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The Power of B2B Marketing Automation – How it works…

The Power of B2B Marketing Automation – How it works…

by | Jan 11, 2023 | Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Technology, Web Design, Website Design

Technology is changing so fast in today’s world and marketing is one area that can be extremely complex, time-consuming and costly. It can be overwhelming for small and medium sized businesses so companies are looking for ways to streamline their processes but still grow their business.

If you’re looking for ways to improve and streamline your marketing efforts then marketing automation might just be the unicorn you’re looking for. It will take some planning and effort to get started but once it is performing you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner.

Marketing automation is the use of software and technology to automate marketing tasks and processes, such as email campaigns, social media management, and lead generation. It allows businesses to target, engage, and convert their audience more efficiently, freeing up time and resources that can be used for other tasks.

Here are some marketing automation statistics gathered by StartupBonsai:

B2B Marketing automation statistics

A lack of clear instructions makes building an online presence challenging for B2B companies. To be successful online, your business must have clear goals and understand how online marketing works.

This post will give you some clarity and help you decide whether automation is what you need.

There are several benefits of marketing automation for businesses of all sizes:

  1. Increased efficiency and productivity: It saves time and effort by automating repetitive tasks, such as sending emails and social media posts. This allows marketers to focus on high-value tasks, such as analyzing data and creating strategic campaigns.
  2. Improved targeting and personalization: Marketing automation allows businesses to segment their audience and create targeted campaigns based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This level of personalization can help increase engagement and conversion rates.
  3. Enhanced lead generation and nurturing: It can help businesses generate and nurture leads through targeted campaigns, such as email drip campaigns and lead-scoring programs.
  4. Better analysis and measurement: Detailed analytics and reporting are a big benefit of automation software. This allows businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

The ROI of a successful marketing automation campaign can be significant. According to a survey by the Data & Marketing Association, businesses that use marketing automation see an average ROI of around 300%. This is because the automation allows businesses to reach their audience more effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and increased revenue.

To get the most out of it, it is important to have a clear strategy in place and to use the right tools and technology.

When it’s done wrong, a campaign can also fail miserably. Do testing on a small scale first and then scale it when you have it fine tuned. It is also important to continuously test and optimize campaigns to ensure that they are delivering the desired results. With a well-executed campaign, businesses can achieve significant growth and success.

What does marketing automation actually do?

By automating and streamline marketing tasks, companies can find more time to put into actually closing deals and building relationships. Automated tasks can include a wide range of activities, such as email marketing, social media management, lead generation, and customer segmentation.

Some specific tasks that automation can perform include:

  1. Email marketing: It can send targeted and personalized emails to specific segments of a business’s audience. This can include newsletters, promotional emails, and automated drip campaigns.
  2. Social media management: Marketing automation can help businesses schedule and publish social media posts, as well as track and analyze the performance of these posts.
  3. Lead generation: Marketing automation can help businesses generate leads through targeted campaigns, such as lead-scoring programs and landing page optimization.
  4. Customer segmentation: Automation can segment a business’s audience based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This allows businesses to create targeted campaigns that are more relevant and effective.

How does marketing automation work?

Marketing automation works by using software and technology to automate and streamline marketing tasks and processes. Here is a general overview of how automation works:

  1. Set up: The first step is setting up the software and defining the goals and strategy for the campaign. This includes selecting the appropriate tools and technology, such as email marketing software or social media management platforms.
  2. Audience segmentation: Marketing automation allows businesses to segment their audience based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This allows businesses to create targeted campaigns that are more relevant and effective.
  3. Campaign creation: Set up email drip campaigns and social media posts. These campaigns can be triggered by specific actions, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
  4. Delivery and tracking: Delivers the campaigns to the appropriate segments of the audience and tracks the performance of the campaigns. This includes measuring metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
  5. Analysis and optimization: The detailed analytics and reporting, allows businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions. This includes identifying what is working well and what can be improved upon.

What does marketing automation mean for the customer journey?

Automation can have a significant impact on the customer journey, as it allows businesses to deliver personalized and relevant experiences to their customers throughout the entire customer journey.

