All posts by bcncorp

The Marathon of a Digital Marketing Strategy

Digital Marketing,

Surviving in today’s ultra-competitive market means targeting prospects and consumers strategically, no matter what industry your company may fall into. As a business owner, the pressure to perform is high. Employees, and you, are depending on the survival of your company. In 2020, that means focusing on digital marketing strategy. While there are a lot of pieces that lead to a thriving business, digital marketing has become a piece impossible to ignore.

With that in mind, companies today are no longer asking if they should implement a digital marketing strategy, but rather how best to do so. With so many options at your fingertips and the internet offering a sense of transparency to your competitors’ actions, it’s easy to want to do it all. Launch the Google ads, establish a content marketing plan, optimize everything for search, hire social media experts, redesign your website, start an email marketing campaign, and the list goes on and on. Sure, these are all important aspects to consider, but there is a critical thing to remember here: digital marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

When inundated with information online, it is tempting to fall into the trap of “we have to be first”. It feels like the movers and shakers are the ones who got there before anyone else. The reality, however, is that those who got there with a plan typically outlast those who got there first. At its core, successful digital marketing is for those who play the “long game”. The businesses who not only understand that but act accordingly will win in the end.

Today, we spend some time taking a look at the ins and outs of the marathon that is digital marketing.

Digital Marketing That Works Long-Term

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great place to start to fully understand digital marketing as a marathon. “SEO experts” who promise 1st-page rankings in a week are not getting you there in an above-board manner. Black hat methods refer to efforts like keyword stuffing and buying links. Sure, these efforts will boost your Google rankings temporarily, but then it will all come crashing down. Unethical marketing practices will not serve your business in the long-run and will likely lead to a penalty from Google.

Successful SEO is all about consistency and commitment. No one just wakes up and decides to run a marathon. You train steadily, commit to a plan, and eventually work your way up to 26.22 miles. Much like a runner, a digital marketing plan must lay the groundwork for success and then progressively grind towards the ultimate goal.

Now that we understand the “long game” of digital marketing strategy. It’s important to remember the following tips to avoid falling into the “do it all now” trap that inevitably leads to failure:

  • Be patient – most new digital marketing efforts take time to become successful. Stopping an initiative too early often means making a decision based on too little data.
  • Accuracy is more important than speed – take your time and do it right, it will pay dividends in the long-run.
  • Set long-term objectives 1-5 years out and then backtrack from there to smaller, more attainable goals.
  • Don’t be a copycat – just because something worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. Digital trends come and go extremely fast, so don’t invest if it isn’t a great match for your industry and company.
  • Think about timeliness – the best digital campaigns are those relevant today and Try to avoid building a campaign around a super timely topic.
  • Don’t settle on past successes – it’s easy to declare yourself the master of digital marketing when a campaign goes right. But don’t fall into the trap of ceasing your efforts after a big win.

From paid ads to content creation and from social media to email campaigns, digital marketing can be overwhelming. If it seems like your competitors are running by, let them go. The real winners in the digital marketing race are those running the marathon, not the sprint.

Is your company looking to get ahead of your competition with digital marketing efforts? Big Customer Network is here to help. Our digital marketing experts are awaiting your call. Let’s make something happen today!

Growing Your Local Business With Digital Marketing

Blog, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing,

Grow-Your Business-With-Digital Marketing

 

Could a large global corporation’s marketing strategy work for a small local business? While some tactics may have to be adjusted, the answer is generally yes. Digital marketing efforts do not discriminate. This often surprises small business owners, as they view massive digital marketing campaigns as something unattainable and out of their league.

On the contrary, local businesses have a big opportunity to take advantage of digital marketing options that would promote and grow their organizations. Unfortunately, there are a few common roadblocks standing in the way:

  1. Budget Constraints
  2. Lack of Expertise

One of the biggest misconceptions about digital marketing in 2020 is that it is expensive and out of reach for a mom and pop shop. Business owners are used to the costs associated with traditional marketing tactics like television ads or print advertising. Digital marketing options, on the other hand, are much less expensive. As a result, local businesses are able to run campaigns that match their budgets and meet their targeting needs. More on this later.

