3 Steps for Explosive Online Marketing Growth Online marketing is only as complicated as you make it.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Many business owners are under the impression that online marketing is extremely complicated because some online marketing efforts fail miserably, while others are responsible for massive returns. They assume performance is related to the marketing budget, what is being marketed and who it's being marketed to.
Sure, that can all come into play, but it's more about the marketing strategy.
It doesn't matter if you are a small mom-and-pop shop with a budget of $1,000 per month or a large brand spending six figures monthly -- the same three steps will contribute to a successful marketing effort. Let's look at each one.
Related: How to Use Social Media and Not Feel Overwhelmed
1. Identify the perfect customer for your product or service.
You need to determine who your ideal customer is and what problem you are solving. For example, my performance-based agency works with larger brands, spending at least $50,000 monthly on paid ads and typically relying heavily on Facebook. So, we know we have to target large brands with healthy budgets currently advertising on Facebook and interested in a performance-based relationship.
When you are very specific with who you target, it allows you to create a message and offer that speaks directly to that target. You must also make sure your pricing aligns with your ideal customer.
"You can't attach a premium price to your product or service if your ideal customer has an average or below average income. You could have the best product or service but if it's priced out of reach, they will never connect with your offer," explains Joe Baldwin, CEO of BidForWriting.
Related: 10 Questions to Ask When Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan
2. Attract your perfect customer through smart marketing.
Let me quickly explain what I mean by smart marketing. If you are targeting people aged 35 to 45 with a life insurance offer, you don't want to be running Snapchat ads -- that's the wrong platform. Highly targeted Facebook ads would work better.
Here are just a few questions you need to ask yourself:
- "What social media platforms are my perfect customer likely to be active on?"
- "What websites are they likely to visit?"
- "Are they likely to be using a mobile device to access the internet?"
- "Will they be receptive to email offers and communication?"
When you have the answers to these questions it tells you what social networks and websites you should be running paid ads on and what devices you need to target. If you are selling a health product to millennials, then mobile targeting is a must, whereas an ad targeting the 50+ demographic would want to primarily target desktops.
Related: 12 Social Media Mistakes That Entrepreneurs Make
3. Get your perfect customer to engage with your brand and messages.
Engagement is the last step. It's responsible for generating sales and creating brand supporters that, over time, turn into lifelong customers. There are several different types of engagement.
For example, say you have a very appealing Facebook ad that drives your perfect customers directly to an offer. You might get some "likes" and shares on the post, but the click-through to your offer, and then ultimately the conversion, is the engagement that translates into revenue.
Not all offers are a good fit for a direct approach. Many will require that your perfect customer is placed in a marketing funnel, where they are then presented with valuable content, designed to eventually convert them into a sale. "Asking for an email address is a very small commitment, so it's very easy to quickly fill your funnel up with prospects as long as your offer is enticing and provides value," advises Tyler Chilton, CEO of Mayflower Electronics.
These simple three steps should be the foundation of all your online marketing efforts. It doesn't have to be complicated.