Here are a few ways in which marketing automation can enhance the customer journey:

  1. Lead generation and nurturing: Marketing automation can help businesses generate and nurture leads through targeted campaigns, such as email drip campaigns and lead-scoring programs. This can help businesses guide potential customers through the sales funnel and convert them into paying customers.
  2. Personalization: Marketing automation allows businesses to segment their audience and create targeted campaigns based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This level of personalization can help increase engagement and conversion rates.
  3. Customer segmentation: Marketing automation can segment a business’s audience based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This allows businesses to create targeted campaigns that are more relevant and effective, improving the overall customer experience.
  4. Customer service: Marketing automation can also be used to provide customer service, such as answering frequently asked questions or providing personalized recommendations. This can help businesses improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By following these best practices, businesses can ensure that their marketing automation campaigns are successful and deliver the desired results.

What are common problems that marketing automation can solve?

Automation can help businesses solve a variety of problems, including:

  1. Lack of time and resources: Aave time and effort by automating repetitive tasks, such as sending emails and social media posts. This allows businesses to focus on high-value tasks, such as analyzing data and creating strategic campaigns.
  2. Lack of personalization: Businesses can segment their audience and create targeted campaigns based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This level of personalization can help increase engagement and conversion rates.
  3. Inefficient lead generation and nurturing: It helps businesses generate and nurture leads through targeted campaigns, such as email drip campaigns and lead-scoring programs. This can help businesses convert more leads into paying customers.
  4. Difficulty measuring and analyzing campaigns: Marketing automation provides detailed analytics and reporting, allowing businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions. This can help businesses identify what is working well and what can be improved upon.

 

When asked why they think they’re not utilizing their tools properly, marketers identified the following barriers:

  • 39% of respondents said they lacked the training to fully utilize marketing automation software.
  • 32% said they did not have the resources to manage the automation process.
  • 31% of respondents reported that maintaining their tools was beyond their budget.
  • 25% of respondents cited a difficult setup process as the issue.

According to another study, respondents identified several challenges when implementing marketing automation:

33% of surveyed companies identified a lack of expertise as the biggest obstacle

33% of surveyed companies identified a lack of expertise as the biggest obstacle preventing them from implementing marketing automation.

Overall, marketing automation can help businesses solve a variety of problems by streamlining repetitive tasks and allowing marketers to focus on high-value activities, such as analyzing data and creating strategic campaigns. It also helps businesses reach their audience more effectively and increase conversion rates, leading to increased revenue and growth.

At OCEANONE Design our marketing platform of choice is VBOUT. It’s a comprehensive online marketing application that really has no limitations since it can easily integrate with all other modern applications that use an API. For instance, if our client likes to use the popular  Hubspot CRM, we can easily connect to it so that leads from Facebook, email or any other campaigns will be sent directly to the their CRM. We can also alert them via text message if they prefer.

Many clients tell us that the high cost of software and complexity are the barriers that hold them back from going all-in with automation. If that’s the case for you, we can help. We can set you up using our software to run the campaigns and connect to your free CRM. That way there is no software cost to you. As you grow, you can invest in your own system and hire staff to run it.

Don’t get left behind, contact us anytime for a free consultation.

Effective Online Marketing Strategies for Manufacturers

Effective Online Marketing Strategies for Manufacturers

by | Apr 26, 2022 | Lead Generation, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO, Website Design

Manufacturers and distributors have very different marketing strategy challenges than B2C companies. Ultimately, your goal is to convince other businesses to work with you and marketing efforts fail if you cannot accomplish this goal.

The time have changed and using the internet to contact more companies and grow your business has never been easier. If you’re looking for modern, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturer marketing strategies, look no further.

The following industrial marketing solutions have been compiled to help you reach more potential partners online. Even if you don’t have much experience with digital marketing, you can follow these steps written in plain English.

Let me explain to you why internet marketing is so successful for manufacturers and other B2B businesses.

The Internet made it easier for retailers to conduct research on potential distributors and their products. Within seconds, they were able to view detailed photos or specs, read reviews, and view customer feedback from a larger number of companies and products.

Due to this change in preference, your marketing must adapt as well. You’re likely missing most of your potential customers if you don’t use the Internet to reach them. Fortunately, you can use this to your advantage. The ROI is much, much easier to track with online marketing than with traditional marketing methods.

Moreover, because online marketing costs are relatively low, manufacturers or distributors are able to experiment more freely, with little or no risk to their business.

With a wide range of options, you can try things and fail without worrying about losing a great deal of money or damaging your reputation. Actually, testing is not only recommended, it’s an important part of the overall strategy as you will soon see.

Here are ways to you can use online marketing to reach more potential customers

Let’s talk about some of the tactics you should try now that you know why digital channels are so beneficial for manufacturer marketing strategies. Here are some of the best marketing strategies we’ve used to reach more potential customers at the lowest cost possible for manufacturers and distributors.

