I’ve been monitoring the buzz from Econsultancy’s Online Marketing Masterclasses and I haven’t been surprised to hear some very familiar messages. I spotted one that I thought was worthy of further discussion on Econsultancy’s Twitter feed yesterday afternoon:
@Econsultancy: #OMM Key lessons learnt by Dell – Customers ARE talking about your brand. Either you can be aware and reach out, or you can ignore them…
Where to start? At the beginning, of course
We know that people who don’t work in our industry can find online marketing and social media rather intimidating. They become especially daunting when companies realise – like Dell did – that people are already talking about them and they can’t control it.
From experience with customers across a variety of sectors, we know that every organisation requires a tailored approach to address individual challenges. This is certainly not a ‘one size fits all’ industry. With this in mind, I have compiled some top tips which I hope will provide a good starting point for anyone planning an online strategy:
1. Conduct a situation analysis
If you haven’t engaged with customers online before, it is sensible to review your current online presence and evaluate the awareness of your brand. This kind of analysis can provide you with an insight into any issues that you might not be aware of (negative perceptions, inaccurate information in the marketplace, brand champions and so on) and give you a clear idea of what your immediate focus should be.
2. Identify your audience
Each organisation needs to have a clear indication of who it is that it wants to communicate with online. Remember that diverse groups communicate in different ways across distinct platforms. A third sector organisation will have a very different target audience to an online music retailer, for example, and this should be reflected in their online strategies.
Selecting the appropriate channels to communicate with your desired target market will ensure that your online efforts are far from fruitless.
3. Plan and schedule projects realistically
Sometimes it’s good to dive headfirst into new projects and see where they take you; but when it comes to online marketing, it’s often far wiser to test the waters first – or work with a digital marketing agency that knows them implicitly.
Making yourself work to a structured and manageable plan can mean the difference between a successful and durable campaign – and blowing your annual budget in month one.
4. Agree key performance indicators that reflect your wider business goals
For some organisations it’s all about visitor numbers, while for others cost per click is key. Appearing on page one for search terms that don’t make you any money isn’t a viable long term strategy, nor is ploughing budget into expensive PPC ads that don’t convert to sales.
That said, don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with budgets and keywords. The results will always be measurable so you can see which tests really worked.
5. Track the results of your campaign using analytics
Coast Digital is all about ‘marketing you can measure’. We can confidently say this because online marketing offers complete measurability. We are able to continuously monitor, analyse and report on the very latest results from your analytics which enables us to optimise your campaign to be as profitable as possible.
Do you have this in my size?
If this tailored approach sounds like something that your business needs, get in touch. We’d love to help you launch an online marketing campaign that meets your individual requirements.