In addition to cost, many local businesses lack the expertise necessary to run a successful digital campaign. With no budget to hire a full-time marketing person, they are left with questions and concerns about how they could possibly compete with their rivals.

These concerns are common and reasonable. However, digital marketing offers a solution to all of these worries. Today, we will break down just what it takes for a small local business to compete digitally and expand their reach.

Digital Marketing Tactics for Local Businesses

As a business owner, it’s easy to get intimidated by big chains and corporations in your industry. In the past, competing with organizations of that size would mean dishing out enormous budgets to get a 30-second local spot during a big game. Today, competing with them could be as simple as running a highly targeted Facebook ad or a strategic email marketing campaign. The point is that there is a wide range of options for small businesses to take advantage of in the marketing space.

Digital strides in marketing have made targeting specific customers easy, trackable, and successful. The heart of any winning marketing campaign lies in the ability to reach the right people, at the right time, and in the right location. The following are some of the most notable platforms to consider for local business digital marketing:

  • Facebook Pages and Ads
  • Instagram Pages and Ads
  • YouTube Commercials
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn Ads and Forums
  • Email Marketing
  • Local SEO
  • Website SEO
  • Search/Display Ads
  • Blogging
  • Lead Generation Efforts

From content and social media marketing to paid ads on Google and other social platforms, the opportunities to promote a local business digitally are vast. The struggle lies in determining where to spend the money and who to hire to run the campaigns. While something like running a Facebook page requires more time than money, the level of engagement with customers that it provides is invaluable.

In addition to being able to reach the exact type of customer that works best for your company, digital marketing also allows for in-depth tracking. Measuring results is critical to any successful campaign, large or small. So, it is imperative that local campaigns are tracked and then tweaked to account for the results of the analytics. Far too many local campaigns tank because of a failure to remain dynamic.

Leaning on digital marketing can transform a local business. The biggest challenge is getting started correctly. Whether that means hiring an in-house marketing expert or looking for an experienced consulting agency, local companies looking to succeed this year must expand their reach into the digital realm.

Do you have questions about taking your company digital? We are here to help! Contact Big Customer Network today to learn more about your options!

12 Reasons to Take Website Security Seriously

Website Security, ,

Website Security

 

Right now your website is at risk of a hack if your website security plan isn’t solid. Hackers come in all shapes and sizes, but they are certainly coming…to the tune of 50,000 website hacks per day. Scary? Definitely. Avoidable? For sure. Cybercriminals are on a mission to steal data and they do so in many different ways. While we often think of cybercrime in terms of large corporations like Equifax, the reality is that small businesses are at serious risk.

As a small business owner, website security is likely low on your priority list. But what if you knew that 43 percent of cyberattacks target small businesses? Would that encourage you to take a closer look? From protecting your clients and customers to protecting yourself and your employees, website security is something that needs to be top-of-mind in 2020 and beyond.

Those business owners who fail to recognize the significance of keeping their website safe will find themselves extremely vulnerable to the depths of threats online. Today, we will take some time to highlight a few of the most prominent reasons that website security must be taken seriously.

Secure Your Site Now

Predictions point out that there will be about 200 billion connected devices this year. And while that figure is really cool, the reality is that high risk comes with connectivity. Making sure that your website is secure is imperative in this day and age. From spam to viruses to malware to domain registration, internet threats are abundant and ever-changing.

It’s easy to maintain an “it won’t happen to me” attitude. Do you know anyone personally who has suffered from a cyberattack? Has your personal information been compromised in any fashion? Most business owners think that they are too small or too insignificant to get noticed by hackers. But when more than 4 in 10 cyber attacks target small businesses, it’s time to wake up and take action.

