An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Building a Successful Digital Media Marketing Company

Starting afresh with a digital media marketing company to take care of can be quite overwhelming – even for entrepreneurs who have done well and are seasoned in the traditional set-up of offline marketing. When you’re just beginning digital marketing with a clean slate, there’s a ton of questions you need to ask – where do you begin from? What do you start with? How can you garner a sizeable following? How can you manage to connect with the right people? Should you start with something that is sure to get you noticed? Or should you play it safe? We have a fairly simple path laid out for you if you need help with your baby steps into the world of digital marketing.

#1. Clearly know your goals and identify the tools you want to use

You need to have a clear idea as to what you want to achieve. In case your digital marketing goal is to increase sales by x%, then you will have to generate 2x% more leads to your website. You also have to keep in mind about measuring your goals with tools that are accurate – it will be of immense help to you if your customers are aware of these tools as well. Check out what your competitors are doing as well – you don’t want to stray too far, after all.

#2. Develop your SEO strategy

After a while, your website will be ready. So, your next move should be to optimize it so that it becomes visible where it matters – online. You need to remember that your site should be easily found all over the internet, as well as appear on search engines. This can easily be achieved if you list your digital media business on directories that are available online. This is a huge help since your prospective customers find you easily. You will also need to know your target audience, and use a wide-ranging keyword research to gauge the audience and their preferences properly. Keyword researchers can help you know the most searched topics as well. An inbound link building campaign will also be of significant help in optimizing your site. Detailing out these technical SEO aspects will also help you in the long run with the site.

#3. Content Marketing strategy is still important

If you think a digital media marketing company can do well without proper content, you’re in for a rude shock; content is still very much around and will continue to be of immense importance in the days to come. It’s not what people perceive of you; it’s about how you make them see your services and products. Creating content that’s unique and provides value will help you make connections that will last longer and let your customers recognize your brand as well. Content – as is a proven fact – helps convert leads. The content should also let your customers relate to the personality of your brand better. Content marketing should function like a well-oiled machine that needs to be catered to if one wants to build a positive perception. Videos, articles, e-books, white papers, blogs, surveys, case studies and other diverse forms of content will take you closer to your digital marketing goals.

#4. Make yourself known on social media

This is obvious in today’s day and age. Irrespective of what your digital marketing company does, you need to have a strong presence in social media. Consumers are looking up various social media platforms to know more about brands and find out more about the products and services available. Purchase decisions are nowadays based on the brand’s social media presence. So, wait no more – make and maintain your profiles on all the important social media sites like Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. Your content strategy and your social media strategy can’t work in silos. They should be linked to your content gets shared across all available profiles. You need to put in a considerable effort as well as time to grow the following you have on social media considerably.

#5. Online influencers can be of immense importance

No matter what you do, as a lone figure, you will not be able to build a massive group of followers at all. This is where social influencers come in handy. You can get help from famous online celebrities, bloggers, online marketing gurus and popular YouTubers. Online influencers can be complete brands in themselves. Teaming up with them will help you effectively engage your prospects. If you can convince them to do a promo on Facebook or Instagram with your product as the takeaway, it’ll be even better.

#6. Get set to use that phone smartly

As an entrepreneur, you might not be at your workstation at all times. You will probably be moving around a lot to make your business and your brand is known as well. So, it makes a lot of sense to invest in the latest smartphone which offers you more than a simple peace of mind. To accept payments on your handheld, you might also need to buy a credit card swipe machine. The age of cellphone addiction is upon us, and your customers are no exception to this widespread phenomenon. It’s highly probable that they’re doing all their research on their cell phones. To cater to that aspect, you need to have a site with a design structure that’s responsive.

#7. Have a lead strategy in place

Your job is far from done if you think channelling traffic to the site is enough. You obviously want sales too, and for that, you need to convert your visitors into leads or – ideally – paying customers. You can translate your efforts into some serious cash by offering free e-books, limited-time memberships, videos about the products & services, whitepapers etc. A simple call to action with benefits can also be used. An easy opt-in form or a landing page with varied options will also aid in generating leads.

#8. Create a customer experience that is unified

Engaging and appealing content won’t do the trick alone. You will have to look for other ways to engage with your prospective customers, as well as the paying ones. If they are going to be your spokespeople, then you obviously must deal with them in a way that will be to your advantage. A recent study has shown that a lot of customers do not complain about bad customer service or products that are not up to the mark – they simply go to someone else without letting the earlier company know. Keeping this in mind, always remember to take feedback from your customers. This will also let you improve your products and services.

#9. Get your email lists ready

You can make dough out of that extensive email list. By way of email marketing, there is also segmentation of customers, profiles can be created and customized content can be delivered. Thus, e-mail becomes quite a convenient and effective medium that can be used for conversion. But you need to remember to send them valuable and engaging content, not just sales-y stuff. Strong CTAs in the emails will also add to the conversions.

#10. Measure it all and keep track

Digital media marketing practices should be measurable in nature – in fact, a lot of success in digital marketing depends on whether your progress (or lack thereof) can be measured. You need to have information coming in, and should be using the right kind of data to move ahead in the race. Analyzing data will let you know what is working for you, and what isn’t. Metrics such as conversion rates, engagement levels, inbound trends, online reach, etc. can ultimately lead to substantial results. It might not happen that in a day’s time, you’ll attain positive results for your energies expended – but using all the strategies and measuring them efficiently will let you get way ahead of your competition.