Do you ever feel like you’re chasing after engagement — month after month? If so, it’s time for you to jump off the digital marketing carousel. Easy to do and hard to do well, digital marketing offers a transparent evaluation of strategies through big data. If your metrics disappoint, you can shift your methods. Each of the following ideas takes normal digital marketing activities and pushes them to the next level.

1. Get More Mileage out of Your Content

Product Photos from The Shop Shop
Most small businesses have created online content from blog posts to eBooks to videos. In fact, many organizations have useful information sitting on their websites with really low page views. These efforts are often wasted because they aren’t properly promoted. You can get more traffic to your content by making the following adjustments.
  • Upgrade the visual assets such as, taking a helpful tutorial and making a matching video, infographic, or pin.
  • Improve the written content by saturating it with appropriate keywords, laying out the headings properly, and breaking up lists into bullet points.
  • Create downloads to accompany your written content.
  • Promote these links via social media —ensuring that they have nice preview forms for each platform.
To summarize, you can brush up existing content to attain a higher reach.

2. Plan a Year of Automated Emails

Many small businesses view sales and marketing as separate disciplines. However, linking their tools can help smooth out the transition of marketing leads to the sales team members. Start by making a list of the promotional emails you send each year. Then, sort your contact list (from your point-of-sale system or loyalty program) using tags. Set up your email automations to trigger based on these tags with reminders to your sales team for when they’ll go out. This project brought together my photography, design, and copywriting skills. This client regularly publishes an eNewsletter featuring their latest products and style tips. The click through rate is solid, around 38% with link clicks throughout the content. One reason why their campaigns are successful? We generate original content. It starts with a photoshoot, in this case a flat-lay featuring new products. (I actually captured additional stills to create a stop-motion reel while I worked). Then, I enhanced the image in Lightroom. Finally, I created a newsletter header graphic to complement the short article below it — featuring outfit ideas to transition a wardrobe from summer to fall. For this project, I used product photos from recent shoots to create a collage header for the client’s eNewsletter. It’s an example of a project that brought together my photography, graphic design, copywriting, and retail marketing skills. The project started with photographing each mannequin arrangement, with outfits selected by the client. Then, I uploaded each item to their eStore as well as their Facebook/Instagram catalog. Then, I created a collage graphic, using those same retouched images. In the newsletter, the copy links to a landing page featuring these new arrivals — making it easy for shoppers to buy online or schedule an order for pickup.  text

3. Learn to identify “Intent to Buy”

  Although many small businesses invest time and money into maintaining social media accounts, many struggle to link that activity to profits. Adweek points out the quality of social media followers matters more than the quantity. Task your social media manager to identify “intent to buy.” Over time, they should able to link social media activity to sales and build a strong conversion funnel. After this, personalized, timely messages are key to turning an engagement into a sale. So, you’ll need someone who understands retargeting ads and automations.

4. Plan Events that Make News

Grow your online presence by planning live events. They’re newsworthy, especially in a local market. This unearned media can result in real brand awareness. Currently, 1 in 4 Americans gets their news from social media, according to Pew Research Center. So, your event can go viral on a local level if you work strategically.

5. Consolidate for Consistency

Small business marketers are starting to combine technical and creative disciplines for the benefit of the brand. For example, social media managers can create better posts if they understand the website design for a conversion funnel on a landing page. Sometimes, businesses separate technical disciplines like SEO and SEM from creative roles like design and copywriting. However, that leads to a dilution of the brand for organic traffic.  With 92% of Americans using search engines to find information on the web, the opportunity is clear. Get your teams working together for consistency. For this promotion, I assisted the client with developing a free shipping coupon code for their eStore. Then, I created a eBlast, text message blast, and several related social media posts. I scheduled these to drop over the course of the campaign. I also monitored the results and regularly reported back on the coupon use.

6. Link your Traditional Marketing to Digital Marketing Strategies

Most small businesses utilize a media mix of traditional and digital strategies. However, some forget to link the two for the best audience experience. This mistake can cost. Traditional mediums, like print advertising or direct mail, can be used as a gateway to your online experience. These mediums create trust and often, get visibility in clutter-free channels.  This can be as simple as generating customized landing pages for these initiatives.

Jump off the Digital Marketing Carousel

It’s time to jump off the digital marketing carousel and get more out of your project list. Each of the tactics above revamps common marketing activities. Look over what you’re currently doing and ask how many customers you can link back to your digital marketing projects. Then, you’ll be able to identify key areas that need improvement.