1. Make your website rank for the right keywords

Taking steps to ensure that your manufacturer or distributor website can be found easily by potential customers – and outranks your competitors – should be the first step in your marketing strategy. In search engine optimization – also known as SEO – this is accomplished.

Here’s a quick explanation for those unfamiliar with SEO. When someone types in a keyword related to your business into a search engine, SEO is one of several methods to make your website more likely to show up and rank highly. Choosing the right keywords to target is key.

The easiest way to get started with SEO is to brainstorm words or phrases potential customers would associate with your business. It can be as simple as a phrase or a single word. If you manufacture hardwood flooring, for instance, you might consider everything from “hardwood flooring” to “how to choose hardwood flooring”.

IMPORTANT – DON’T DO THIS…

This is where we see other marketing companies giving bad advice. Let’s stay with the “hardwood flooring” example. If you manufacture hardwood flooring, and try to rank # 1 in Google, you will be in direct competition with every large retailer like Home Depot and Lowes. It will cost a fortune and it won’t help with sales unless you sell directly to consumers.

It is extremely important to understand search intent. Google is all about providing the best results for the assumed intent of keyword search. If someone searches for “hardwood flooring”, Google assumes someone is looking to buy hardwood flooring and wants to see choices. Sure enough, if you do search “hardwood flooring”, all the top results will be from flooring retailers.

As a manufacturer, you should focus on optimizing your site to rank for site search terms that retailers and distributors would use to find your products. Target keywords like “hardwood flooring manufacturer” and “what is the best hardwood flooring”, “wholesale hardwood flooring”.

Take time to brainstorm terms for your industry, and then create content that is optimized to rank high for those terms. We won’t go into an SEO tutorial here but once you understand keyword intent, you can move forward with a successful SEO strategy.

2. Advertise using pay-per-click

Manufacturers also use advertising as one of their top marketing strategies, but not the kind of advertising you’d expect. A pay-per-click ad is one that appears on search engines results pages (SERPs) and other websites.

Manufacturers or distributors can achieve very high returns on investment with PPC ads, which are generally inexpensive. You only pay for them when they are clicked – not when they are viewed – and they contain just a sentence or two of copy with a link to your website. Even if people don’t click on your ad, you are still getting brand exposure for free.

The use of PPC ads, which allow you to control the amount of money you spend to appear in search engine results, can be a tremendous benefit to your brand if you are not ranking highly in search engines. The reports are a huge benefit because they will detail what people are actually searching for and you can do a lot of testing to find out what works best for your company.

Results from PPC are instantaneous, which is one of the major benefits. You can start sending targeted traffic to your website and attract qualified leads as soon as you click to go live with your ads. You will be able to generate leads quickly without exhausting your budget.

3. Find out what converts on your website

We mentioned earlier that online marketing gives you room to try out different methods and to fail if necessary. The conversion rate optimization method, also known as CRO, encourages testing and failure with the goal of increasing conversions and ultimately revenue for your company.

CRO is based on a very simple premise where you test changes on your website and discover what changes provide more conversions. Whether your successful conversion is measured as a phone call or request for quote, a simple change of wording like  “Contact Us” to “Get Started” or “Learn More” on a button can sometimes be the answer to significantly boosting your conversion rate. You can try different Headings, images, color schemes etc. The challenge is not to implement this permanently and risk losing all your leads if your gut feeling turns out to be incorrect. With CRO, you can test ideas without losing all your leads.

A/B testing is a method that is implemented to show version “A” of your landing page to one group of website visitors. Then a “B” version of the page is set up to show a different group of visitors. Once the winner is discovered you stick with that page. An experiment can be made safer this way since a drop in conversions in the “B” version immediately causes the test to be dropped. If you make a substantial leap, you can reap immediate benefits and more profit!

4. Develop engaging media and content that ranks well

When retailers search online for products to carry in their stores, they may be seeking photos, videos, or more detailed information than what they might get from a basic summary. Create engaging content and ensure that it ranks highly in search results to capitalize on this desire – and attract more potential B2B customers to your content.

Links to websites are no longer the only result in search engine results. In addition to receiving search results for any query, the searcher can also receive videos, images, locations, and shopping results. Good engaging content that you can get ranked is likely to attract visitors to your website where they can learn more about your products.

