Some people make the mistake of thinking that "modern marketing" is as simple as eschewing physical print for digital media - but they'd be wrong...
Modern marketing is a holistic approach that focuses on connecting brands with real-life customers that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Modern marketing drives business results by blending technology, imaginative content and then analysing the results to spots areas for improvement.
Slightly older styles of marketing would encourage businesses to cast their net far and wide to touch as many people as possible, and then whittle down that large number of people to valuable leads. However, more modern techniques focus on creating high quality content that acts as a powerful magnet to attract genuine customers.
Building Trust Through Content Marketing!
Content marketing is the king of the digital marketing chessboard. Your content showcases who you are and what you're about. Customers will often use your content to decide whether you're trustworthy or not.
Your content needs to pack-a-punch and satisfy a customer’s pain-point. A pain-point is the reason why they are seeking your help in the first place. For example, they might want information about your products or services, or they might want to buy something from you. Your content is your primary way of establishing trust with your potential customers.
Stale content is a big "no no" in todays fiercely competitive market. Your content needs to be accurate and interesting; it needs to have a degree of flare and originality to captivate your target market.
Examples of the types of content include:
- Infographics, images and PDFs
- Videos about your products or services - such as product videos, behind-the-scenes videos, employee interviews etc. Here are 5 types of video you can use as part of your marketing strategy.
- Podcasts
- Blogs are one of the cheapest and most effective forms of online content. The beauty of blogs is that you can write about virtually any topic, sharing your knowledge and expertise about your industry. Blogs are also extremely easy to share with your audience, especially through social media and if you optimise the content correctly for your business' keywords
- Offers - Promoting free guides (like an ebook or a checklist / template) is another fantastic way of promoting your business
For further information and ideas on how to improve your content marketing, see here Propel Your Content Marketing To The Stratosphere
Your Website Should Be Your Online Anchor
A website is the modern day equivalent of your business' shopfront window. The vast majority of your clients will look at your website before speaking to you face-to-face. If your website isn't up to scratch, your customers will immediately click away and go elsewhere.
For a beginner's guide to website designs please read this article: 6 Step Checklist To Creating A Polished Interactive Website For Lead Generation
The style and underlying functionality of websites has evolved massively in recent years. A modern website should have the following characteristics and features:
- An online visitor should instantly know what your business does seconds after loading the website. If the user has to sit down and read your about us page, then your website has failed in portraying who you are
- Your homepage should make use of short headlines and subtitles to immediately highlight how you can help your customer. Take a look at the JDR Group homepage or HubSpot's homepage for examples
- Many modern websites make excellent use of full width images / videos - please refer to our website or HubSpot's to see what I mean. Images are worth a thousand words, and the human brain can retain visual information far easier than written copy
- Your website needs to be mobile friendly - especially seeing as most people browse the internet on hand-held devices and tablets
- Webpages beginning with "Welcome to our site..." are considered outdated. Instead, your written copy should be concise and less waffly
- Your Call-To-Action buttons (CTA) should be above the fold of your website. "Above the fold" means your customer should be able to click on the CTA without scrolling down the page. CTAs are a fantastic way to guide your customer through the sales funnel and get the conversion started
- The CTAs and hyperlinks on your website should take your customers to different landing pages. For example, a CTA button about "social media services" should take the customer to a social media themed landing page or a social media based offer like an ebook, not a generic contact us page
- Ecommerce websites should be easy to navigate and have an easy-to-use checkout stage. Check out the following blog for homepage design tips for ecommerce businesses! 8 Ideas For A Great Ecommerce Website Home Page
Social Media
Social media has quite literally changed the world in recent years. Listen to our Digital Prosperity Podcast for a full explanation as to why social media is so valuable for modern marketers...
Ways you can use social media for business development include:
- Ask people to read and share your online content such as blogs, videos and infographics
- You can use social media to promote your new products and services. Using hashtags like "#gardenservices" is a great way to be seen and heard by your audience
- You can build rapport by responding to comments and questions from your customers
- If possible you should make use of new social media features such as Facebook Live and 360° videos to boost brand engagement!
Final Thoughts
The frameworks and tactics behind marketing and advertising are constantly evolving year after year. The key to marketing is to promote the solution to people's problems. Focusing on selling all the time will only push your customers away. All your marketing channels should focus on highlighting your business to be reliable and excellent at what you do.
If you need help with any aspect of your marketing please contact the JDR Group today and one of our marketing specialists will perform a FREE review of your current strategy to help you identity ways to improve.
