Another element of online marketing that works if it is properly refined. I am thinking primarily of my own database of recipients collected “naturally” (e.g. newsletter subscriptions via the website). It is not worth buying ready-made bases. First of all, it is against the law. Secondly, we do not reach a personalized group of people. We send it to random people, hoping that maybe someone will get in touch. Usually they don’t hear from us or we get a reply: “Please remove me from the database” or “Where did you get my e-mail from?”. It is safer to have a smaller but trusted group.
Newsletters
Send thoughtful messages. Do not inform about every change in the company, do not send messages that may be of interest only to your employees (unless it is internal – employee mailing). Newsletters that talk about what’s going on in the industry or what’s important to your recipient work well. Send information, e.g. weekly or once a month, and be consistent in this.
Google ADS and Facebook ADS campaigns
Google Ads and Facebook Ads are paid channels for reaching your audience. Their advantage is that they operate “here and now”, which is impossible in the case of SEO and content marketing. All you need to do is set an advertising campaign, m.in. for the indicated keywords, audience and goals, and the website will appear for queries entered into the search engine.
When using this solution, remember that you pay for each click of a search engine user on your image, text or other ad. If you advertise for the word “shoes” and a user enters the website, you will pay for it, for example, 5 PLN (a rate invented for the purposes of the text). For ten user visits, you pay as little as PLN 50. You don’t pay for just showing your ad in Google Ads.
Remarketing is also possible. This is a topic for a separate article, but in short, remarketing is following a user who has already visited our website. Many times, when looking for shoes in an online store, you have been followed by ads from this store reminding you of the shoes, discounts on them and the last chance to buy them with free shipping. This is remarketing.
Company podcasts are also online marketing
The popularity of company podcasts created by marketing departments, salespeople and owners with the help of, for example, advertising agencies is also growing. Remember that in addition to quality, the content is also important. Consider:
What you want to talk about in the podcast, such as answering the most common customer questions.
How often do you want to publish episodes – once a week, or maybe on a series basis, e.g. 10 episodes in the summer season, 10 episodes in the winter season?
How do you want to do it – a monologue or maybe an interview?
Who should run a podcast – a person from the marketing department, an owner, or maybe an external specialist?
How will you reach your audience – streams promoted by Google Ads, social media, newsletters?
Think about where you want to record a podcast and how much you are willing to invest. Some podcasts are recorded in professional studios, others are created at their own expense (buying two microphones and a mixer). After recording, some decide to edit and edit the podcast, others do it themselves. Me and Natalia, when creating the marketing podcast “About advertising on the Internet: for whom, for how much and for what?” we focused on a professional studio and our own editing, because we have experience in this.
Maintaining social media profiles
The next channel to reach is worth thinking about before starting activities. You don’t have to be everywhere. Determine where your target audience is and how to engage them to click on your ad. Will graphics or maybe a short video be better? Will TikTok or Facebook be better? What about Instagram and Pinterest? Keep in mind that you can create a different ad creative for each channel. Is online marketing for everyone?
In general, yes. Every service industry will find its customers on the Internet. I am not mentioning online stores (e-commerce) because it is obvious that they need online marketing. Think about whether it should be your main channel for reaching customers or just supportive. There is no one good answer to where it is better to be. A lot depends on the business you run, where you get customers from (e.g. from recommendations) and what budget you can spend on marketing activities.
When I say marketing activities on the Internet, I don’t just mean ad settings in Google Ads. Online marketing is the whole process I described above. From searching for topics by a content manager, through writing texts by a copywriter, posting on a blog and promoting through social media or newsletters. The whole thing is preceded by an analysis of the target group, research and tests.
The aforementioned marketing brief and marketing consultations will be helpful. Determine which products or services will be the most profitable in your opinion and compare it with the situation on the market – both classic and online. Online marketing specialists with the right knowledge and tools will help you research the online market.
With their help, you will learn about keywords that are important in your industry. You can use this information both in paid activities, e.g. Google Ads and Facebook Ads, as well as in positioning, increasing the visibility of the website in organic results. It should be emphasized that it is important to choose the right channels. Content marketing will work well in one industry, while Google Ads will dominate in another.