With the economic downturn and recent challenges of 2020, many companies have pushed their marketing budget aside. While this might make sense for some businesses, we also know that the efforts you put into marketing now, are guaranteed to produce a successful, long-term return on investment further down the line.
As the heart of your online presence, your website is a lifeline during these challenging times – and you must treat it as so!
A recent Ofcom report found that internet users in the UK are spending a record-breaking amount of time online during the lockdown, and with the nights (4pm onwards) still so dark and gloomy, these statistics are only set to continue. There is no better way to capitalise on these changing consumer behaviours than to focus on your website and online presence.
Work on Your Website
First things first, you need to create an efficient and functional website! Your website is a valuable and fundamental asset of your marketing strategy; many small businesses today can’t survive without one.
Your website is the hub of your company’s online presence, yet it doesn’t need to be fancy to be effective. It does, however, need to be modern, accessible, include all accurate business information and create a positive user experience to get your brand story out there.
Your website must be mobile-friendly, with a smart, simple design that is easy to navigate. It should have a strong SEO strategy including metadata, keyword implementation and off-page elements, and each page should also have a call to action to help drive conversions and leads.
Here you can see the Build, Grow, Ignite Model – Small Business Marketing Maturity Index. This model helps make sure you have all the necessary marketing elements in place before you move onto advanced elements.
Focus on Social Media
As another foundation of your online presence… If you haven’t already got a social media marketing strategy, now is the time to develop one. Social media is an essential part of most of our daily online experiences; people are spending 36% more time on social media during lockdown, which presents an excellent opportunity to increase your brand awareness.
Make sure that your branding is consistent across all social sites, with a tone that is in sync with your website. You can easily create organic educational content by sharing content that is housed on your website, such as blog posts or company videos; make sure it is relevant to the times by tailoring it to your audience and including current challenges. In addition, regularly engaging with comments and followers will help build an online community.
Paid Social and Paid Search
If you are keen to go a step further with your social channels, implementing paid social and paid search will help broaden your marketing horizons with ads that specifically target your desired audience. Statistics show that 75% of people say paid ads make it easier to find the information they are searching for, and PPC visitors are 50% more likely to purchase something than organic visitors. It’s a no brainer.
Make the Most of Email Marketing
Many businesses consider email marketing to be separate from their website. However, for effective marketing, there should be a strong relationship between to two.
When was the last time you cleared out your email list? This is the first port of call before developing any new email campaigns. If there are customers on the list who have made a purchase in the last 24 months, these are still valuable. Those that aren’t? Either remove or separate these into another list for a re-engagement campaign.
When launching an email campaign, content in the email must link back to the website. For example, you could use a link to a blog post, new product/service page, or company video.
In addition, your website is a fundamental part in collecting lead capture forms. Interested visitors can sign up for your mailing list or submit a contact form enabling you to gather valuable information about who they are.
Call in the Professionals
We already know that when facing a crisis, it is tempting to cut back on marketing. Yet, this could be a detrimental mistake. Research shows that investing in marketing during an economic downturn will pay off further down the line.
If you are unsure where to start or what area you’re best focusing your efforts on, it’s time to call in the professionals. Here
at Kreativity, our experienced marketing consultants will help create a detailed marketing strategy and create opportunities to overcome the challenges your business is facing, with exceptional WordPress website design and supporting services. Contact us today and we can help take your business to new heights.
