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Contrary to what you might read online, digital marketing is neither free nor easy. Even when the web was young, ranking on a results page required the right knowledge and resources to convince search engines that content was relevant and valuable; today, search engines are much more complex and consumers are savvier about marketing practices, so you certainly need top-of-the-line services to make your brand messages visible in the digital space.
These days, there is a near-infinite amount of digital marketing or franchise marketing system resources available to keep up with business demand — but in truth, successful digital marketing is composed of only six elements:
Unique Selling Proposition
A unique selling proposition (USP) is your reason for why customers should buy your product and not your competitors’. It is safe to say that you aren’t alone in your market; likely, you are competing with one if not several similar businesses offering products that solve the same problems faced by your target audience.
You need to identify a USP and hammer it home in your digital marketing, so your prospects not only understand your products but cherish your brand. You can work with a digital marketing agency to pinpoint your USP, or you can brainstorm with your staff.
Website Designer
There is an overabundance of website builders, like Squarespace and Wix, which capitalize on the need for businesses to throw together an attractive and functional site fast. While these snap-together websites are easy and cheap, they aren’t usually the best option for the long term.
First, websites like these are typically constrained in size; once your business starts to grow, you won’t be able to add much content to your site before you reach your limit. More importantly, though, you don’t ever have full control over your website, meaning this critical branding asset is largely influenced by the theme you chose at signup.
Ideally at your business’s launch but certainly once it starts growing, you need to invest in a website designer you can trust. Your website is the hub of your digital marketing strategy; it is where you sell your products, where new customers find info about you, where all your advertising and backlinks direct to, and more.
You need to hire a website designer who understands your business and your brand — and who is willing to continue working with you as your website grows and changes.
SEO Agency
SEO is an aspect of digital marketing that seems easy but certainly is not. As Google and other search engines have evolved, optimizing content and webpages for search has become a herculean task that requires technical knowledge, flexibility and creativity.
Suffice it to say that you cannot manage your business’s SEO on your own; you need nothing less than the best SEO agency in the world to help you navigate the ever-shifting waters of Google’s algorithms. You should customize your SEO services to suit your digital marketing goals, and you should remember that SEO is never set-and-forget; it requires long-term effort to achieve lasting success.
Social Media Management
Social media is much, much more important than you likely realize, not just for the success of your digital marketing but for the success of your business as a whole.
The average web user spends
about two and a half hours on social media per day, and during that time, users interact with their favorite brands, learn about new products and businesses and generally develop awareness and loyalty as consumers.
It is vital that younger businesses take advantage of the relatively inexpensive marketing available through social media by developing engaging pages and content on multiple platforms. However, as with web design and SEO, it is critical that you hire a social media professional, who can more expertly harness the power of social media to your benefit.
Content Library
Content has reigned for decades now, and it continues to be king. Content is the foundation of every digital marketing strategy; without content, you have no way of communicating with your audience, let alone manipulating Google to rank your pages higher within search results.
You need to develop a library of content that website visitors can use as a resource for learning more about your products, your industry, and your business. Ideally, your content will be a mixture of different media, like blog posts, videos, and graphics, but your priority should be producing ample amounts of content that isn’t easily available elsewhere online.
Key Performance Indicators
Finally, no digital marketing strategy is complete without key performance indicators (KPIs), which are metrics used to determine whether your strategy is working or not.
At the very beginning of your marketing campaign, you need to set measurable goals, like increasing conversions, growing a loyal and engaged audience, or building brand visibility online. Then, you need to set KPIs, which you will measure throughout your campaign.
If your KPIs don’t change — or worse, if they shift in the wrong direction — you need to rethink your strategy. Then again, if you see positive change, you can revel in the success of your digital marketing and make additional goals.
It should go without saying that digital marketing efforts are complex, requiring expertise and resources unique to your circumstances. Even so, by focusing on these six elements, you should be much closer to digital marketing success.