Here are some content suggestions and ideas for manufacturers:

  1. Are there any products you would like a video of in action? Host the video on YouTube (with a link to your website in the description) with a keyword-rich title and description.
  2. The images on your website should have relevant keywords in their filenames and alt text explaining what is in the image. This can increase the chances of them ranking high in Google Image search for those keywords and lead viewers to your website when they click on it.
  3. Provide answers to customer questions in your content, like blog posts and videos. Having answers to these questions are likely to rank well on search engines, causing potential customers to read them, then peruse your website for more information. Answer questions on Quora.
  4. Repurpose existing content. Content repurposing is very effective when you take good quality content and repurpose its structure and message to get more use from your valuable information. You might turn a video into blog posts or slide presentations. Create downloadable cheat sheets or ebooks and use them to build an email list.
  5. Use surveys to find out what people think about your products and gain insights so you can make improvements to existing products or get ideas for new ones.

5. Establish a strong social media presence

Social media marketing can be slow to take off among B2B companies. For manufacturers, however, social media marketing is a very effective tool. Create a social media profile and your manufacturing company will be exposed to decision-makers and engage with potential clients.

Manufacturers can increase their brand recognition and make meaningful connections through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

As well as sharing product photos, setting up competitions, and creating brand ambassadors, social media can be used for many other things.

YouTube can be a great marketing tool for B2B companies. It’s an excellent opportunity to showcase products and distribute informative content using video.

Social media can also be utilized by manufacturers during product development to get feedback and ideas.

Your marketing strategy can be adjusted based on customer feedback using social media listening tools. Additionally, product forums can be used to discover what customers think about your product.

6. Make it easy to contact you

Last but not least, we suggest making it extremely easy for potential clients to get in touch with you. A simple way to achieve this is to have your phone number prominently displayed on your website, add a dedicated contact form, or utilize social media.  Here are some examples of excellent industrial websites.

It may seem obvious but some sites make customers has make it a hassle just to find the contact email or phone number. Take a look at your website and make sure it is very easy to get in touch with your company.

If you want people to call, keep the phone number visible at all times while they are on your website.

You will get more leads. Also, being active on social media can increase your chances of getting in touch with them, as many will reach out to you with questions there so be prepared with answers.

Would you like help with your  manufacturer marketing strategy?

Manufacturers often find it challenging to develop and implement marketing plans in-house. Every need is different, and every method must be just right. If you’re struggling to balance your marketing efforts with the demands of running your business, we can help!

We have been working with manufacturing businesses since 2000. Every business is unique and we have the experience to look at the big picture, figure out ways to reach your ideal customers and build a strategy to meet your goals.

Also check out our post on “The Power of B2B Marketing Automation – How does it work?“

8 Tips To Develop A Marketing Strategy That Will Get Your Business Noticed

8 Tips To Develop A Marketing Strategy That Will Get Your Business Noticed

by | May 9, 2022 | Content Marketing, Lead Generation, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media

Have you ever been wondering how businesses get so much attention every single day? You see them out there marketing their businesses, and all of a sudden, you start seeing their ad after ad on social media, at work, and everywhere else. So how do they get so many eyeballs on their marketing every day?

The answer is simple — they know how to develop a marketing strategy that will get them noticed. In this article, you are going to learn how to develop a marketing strategy that will get your business noticed.

Whether you are a business owner, an entrepreneur, or just getting started and  looking to get your foot into the door of business, this information is for you. It’s important that your company has a marketing strategy in place, no matter what size of business currently is.

The reason for this is because a marketing strategy will help you convert your prospects into customers, and potential customers into long-term customers. In other words, a marketing strategy will help you get your business out to the people who will be most interested in it.

Let’s look at what’s involved in developing an effective marketing strategy.

An Effective Marketing Strategy is Important for any Business

A marketing strategy is essential for any business when it comes to getting their business out there. The problem with this is that many people think they can get by without one. They might believe that they have a great product, service, or idea and all they need to do is advertise it publicly and people will find them.

Well, the truth is that’s not true at all. When someone thinks in this way, they are setting themselves up for failure because there are millions of other businesses doing the same thing, which means no one will notice them.

Define Your Audience

When developing a marketing strategy, it is imperative that you first define your audience. Your marketing strategy should be tailored to them and their needs. If you are an author, for instance, your target audience may be people who enjoy reading.

This means that when creating your marketing campaign, you will want to use images of books and quotes from famous authors in order to attract these specific people. If your business is a construction company and the audience is made up of professionals in the construction industry, then you will want to place images of construction sites and building materials on your site in order to draw attention to those interested in this field.

The point here is that the more specific you are with your defined audience, the better chance you have of getting their attention.

