How to get your Digital House in Order
Online marketing activities need to form part of a fully integrated plan. There is no point having one strategy for your traditional marketing streams and another when it comes to the web. All areas of marketing need to come together to form one overall strategy.
This can seem like a massive task at first, many companies have a fragmented approach when it comes to marketing and it can seem daunting to try and bring everything together. But by focusing on one thing at a time, it is achievable and once your house is in order your marketing activity will have greater impact.
Your Company Branding
The first thing to do is to ensure that your branding is universal, your Facebook page should look like your Website, which should look like your letter-headed paper. Everything about your marketing should be very obviously you. This helps people to identify you quickly and easily, this is just as important for a large global brand as it is for a local one.
You should also think about your voice, do the words on your website sound the same as those on a proposal? If not, you need to decide the approach you want to take and then implement it across the board. It is all very well wanting to sound funky and trendy, but if you are a firm of Solicitor’s then is the most important thing for your potential customers?
Is your business a local one? Is it important to have the location in your marketing literature, for example “SEO company in Hertfordshire” as opposed to “SEO Services”?
Your Social Messages
Social media love it or hate it is here and by all accounts it looks like it will be around for a while yet. One of the best things about social media can also be one of the worst, sites like Trip Advisor can make or break a local hotel. Do you know what people are saying about you online? Are you dealing with customer complaints and questions?
It is much better to respond to reviews than not, even bad reviews. Most people will look at the extremes and so demonstrating that you care about negative feedback as well as the positive can make a big difference.
If you are serious about being in the social space then you need to make sure you are spending time there. Not answering a question on your Facebook page or dealing with a complaint in a positive way can create real problems for a company’s reputation. In my view, it’s always best to be there to deal with any issues that come up than try to hide away from them.
If you are using social media channels to post messages out or share your content then be mindful of what you are sharing and who you have in mind. So many people go wrong by trying to sell sell sell, people will very quickly switch off from this so you need to make sure that what you say and share socially adds value.
