to help get people to your site.
A rookie mistake is spending a ton of money in PPC ads expecting to turn cold prospects into immediate buyers. Instead, you want to bring them in first and then convert them into buyers at a later time via other techniques such as email marketing, virtual events, etc.
Basically, you want to use your PPC money to bring in traffic but do not spend the money without first having a goal, funnel, and specific call to action in place.
Ready to Level Up Your Virtual Marketing Plan?
Now that you have our top tips to ensure that your virtual marketing plan helps your business stand out against the competition you can choose which techniques above you feel are best for your audience.
Did this blog post help you out today? Please feel free to browse the rest of this section for some more helpful tips.
