Proven Steps for a Successful Online Marketing Strategy – Part 1

In today’s world, an online marketing strategy is a must for every business and organization if they want their message to be heard.  In order to succeed you need to have a structured plan and work through it, knowing exactly what needs to be done.  Here are 5 proven steps that you must take if you want to have a successful online marketing strategy:

1. Identify your ideal customers and what keywords they search with

We like to use fishing analogies here at Big Fish Results, so here we go!  In order to haul in the biggest catch, you need to know what kind of fish you’re going after and what they’re looking for.  This is an important step that you must do before you do anything else with your digital marketing strategy.

To the best of your ability, write down what your ideal customer looks like, including:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Location
  • Education
  • Income Level
  • Needs
  • Pains
  • Etc.

The better you understand your customer, the better you can market to them.  Put yourself in their shoes and think about when they go to the search engine to search for a product or service that meets a need, what would they type in the search results to find what they’re looking for.

Come up with 20-30 keywords or phrases that they would enter in the search engines to find your business or service.  IMPORTANT: Don’t use industry specific or super technical terms.  Use the keywords and phrases that the everyday person might use.  You can always expand upon this list to get more specific, but you will want to start broad when doing your keyword research, then, along the way, you will find more specific terms to focus on.

2. Use personal branding to gain trust in the online marketplace

Building trust is a part of the online marketing game and nothing does that better than consistent personal branding.  You want to make sure that your branding is consistent across your website, social media channels, and all promotional content to establish a strong presence and avoid confusion.

Things you should keep consistent:

  • Colors
  • Fonts
  • Brand Logos
  • Positioning of those logos
  • Taglines or mantras

Do you have a branding strategy in place?

3. Optimize your website layout and use search engine optimization

The way your website is layed out affects how people take action on when they visit.  If it is messy, plain, or empty – chances are people may leave quite quickly.  However, if you have great content on your website that provides the reader with great value, you will increase the time they spend on your site, as well as the likelihood of them taking a desired action.

You also want to ensure that you implement search engine optimization best practices to ensure the content you work hard to create, shows up for the keywords that your target audience is searching for.  Sound like you’re in over your head?  We have a FREE SEO Assessment that you can take to find out how your site performing and how you can improve.

4. Get ranked in the local business results

Good fisherman fish where the fish are.  As a local business, you MUST get yourself ranked for local search results to drive more traffic to your site from people in your area.  This involves getting listed on review sites such as Google+ Local, Yelp, Bing Local, Yahoo Local, and other local business pages.

This can be a long and tedious process, but have no fear – we have a solution for you here.

5. Research Your Competitors

You probably know who your competitors are already, but do you know what they’re doing online?  One thing we always look at when creating a digital marketing strategy is the activities of our top competitors.  We have the best tools and tactics for discovering what is working for your competitors to create a plan for how you can take profit from it.  Competitive Analysis can be a game-changer for you and your business.

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level but don’t know where to get started,
we have many tools and resources available for you and your team.

Click the button below to get started: