It’s start of the new year where businesses are starting to prepare for the months ahead. Whilst some are happy to simply carry on doing the same things as last year, other, more ambitious companies are starting to think about growth plans.
One of the key areas which can help to grow your business is marketing. The more people who get to see and hear about your business the greater chance of increasing sales. What’s more, with advanced marketing solutions such as Linkedin Ads and Facebook Ads it’s now easier than ever to get in front of more relevant people.
In this blog, we will look at things you should consider for your digital marketing strategy in 2020.
Web Design
Whilst it’s not the first thing you think about when creating a digital marketing strategy in 2020, your website design is crucial to your success.
“75% of consumers have admitted that they judge businesses’ credibility based on their website design”. Source business.com
So if your website is outdated, hard to navigate and not up to the latest mobile standards, you could be wasting time with your marketing efforts as conversion rates will be low.
What should I do?
Sometimes what we think about our website and what others think is different. It’s best to speak to internal staff and customers to gather views on the website. If they feel it looks good and is easy to navigate then your website is most likely fine to start your marketing efforts.
Another test you should perform is based on how the website looks on mobiles or tablets.
“According to research in Q3 2019 at least half of website traffic is now from a mobile device.” Source Statista.com.
Therefore, if your website doesn’t perform well on mobiles or tablets you could again be losing customers.
If your website is outdated and not mobile-friendly, your first task for 2020 to fix this. This will hold the key to your marketing efforts. Web design costs vary depending on the size of your website and your current content.
Search Engine Optimisation
A large proportion of your digital marketing strategy in 2020 should be dedicated to search engine optimisation. A lot of business owners make the mistake of getting a website and thinking, that’s it, people will visit and I will generate sales. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
One of the ways to attract visitors to your website is to implement search engine optimisation. There are 3 different areas we think you should be working on in 2020 to boost your search engine optimisation.
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Keyword Implementation
After thinking about the words and phrases that consumers would likely search to find your business. You will then need to use tools such as Googles Keyword tool to discover data such as traffic levels. Once agreed, these keywords need to form the basis of your SEO and be included in various places where relevant such as Titles, Meta Data and Heading Tags.
Every page on your site including blog posts needs to be focused around keywords and optimised accordingly.
-Blogging
“Content is king” is one of the most popular phrases within the digital marketing industry. Static sites without new content can be judged as inactive and therefore less likely to rank. It’s therefore important to create new content regularly. The best way to do this is to create a blog. This can open up ways to talk about your product in different ways and avoid spoiling your main website with too much information.
Think of your website like a tree, the more leaves a tree has, the more rain it catches. This is similar for a website, the more pages it has the more traffic it can potentially capture.
-Link Building
The final part of your SEO strategy for 2020 is link building. Whilst your blog (if well written and informative) can drive natural links. You’re most likely to build links back to your site. This can be done in a variety of ways such as relevant directories, case studies on suppliers sites and guest posts.
What should I do?
Keyword research and implementation are needed to form the basis of SEO. Without it implemented correctly it might be hard to attract the relevant visitors and drive growth. If you’re unsure on this stage then speak to an SEO consultant who can advise on your options. They can create packages to perform research and implement keywords correctly.
For blogging, it’s useful to look at the keyword research and see what high volume searches are being performed that you might be able to target content around. For example, if you manufacture skirting boards then your main keyword would be skirting boards. But if a large number of people are searching ‘How to paint skirting boards’ you can tap into this traffic by writing a blog focused around the subject whilst still remaining relevant.
If you are unable to call upon keyword research then think about useful information that might relate. A blog should be used to educate rather than to try directly sell your services. Think of things such as how-to guides, tips on using your products and services, style advice, hot topics such as environmental issues etc. We shall release a blog with ideas about what to blog about at a later date.
Link building is an area you need to be careful about, building links that are unrelated can be more harmful than helpful. Therefore when looking to build links you need to check the domain authority of the website which is linking and make sure their content is relatable to yours. For example, a link from a travel blog to a website about web design is not likely to help out.
Social Media
One of the main problems small businesses have is the lack of resources to develop their social channels. In years gone by it was a case of just being there that helped get your business noticed. But as with a lot of successful avenues, they soon become highly competitive.
Therefore to stand out and grow your brand you need to produce high quality branded content on a regular basis. This means that as a small business you will need someone to produce photos/graphics and videos to catch the attention of different users.
To employ someone full time with relevant graphic design skills, video production and good written communication could cost a lot of money.
What should I do?
If you don’t have the time or skills you could look to digital agencies, they have multiskilled people that can produce content for you on a regular basis. They can design packages to suit your budgets and advise on the best strategy to suit.
Alternatively, if you feel confident then you could attempt to start building your social media accounts yourselves. There are easy to use graphical platforms such as Canva which are useful for getting started on social media. Planning ahead can help you to come up with the content throughout the month and looking at what others post to give you ideas.
Paid Advertising
Paid advertising such as google ads can be highly targeted and get your business in front of relevant people quickly.
If done correctly then it can help get your business to expand quickly. However, there are steep learning curves which could cost a lot of money if you’re not careful.
Other types of paid adverts can help grow your social media channels and get your audience in front of other users. Facebook also have what’s called the Facebook Pixel which offers powerful remarketing solutions for people who visit sites when logged in.
There will be some web design required as paid advertisements are usually sent to landing pages which are designed to convert.
A successful paid advertising campaign usually requires a lot of A/B testing to constantly look for ways to improve your campaigns.
What should you do?
If your business is looking to gain leads straight away then paid advertising might be the step to take.
Paid advertising can involve a lot of trial and error so if you’ve got a strong marketing budget and the patience you can try it out for yourself.
Alternatively, if you wish to reduce the risk of making mistakes and getting a strong head start, agencies can take control of your campaigns for you. They can charge in various ways so make sure you choose a package which is correct for you.
Video
Another opportunity for your digital marketing strategy in 2020 is to explore video content. Video can allow you to keep viewers engaged longer. Most website visitors prefer to digest video content over any other form of content.
By uploading your videos on YouTube and other video platforms such as Vimeo you can also appear in video search engines to help boost your reach. This can add a new traffic source to your website and drive further growth online.
It’s important to write good video titles and add keyword-rich descriptions to help your videos come up within the search.
What should you do?
If your confident enough you could start shooting video straight away. Most people have powerful camera phones in their pockets which can shoot high-quality video. Using YouTube and few video editing apps you can get started on creating video content.
If however, you want to produce something more professional such as an explainer or animated video then you might need to look
Preparing for your digital marketing strategy in 2020
Now that everyone has returned to work companies are starting to put together their digital marketing strategies for 2020. We’ve briefly discussed in this blog which areas you need to look at. The next steps are to take action and put plans in place.
If you don’t have a dedicated marketing team or any marketing knowledge it might be best to contact an agency such as Pug Mug Marketing.
We can help with your marketing strategy and discuss the best avenues for your business to take when attracting new customers.
If you’d like to get in touch email hello@pugmugmarketing.com
Kevin has been involved in Digital Marketing for over 10 years. He’s worked with a variety of small businesses from telecommunications companies to skirting board manufacturers.
Working in small businesses has led him to develop various skills from graphic design to web design and search engine optimisation.
Along with his degree in Business Management and his digital marketing experience he formed Pug Mug Marketing in 2017.
After growing many small businesses, he believes he has the experience to help grow yours.
