Within any business model, it is important to develop an effective online marketing plan early on. It is from this springboard that your business will base various online marketing strategies, so getting it right and making it effective is essential. The below points highlight some key steps to creating a successful marketing plan.
- Define Your Target Market
Defining your target market or customer is the first stage of a successful online marketing plan. It will make your job a lot easier if you have a niche market in mind during the developmental stages of your business plan, along with your USP. Once you have a clear idea of who your customer is, create in-depth buyer personas.
What is a buyer persona?
A buyer persona is a representation of your ideal customer, with the sole purpose of enabling you to personalize your marketing efforts for sectors within your target audience. It is best to collate real data to devise these buyer personas. You can achieve this through research, polling and interviewing members of your target audience. Find out the age, gender, location, job role and even education of those who are interested in your product and/or services. Even include an image of your business’ typical customer.
Buyer personas allow you to customize your messaging, branding and product development for your ideal customer, as well as create content and offer services that are specific to their needs and behaviors. Some handy buyer persona research tools to consider using include Up Close & Persona, Personapp, and MakeMyPersona.
- Implement SEO Practices
Along with effective target marketing, it is worth including SEO practices within your online marketing plan. SEO can help you gain visits to your site through specific ad placement, the use of well-researched and carefully selected keywords, and the development of campaigns and ads to ensure maximum exposure, resulting in higher traffic and conversion rates.
What are the benefits of SEO?
- Organic exposure
- An increase in traffic
- Better ROI in comparison to traditional ads
- A user-friendly website
Link building, keyword targeting, and website code analysis are other features of SEO that can garner positive results for your business. Consider reaching out to SEO experts such as digitalmarkgroup.com to see how your business can benefit from on-page optimization and engagement items such as adding in YouTube videos and infographics.
- Choose Your Platforms Wisely
Depending on the personas you create in your online marketing plan, your target audience or ideal customer will most likely be operating more frequently on a certain platform. Do not underestimate the power of social media. In this digital age, tapping into channels that your customers most commonly use helps with brand exposure and improving your brand’s authenticity and transparency.
According to Brand Buddha, almost 90% of marketers say their social marketing efforts increases exposure for their businesses, but only 32% of businesses invested in social media marketing. Don’t get left behind. Instead, discover which channel will boost your business so you aren’t wasting your time, energy or efforts.
This may involve:
- Facebook adverts
- Instagram stories/regular posts
- Twitter advertisements and engagement
- Pinterest ads
- LinkedIn blog posts
Customer demographics will enable you to determine the most appropriate channels to regularly operate and post on. Ideally, you will be present on multiple platforms, but be careful not to waste time creating content that isn’t reaching your customers. Instead, take the time to discover where your audience spends time and focus your efforts there.
