In today’s fast moving world you can’t afford to ignore the power of digital marketing, yet up to half of all businesses in the UK don’t have a defined digital marketing strategy. Others have a digital plan but not one that is integrated into their overall marketing goals – effectively making it an afterthought.

To create an effective marketing strategy today, you need to focus on lead generation and ultimately increase sales revenue. Improving brand awareness is also key. But how do you go about doing this?

Local focus

Unless your business is a large multinational, you need to keep your focus on the local area. When possible, tag local geographical areas in your social media posts. Use local keywords in your hashtags and work the name of towns or cities into captions and other posts. The more search engines see your business or brand in association with local places and keywords, the better you will score in the rankings.

User generated content

Authenticity is key to a successful marketing strategy. If something feels phoney or fake, then it won’t play well with the consumer. Content that is created by users gives a massive boost to the authenticity. Around two thirds of consumers say that user generated content is the most authentic form – whether it’s photos, videos or reviews. So, try and get your customers or clients to contribute.

Chatbots

These little things are popping up everywhere, answering FAQs, getting in touch and placing orders. You should be all over these little tools, embedding sales materials and messaging in as many places as you can.

Influencer marketing

You might have heard the term influencer being thrown around everywhere, and no matter what you think of the trend, it has proven to be incredibly successful. Kylie Jenner has become a billionaire at the age of 20, not because of any discernible talent but because millions of people value her opinion. Which means businesses are very keen indeed to have her promote their product. Now Kylie might be a little bit out of your price range for an endorsement but the same process works on a much smaller scale. It might take some time to get this right but when you do the results will be impressive.

Social media

OK, so not exactly a hot new trend, but the way people use social media is constantly evolving and your marketing strategy needs to keep this in mind. The demographics of Facebook are changing so you need to relate this to your target audience. Sites like Pinterest are starting to have more of an influence, so you need to keep abreast of what’s happening in the field.

Interactive content

Blog content and pdfs have their place and always will but to really engage potential clients you need them to interact with you. Web experiences are starting to play a big role in engagement, with more compelling animated and visual content leading the way. So, make the move away from one-sided, static content and see what results it brings.

So that’s where we are now but what about where we’ll be in the next 5 years? It’s difficult to predict what a marketing strategy might look like too far into the future, with things evolving at an impressive rate, but what’s key is knowing what you should be doing now and actually doing it. That’s where we can help so get in touch to find out more.