The following are some of the leading reasons to take website security seriously:

  1. Your customers are at risk
  2. Once your business reputation is tainted, it is extremely difficult to rebuild trust
  3. Many cyber attacks hit profits so hard that there is no coming back
  4. Website protection is far cheaper than cleaning up after a breach
  5. Google looks to see HTTPS for rankings purposes
  6. You may get blacklisted if suspicious links are placed on your site
  7. SSL certificates are now something that website visitors look for when it comes to trusting a site
  8. Your employees are at risk
  9. Protect your physical assets
  10. Prevent the loss of sales with tons of downtime during a hack
  11. Get a leg up on your competition who is failing to properly secure their site
  12. Gain peace of mind knowing that you, your customers, and your business is protected

Cybercrime is a profitable business, as indicated by its popularity over the last several years. Your company is your baby and you wouldn’t put your baby in a car seat without properly buckling them in. There are countless measures that can be taken to make your site more secure and it is important to take swift action.

At Big Customer Network, we understand the importance of powerful website security. As such, we partner with our clients to ensure that their website and their data is secured. Plus, we create a custom disaster recovery plan to safeguard our clients when an unlikely hack occurs.

Are you ready to secure your site and protect your company? Contact us today to learn more!

Are You Avoiding These Digital Marketing Mistakes?

Blog, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing,

A quick Google search will reveal countless digital marketing tips, guidelines, and “must-have” insider information. The internet is flooded with marketing formulas that are guaranteed to transform your company’s online presence. But what about what doesn’t work? With so much information about what to do, who is focusing on what not to do? How can you take failed digital marketing experiments and turn them into valuable guidelines for the future?

Digital marketing and data go hand-in-hand. Today, we find ourselves in a data-driven world, dictating decisions in nearly every industry, and on a global scale. This means that there is an abundance of facts and figures to shape decisions and guide new initiatives. In marketing, data lays the foundation for action.

While all digital marketing mistakes are avoidable, some of the more commonly seen blunders are certainly preventable. Having a dynamic approach to every digital marketing initiative is crucial to online success.

Have you given any thought to the mistakes that your organization has made? If not, it’s time to start digging in.

Digital Marketing Mistakes To Dodge

The enormity of digital marketing options can be paralyzing. Some companies are so overwhelmed with where to begin, they fail to get started at all. The fear of making a mistake is certainly daunting, but the beauty lies in the lessons taken from those mistakes, all made possible by the nature of digital information.

Making changes to a marketing strategy is far more complex than it may appear. So to say that one can address digital marketing mistakes with “the click of a button” is an oversimplification. However, since proper research and due diligence can set up any organization to succeed digitally, starting by pinpointing preventable mistakes is key.

The following are some of the most frequently seen digital marketing mistakes:

  1. Refusing to be dynamic. Trends change faster today than ever before, and this means not only being on the cutting-edge of those changes but having the flexibility to act accordingly.
  2. Failing to clearing state and write down marketing objectives. This is one of the most commonly seen errors today. People are so eager to get started, they fail to take a step back and determine where they want to go.
  3. Missing the mark on targeting the right audience. Digital marketing options today mean that you can create campaigns to speak to a very specific set of individuals. Ignoring the power of reaching a targeted audience, with the right message, can be disastrous for any campaign.
  4. Approaching social media marketing with a “post and pray” attitude. It’s easy to feel like simply posting on social is enough to engage an audience and remain top-of-mind. But without a strategy, your posts will fall on deaf ears.
  5. Ignoring the opportunity to test. A/B testing is extremely powerful in gauging the right approach to the audience, the medium, and so on. It’s easy to jump to a conclusion about a campaign without properly assessing its performance, but no assessment is complete without some form of testing.
  6. Spending minimal time with analytics. Falling into the trap of sending a monthly report is all too common. Are you spending time with the numbers to truly understand what they mean? Analytics provide a goldmine for marketers looking to make the most out of their digital campaigns.

We could go on and on about the mistakes digital marketers make, but the above six mark the most impactful issues to date. You will inevitably make mistakes in your efforts to dominate your competition online, but approaching these mistakes as opportunities to learn and evolve will set you up to avoid failure in the future.

At Big Customer Network, we approach mistakes with open arms in our quest to perfect our clients’ digital marketing strategies. Are you ready to take your company to the next level? Contact us today to get started.