Develop A Solid Content Marketing Strategy

An important first step for long-term growth is to develop a content marketing strategy. In order to get your business noticed, you are going to have to create a lot of content that people will want to read and share. The best way to do this is by finding content that is relevant to the people in your target demographic and then providing even more valuable information on top of it.

For example, if your business sells healthy kale chips, you could provide healthy recipes for dips other food items that are complementary to yours.  By taking the time and effort to put out valuable information, you will be able to draw in readers who are interested in what you have to say.

Always Be Updating

One great way to get people looking at your marketing is by updating it. This will show prospects that you are confident in what you have to offer, and that you are constantly trying new ways to keep them interested.

For example, you might update your social media posts every day with new information about your products or services. Or, you may post a video of a new experience that is coming soon on your website. Whatever the case may be, updating your content often will get people talking about it.

Always Be Consistent

One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of businesses make with their marketing is that they are not consistent. You need to be consistent in your marketing if you want it to be effective. You need to put out content on a regular basis, whether it be once or twice per day.

You also need to use social media daily and have ads running on Facebook and other sites on a regular basis as well. The more you do this, the better chance you have of building a following and gaining trust among your target audience. One of the best ways to stay consistent is by using an editorial calendar.

An editorial calendar can help you plan ahead and know what you’re going to post when without having to think about it.

Always Be Testing

The first thing that you need to think about in your marketing strategy is how you are going to test what works and what doesn’t. In other words, you want to try different strategies to see which ones work better than others.

For instance, if you are advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, then you will want to test out different ads with different types of images and copy.

If you are doing PPC advertising then this should be pretty easy for you because you can get results very quickly. Testing both Social advertising and PPC ads is great way for you to figure out what strategy will work best for your company.

By running A/B tests and tracking the metrics like views and conversions you’ll be able to determine what method will give you the best ROI. Then you can optimize your campaigns over time so that they produce the the best ongoing results possible.

You want to always be testing so that you can find the right formula that works best for your business — there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to marketing strategies!

Always Be Watching For Trends

One of the first things that you can do to develop a marketing strategy that will get you noticed is to always be watching for trends. You never know when something might explode, and if you are not paying attention when it does, then you could end up missing out on a lot of potential customers who would have been very interested in your business.

For example, one way that people use social media is by following hashtags. When you post to Instagram use hashtags relevant to your business. If you sell custom furniture you might use hashtags like #customfurniture, #customcoffeetable, and #customchairs etc. If someone who follows these trends happens to come across your business and they see that your company offers custom chairs or custom coffee tables, they may end up contacting you and becoming a customer because they did not know that these products were available before and they live close enough to pick them up.

Look For Opportunities

Always look for opportunities to get noticed. For example, if you are the owner of a clothing boutique, the opportunity to get noticed could be as simple as placing your promotions in a high-traffic area whether it’s online or offline. This will ensure that people have an easier time finding your store.

You also need to think about other ways to get noticed, such as creating pop-up shops or even sponsorship deals for events in your area. Look at that activities of other businesses related to yours and see if there are ways to work together to benefit each other. There are plenty of opportunities for you to get noticed, but it all starts with looking for them.

Conclusion

So you’ve got your business plan complete and now you are ready to develop a marketing strategy that will get you noticed. You may be wondering where to start and all the steps that need to be followed in order to create a successful marketing strategy. The 8 tips outlined above will help you develop a strategy that will get you noticed and establish your business as the go-to in your industry.

How to Build a Content Marketing Machine

How to Build a Content Marketing Machine

by | Jan 3, 2019 | Content Marketing, Business, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media

When you’re creating an online business, you hear, over and over, that you need to be a master of content marketing to build your online brand. But how do you create the content marketing strategy that works? How do you turn your business into a lean, mean, content creation machine?

Define Your Purpose

So you’ve decided to start a website/blog. What are you going to talk about? Are you going to relay and interpret industry news? Talk about your products? Talk about the customers who are satisfied with your services?

Educate your customers on how your products can make a difference in their lives? All of these topic areas can make great content blogs, and the best ones combine many of these elements to blend into a multidimensional whole.

To make sure that your business isn’t just recreating the content of your competition, it’s worth surveying the other blogs in your niche that exist. Find out what space others are occupying so that you can make a space for yourself.

Do Your Research

Beyond finding out what your competition is doing, also do research on keywords, popular searches, and common questions in your industry. After all, if your blog is going to become a destination, you need to create a roadmap for your audience.

