If your marketing strategy isn’t working, your online presence may be the issue. These tips can help improve brand awareness and website traffic.
I’ve seen several marketing strategies that looked rock-solid on paper fall short under real-world conditions. In many cases, the reason for the underperformance was a lack of a strong and effective digital presence.
Your company needs to be readily visible online for your marketing initiatives to work. Otherwise, you’ll just end up wasting money and time. Think of it this way: You could have the greatest paid digital advertising campaign in the world, but if viewers who click your ads find a dated website or poorly worded product page, they’re unlikely to convert. Additionally, if potential customers can’t find any information about your brand online, it undermines your credibility.
This is why you can’t just rely on marketing approaches alone to propel your company to success. Does it take time and funding to get traction amid the clutter of cyberspace? Sure. But you can’t afford to lose ground. Instead, start growing your name, reputation, and reach by implementing four key tips.
1. Highlight Customer Reviews
One effective way to attract more attention online is by focusing on generating more positive reviews from your clients. For example, aim to gather more four- and five-star reviews on platforms like Google. According to the data-informed legal marketing experts at PMP Marketing Group, collecting high-quality Google reviews can improve your digital presence and encourage potential clients to visit your website.
Great reviews build trust and make your business stand out in a crowded marketplace. Over time, as you collect more positive reviews, you’ll see an increase in traffic and engagement on your site, which can lead to greater visibility and a stronger online reputation.
To receive more reviews, start by directly asking satisfied clients for feedback. A simple, personalized request can make a big difference. After a successful project, send a thank-you email with a direct link to your review profiles and gently encourage them to share their experience online. Also, responding to both positive and negative reviews shows that you value client feedback and can encourage more people to leave their thoughts.
2. Update Your Website
If your website has gone stale or is a few years old, now is the time to hit the “refresh” button. Though you might think it’s still performing fine, it’s probably not.
As media monitoring company Agility PR Solutions explains, an outdated website is destined to grow less functional and usable as time passes. An out-of-style design will naturally lead to fewer sales and an increased risk of broken links. For instance, an uptick in your visitor bounce rates can be a clear indicator that something might be amiss on your website and a signal for you to take action.
Rather than letting a subpar website stall your marketing efforts, rethink your website’s infrastructure, tone, imaging, and other elements. Don’t overlook the importance of clear navigation and accessible design for all users, including those with disabilities. After all, your website serves as your company’s first impression with consumers, and it plays a significant role in shaping their perception of your brand.
3. Bring Social Media Into the Mix
Social media is essential to cementing your business’s online persona. However, you don’t need to be on every platform to succeed. It’s fine to choose between the popular social-media outlets to find which ones will work for your brand.
After identifying your preferred social-media platforms, start posting content according to well-known best practices. Some smart social posting solutions include following a social-media calendar, creating a marketing plan for each site, and leveraging data to inform your content creation and publication timing.
Just remember, your social-media decisions should always support your broader marketing objective and vision. Therefore, keep the same style, tone, color scheme, and other branding elements on your social pages as you do on your site.
4. Invest in Superior Content
Your brand’s content is the backbone of all your online efforts. Ideally, everything customer-facing that you produce and publish should be of good quality and highly useful to your target audience.
When it comes to determining what kind of content to create, aim for a good mix. Articles, whitepapers, case studies, and videos can all work together to bump up your digital presence. Just make sure that you also balance newsworthy, trending subjects with evergreen ones for a nice blend.
Most experts caution against allowing artificial intelligence to write your content without human oversight. Most AI-generated content alone may not pass the Google E-E-A-T test and can hurt your digital presence. Even if the content is structurally sound, it may lack the relevance and human-based expertise that consumers expect from the content they consume.
If your marketing strategy should work but doesn’t, think twice before starting over. You may just need to double down on your online presence to revive your marketing results and regain your competitive advantage.
