Standing Out in Today's Online Media World

Evolving technology is radically changing the way goods and services are sold. As a result, market and buyer preferences are changing how we communicate and gather information. In order to continue to grow, companies and organizations must leverage and embrace technology. Here are some effective marketing strategies to leverage your company in today's digital world.
Search engine marketing
When a person searches for a product or service that you provide, you want your website site to be at the top of the search pages. This can be achieved through search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization increases the visibility and ranking of your website on major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. In essence, a website can be designed and positioned to be found on the first page of search engines for industry key words without paying for position.
This can be achieved by properly coding your website, developing internal links and submitting all the pages within your site to search engines and directories. The websites that are successful can enjoy a flow of free leads and traffic generated from these natural searches.
Online video
Another tool to help with your optimization and hold visitors attention is video. People tend to remember 70 percent of what they see and hear, opposed to 20 percent of what they read. Use of video on your website provides a controlled, interactive method of visual communication to demonstrate your company mission, proposition, product and service. Videos placed on sites like YouTube, Facebook and other video sites helps you distribute your content and create strong inbound links back to your website.
Good quality videos don't have to cost a lot to be effective. Promotional videos should last two to three minutes and concentrate on the benefits and unique features of your product or service. Videos should tell a good story, follow a logical path and be targeted to the audience.
Content management software
People use the Web to gather information; therefore you want your site to be an information resource. In today's competitive market, a well managed site can make all the difference. Your website needs to be fresh, timely, relevant and accurate if it is going to fully engage its audience.
As technology continues to advance, information technology needs increase. You can either spend a lot of money hiring additional IT staff or use an effective content management system to help you manage your Web content. A content management platform provides average business users the ability to build and maintain complex websites without any programming skills.
In today's fast paced information society, it's essential and cost effective to give website ownership and management of content to individuals and departments. Business needs change daily and being able to react quickly and effectively to opportunities is vital.
Establish yourself as a credible resource
Create search engine friendly public relations and marketing materials. Include hyperlinks and key phrases in your press releases that link back to your website. When these releases are posted on news sites, it provides another link to drive people to your website and another source the search engines will detect related to your company.
When a potential customer types in "Widgets in Charlotte" your company website along with other websites that have promoted your successes will come up in their search. It's great when your potential customers see your company listed favorably in the media when they conduct a search for your product or service.
Customer Reviews
One of the fastest growing areas for growing and differentiating your business are customer reviews. Over 75 percent of consumers say that online reviews have impacted their buying decision. Google, Yelp and other sites are making it difficult to compromise the system by requiring reviewers to identify themselves. This is good news because companies can't pay a service to post bogus reviews and it is more difficult for your competition to place fake bad reviews about your company. The opportunity to organically and proactively build good reviews is better than ever. A multi-phased campaign with email, review pages and QR codes can help you easily encourage your raving fans to tell their positive stories to the world!
Technology will continue to play a bigger role in marketing. Adapting and embracing technology will help your marketing efforts be more effective in today's digital world.

Posted in: Online Media