Answering their questions, catching their interest, and advertising yourself through social media and search engine results is the first step toward making yourself visible to them.

Make a list of topic keywords that can be headlines as well as phrases that you can use periodically throughout your content posts to attract attention from search engines.  Use the brainstorming tab in our Free Content Marketing Planner.

If you need help coming up with ideas for your posts, checkout Neil Patel’s  great post called How to Come Up with 93 Blog Ideas in 10 Minutes.

Create an Editorial Calendar

One of the most frustrating things to see as a consumer of content is that businesses and bloggers often fail to pace themselves with blog creation. They post several topics all at once in the first few days, and then forget to post for days and weeks on end.

This doesn’t work for multiple reasons. First, to keep your readers coming back, you need to be continuously creating new and useful content. Regular refreshment tells your site visitors that your website is up to date, which helps the page to climb the rankings. Second, your customers need reminders to come back and find your fresh content.

The proliferation of social media has pushed the now into our minds; we are less concerned with what happened yesterday, and what to know what’s going on right now. You need fresh links to draw in fresh audiences to share on fresh timelines. To get that, you need to create regular content.

Before you start blogging, decide how often you want to post – once a week is a bare minimum, but more than once a day is usually overkill – and make sure you have a month worth of topics ready to go.

Keep yourself several days ahead with blogs scheduled to post to your site and share themselves to social media at appropriate times. By automating everything, you maximize exposure.

When you’re tired and not sure what to say, have a stable of ideas to go back to; it helps you keep your content flowing.

For in depth knowledge about blogging, Ryan Robinsons website is one of the best resources you will find.

DOWNLOAD Our Free Content Marketing Planner (In Google Sheets, click FILE > make copy). It has a daily, monthly and archive view as well as a brainstorming tab.

Content Marketing Planner

 

Getting Exposure for Your Content using Social Media

Naturally you you want to make sure people see all this great content you have put all this effort into creating it. There are many ways to promote your content. We won’t cover the topic of promotion in depth here but we will talk about social media. It’s a big one.

After each piece of content you create, you should immediately share it on all your chosen Social Media platforms. Most companies use at least Facebook, Twitter and Google My Business.

Others like Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are chosen depending on the industry you are in as some are more visual than others. For example, Fashion and Beauty type businesses will definitely want to be on Instagram and Pinterest while an accounting firm probably won’t.

If you really want to benefit from Social Media you need to post a lot. Like several times a day. You may be thinking, how are we ever going to produce enough content?

This is where content curation comes in. You don’t need to be the author of everything you share on Social Media. In fact it’s a good idea to share other people’s content as long as it’s relevant and useful to your audience.

Social Sharing

When it comes to social sharing you need to get the balance right, A common strategy is the 5:3:2 rule.

So for every ten posts:

5 should be content from other sources that are relevant to your audience, (curated content). Keep in mind what your reader would be interested in and it will keep them more engaged. There’s a ton of these types of posts that can curated and shared. Sign up with a service like Feedly, choose relevant topics and you will see then in you account every day. Then simply choose the ones you want to share by copying the URL and pasting into the scheduling app of your chosen sharing app (see below) .

3 should be original content such as blog posts or videos, that would be interesting to your audience.  It can also be about  Product promotions, Product information etc.

2 could be about your staff so your audience gets to know your company which helps build a relationship and builds trust. These post could also be Customer stories or case study in nature.

Also at any time you could announce special offers, trade show events or any other special announcements.

Schedule your social posts with an app.

Your social posts could be planned in a Google Sheet like the one above but in reality we find it more practical to use a web application like Buffer, Later, or Hootsuite. Lately we have been liking Later. These apps save a few steps in the workflow and it’s much easier for everyone to contribute. These all have a free tier entry level.

Accept Feedback from Your Clients

When you create a blog, make sure you have a way for your clients and customers to reach out to you with questions. They might be simple – how do I use this product to accomplish this task – or more complex – what position does your company take on this situation? Some of the best articles are those where a company responds to customer questions and concerns. They show that you’re listening and you respond to your audience, which does more to further your brand than almost anything else can.

This is easy to implement if you have a website built with WordPress. If you need help with WordPress, this is and area of expertise for us. In fact we are recognized as a top WordPress Website Design Company on DesignRush. 

When you create content, you’re furthering your company’s brand, building your sales funnel, and developing tools that increase your company’s position and discoverability. Treat your content marketing just like any other aspect of your business; proceed with a plan, create regular deadlines that you can meet, and take it seriously. By doing these things, you’ll make sure that your content drives your business forward and creates a responsible relationship with your customers.

