4 Fundamental Online Marketing Techniques for Businesses

 With more and more consumers researching and shopping for products online, it’s no secret that online marketing is essential to any business. These days, it would be difficult for a company to succeed without a strong online presence.

 So, how do you build your presence on the internet? The answer is, of course, to be active online, but being active is not just merely posting announcements on Facebook and waiting for the business to come. You need strategic techniques and an array of online marketing tools for your business to gain traction.

Let’s have a quick run-through of four fundamental online marketing strategies and the tools you can use to execute them. Feel free to use several or all of them as needed.

1. Social Media Marketing (SMM)

This technique involves the use of social media channels to promote your products or services. In today’s society, the use of such networks has become a necessity. They provide convenient means to stay in touch with family and friends. Things that weren’t possible decades ago, such as instant messaging, image and file sharing, and videoconferencing, are now integral to our daily lives.

 Apparently, some people spend long hours a day engaged in social media. This fact gives a business the capability to reach many people within minutes, if not seconds, of posting an ad or announcement on any social networking site. This method is also favorable for a company, as it is probably one of the least expensive ways of marketing products in the digital realm.

 To organize your social media campaigns, we highly recommend using social media marketing tools to simplify your activities and track your progress. Here are some of the popular SMM tools:

 Social Media Scheduling Tools:

• Hootsuite

• SocialPilot

• Buffer

• SproutSocial

• Loomly

Social Media Analytics Tools

• Brandwatch

• Rebrandly

• Audiense

• Mention

• Keyhole

2.Content Marketing

 While content marketing intersects with social media marketing, there are distinctions between these two methods. The former focuses on creating relevant content for the target audience of a business, which are published or shared via their own websites or through affiliate organizations. The latter, on the other hand, directly uses social platforms to interact with existing or potential customers.

 Of course, social media posts need quality content, but they should be made to fit within the context of the chosen social platform. For example, Instagram story videos have a time limit of 15 seconds, forcing you to adjust your video content accordingly. Not to mention, you also need to keep up with the current trends within that platform to give you a better chance of engaging with your audience.

 As for content-driven marketing, you have more freedom with the content creation process, as you are not bound by the guidelines and restrictions of social media platforms. You can create long-form content, such as 30-minute videos/vlogs, 300-page e-books, and 500-word blog posts. The goal here is to give something of value to your target audience — something that they would benefit from, such as “how-to” videos and in-depth product reviews.

Content marketing tools and content management systems (CMS) can help you create, manage, and publish content. Here are some of the popular CMS and content marketing tools to date:

Content Management Systems

• WordPress

• HubSpot CMS

• Joomla

• Weebly

• Wix

 Content Planning, Creation, and Marketing Tools

• BuzzSumo (planning)

• Google Trends (planning)

• Canva (graphics)

• Adobe Photoshop (graphics)

• Vimeo (videos)

• Magisto (videos

3.Email Marketing

 Email marketing is probably one of the oldest forms of digital marketing. Many people believe that this strategy is obsolete, but in reality, it’s still essential (and effective). With today’s content-driven marketing style, email helps the content reach the target audience (potential or existing customers).

 Emails can serve as informational or promotional messages. Examples of informational emails include newsletters and announcements. On the other hand, promotional emails include new product releases, sales promotions, and coupons/vouchers. Other emails serve specific purposes, such as appointment follow-ups, customer feedback, and other business-related processes.

 Writing and sending emails to thousands of customers can be terrifyingly tedious without the help of email marketing software. Check out these popular email marketing tools and see which one suits your business needs.

• MailChimp

• Constant Contact

• Sendinblue

• HubSpot Marketing Hub

• Campaigner

4.Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

 SEO has been around since the search engine giant, Google, took off. In a nutshell, SEO is the process of optimizing your content by strategically embedding keywords to comply with the algorithm of search engines. The aim here is to give your content better chances of appearing in search results and being shown to the right people.

 The easier you are to be found in search engines, the more chances of raking in potential customers. As marketers say, SEO is the organic way of getting site traffic. Just avoid going against search engine guidelines, also known as “Black Hat SEO” practices. Examples of such “dirty tactics” are keyword stuffing, duplicating content, comment spamming, and article spinning.

To help you with your SEO campaigns, you need SEO marketing tools. Aside from conducting keyword research and checking your rankings, they can also give insights about your competitors and how well your SEO campaign is doing. See some of the top-rated SEO tools below:

• SEMrush

• SEO Spider

• Moz Pro

• Ahrefs

• Spy Fu

These four fundamental forms of online marketing can be executed by just about any small or medium enterprise. With the help of online marketing tools, the processes can be easily managed and won’t cost tens of thousands of dollars. Enlisting the services of professional marketers can also save you time and effort.