2020 was full of hurdles and unknowns for both individuals and businesses, but now that the new year is upon us, it’s time to put a strategy in place to help ensure success for 2021. In this article, the Marketing Manager at WNY Holdings LLC, Christopher Lee, details five ways to improve the results of marketing strategies for the new year. Mr. Lee’s methods include understanding your customer and the use of various media to reach your audience. Lee also highlights the importance of search engine optimization to help you get the results you deserve.
1 Learn more about your customers
There is arguably nothing more important for marketers than knowing their customers. The more you know and understand your customers, the more effective your marketing strategies will be.
The latest technologies are invaluable in improving marketing strategies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can be employed, now more than ever, to learn about your customers. AI chatbots are an excellent example of how these technologies have revolutionized the way people interact with websites. Chatbots are not only useful in providing customers with information – they are effective tools for gathering data about customers.
Learn how to extrapolate useful marketing information about your customers by how they interact with your chatbots.
2 Learn what is working and what isn’t
Evaluating ad campaigns’ effectiveness, social media strategies, and websites should be an ongoing process. The beginning of a new year is a great time to take a hard look at each strategy to ensure you know what is working for you. Marketing goals change, and too often, the corresponding platforms and resources used to achieve those goals are not updated.
3 Experiment with alternate strategies
Once you’ve identified what marketing techniques help your organization reach its goals and which do not, begin to implement some alternate strategies.
As an example, instructional videos are very popular. If your product or service lends itself to that medium and you have not used them before, give it a try.
Other alternates may include a change in ad locations, new keywords, or increased social postings. It may consist of trying a platform you have not used before. You might try creative partner relationships and cross-marketing.
A key to successful experimentation is documenting every aspect of the new strategies. Avoid a situation where improved results are noted, but you are unsure of how to attribute the improvements.
4 Improve your SEO
For some businesses, search engine optimization (SEO) is critical. If your success is tied to appearing at the top of search engine results, you should invest as much time and resources as you can to improving your website’s SEO.
There is a nearly endless supply of educational resources online to understand SEO’s intricacies better. Many are free, and some are not. Use them all.
Strictly avoid gimmicky SEO strategies. Search engines are experts at detecting keyword flooding and ferreting out poor quality content.
5 Leverage the best of each social platform
If you are using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, all in the same way, you’re not alone, and the good news is there is room for improvement. Each of these top platforms serves a unique purpose, and each must have its own marketing strategy.
Few things will turn off, and even insult, LinkedIn users more than what they perceive to be a Facebook type post. LinkedIn is an excellent platform for building your network and increasing your visibility but is not intended to be a direct sales outlet.
Instagram can be useful, but only if your product or solution presents well in a visual medium. Take time to fully understand the value of each platform you use for marketing. Design a strategy for each instead of thinking of them as equal delivery mechanisms for the same content.
About Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee is the Marketing Manager at WNY Holdings LLC, a customer-focused digital marketing company that was started in 2018 to provide tailored marketing strategies for small businesses. Christopher Lee assists clients with all their digital marketing needs, from content marketing, web, and graphic design, media creation, SEO, all the way to Facebook advertising.
