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Jul 28, 2021
With more than 4.6 billion people worldwide using the internet every day, it’s not a surprising fact that thousands of businesses have hopped on the bandwagon of internet marketing.
Traditional marketing has always been and continues to be, about reaching prospects and customers where they are. Companies would rely on print ads, billboards, radio ads, and TV commercials for that.
Internet marketing, on the other hand, does more than that. It provides unique perks other marketing mediums can’t, and among these include the option to personalize content, the scope of reach, and the opportunity to establish a deeper connection with customers.
As a leading internet marketing Miami company, we can definitely say that internet marketing plays a significant role in attracting more customers, growing your sales, and taking your business a step or two higher on the success ladder.
Designing an internet marketing plan can get a bit complicated though. Since every website differs from another, it’s crucial to take an individualized approach to developing such a strategy. That’s why we’ve decided to write this guide.
Here, we’ll be tackling what internet marketing is, how it works, and of course, tips on how you can build a powerful internet marketing plan.
Also known as online marketing or web advertising, internet marketing is a form of marketing that delivers promotional campaigns to potential and existing customers through digital channels like websites, search engines, social media, and email.
As you might’ve noticed, everything takes place online. That makes it easier to reach the right people, especially considering that billions spend most of their time in the virtual world.
Basically, internet marketing aims to achieve two goals: Attracting new customers and cultivating brand loyalists.
Driving new customers can be pulled off through paid social media ads, good web design, and search engines. As for maintaining a loyal, long-term customer base, you’ll want to use personalized email campaigns, social media tactics, and blogging to attain that goal.
A strategic and well-thought internet marketing plan can help you get a broad view of what you plan to accomplish, how you’ll do it, and when you’ll do it. It will keep you focused and determined in reaching your long-term goals, even if your initial plan changes over time.
With that in mind, follow these steps to ensure that you come up with an online marketing strategy that works perfectly for your brand:
First things first, you need to set your goals. It can be one single goal or a set of goals with several smaller objectives, depending on the scope of your plan. More importantly, follow the SMART rule - they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
What is it that you want to accomplish through your internet marketing plan? Do you want to increase revenue and customer loyalty? Do you think it’s time to penetrate a new niche? Are you thinking about reinforcing your brand?
For instance, if you’re looking to raise brand awareness, you should establish smaller goals such as running PPC ads or increasing your social media followers to achieve your overall goal as realistically as possible.
Many companies gear campaigns toward their current consumers, with the purpose of either overtaking their competition as the market leader or increasing market share, while others are attempting to enter an entirely new market.
You can actually have both types of audiences, as long as you have a crystal clear picture of who you want to attract.
To evaluate new markets, you should gather the demographic or firmographic data of your ideal customers.
Demographics refer to factors such as age, gender, education, income, and occupation. Firmographics, which are used by B2B companies, are the prospects’ industry, size, status, and performance.
In short, demographics are concerned with people, whereas firmographics focus on organizations. This means that if you run a B2C company, you want to use demographics to research your audience. And, if you’re a B2B company owner, firmographics will help you learn more about your current and new markets.
Growing your business and remaining on top of your niche requires knowing who your competitors are, particularly their strengths and weaknesses.
To do this, you should conduct in-depth research and analysis of their products, services, pricing, value proposition, and consumer pricing. Having all these details at hand will make it easier for you to execute an impactful marketing campaign.
Additionally, if you discover something your competition excels at, you can use that idea as an inspiration and add your very own spin to it.
From your website and social media to blog and email, there are numerous online marketing channels to choose from.
So, how would you know which channels would suit you best? Well, you gotta figure out where your audience usually goes online.
A good idea is to focus most of your resources on a few channels to ensure they can get you to reach your target market. Also, consider testing out other channels to see if they’re worth investing in over time.
If you already have one, see to it that it’s SEO-friendly. That way, people looking online for the products or services you offer can quickly find you in search engine results.
Keyword targeting has a huge part to play in boosting your SEO efforts. Choose keywords that relate to your business or industry, and incorporate them into your URL, headers, body text, and navigation bar.
Your website design can also affect your ranking in Google and other search engines. Not only does your site need to look attractive to catch the attention of your visitors, but it should be able to provide a good experience where users find it super easy to navigate, and we mean both on desktop and mobile.
In case you have no time to learn the art of creating a solid SEO strategy, you might as well hire an internet marketing Miami agency that has years of experience in the field.
Posting blogs that are relevant to your business is a surefire way to drive a larger audience to your website, prove your brand to be reliable and up-to-date, and establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
Especially if you have impeccable writing skills, expect more traffic to your site and a higher ranking on search engines. Just be sure that your posts revolve around your brand, keep them as engaging as possible, and stay current with the latest topics. Oh, and don’t forget to include your target keywords!
Now that you got visitors coming to your homepage or blog, your next move is to invest in resources for conversion rate optimization (CRO). Otherwise, you won’t be able to convert them into qualified leads and customers.
CRO can benefit four areas of your site - and these are your homepage, blog, landing pages, and pricing page.
An effective CRO tactic to include in your blog is by adding calls-to-action (CTA) throughout the text. Or, you can invite your readers to subscribe to your mailing list in exchange for a free ebook.
If you have a pricing page, you can leverage CRO by adding a slide-out that encourages visitors to watch a demo or book an appointment with a sales rep.
Running social media contests and campaigns is a great opportunity to reach a wider market, engage with your audience, form deeper connections with them, and learn about your buyer’s persona.
Here are some of the most popular types of contests that can boost engagement and grow your online reputation:
One of the best ways to connect with prospective customers and cultivate brand loyalty is through the use of email marketing campaigns.
The types of emails you might want to send are the following:
A good rule of thumb is to personalize your emails. You want to make sure that you’re sending the right email to the right people. The more they can relate to your content, the more engaged they become.
That’s why you should segment your list first before anything else. Once you have, that’s the time you can start creating your messages.
If there’s one way email marketing outshines all other forms of marketing, it’s the fact that it allows you to take advantage of automation. Whether it’s automated abandoned cart emails or welcome drip campaigns, email is perfect for engaging and re-engaging your audience without you having to lift a single finger.
Realistically speaking, it takes a long time to achieve a goal. However, you’ll be ticking off several other benchmarks along the way.
For this reason, you should develop a habit of monitoring the internet marketing plan at least once or twice a month. If you fail to do so, you won’t have any idea if you’re getting close to your goal.
You’ll likely set yourself up for failure if you don’t keep track of your progress. How would you know which areas need improvement, and which ones are performing outstandingly?
Whether it’s SEO, web design, or email marketing, you can count on our team of digital marketing specialists to tailor an internet marketing plan that will deliver the best results.
We’ve been working for years with companies of all sizes across the country, and guess what? You just might be our next success story!
Book a free consultation with us today!
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