Mahmoud Grant
Oct 18, 20195 min
The way marketing is being done has changed dramatically over time We don’t even need to go back to a time where marketing was mainly done via TV commercials, billboards or newspapers. Even if we just look 10 years back into the Online Marketing space, the tools being used are very different now.
Ten years ago, people went on one, maybe two websites to look for information about a product and made a decision based on that information. Sales people were trusted advisors and speaking to a company directly was an obvious step in the information gathering and decision process.
Today, customers make decisions based on a very different set of available channels and information. Data to be found online is limitless and easily available, be it customer reviews, countless vendors to choose from, ratings and product tests - your possible customers are able to research most of the information about your products and services without even contacting you.
The majority of businesses and upcoming brands are looking to make their way into the online world using various online marketing mediums. There are multiple strategies to do that, aiming to answer a number of questions:
How can we make sure that the information that is out there helps you rather than might have a negative effect on your business?
How can you make sure people find the most relevant and accurate information about you - and find a way to you directly?
How do you sell to a customer who has all the facts already?
Let’s look into the Top 10 most important marketing tools for small businesses that can help addressing those:
To grow a business into a full-fledged brand, you will have to strategize your complete marketing (online and offline) using custom brand management solutions. This involves creating a customized corporate kit, product kit, and media kit which are focused on highlighting the power of your brand, product, or service.
A strong brand and the right level of brand management will make sure that you create a pull and a loyal customer base that goes way beyond any facts and research, but is leveraging customer emotions and connection with your products or services.
You will have to create a business website to be able to leverage the power of marketing channels. If this sounds like the basics for any small business marketing in 2020, there are a lot of things you probably do not consider- Even if you have a business website today.
It is very important to keep your business website revamped with the latest updates such as Responsive Design, Speed Optimizations like AMP, and various SEO-based changes.
Not just that, content on the website will play a crucial role in improving your website’s ability to boost your conversion. Therefore, we highly recommend you to update the content on your website with fresh content on a regular basis. This can be done by creating a blog section of your website wherein you focus on providing your readers with great value.
Your online sales funnel is a marketing tool that might require you to sit down and brainstorm hard with your team. A sales funnel should focus on nurturing the potential customers and retaining the existing customers.
All the crucial aspects of Sales Funnel, such as Interest, Awareness, Consideration, and Purchase should be taken care of to succeed with your digital Marketing strategies.
The consumer attention has changed and it is mostly online. Therefore it is essential to create a social media marketing strategy that targets your potential online customers to take the desired action.
Social media is a very powerful small business marketing tool and should be managed with high-intensity and care. The social media sites that can be targeted according to your needs and wants are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and more.
Your website’s success greatly depends on how much reach and visibility it is able to garner on the popular search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and more.
To empower your website with high search engine ranking, you will have to take care of all the fundamentals of website design and development and strategize it for high-optimization.
While it can take a lot of time to get ranked on the first page of these search engines, it is important to note that implementing any shady SEO tactics to speed up the process (or hack the system) will definitely get your business website into trouble - we highly recommend working on real and sustainable SEO strategies that might take a bit longer but will be much more effective in the long run
Numbers don’t lie and should be trusted to take your business to new heights!
To be able to do that, you will have to use multiple online web analytics services like Google Analytics, Amazon’s Alexa, Compete, Quantcast, and more as these will help you recognize the opportunities of improvement by showing you insights on different parameters and levels.
The most significant issue that you will face while working with these marketing tools will be the inadequacy of providing accurate readings. But, that can be taken care of by their usage over a long period of time as it will help you compare the readings for your business website.
Mobile is a game-changer and should be treated as a marketing tool that has the potential to boost the sales and conversions for your business quickly. This is possible because just like social media, the usage of mobile devices is incessantly increasing and there’s no stopping.
With significant internet penetration over the last two decades and the introduction of powerful mobile devices, there is a high probability that your potential customer is reaching out to you through a mobile device! Therefore, we highly recommend you to have a mobile marketing strategy in place to leverage the power and opportunities of mobile in 2020.
Nothing else is going to push you more than your competitors. As the market keeps getting saturated and competition keeps getting fierce, you are highly recommended to take the competition seriously and implement a dedicated team to track all the movements of your competition.
This marketing tool is made accessible by various web monitoring tools that can crunch numbers and provide important competitor’s insights. These can provide both qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of your competitor’s marketing plans.
We have often said that Email is the most reliable source of online marketing because, in this, you are not dependent on any online platform. Once you create a lead magnet and set it out on your marketing channels, you will receive email information about your potential customers – an asset that is not subject to any change.
Email marketing is an online marketing tool that can help you to make your target audience aware about your business as well as keep your existing customer base engaged. These also work like magic when it comes to upselling your services to a customer who just purchased your product or service.
If your brand focuses on providing products, you have just the right opportunity to take your business online and leverage the power of the Internet. The Internet has grown tremendously and today it is easier to make money than how it was back one or two decades.
E-Commerce has really taken off and is still growing in many parts of the world. Today, it is very cost-effective to create your own E-Commerce store and get started with selling your products online.
However, the path won’t be easy in the beginning and there are many competitors in the E-Commerce ecosystem. But, with brilliantly designed online marketing strategies, you will be able to make the most out of this marketing tool.
At Media Number Seven, this is what we are passionate about - helping you find the best strategies on how to position your small business best, identifying the right tools to market your products and services and reach the relevant target groups.
All of this based on a strong foundation of a unique and authentic brand. Let’s find out together how much potential your business has and make the most out of it!