9 Email Marketing Strategies for Major Marketing Wins

Blog, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, ,

Smart business owners look at marketing as a necessity, not just a bonus if the budget allows. Even smarter business owners look at each individual marketing tactic separately to determine its return on investment (ROI). While measuring ROI on digital marketing initiatives may be tough, email marketing is indisputably one of the winners. Why? With low costs and high returns, email makes perfect sense for budget-conscious entrepreneurs looking to make a splash in 2020.

Social media is getting all of the recent hype surrounding digital marketing success stories. But the reality is that email marketing actually converts 40 times the number of customers. The ability to speak directly to a prospective customer puts email marketing in a league of its own. Sure, strategies involving Google ads and sponsored Facebook posts are important. However, the power of reaching someone exactly when you want to cannot be overstated.

Email marketing, when executed correctly, can truly transform an organization’s lead generation capacity. Today, we discuss 9 email marketing strategies that will make a big impact this year.

Taking Advantage of Email Marketing

Far too many marketers fall into the trap of assuming email marketing will work if they have a large list of subscribers and some content to share. In theory, that situation would facilitate some leads and general interest. In practice, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Who are your emails being sent to? Should all of those people be receiving the same content? What is your purpose behind sending the email? What action do you hope the recipient takes upon opening the email? The answers to these questions will lay the foundation for a successful strategy and create a new pathway for leads to travel.

No matter what your marketing objectives may be or how you decide to achieve them, email marketing should absolutely have a prominent place in your marketing mix. The following are some of the most impactful email marketing strategies to consider incorporating into a digital marketing plan:

  1. Focus on subject lines: while it can be tempting to stick with something catchy, the subject line must also facilitate conversions.
  2. Personalization: from personalized copy to action-based or location-based offers, customer retention is dependent upon a personal touch.
  3. Incorporate animation: things like GIFs are an easy and effective way to engage your audience.
  4. Keep it simple: take advantage of white space on your email design to focus your message and intention clearly.
  5. Content value: be sure to send emails filled with valuable content – whether that means an incredible offer or a background story about your company.
  6. Make it social: be sure to include icons of your social channels and encourage recipients to follow you there.
  7. Deploy A/B testing: running two campaigns simultaneously and comparing performance results is essential to effective email marketing.
  8. Time it right: time of day is crucial when it comes to email communications, we recommend sending an email between 10 and 11am.
  9. Track everything: customer insights and analytics are crucial to taking full advantage of the power in email marketing.

Using marketing automation, companies have seen massive improvements in the ability to communicate with their target audience and turn new leads into customers. At Big Customer Network, we are email and marketing automation experts. Using cutting-edge techniques, we have perfected the craft of generating leads for small to medium-sized businesses.

Are you ready to deploy a robust email marketing campaign? Contact us today to get started.

Is Your Digital Marketing Strategy Ready for 2020?

Digital Marketing, SEO,

Digital Marketing Strategy

 

The year, and the decade, is quickly coming to an end. For some entrepreneurs, 2020 is already looking bright. Digital marketing opportunities Digital marketing opportunities are abundant and prime for the taking. So, the most optimistic business owners are those who are channeling their focus on what is to come this year and onward. What marketing innovations will the new decade bring? Where are the most forward-thinking brands investing their ad dollars? Who will fare the best from the inevitable changes in digital marketing strategy trends?

The rapid pace of marketing today makes it tough to predict the future. As platforms and tools advance, marketing efforts must do their best to not only keep up, but to stay at the forefront of these progressions. From voice and visual search to AI and machine learning, savvy digital marketers are gearing up for 2020 in a big way.

Thinking through marketing initiatives for 2020 and beyond can seem daunting. With so many options at our fingertips, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and unengaged. While different tactics make sense for different organizations, there are some overarching trends that we anticipate will shape digital marketing in the year and years to come.

Digital Marketing Success in 2020

First and foremost, it is important to recognize that any successful digital marketing strategy in 2020 and onward must be adaptable. This means creating a plan that is dynamic – a living, breathing blueprint that freely welcomes changes and innovations.

