As the year draws to a close, many business owners are turning their attention to improving their digital marketing efforts in 2021. Q1 is the perfect time to introduce new initiatives, reevaluate company goals, and refine processes to make sure you’re operating at peak performance.
Whether you’re looking to drive more B2B leads, or simply figure out how much to spend on advertising, the new year provides an ideal backdrop to improve upon your digital marketing strategy.
Other possible Digital Marketing goals may include:
- Reducing your cost per acquisition
- Increasing online sales
- Ranking higher on search engines
- Increasing brand awareness within your target audience
- Turning purchasers into repeat customers
- Growing on social media
- Improving user experience on your website, and more
The possibilities are endless! If you’re ready to take your business to the next level this upcoming year, here are four easy ways to accomplish the above goals:
1. Invest in Video
In today’s world, video is one of the most cost-effective ways to tell your brand’s story and quickly improve any small business’s digital marketing strategy. In addition to its high conversion rates, video marketing is a powerful tool for establishing trust with audience members. After all, there’s a reason why 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool — up from 63% over the last year according to Hubspot. A recent study by Insivia even found that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text.
Here at Right Left Agency, 77% of our top-performing ad creatives include some kind of motion (whether it is video or gif).
Here are just a few ways that video can help your overall digital marketing strategy:
- Boosting SEO
- Increasing conversion rate and sales
- Engaging potential buyers
- Capturing and keeping the attention of audience members
- Encouraging social sharing
- Demonstrating a product or service
Video’s visual nature makes it excellent for a variety of uses. In 2021, its importance is only going to grow as more companies invest in digital advertising to make up for lost time due to COVID-19.
2. Create a Marketing Funnel
In 2020, just about every business that wasn’t digital went online. Competition is higher than ever. So, how do you get prospective customers from never having heard of your brand to making a purchase this year? Salesforce reports that on average, it takes 6-8 touchpoints to generate a viable lead that’s willing to take action.
And, more so than ever, consumers will be using multiple channels to make a purchase. According to Invesp, “Companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain on average 89% of their customers, compared to customer retention rate of 33% for companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement.” So, a target customer might see your ad on Facebook, then Google you and find your search ad, then be served a series of retargeting ads…. and maybe THEN make a purchase!
As a brand manager, it’s important to map out those touchpoints in a cohesive, multi-channel strategy – otherwise known as a Marketing Funnel.
A typical marketing funnel has 5 stages:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Conversion
- Loyalty
- Advocacy
Each does its part to lead into the next. The idea being that if you can take someone from step 1 to step 5, you’ve just created a customer who not only loves your product or service, but also actively recommends and promotes it to others within their sphere of influence. It’s a tactic that goes full-circle, bringing out the potential and purchasing power of those who are most likely to buy your product or service. If you’re interested in learning more about marketing funnels, click here for an in-depth guide.
3. Collect and Utilize Data
One way the most successful businesses stay on top of the competition is by letting data steer the way they approach and execute their digital marketing strategies. It’s what enables them to keep up with the latest trends, recognize when it’s time to move onto a new initiative, and squeeze out the most ROI from their target audience. In 2021, more data sources will be more accessible than ever to more businesses than ever… and if you aren’t using data you will quickly fall behind.
The big secret: You don’t need to be a major corporation to collect and utilize data.
In truth, even small businesses can benefit from big data. The trick is taking the steps to recognize and know what to do with it. From the cost per click on your Google ads to the open rates of your marketing emails, every data point helps tell a bigger story. But without piecing together, it’s just one big unsolved jigsaw puzzle. Here are some tools platforms to help you get started:
- Google Analytics
- Google Ads
- Salesforce
- SEMrush
- BuzzSumo
- Facebook Ads Manager
- CallTrackingMetrics
- Crazy Egg
- HootSuite
- MailChimp
- Buffer
- Sprout Social
In 2021, make it a priority to map out the different ways your audience interacts with your business, and see if you can find some trends that weren’t immediately recognizable.
- Are most of your customers shopping on mobile vs. desktop?
- What age group is giving you the highest return on investment?
- Are there any behaviors you can identify that indicate someone may be in the market for your product or service soon?
Let the numbers be your guide. The more takeaways and connections you can find within qualitative and quantitative data, the more effective your digital marketing efforts will become. All it takes is a little extra effort, and you’ll be well on your way to crushing your sales goals in the new year.
4. Hire an Agency
We just threw a LOT of tips and information at you. You might be thinking, I am a BUSY business owner. How am I supposed to find the time to create videos, create marketing funnels, and implement data insights?!
Well…working with the RIGHT digital marketing agency can give you new efficiencies and free up your time to focus on your business. An agency can help with:
- Cutting down overall costs
- Effortlessly scaling initiatives up or down
- Having an expert by your side to guide your decisions
- Being in tune with what is going on in the industry
- Staying on top of best practices
- Saving your team’s time and resources
>>> Related Article: Do Small Businesses Need Marketing Agencies? Here’s Why You Might
Take Your Marketing to the Next Level in 2021
If you are a small business owner and you want to get the most out of your digital marketing efforts, we’re here to help. It’s all about choosing the RIGHT partner. At Right Left Agency, we’ve made it our mission to provide small and scaling businesses with quality digital marketing services.
If you’re interested in executing any of the ideas we highlighted above, let us know and we would be happy to talk about your digital marketing strategy.
