Creating an Effective Digital Marketing Plan

The most successful marketing plans have always been based on the idea that consumer habits and motivations are in a constant state of evolution. Add the technology-driven digital marketplace to the equation, and you have a scenario where marketing strategies are probably best set down in pencil rather than ink.

Your 2020 digital marketing plan should reflect these changes and trends occurring in the marketplace. Here are a few important tips to help you craft more effective and more responsive marketing strategies for your business.

You Need to be Wherever Your Customer Is

Effective marketing demands an effective multi-channel marketing strategy. Depending on your specific business, this might include retail stores, your website, direct mail marketing, email, and text messaging, to name just a few. The idea is to reach out to prospective customers wherever they feel comfortable and at ease doing business with you, which is increasingly becoming more digital-oriented. To meet this consumer shift away from traditional advertising channels, small businesses on average are devoting about 50 percent of their total marketing budget to digital marketing.

Your overall multi-channel marketing plan might even include traditional advertising channels, such as print and broadcast media, that support your digital marketing so long as these “old school” tactics can still effectively reach your target markets.

However, to ensure success, your marketing strategy must include a vibrant and well-managed digital component. To fully exploit the digital marketplace, many businesses turn to professional marketing services for help. These services can offer tailored advice on how to optimize your online presence, develop impactful advertising campaigns, and effectively engage with your target audience across various digital platforms.

Take a Long, Hard Look at Your Website

Your basic contact information (street address, phone number, email address) needs to be prominently displayed throughout your site. Make sure that your information is consistent throughout all your various business directory listing. The search engines and business directories will spot little inconsistencies like different phone numbers, or spelling out “Street” in one listing and abbreviating it with “St.” in another, and this could cost you website traffic.

Make sure that your website is mobile-optimized. An estimated 59 percent of consumers are using a mobile device for local searches, yet only 10 percent of small business websites are properly optimized for the mobile user. Again, you need to be where the customers are if you’re going to be competitive.

Content Will Still be King in 2020

Without fresh, updated content, there is little incentive for website visitors to return. When you consider that the majority of consumers prefer to get their information about a business by reading informative articles rather than advertising, you’re missing the boat if you’re not providing updated content on a regular basis, preferably weekly.

The search engines consider unique and valuable content an important factor in determining where your business appears in the search result rankings. Better content that keeps visitors glued to your website means more satisfied searchers, which means more income potential for the search engines. Give the search engines the content that they want, and they’ll give you the better rankings that you want.

Consider Re targeting to Boost Your Conversions

As per the-bitcoin-profit.com, 2 percent of conversions happen on a first website visit. Re-targeting, or re-marketing, is a fairly recent development that can help boost your website’s conversion rate. This involves placing a “cookie” on the browser of your website visitors. Once this “cookie” is in place, your ad will follow that visitor wherever they go online. You can limit the number of times people are exposed to your ad to prevent burnout; a maximum of 15 to 20 times over a month is a good rule of thumb.