Four steps to an effective digital marketing strategy

Four steps to an effective digital marketing strategy for your Tradie Business

As digital marketing continues to expand, it is becoming increasingly important for business owners to know how to implement their strategies in a digital landscape.

Digital marketing is a practical way to satisfy a need — immediately when your customer needs something. At its core, the goals of marketing remain unchanged: engage with customers, identify demands, communicate ideas, and share your business with current and potential customers. The difference now is that people are seeking these experiences online.

Digital marketing, when worked into a complete marketing plan, is a well-rounded approach to creating brand awareness. But one of the biggest obstacles to success is the lack of an effective strategy.

Digital marketing strategies can help you engage with potential clients, and keep them coming back.

So how do you develop a solid strategy?

STEP ONE: SET YOUR OBJECTIVES

Digital marketing is fundamental for modern businesses, but beginning the process without first determining your overall mission will set you up for failure.

Figure out your goals. You want your business to grow, certainly — but in what way? Do you want to increase your number of jobs, or build your reputation in the community, or get an edge over your competitors, or gain more traffic to your website, or launch a new service? Knowing your intentions will give you a measurable goal to work towards.

Importantly, spend time doing research. Develop an understanding of your customers, analyse any of your previous marketing plans, and identify the overriding objective that you want your digital marketing efforts to achieve.

STEP TWO: IDENTIFY YOUR CONSTRAINTS

The digital world is constantly evolving, which causes new technologies, tactics and opportunities to emerge, each with varying potential for your business. But in order to take advantage of these opportunities, you must first identify your means, and map out the progression of your marketing plan.

There are certain obstacles involved with digital marketing, including budget constraints, lack of experience with marketing, lack of research, and uncertainty about ROI through digital channels. By taking stock of your resources and knowing how much time, money and workmanship you can dedicate to your digital marketing efforts, you will be better equipped to build a strategy suited to your business.

STEP THREE: GET NOTICED

The capacity of a business to thrive in today’s marketplace is based on how well that company integrates and adapts to digital media. There are a variety of ways to improve your online presence:

Quality content — Professional, high-quality content should be a given. Well-designed websites, eye-catching visuals, interesting videos, and efficiently written content are all necessary pieces to the digital marketing puzzle.
SEO — The main way that new customers will find your business is through a search engine results page. Search engine optimisation increases your likelihood of a Page 1 ranking, and leads to improved web traffic.
Responsive website — Your website will often be the first point of interaction between your business and website. Make sure it is functioning at its best, with quality design, a memorable domain, and an optimised experience across all devices.
Multi-channel optimisation — Digital marketing presents many available channels through which you can connect with your customers. Consider engaging across different social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on.

STEP FOUR: MONITOR YOUR RESULTS

Creating a solid strategy is imperative for digital marketing success, but that doesn’t mean your strategy is infallible. Once implemented, it is important that you continuously measure and monitor your plan’s performance, and make changes where necessary.

Your strategy is unlikely to be perfect from the start — and that’s okay. The first three steps will help you to construct a plan geared towards success, but ongoing evaluation and optimisation of the individual elements of your strategy is the final and most important step towards increasing ROI.

Digital marketing can make a massive difference for the growth of your business.

Connected Tradies has multiple options for digital marketing strategies that enhance your company. Have a chat with us about finding a plan that suits your business and budget, and start building that important digital connection with your customers.