Next, it is absolutely critical to invest substantially in digital marketing efforts. The reality is that your competition is putting their money there and will continue to do so. This year, those who neglect to earmark their dollars for this purpose will be left to watch from the sidelines as new business opportunities go elsewhere.

With that said, the possibilities for digital marketing success in 2020 are endless. Before sitting down to craft your own, think about incorporating the following digital marketing strategy tactics:

  1. Search: voice search has become more and more important over the last several years. While this is certainly something that you must still optimize for, visual search is quickly emerging as a new frontrunner. Make sure that your site is optimized for cameras and images to take a stronghold in search behavior.
  2. Machine Learning: AI is here to stay. Those companies who use it to their advantage will see their sales numbers increase dramatically. As of now, machine learning is most often applied to ad targeting based on user behavior like buyer preference and demographics.
  3. Personalization: customers will continue to have higher and higher expectations for the ads that they are shown. This means crafting marketing materials that speak directly to their wants and needs, all while leaning on technology to do the heavy lifting.
  4. Community: savvy brands have been and will continue efforts to build a brand community. This means activity in things like online forums, on social media groups, and in answering questions. In doing so, brands are transformed into relatable entities that people can form relationships with and like-minded people are united in their shared affinity for that brand.
  5. ADA Compliance: the Americans With Disabilities Association (ADA) has set standards that websites must take note of and follow. Ensuring that your site is accessible for all persons is imperative to not only offer an exceptional user experience, but also to avoid potential lawsuits and fines.

These five digital marketing strategies only scratch the surface of what should be done in 2020 and onward. Generally speaking, companies must focus their digital efforts on creating killer content and sharing strategically on social media. The combination of these two tactics will serve to promote your brand, build your community, and facilitate new business.

At Big Customer Network, we know digital marketing strategy. We live it, we breathe it, and we spend our days perfecting it. In 2020, those who invest in digital marketing will find themselves leading their industry, outperforming their competition, and growing their profits.

Are you interested in a digital marketing strategy specifically geared towards your company goals? Contact our digital marketing team today to learn more!

Building a Killer Social Media Marketing Strategy for 2020

Social Media Marketing, ,

An astounding 3.2 billion people are active users on social media each day. Yes, billion. So, what is your company doing about it? Does your marketing plan account for the massive reach of social media? Is your content engaging enough to be shared across social platforms? What emphasis is being placed on the prospect of generating new leads through social media?

Do those questions feel more like an interrogation than a simple marketing conversation? If so, your organization may be lacking a social media presence and, in turn, missing a huge opportunity to grow your business. The main players in the social media arena today are:

  1. Facebook
  2. Twitter
  3. Instagram
  4. YouTube
  5. LinkedIn

Some companies are active on all five platforms, some are dominating just a few. Both the industry and target market will largely dictate what makes the most sense for your specific business. Regardless, simply being present on these platforms is not enough. In fact, being active on these platforms is not enough. To truly succeed in social media marketing, your company must work within a meticulous, researched strategy.

Today, we breakdown what it takes to make an impact on social media and the steps that need to be taken to get your company there.

Social Media Marketing Strategy to Reach Your Target Market

There is no question that your competition is looking at social media to gain customers. In 2020, social media is going to expand to become an even larger giant than it is today. With the year coming to an end soon, it is imperative that your marketing plan accounts for social media’s role in client acquisition, client retention, and brand building.

It is easy to assume that big brands posting about silly things like “National Pet Your Dog Day” are using social media to be…well, social. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Companies doing social media marketing the right way are thinking about every single post, share, and reply. Strategy lays the foundation for success.

