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Make the most of your marketing budget by having a strategy to apply. Without a plan, your marketing spending will likely be random and wasteful.

Forget the misconception that email marketing is dead. Use these powerful strategies to make your email marketing campaigns more engaging and profitable.

Content marketing should be one of your priorities when making your digital marketing efforts because of its many functions and benefits

There are compelling reasons why Instagram should now be at the center of your marketing strategy. It’s far from being just another social network where people share pictures of what they ate that afternoon. Instagram actually sees higher user growth compared to other networks. Users also spend more time on average browsing through posts, feeds and stories. For a lot of users, Instagram is the primary source of discovering new products that they’d want to purchase. The stats speak for themselves. More than 1 billion people use Instagram every month with 51% of them being female. 30 minutes is the average amount of time users spend per day on Instagram. 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services with 130 million interacting with shopping posts every month. Businesses with a savvy social media marketing department understand the value that they can derive from Instagram. They focus their energies on creating communities around their brand by using the power of visual content. Given Instagram’s highly interactive nature, this also means that businesses engage more with the reactions that they get on their posts. That’s particularly useful when you’re trying to use Instagram for sales prospecting. Why you should use Instagram for sales prospecting

 Just how robust is your online presence? Are there plenty of channels that lead possible customers right to your website? Or are you “making do” with a basic Facebook page and a website that looks like it hasn’t been updated since hit counters were all the rage? “Online presence” is a blanket term for both how easy it is to find your products and services online, and how you present your brand. This includes any owned platforms like your website, your social media profiles, and any other sites you use to share your products or branding, like an Amazon product listing or a Medium blog. Put simply — your online presence is how you show up on the internet. While this may seem too broad to approach, an improvement in your overall online presence can help you find more leads, improve your connection with your audience, and earn more sales A rising tide lifts all boats! By working on some of these core tactics, you can improve your visibility across the entire internet. #1 Improve your page speed Site speed has always been an important ranking factor for websites. But with Google’s new Core Web Vitals rolling out later this year, it’s going to be more important than ever. These ranking factors make up the “page experience,” and they’ll be getting more weight than before. The speed measurement is called Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). This metric refers to how long it takes a page to load. You can check an individual page on Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool, or go to your Google Search Console to see a list of your website’s URLs to see which are loading too slowly. Fixing slow loading times could be as simple as switching to a faster web host, or it could require re-uploading smaller images. Whatever the solution, focus on speed to improve your site’s performance and overall search engine rankings. #2 Get listed on the right web directories We tend to focus on Google My Business as the place to create an online listing for your business. But GMB isn’t the only game in town. And if you don’t have a brick and mortar store, GMB isn’t even an option for you. Instead, look for other online directories where you can create a profile or listing. Start local. Does your city or county have a chamber of commerce with an online directory? That could be a good source of local leads. Physical stores can also get into big online directories like Yellow Pages, Bing Places, and Foursquare. Then there are the specialty directories. Angie’s List for home improvement projects. Realtor.com for real estate. Justia for legal services. These directories can be a unique source of leads, getting you new web traffic and possible inquiries from the non-Google-obsessed. #3 Create consistent content

 In this day and age, effective online advertising can be the difference between surviving and thriving for small businesses. With the sheer number of people that use the internet and the tools available to target them by factors like age, interests, location, and more, businesses that don’t pay much attention to advertising online risk severely limiting their growth. As a business owner who probably doesn’t have much experience running ad campaigns online, where do you start? One recommendation that you will get from just about every blog and self-proclaimed ad guru is Facebook Ads. It’s not a bad recommendation. With more than a billion users across the globe, Facebook dominates the online advertising landscape. Millions of businesses rely on Facebook to generate leads and increase sales. The company offers exceptional targeting features and related ad tools that help advertisers create powerful campaigns. However, advertising costs on Facebook have continued to rise over the years. Recent surveys have shown that many marketers are now worried that they could ultimately be priced out of Facebook Ads. Many small businesses operate on a shoestring budget as it is, so it becomes difficult for them to risk a substantial amount on expensive ads. The key to a profitable campaign is to test as many variations of the ad as possible to gather data and then optimize to scale up. This economies of scale model won’t work for businesses that only have a limited budget to spend on one single campaign. Fortunately, there are many other advertising networks that can be just as suitable for a small business. Here are five such Facebook Ads alternatives that you should consider. #1 BuySellAds

