First Published: FlyingSolo
Think digital marketing doesn’t work for your business? Think again, says Adam Stewart and here are tips to prove it.
Digital marketing and social media have become an indispensable part of any business strategy. I speak with countless small business owners in niche areas and service companies such as plumbers, electricians and arborists and I constantly hear this: “Digital marketing doesn’t work for our business”.
This is so far from the truth. And to prove it I will share some tactics that have successfully helped niche service companies dominate their market and bring in actual revenue.
Learn everything about your local competitors
This is probably the most important thing that you can do with your marketing campaigns. It’s very important to find out how your local competitors are approaching their marketing strategies. Do a local organic search on your services and see if you are anywhere on the first page. If not, you still need to do this to see what the results bring and track this so you know where to improve and make changes.
You need to take note of your local competitors in your niche and check their website, social media and their overall online presence. Compare your prices, your service offers and your website to theirs and see where you could improve things for optimal results. If you notice a blog post on a competitor’s site is ranking really well but you can see improvements in it, write your own improved version of this. Over time you will see Google favouring your content and you will start ranking better as a result.
Optimise your website
Being able to optimise your website in every possible way is always going to be important. The first thing to consider is your website’s responsiveness. A website that is not responsive and optimised for mobiles is going to lose more than 60% of their potential customers. Most people are using their mobile to browse the web now and this number is only increasing.
“One valuable blog post per week is going to be better than five mediocre publications.”
The loading times on your website are also very important. Any website that takes longer than 3 to 4 seconds to load is going to have a significant increase in bounce rates. If it takes more than 5 to 6 seconds to load, the resulting bounce rates will be devastating to your conversions. Make sure that your images and header are optimised. It’s important that your content is not causing slowdown on the loading times.
Work on your Google My Business listing
Being able to keep track of your Google My Business page and your customer reviews is going to be very useful. If you haven’t listed your site with this service, we suggest you do this as soon as possible. Be sure to avoid any duplicate listings if you want to have optimal results. There are plenty of tutorials online that can help you get the most out of this powerful Google feature.
Create engaging content
This is probably the most important aspect of marketing after optimising your website design and loading times. Once people enter your site, you need to make sure that they will be able to find useful content. Content marketing continues to be king when it comes to organic growth, so make sure that you take the time to create valuable posts that people can use.
Consistency in your blog posting habits is essential, but quality needs to be your priority. This means that you have to focus your efforts on delivering good content even if that means you won’t be posting as often. One valuable blog post per week is going to be better than five mediocre publications.
Engage your audience with videos
Video marketing has turned into one of the most powerful ways to promote a business. People who use mobile devices to browse the web prefer videos with audio and captions. They are more likely to watch a video than they are to read a text article. Luckily, you can also create live streaming videos and promote certain discounts or even show people how a job is done. Either way, videos are always an amazing way to get more people invested in your business.
A good way to do this is to offer a free guide or small eBook related to your niche. One example for a landscaper or gardener could be something as small as 10 essential tips on gardening.
Give something for free or offer discounts to newsletter subscribers and you are likely to get more people signing up. The important thing is to make sure that people can find a valid reason to give you their name and email address.
Another great way to gain email addresses is to use Click Funnels. Roxanne Marante has a few great article on this. visit her website
Do you have the time to actually put in the attention to multiple social media platforms? If not, focus your efforts on a single page or platform. Facebook and Instagram are ideal because they can be merged together easily. Facebook is always a great way to find people in need of your services and its targeting feature is by far the best of the platforms we have available.
Find local influencers in your niche
A popular influencer could bring in thousands of potential customers to your website and social media page with a single shout-out. Don’t go after huge influencers, focus on getting small micro-influencers in your area. Getting influencers related to your niche is going to be extremely useful and can be achieved at a margin of the cost. Another great option is to find a PR Agency in Melbourne who can help you get in contact with the right people.
Focus your targeting on local results
Consider the most popular keywords that people use to look for your services and use those in your content.
Services that cannot be provided digitally should always focus on local results. This is going to be the best way to ensure you can compete and reach the right audience for a fraction of the cost.
Don’t’ forget that your digital marketing efforts need to be consistent. Even if you manage to achieve a good ranking or grow a decent following, you won’t maintain it if you stop creating content and engaging with your audience.
Would you like to see some fast results?
Now, there’s money to be made by applying the marketing ideas you’ve read about in this post… Lots of money! Seriously…
But, to get that money into your bank account , you’re gonna need to apply AND probably customise these ideas so that they will work in your own unique situation.
If you want to take a shortcut and save yourself some trial and error experimentation in doing that, I can help you get up and running, quickly…
FREE CONSULTATION
If the few ideas I’ve shared with you so far make sense, then I’d like to offer you a FREE consultation so you can see how my practical, results orientated approach can give you an advantage over your competitors, win you more sales and clients and then turn those first time buyers into loyal customers that will bring tens of thousands of dollars in lifetime value.
And, this time, a FREE consultation means exactly that, a free consultation – not a ‘free’ sales pitch.
The world is full of ‘pay-me-then-I’ll-show-you-what-I-can-do’ people … but I’m not one of them. During your free consultation I’ll work with you to identify the very best strategy for you and your business and then show you exactly how to implement the strategy.
I’ll hold nothing back during our consultation.
Frankly, my goal is to impress you.
Why – because, if I can show you how to get better results and make more money from our very first session working together, then you might just want to put me on your team.
And putting me on your team is remarkably easy and affordable.
From as little as one half day per month we could be putting marketing right at the top of your list of priorities, ensuring that you hit your targets and achieve your business goals quickly.
You’ve nothing to lose. So give me a call today on 03 9068 6905 to book your free consultation. Or you can shoot me through a message here: : https://digitalbond.com.au/strategy/