Engaging current customers, generating new leads, and making sure that your brand feels relatable and knowledgeable is essential. As you sit down to formulate your company’s social media marketing strategy for 2020, follow these steps:

  1. Start with goals. This may seem obvious, but far too many organizations start a full-fledged marketing plan without even considering what they hope to achieve. Incorporate the “SMART” method to ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
  2. Who are your ideal customers? Defining a target market is important for all marketing initiatives, but with social media it is critical. Targeting on social based on demographics, interest, and even geographic location makes it easy to reach the right audience.
  3. Take a look at what your competition is doing on social. You can learn a lot of actionable lessons from a competitive analysis. Plus, this is also a great way to learn what not to do to successfully engage with your audience.
  4. Evaluate how well you are currently doing. Auditing your own social media presence is important too. This will reveal what you are doing well and should continue to capitalize on and what needs work. The areas where work is required means evaluating whether to abandon that strategy or platform altogether or to improve upon your current efforts.
  5. Carefully determine what social media platforms do and do not make sense for your industry and audience. Understand that your content must cater to those platforms specifically. So, if you do not have the means to master all of them, choose the two platforms where your target audience spends the most time.
  6. Create a content calendar. Planning for holidays, big sales or promotions, and other relevant events means thinking through the best ways to maximize your posts in advance. A last-minute social media post is not only obvious to your target market but will drastically reduce the likelihood of its success.
  7. Get inspired by big brands doing it right. There is no better place for inspiration than on the social media accounts of companies with big customer engagement. Find a few top brands, ideally in your industry, and take note of what, how, and why they do what they do.
  8. Measure, measure, measure. The beauty of social media is that everything is trackable. Take advantage of this by constantly testing and evaluating. Adjust your strategy accordingly, and then repeat the process again.

Mapping out a social media marketing strategy is a time-consuming task. However, when done correctly, it can serve to open the door to an entirely new set of prospects and a new, exciting way to engage with current customers. Companies that execute a social media marketing strategy using the above steps will position themselves for big wins in 2020.

Are you looking for guidance for your digital marketing strategy? Could your company benefit from a social media expert? Contact Big Customer Network today for more information!

 

The Ultimate Digital Marketing Strategy Checklist

Digital Marketing, SEO,

Digital Marketing Strategy Requirements

From startups to massive corporations, digital marketing has slowly but surely trickled its way into nearly every single successful business today. What was once considered a new, exciting element in the marketing mix has now become a central and integral component, critical to strategies both large and small. In fact, even today’s traditional marketing tactics are harnessed by their digital counterparts.

In 2020 and beyond, business owners must take their digital marketing efforts seriously. The reality is that time spent online continues to increase at rapid rates year over year. Those who have been slow to accept the shift into the digital world will find out the hard way that their customers (and their competitors) are living online.

Digital marketing strategy means getting all of your internet ducks in a row – from search engine optimization (SEO) to pay-per-click (PPC), from content marketing to social media marketing to email marketing, and so on. Why? Well, for starters, about 90 percent of all searchers have yet to make their minds up about a brand prior to starting their search. Your digital footprint is invaluable to attracting new customers, keeping old ones, and maintaining a stronghold in your respective industry.

Today, we highlight some of the most essential elements of a digital marketing strategy that will put your organization in a position to succeed online and, in turn, offline.

Digital Marketing Strategy for Big Wins

Hesitations around committing to a digital marketing strategy are typically founded in uncertainty. “Do my customers really search online?” “My company is B2B, we don’t need to put money into internet marketing.” “My marketing budget is small and I don’t see the value.” These are some of the most common issues brought to our attention by business owners. What these entrepreneurs fail to recognize is the massive shift that has occurred over the last decade.

Decision-makers are living online and doing research online and making choices online, no matter who your target audience may be. As such, building a digital marketing strategy that speaks directly to those people will set your company up to succeed. Much like any strategy, beginning with the end in mind is key.

Any digital marketing framework must rely upon specific objectives for the overall strategy. Are you looking to build brand awareness? Do you need to establish online sales? Are you introducing a new product to the market? Understanding where you want the company to end up as a result of your digital marketing efforts will create the blueprint for getting there.

