If you run an online business or want to start one, don't skip these 10 tips for marketing your business on the internet. We'll share 10 tried and true methods for effective marketing to get the word out on your business.
The post 10 Tips for Marketing Your Business on the Internet appeared first on mailfloss.
There’s no place like the internet.
All of your customers are using it and chances are, it’s your primary sales channel, too. But even though it’s useful, online marketing isn’t easy.
In this post, we’ll show you 10 tips for marketing your business on the internet that very few people talk about.
Stay ahead of the curve and win your customers over!
Every day, over 4 million blog posts are published. If you want your posts to stand out in the search engine results, you’re going to need to make them more delicious than chocolate cake.
How?
By creating 10x content.
The idea of 10x content has first been explained by Rand Fishkin of Moz who asked:
“How can I create something 10 times better than the top 10 people in the search results for this keyword or phrase?”
Some examples of 10x content would be:
Now, you may not have the necessary resources to conduct your own research.
But what you can do is offer a unique angle on a topic, and create content that elicits an emotional response.
A great example of 10x content is Tim Ferriss’ guide to getting published:
The article has over 180 comments, with thousands of social shares. And it’s still shared to this day.
The easiest way to create 10x content is by staking out the competition.
Typically, 10x content will have a lot of shares and comments. People won’t be able to resist tweeting about it and sharing their comments. It’s a conversation-starter, an idea generator.
You can use a tool like BuzzSumo to find articles in your niche that have generated the most buzz over time.
Then, go through those articles and identify knowledge gaps.
Find what’s missing and create improved content with the skyscraper technique. This way, you’ll be able to fill the gaps in the content that already exists, and you’ll create a more comprehensive resource.
We all know the basics: keywords, page speed, and content. But SEO has changed, and there’s a lot you can do that your competition isn’t doing yet.
If you want your content to stand out in the search results, look into structured markup and rich snippets.
When you add the code to your content, Google bots will recognize different parts of your entries. The results will be more eye-catching.
Google has been improving RankBrain to understand the context of content.
This means you shouldn’t stuff your content with keywords.
However, you can use LSI keywords (semantically related keywords) and adapt your content to respond to longer voice search queries. You can structure it as a FAQ section for increased likelihood of getting a featured snippet.
For example, have the heading of your post be a common search query: “What is [xyz]?” and then continue with “[Xyz] is…”
While Google primarily uses links to understand how your site fits into your niche, it’s starting to use linkless brand mentions as well.
This means that it’s picking up on signals from social media, comments, review sites, and other places where people talk about your business.
You can use linkless mentions to market your business online by:
Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective online marketing methods. Its ROI is 4400%, and the best part is: you’re reaching your customers right where it counts.
In their inboxes.
However, many businesses make email marketing mistakes that could easily be avoided.
From making sure that your emails aren’t ending up in the spam folder to optimizing posting times, there are plenty of things that go into your email marketing mix.
Make sure you’re using all the tricks in the book; from drip campaigns to reactivation. You can even learn from companies who have been successfully using email marketing for decades.
However, the easiest way to get started with email marketing is by offering a lead magnet for newsletter subscription.
Then you can segment your subscribers according to interests or other relevant factors.
Don’t be afraid of intriguing visuals, interactive content, gamification, and special promotions just for your loyal subscribers.
In the end, your email list is your best, safest bet. You can even monetize it.
The biggest mistake businesses make with digital marketing is putting their audience in the shoes of a passive content consumer.
In reality, people love engaging with your content. They want to be a part of your story, even if just with a comment or by taking a quiz.
It’s one of the reasons why BuzzFeed rose to prominence.
You don’t have to use quizzes, but you can still engage your audience by:
Encourage your audience to share their content with you.
If you’re selling a particular product and your customers are posting about it, why not reshare their content to your social media? It’ll help you retain them and attract new customers at the same time.
People love competitions and challenges; they’re a big part of extrinsic motivation that drives us towards success.
So if you want to promote your business online, look no further than setting up a giveaway or a challenge on social media or through your newsletter.
You’ll get bonus points if you ask your customers to refer their friends for a higher chance of winning the prize.