 

10 Lead Generation Strategies That Work In 2020

10 Lead Generation Strategies That Work In 2020

by | Aug 9, 2020 | Content Marketing, Business, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing, Web Design

Every online business should develop lead generation strategies to move prospects into their sales funnel. While some visitors will be willing to make an immediate purchase, the vast majority will need to warm up to a product or service. Part of the reason for the success of big brands is the fact they have invested in growing their recognition and trust. When people visit a site from a recognized brand, they are already primed to purchase. Most small businesses do not have this brand recognition, but using the following strategies on a consistent basis will be enough to move a high percentage of visitors into your sales funnel.

Analyze the Competition

Many different tools let you find out the strategies your competitors use. From individual advertisements to landing pages, you can study the sales funnels of successful businesses. Look at the top performing sites and find ways you can tweak them to get some quick improvements. Useful Tools: SEMrush

Study Popular Content

It is also possible to look at the results of any blog and social media content. You can see how many likes, shares, and reposts a piece of material received, enabling you to craft videos and articles you can be confident will find an audience. Useful Tools: buzzsumo

Try something new – View this article as a Google Web Story:

10 Lead Generation Strategies That Work in 2020

Use Social Media Efficiently

Social media is essential for generating leads, but it is reliant on your ability to develop a system. Influencer marketing is currently working well, allowing you to tap into existing audiences. It is also vital that you adapt social content to suit individual sites, thinking about the reasons viewers are using the particular social network. Useful Tools: musefind • Intellifluence

Targeted Ads

Paid advertising can send you leads quickly, but they may convert at a low rate. Instead, focus on researching your audience first, understanding the demographics and interests of your ideal buyers. You can then target your ads to the perfect audience and stand a higher chance of being profitable. Useful Tools: Google ads, Facebook Ads

Develop a Podcast

Podcasts are still reaching large audiences, with listeners eager to find content in their favorite niches. A podcast might take time to grow, but you can build a following of targeted and motivated people. Many of your listeners will also promote you to friends, helping to increase your leads organically. Useful Tools: How to start a podcast

Build Relationships

Trying to build an online business alone is difficult. When you can develop tactical partnerships, though, it is possible for all parties to grow. Most industries have various sub-niches that you may not directly target. However, audiences will have overlapping interests, so a small number of businesses could promote each other without losing their audience. Useful Tools: Join Facebook Groups

Focus on Video Marketing

Integrating video into your content planning is essential. Sites like YouTube and Facebook have vast numbers of users willing to watch video content. Creating short videos allows you to offer value to your viewers, before asking them to subscribe or go to a particular page to enter your sales funnel. Useful Tools:  10 Top Tools for Creating Short Videos That ROCK

Create a Contest

Contests work well on social media and blogs. Asking someone to give you their email address requires trust, but the barriers get lowered when there is an enticing prize available. While you can use tools to create contests easily, it is important that the award is relevant if you want to reduce freebie seekers. While there are many ways to launch a contest, we think Facebook is the best place to run a contest. Useful Tools: How to Create a Facebook Contest that Actually Works

Find Industry Forums and Groups

While strategies like paid advertising can bring vast numbers of visitors, there are alternative methods that will provide smaller numbers of targeted leads. Industry forums, Facebook groups, and Q&A sites can all bring consistent leads that will convert at a high rate. Useful Tools: Google Search “Your Topic” + forums and in Face book search “Your Topic” + groups,

Optimize Your Squeeze Pages

Squeeze pages are highly effective ways of securing leads as they limit the numbers of options on a page. Testing different elements on your squeeze pages will lead to varying results, but you should eventually develop an optimized property. Testing headlines, text and video combinations, call-to-action buttons, and incentives can all play a part in the optimization process. Useful Tools: How to Create a Squeeze Page That Converts at 21.7% (Case Study)

Understanding Your Potential Customers

While it is possible to make an immediate impact with some visitors, most prospects need time before they will make a purchase. Relying on quick sales won’t help to build an enduring business, with the cost to find a customer typically being high. 
 
These methods are all based on building your company’s authority and building trust with new prospective customers. 
 
Even when using paid ads, start with getting engagement and provide useful information. Then retarget with sales oriented ads to people who have engaged with that content and create lookalike audiences of those people. This will increase you conversion rate.
By implementing these lead generation strategies into your business, you should have no trouble developing a consistent flow of new customers.

