The new year has finally dawned, leaving the chaos of 2020 behind us. If you are anything like us though, you would have used every opportunity that 2020 held to kick off a successful new business. eCommerce and digital businesses, unlike their brick-and-mortar counterparts, were the only industries to actually flourish during the global pandemic.
With repeated and extended lockdowns being implemented globally, customers turned to online retailing and shopping for their basic needs and wants. This propelled the online industry into unprecedented levels of growth that they had never seen before. In fact, many businesses compared their lockdown sales to that of an extended Black Friday and had to pivot their business operations to cater to the increased traffic.
So, whether you have just started a new business or you are expanding your business to cater to the new online audience, we thought we would give you some helpful advice. Below, we delve into some of the key ways you can evolve your digital marketing to drive your website to success in 2021.
Invest In Automation Tools and Software
Running a business is hard work, so you will need as much help as you can get. One of the first things that we recommend is to actually spend some time and money investigating the various platforms and tools available to help you make your digital marketing journey easier.
There are dozens of automation options for almost every aspect of your business, and trust us, once you start automating processes, you’ll start freeing up time to concentrate on actually scaling your business. Automation is a great help even if you run a multi-location business. By choosing the right tools it will be easier to make your multi-location marketing successful.
Take your emails, for example. Your emails and newsletters should be going out regularly to your database, but we know just how much work it takes to put these together. Luckily, there are various mailing platforms to choose from that will suit your company’s unique needs.
Take MailChimp, for example. It allows you to create an adaptable template, collate and segment your database, schedule mass emails to be sent and provides you with the key metrics of the email’s success.
The same can be said for social media. Digital marketers hire social media managers to handle the resource and time-consuming task of social media management. But, if you do not have the capacity to do so, invest in Social Media Management Software.
This kind of software allows you to schedule your posts ahead of time on multiple platforms, which saves you more time than you actually think. It also allows you to engage with your followers and draw reports and data all in one place. You will soon see that it is well worth your money spent.
Hire Key Experts to Help You Scale Your Business
Hiring knowledgeable staff has always been one of the key ways of knowing how to scale a business successfully. If you are a startup with very few resources, this can be incredibly tricky. In these COVID-19 times, it makes it even tricker.
The answer here could be remote, freelance staff who you can hire on contract to help you with the nitty-gritty of the work that you might not have insight or skills for. Things like graphic design, development, social media management, content writing, and video editing are all skills that are readily available on numerous freelancing sites.
Not only will you save on office space and basic office equipment, but you can spend some time finding the right freelancer to assist you at the right price. Many work per project, so once they have completed the task, you can move on to another specialized worker for a different project.
Remote working has been made even easier with the introduction of various communication and staff management platforms. Zoom, Monday.com, Trello, and Slack are just a few examples of how you can effectively manage a team as well as their tasks from anywhere in the world, instantly and effectively. These solutions are either free or incredibly affordable, and you will be able to have real-time access to key information and the staff at all times.
Create Content That Will Be Seen
It is one thing investing in content for your site, but are you actually getting this great content seen. Now, we have always been advocates of content that will inform, empower, and educate your customer. So, if you have a blog, and if you don’t, get on that right now; make sure that the articles that you are posting are posts that people actually want to read.
You should constantly be doing keyword research for your website and posts so you have a good insight into what your target audience is searching for. Let’s say you are an online food retailer, for example; people will most likely be searching for “Top Ways to Lose Weight” or “Recipes for Weight Loss for the New Year”. Then get that content out there.
Content calendars will be your best friend for 2021. Map out key holidays and important dates for the year, and flesh out the content for each month from there. Create articles around these important dates, as well as product specials and new product launches. Then it’s time to take it live.
Send out the articles in your email to your database, post them on social media, and send them through to affiliate sites. You can also send your posts to influencers, and especially micro-influencers, to promote in exchange for products or even reimbursement.
Remember, link-building is a key strategy for content promotion. Make sure you focus on quality sites to share content with. Google will rank you higher in the search results if you are interlinking with authoritative sites.
Last Thoughts
The rule of thumb going into 2021 is to always keep the customer in mind. The customer journey is a key element of your digital marketing strategy, so spend some time going through your website from their point of view. Every touchpoint, from entry to delivery, needs to be optimized to create an unforgettable experience for them. Ask yourself, how can I surprise and delight my customer here?
Whether you are ensuring instant and continuous engagement at every point on the site and during shipping, or you are personalizing their experience, customers are more likely to be converted to loyal fans when the retailer exceeds their expectations.
Today’s customer is all about instant gratification. They want to know what the price is and what’s included in that, as well as what the shipping costs are. Instant communication and messaging is a must as they want engagement and answers now. So, keep that all in mind when planning out your strategy for the new year.