How to market your business online and advertise online using social media the right way so that you can start attracting leads without chasing people around? Digital marketing over the years has exploded, and the number of tools, techniques, and strategies, and everything you hear about has become overwhelming. We realize for new digital marketers or people just looking to promote something or get started how overwhelming things can be when everything is just thrown in their faces.
Hence in this article, we will discuss some of the tools you can use everything you need to know to get you started with your digital marketing journey for your physical business.
First, let’s understand what digital marketing is. Digital marketing is a combination of many different areas, and a comprehensive and effective digital marketing strategy involves continuous effort in all of these areas. Let’s dive into the facts now. How can you promote your physical business with digital marketing?
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the technique used to improve page rankings in major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. When you rank higher in search engines, it can bring you more traffic to a website. The reason is, searching is one of the key ways people discover information online.
SEO marketing is an essential and successful technique digital marketers use to advertise a product or service. SEO is vital because many consumers are searching online, even for physical stores. Backlinko reports a 31.7% click-through rate for the top Google search result. So, now you should realize how important it is to be at the top, not only with the quality of your services but also with Google search result rankings.
Using SEO for your organization has several benefits. The most critical are:
- SEO improves organic search visibility.
- SEO drives targeted traffic to relevant sites.
- SEO evolves to meet evolving client needs.
- SEO builds and maintains online clients.
Keywords in a website must match what an internet user is typing. This is the base of SEO. Leading physical businesses work with SEO specialists to increase traffic and reach a larger audience. These specialists use the tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, Moz Local Listing Score Keywordtool.io, and Google Analytics.
How is the future of SEO? Will it continue to benefit physical business? SEO attracts consumers depending on their search terms, which benefits both businesses and customers. Voice search and AI are on the rise, and they can help SEO marketing reach more internet users and retain more clients.
Setting up Google My Business and local search engine optimization
This comes as part of SEO as well. But, I would like to allocate it a separate space to talk about owing to its importance. Local SEO is critical because it can help your business stand out even if you don’t have a website. Yes, it’s true! This allows you to get exposed to internet leads with no website. These leads are likely to convert well from people actively looking for your products or services.
Stats have proven that 4 in 5 consumers now use search engines to obtain local information, and search results information sends 70% of consumers to a physical store.
Not only that, Local SEO can affect people’s decisions in your favor. When people know about your company before visiting, they will start trusting your business. Having positive reviews under your business name is an added advantage.
On Google, the local search results display a selection of the top three most relevant results. You will see them just under the area for pay-per-click advertisements. Here, a map with dropped pins makes it easier for the clients interested in your business.
If you haven’t already created a Google My Business profile for your company, you should do so immediately. That is the only through which you can get into Google’s ‘business directory’ and list your company’s details. Images, location, address, website, contact information, and customer reviews. The bottom line is that people will probably not discover your business if you don’t update your business’s address in Google My Business and other web directories.
Creating social media pages and optimizing
According to Smart Insights, 3.8 billion internet users will have used social media in 2020, up 9% from 2019. Given the size and expansion of that audience, it’s no surprise that social media marketing has become one of the fastest-growing digital marketing strategies.
A well-made website can establish your company’s identity. But, the easiest way to interact with your clients is not a website. It is social media. It is recommended to have a strong social media strategy for a business.
Social media can help physical enterprises to raise brand exposure and interest. This will eventually lead to the conversion of potential customers and the retention of already existing ones. Below are a few ways through which you can optimize your social media.
- Create a business page where your customers can reach out to you.
- Updating the pages regularly and creating engaging content.
- Posting behind-the-scenes, customer testimonials, causes, and posts that show the brand’s personality and values and get closer to the audience.
- Engage with your audience. Respond to comments and messages professionally.
Running ad campaigns targeting the area where your physical store is located at
An advantage of advertising on social media is that you are allowed to target specific demographics. You can also provide demographic information like the target audience’s age and interests. These tools let you reach more people, and they have been beneficial, especially on Facebook and Instagram.
You can target a specific city and add relevant factors to your marketing campaigns to target potential buyers. Also, it is vital to add a Call to Action that will prompt the users to click on it. How do you get to know whether your social media advertisement is performing well or not? These platforms have an analytics section to refer to what ads are working well and what is not.
Instant Message Marketing
A business can approach current or potential clients via SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram direct messaging, or Facebook Messenger. Instant message marketing can assist build a consumer database.
A significant benefit of instant messaging to physical businesses is the ability to contact their customers periodically with special offers and product promotions. What is a better marketing method? Is it calling your customer from a number they are unaware of or dropping them a text? It is the latter.
Businesses should evaluate the breadth of ways to reach out to clients on multiple platforms, bearing in mind that different services have distinct audiences. Here are a few methods to approach your customers through instant messaging.
- SMS
- Message feature on Instagram
- LinkedIn Messenger
- WhatsApp Message
Online businesses and brands can reach millions of consumers on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger chat apps. For the physical businesses also, there is not much difference. The benefits are immense. Instant messaging marketing will continue to be a powerful feature of digital marketing efforts mainly due to its greater open rates.
Last Word
Digital marketing is more vital today than ever. Take measures to build or strengthen your marketing strategy for our physical business today to accelerate your outcomes in the times to come.