We hope you find these DIY tips for lead generation strategies useful. If you are having difficulty finding the time to execute these methods we can help with any of these strategies. Just contact us for a free consultation.

OCEANONE is voted one of the top Web Design Companies in the designrush agency listings. 

How To Develop A Digital Marketing Strategy That Gets Results

How To Develop A Digital Marketing Strategy That Gets Results

by | Oct 18, 2018 | Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Branding, Business, Online Marketing

Today’s advertising mediums include more digital channels than ever before. Factors such as faster reach capabilities, lower advertising costs, and global branding opportunities make digital marketing a viable avenue for building awareness. When creating a digital marketing strategy, it’s imperative to plan out each messaging deliverable, communication channel, and content strategy so that you don’t lose yourself in a whirlwind of social media accounts and content deadlines.

Approaching your strategy means taking initial steps to determine what your end goals are and then devising a practical plan to bring them to fruition. Here’s a 4-step process for creating a solid digital marketing strategy.

  1. Create A Finish Line

Know what your goals are before you embark on your strategy. Create a list of measurable short and long-term goals. For example, are you looking to increase sales? If so, by how much exactly? Are you looking to increase your social media followers? If so, by how many exactly? And on what platforms? Don’t rely on vague goals that can’t be measured.

Put numbers to your goals. For instance, we want to generate 800 leads in one month, Increase sales by $5,000 this month or gain 1000 Twitter Followers in one week. Whatever it is you want to achieve, make it a number and then you can figure out a way to get there. Then you can track and measure your results to see whether you were successful or not in achieving the goal.

If you achieve your goal successfully, great. If not, look at what worked and what didn’t make some adjustments and try again. Try different messaging or images or maybe it was just not enough budget. If you’re tracking everything you should be able to figure out how to improve your results. Expect that there will be some trial and error.

Setting realistic goals gives you accountability and allows you to forecast things such as cost, time, and resource allocation. You don’t want to have to guess what your marketing budget is, and you certainly don’t want to assume which team members can complete certain tasks. Create realistic goals and milestones.

  1. List Your Mediums

What digital marketing channels do you plan on using to get your message to your audience? Are you planning to focus on one main channel or a combination of three or more? Consider making a list of 10-15 potential marketing channels and then narrow it down to your top five. Next, find out which platforms work best for your target audience based on their demographic and online behaviour and then decide which ones work best for your plans. Laser focus in on your main channel to help you get the initial traction that you need when you first begin your campaigns.

  1. Plan Out Your Content

Knowing what type of content you’ll create and how often it’ll be delivered is crucial to your digital strategy. Whether it’s article writing, social media posting, or video production, there should always be content that’s being created behind the scenes. Find out which types of content work best for your products and your audience and then create a calendar to keep a steady messaging stream flowing your audience’s way. Content calendars are essential to digital marketing, as they help you avoid the headaches and confusion that can come with last-minute content development.

  1. Implement, Monitor, and Measure

Once you’ve outlined your digital strategy it’s go-time. Make sure that you have all of the resources you need. Make sure that all of your team members know their deliverables and when they’re due. And most importantly, make sure that you’re monitoring and tracking your progress throughout the entire time. Know what metrics will be used to track each goal, and if you fall short of meeting a goal, use it as a lesson for your next project and campaign. The more you monitor and track your activities, the better insight you’ll have on what types of content your audience responds to best.

Setting up Google Analytics is the most important step to track all your results. There are many online tools out there to help you track all of you digital marketing activities and choosing the right one depends on the depth of your campaign. If you are only using Google ads, then tracking through your Google Analytics and Google Ads control panel are probably sufficient. However if you ad Facebook Ads or any other advertising channel to the mix, there is a lot more to track and you’ll want those reports to be side by side for easy evaluation and comparison. As I mentioned, there are a ton of tools out there price according to their level of capabilities. We have a free tool that is great for tracking your Facebook and Google Ad campaigns. It’s called Advertising Intelligence and you can read more about it on our pricing page.

A well-planned digital marketing strategy will ease the confusion that can come with setting up marketing campaigns. Once you have your content and channels figured out, it’s just a matter of setting up the right goals and metrics.

This sounds simple but it can be overwhelming without some guidance. We would be glad to help you with a Free Marketing Strategy Consultation where we will discuss your goals and we can provide you with solid advise to start building your successful Marketing Strategy!

This is a high level view of what is involved in building a digital marketing strategy. For a more detailed deep-dive, check out this post: Execute a Powerful Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business