Did you know that over 4.95 billion people around the world use the internet, as of 2022? That’s more than half the world population scouring the internet for information, products and services.
Filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful content, the internet offers unique benefits that other marketing mediums, such as tv, radio and print media, just can’t offer. Scope, personalisation, and the opportunity for more accurate analysis, are just a few of the reasons to consider the internet as an aid to your business growth.
But the internet can also be a tricky place to get your products or services seen. How are you supposed to differentiate your business and reach the right audience in such a crowded space? The answer is online marketing.
Online marketing falls under the umbrella of digital marketing but only includes strategies you use to market yourself online. Online marketing leverages digital channels, including email, social media, websites, and search engines, to ensure you reach your ideal customer.
Unlike more traditional advertising mediums, such as print, the internet encourages two-way conversations between your business and your customer, ideally creating better long-term customer retention.
There’s no avoiding it: online marketing is critical for the success of your business in 2022 and beyond.
Attracting new customers with online marketing
When using online marketing to attract new customers, you’ll want to focus primarily on paid social media ads, search engines, and web design.
It’s no secret that social media is a purchasing powerhouse, with billions of users actively researching, reviewing, and engaging online with brands pre, during and even post purchase.
To start off making use of these platforms, you might use lookalike audiences to get your message in front of an audience similar to your core demographic. You could also pay a social media influencer to share images of your products with their already well-established community.
However, don’t forget to do some market research before diving into paid social media or you’ll end up investing money for no return.
To attract new customers, you also need to maintain a powerful SEO presence. With 81% of shoppers using the internet for research before making purchasing decisions, it’s imperative your business is at the forefront of search for related keywords.
Finally, it’s critical you spend time and resources on your business’s website design.
When your potential customers find your website, they’ll likely feel deterred from trusting your brand and purchasing your product if they find your site confusing or unhelpful. For this reason, it’s important you take the time to create a user-friendly (and mobile-friendly) website.
Creating brand loyalty with the help of online marketing
Online marketing is more than just attracting new customers — it’s also critical for maintaining a loyal, long-term customer base.
You’ll want to use email, blogging, and social media tactics to increase brand awareness, cultivate a strong online community, and retain customer loyalty.
If you don’t already, consider sending personalised emails to past customers to re-engage with them. For instance, you might send discounts based on what they’ve previously purchased, wish them a happy birthday, or remind them of upcoming events. Every touchpoint counts!
Social media comes into play once again when it comes to showcasing your brand’s personality and communicating directly with your customers. Paid ads are all well and good but once you have successfully reached your audience you must make sure to keep them engaged and onside with your band.
Paying attention to content marketing
Content marketing lives under the roof of online/internet marketing. This means online/internet marketing is the more broad, overarching strategy, and content marketing is one process within that strategy.
Content marketing applies only to the process of creating and distributing content to reach audiences.
Online marketing, on the other hand, encompasses sharing that content through email, search engines, and social media. It also includes paid advertising, retargeting, and a wide range of strategies you might use to reach audiences online.
While most of the strategies that fall under online marketing have to do with content creation, online marketing also pertains to the non-content creation tasks such as PPC bidding, or website design.
Here are some Content Marketing strategies worth exploring to ensure your business reaches the right people rather than getting lost in the world wide web.
1. Short-form video content.
Audiences are gravitating more and more toward short-form videos. Short-form videos continue to be the norm as Instagram and YouTube push similar short-form video features such as Reels and Shorts, respectively.
Many marketers are currently leveraging short-form video or plan to leverage it for the first time in 2022.
2. Podcasts and audio chat rooms.
Podcasts are gaining more attention as influencers, celebrities, and comedians continue to step into the medium. Despite low ROI, investment in podcasts or other audio content is expected to grow in 2022.
Research shows that just 14% of social media marketers leverage audio chat rooms like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, and 68% of those say they are the most effective social media marketing platforms they leverage.
Essentially, if you’re not leveraging podcasts and audio chats in your marketing strategy, your competition most likely will.
3. Repurpose content across various channels.
Repurposing content means re-using your existing content and presenting it in a fresh format that extends its lifespan and audience reach.
Examples of repurposing content include:
Sharing old blog posts you’ve updated with new information, fresh data, and video content. Using video clips of podcast recordings sessions on social media to create intrigue and excitement over an upcoming episode.
It can feel tempting to try absolutely everything available, but that seldom works well. No matter how sophisticated your strategy gets there are still influential factors which impact on its effectiveness too.
To really cut through the confusion it helps to know what you’re aiming at.
Read more about marketing and trends in our whitepaper which you can download here.
With passion and professionalism in abundance, Vida Barr-Jones has an impressive track record of establishing and meeting business goals. Vida brings 34 years of commercial experience, having spent eleven years as a Board Director at Europe’s largest FTSE-listed office products wholesaler. Vida is an inspirational leader known for excellent communication and engagement across all levels.