Looking for a way to make your business stand out from the crowd? There is a lot of competition out there and marketing methods have shifted over the past few years.
If you have a small business, it is likely not within your budget to advertise on media such as the radio or the TV, and let’s face it, placing an advertisement in the newspaper definitely does not have the same effect nowadays as it did 20 or 30 years ago.
The best way to advertise your business and keep the costs down is by doing so online. Not only can online advertising help you to reach a wider scope of people, but it can also help you to filter out those who are more likely to be interested in your business from those who aren’t – something that you cannot do with television or radio advertisements.
This article has been prepared for you to get an idea on the latest and most effective digital market trends so that your advertising can yield fruit. Have a look at the trends that will help you to tailor your advertising and website accordingly.
Voice search
Voice searches are increasing in popularity and while you think this may not affect your website and advertising it does. While typed searches usually contain fewer keywords, voice searches tend to be longer and use question words such as how, what, when and why. In order for your business to rank high on SERPs it is important that you use long-tail keywords in your SEO keyword strategy in order to match the natural writing style of voice search enquiries.
Chatbot
The pop-up window in a browser that offers to help you as you navigate a site is run in the background by a chatbot. Having a chatbot working away behind the scenes is a great idea as it will be able to respond to frequently asked questions by customers and gives potential clients the feeling that you are on call to help whenever they need. Since chatbots work automatically, the number of live representatives needed is reduced and customers wait time is minimised, resulting in happier customers and repeat business.
Video
Did you know that almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube daily and that it has 1.3 billion users? I think it is safe to say that video marketing is a very clever way of advertising as videos are becoming more and more popular in today’s society.
Not only are videos great because they can be watched and rewatched at anytime, but they are also fantastic at explaining things. They say a picture is worth one thousand words so a video is definitely priceless! Pictures are more easily captured and recalled to mind and if you can play a catchy jingle as a backtrack to your advert, you will be about halfway to conquering the online world.
But what should you record? As well as recording a general advertisement for your company, letting people know about your services and where you are based, try recording a video answering commonly asked questions about your business also demonstrate and review products that your business sells.
Apps
Trends have shown that sales increase by 25% when a user has the app downloaded on a smartphone or other device. Why is that? If a user has access to your business’ app on their phone, it is like a constant reminder to them that your business is available and that it is the first one they should go to. That way, when they are in need of your services, the first thing they will think of will be your business. So if having an app made makes sense for your business, it is highly recommended that you have one made.
Share your story
Snapchat was the first application that really started the ball rolling when it comes to social media stories. But stories aren’t just limited to Snapchat anymore and can also be published on Instagram, Facebook and other social networking sites.
What is a story? On most social networking platforms you can post a picture, or video, accompanied by a short text or audio open for users to see for a time period of 24 hours or longer. You can use social media stories to post the latest information about your website. Stories can be used for you to gather more information from potential clients about how you could improve their experience with your website via polls and users can post questions about any of your products by responding to a story.
Conclusion
So there you have 5 tips for you to improve footfall to your business via the latest digital marketing trends. But don’t feel like you have to apply them all at once. Try implementing one or two to begin with and watch your business grow.