One of the things that modern consumers want from digital marketing is personalization, as long as it’s done right (see the title above for an example of how NOT to do it). This can be overwhelming at times, especially for small business owners who believe they don’t have the resources needed to personalize. In reality, technology has made it easy for businesses of all sizes and types to personalize their marketing strategy. The following are some of the simplest and most effective methods that small businesses can use to personalize their digital marketing: 1. Gather Data The first step to personalizing your digital marketing is to gather as much data about your customers as you can. You will use this to segment your audience and help with the personalization. The more data you have, the better. While getting clients to fill out a survey is a convenient way to gather data, your clients likely won’t want to. You can offer them an incentive to do so or ask for bits and pieces of information over time. 2. Use Buyer Personas Once you have enough data, take some time to create buyer personas. These are representations of your typical target audience. They should include information like gender, age, other demographics, goals, and why they want your product. Create as many buyer personas as you need to fully represent your audience. For example, if you are a small business selling jewelry, two buyer personas maybe someone who buys the jewelry for themselves and someone who buys it for someone else. As you create your digital marketing efforts, you will keep these personas in mind. Ideally, you will create variations of strategies based on the personas. 3. Create Targeted Content 

Boosting your search engine ranking does not have to be an impossible task for small businesses. While you don’t have the budget of larger companies, you can still use many of the same strategies. The great thing about SEO is that it delivers long-term results that don’t require you to pay for every single click like PPC ads would. The following are some of the best methods to optimize your small business’ website to boost your search engine ranking: 1. Research Your Keywords A crucial part of SEO is using the right keywords. One of the best ways to find the right keywords is to figure out what your potential customers search for. Start by typing a few words into Google’s search bar and then look at the suggestions from autocomplete. You should also use keyword research tools to help you. There are both free and paid options available, so you can easily find one that meets your budget. 2. Consider Long-tail Keywords As you look for keywords, don’t forget to consider long-tail keywords. These will have a higher chance of conversion as they are more specific. After all, this helps increase the chances of selling the product that the searcher wants to buy. As a bonus, it is easier to rank for long-tail keywords as there is less competition for them due to their specificity. 3. Optimize SEO on the Page Your on-page SEO efforts focus on ensuring that all of the headings and titles on your website have been optimized. You essentially want to structure your content to have a better chance of appearing in search results. Consider the following tips as starting points: ● Create catchy titles of about 60 characters ● Use header tags ● Use meta tags ● Use keywords in the file names of pictures you use 4. Look at Technical SEO

As a remodeling business, you always want to find effective and innovative ways of selling your products or services. While some of this comes down to paid advertising, a large portion of it is also related to how you present your products and services. If you are still struggling to find the best way to present your services or products to boost sales, keep the following advice in mind. Make a Claim You Can Back Up Confident prospects buy. So how do you create more confidence? One simple but powerful option is to demonstrate that you aren’t afraid to back up your claims about your product. Offer a 30-day satisfaction guarantee (or longer if your competitors are already doing something similar), with the promise to give your customer a full refund or the promise that you’ll keep working until they are satisfied - their choice. You’ll build trust and be recognized for your reliability - this will do wonders for your brand’s reputation and sales. Show What Makes You Unique No matter your niche, there are likely numerous other similar products and services on the market. You need to present your product in a way that makes it clear how you are different and stand out from the competition. This is your unique selling proposition. Most companies will have to think for a little while to figure out what this is. You want it to be different from your competitors’, so it shouldn’t be “great customer service” unless your industry is notorious for absolutely horrible customer service. Once you have that unique selling proposition, let your customers know. Display it on your product packaging and include it in your marketing campaigns. Do Things Your Competitors Don’t (Or Won’t)