As with anything, starting with the right components is imperative for the company to thrive. The following is a checklist for the most critical aspects to include in your digital marketing strategy:

  1. Brand: who are you as a company? Do all of your company assets (website, messaging, etc.) represent that brand image?
  2. Business Objectives: what specifically are you trying to achieve?
  3. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): what metrics will you use to track successes and failures?
  4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): what keywords are you targeting? What is your plan to improve search rankings?
  5. Content Marketing: do you regularly produce content that asserts your authority in your industry? What value are you offering website visitors?
  6. Social Media: how are you communicating with customers and prospective customers? Does your social footprint attract leads with intention?
  7. Paid Search: is your brand blanketing search engine results? Are your ads on the first page of Google?
  8. Email Marketing: are you making consistent efforts to touch base with your audience?

Marketing was once a guessing game. Buy a billboard and hope for the best. Send out flyers and pray that someone notices. Today, marketing is trackable and ever-evolving. This means that the guesswork has finally been removed from the equation, leaving only an opportunity to build awareness, drive traffic, and generate new business.

Digital Marketing with Big Customer Network

At Big Customer Network, we create custom digital marketing strategies for our clients. We analyze the industry, the company, and its competitors to craft a solution that makes a true impact. Our digital marketing team works tirelessly to build internet muscle that generates digital success, for clients both large and small.

Are you ready to take the next step with your digital marketing strategy? Contact us today to learn more!

Content Marketing’s Value for Your Business

Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, SEO,

Digital marketing strategies have seen a variety of shifts in the last decade or so, but one constant has remained unchanged: content. In fact, two-thirds of all marketers create at least one piece of content every single day. Why? It’s simple; content marketing is essential for businesses to:

  1. Maintain a strong digital presence
  2. Successfully communicate with prospects
  3. Position themselves to stay competitive in the marketplace

Search engine optimization (SEO) is said to have been born in the early 1990s. And since that time, effectively marketing a company online has meant a lot of different things. Throughout SEO’s evolution, the content has (and will continue) to play a vital role in establishing even the smallest of companies as thought-leaders and, in turn, legitimate organizations.

So, if the content is such an integral part of the marketing mix, why do businesses continually fail to dedicate their resources to its fruition? The answer is that they fail to recognize its value and, in doing so, drastically impede their ability to succeed on the web.

Today, companies who are competing and winning online in their respective industries all share a respect for content marketing’s role in their digital marketing campaigns.

The Secret Sauce of Content Marketing

Content marketing in 2020 and beyond means building a strategy that is harnessed by internal objectives and industry trends. This means creating a content plan that highlights how your business is an expert in your field, why prospective clients would benefit from working with you, and how your competition can learn from the content you produce. These elements combine to generate an online force that builds your brand and drives sales.

Content marketing can be defined as a strategic marketing plan created to drive specific results. Those results vary depending upon the specific organization behind the plan, but all outcomes are centered on an ability to execute. From research to writing, from planning to optimizing, and from measuring to analyzing, every component of a content marketing plan must be performed with strategy.

The benefits linked to content marketing are widespread. When properly implemented, content can transform a website, rehabilitate a brand image, and open the door to an entirely new audience. The following are some of the most notable advantages linked to content marketing:

  • Generate new (and more) leads
  • Improve search rankings and SEO as a whole
  • Develop a brand reputation
  • Increase profitability
  • Position your company as an expert thought-leader
  • Increase conversion rates in a cost-effective manner
  • Set your company apart from the competition
  • Serve as a method to educate customers
  • Target specific audiences
  • Increase online authority and credibility
  • Strategically move prospects along the buyer’s journey
  • Establishes a personal connection with prospects and customers
  • Allows for greater online engagement
  • Lays the foundation for a strong social media presence

While the list could go on and on, these are the most prominent benefits of developing and implementing a content marketing strategy. These benefits are powerful in the ever-changing competitive market. As such, it is a critical aspect of the marketing mix for companies competing online.

Content Marketing with Big Customer Network

At Big Customer Network, we have years of experience in building and executing successful content marketing strategies for our clients. From building strategic landing pages to nurturing full-scope digital marketing strategies, our proven system breeds success from the inside out.

Big Customer Network is the internet muscle you need to conquer your competition. Contact us today to learn more!