Consumers trust other consumers more than brands. A few recommendations from your loyal customers go further than any marketing campaign ever could.
A great trick for encouraging referrals is to gamify the process with a loyalty program.
Reward customers who invite their friends to subscribe to your newsletters or buy your products with loyalty points or discounts.
With 92% of consumers trusting peer recommendations, message boards are the new El Dorado of marketing.
The main two today are definitely Reddit and Quora.
Not only do they appear first in search results for a lot of topics, but they also provide you with (free) access to your target audience. Content on those sites is sorted by interests, and it doesn’t get better than that.
However, it’s important to choose the right approach.
With Quora, strive to answer questions with detailed, useful answers.
Always go the extra mile by providing resources, coining analogies, and using your natural tone of voice to show your personality.
Bob Ruffolo’s Quora profile is a great example:
With Reddit, don’t start promoting your product immediately.
Instead, integrate yourself into the community you’re targeting. Discuss things with other members and ask for their feedback. Use native content formats such as AskMeAnything.
By the time you’re ready to promote, the users will accept it wholeheartedly.
When we think about content, we typically think about blog posts and articles. However, almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day.
And when you add all the other platforms that support video, it becomes clear that missing out on it is almost like handing over your audience to competitors.
However, cats aren’t the only popular video subjects.
Your videos can be:
And much more!
Just like in Dollar Shave Club’s example, video is a great medium for conveying the personality of your brand while providing value.
You can even use native features of social networks that allow you to live stream.
With ads, try to be as short as possible to avoid disrupting the viewers’ experience.
However, don’t be afraid of long-form content with organic video and telling heartfelt stories like MailChimp with their Wi-Finders video series.
Social media may have started out as a free way to promote your business but it’s growing increasingly pay-to-play these days.
However, there are still ways you can improve your organic reach and cut back on your advertising spend.
On Instagram, look into the way feed priority is handled by the new algorithm.
It focuses on being social so if you want your posts to be the first in your followers’ feeds, you should socialize with them:
When it comes to hashtags, know where and how they’re being used.
For example, users actively use them on Twitter to take part in challenges and join discussions.
On Instagram, on the other hand, they’re only actively used by smaller communities. Other IG users burned themselves before, when hashtags were chock-full of spam.
And because of this, you shouldn’t target very popular hashtags (over 10m posts).
Instead, opt for hashtags that have 50k-10m posts.
When it comes to Facebook, don’t forget to use Messenger Chat Bots.
They’re a great way of reaching your followers and customers with special offers while avoiding the low organic reach rate in the News Feed.
And since Facebook will be prioritizing groups rather than pages, consider creating a group connected to your page where you’ll share important updates and have meaningful conversations.
This way, you’ll get plenty of organic activity.
There is nothing that can fuel your long-term online marketing success as much as thought leadership.
Not only is it going to improve your brand awareness, but it’ll also give you extra SEO points.
Recently, Google has started implementing changes related to the E-A-T quality score. By using human content reviewers, they’ve identified the basic requirements that high-ranking content should fulfill:
You can improve your SEO EAT score by including author boxes with credentials, and avoid talking about medicine, finance and law unless you’re quoting expert sources.
And when it comes to pure thought leadership, strive to guest blog on popular platforms, take part in conferences, and connect with other influencers. HubSpot, for example, are thought leaders in marketing, sales, CRM and much more.
Turn yourself or your business into a resource your customers look to not only for products, but for news and meaningful content as well.
When you’ve crafted the right marketing message for your audience, you have to amplify it.
Of course, you could use ads. But you could also use your existing customers, employees and influencers who are already trusted by hundreds, thousands, and millions.
Influencer marketing has a huge ROI; 11 times higher than display advertising.
All you need to do is find the right influencers for your niche and partner up with them in an organic way.
You can also use your employees as influencers. When they amplify your content, your message reaches 561% further.
Reebok uses their #FitAssCompany employee advocacy program to reach more consumers
Invite them to share your content or create their own content about your brand.
You can easily implement employee advocacy (and even gamify it) with a tool like DrumUp.
Finally, no one is going to support you more than customers who had a good experience with your brand.
Use that to improve your revenue by encouraging them to refer their friends and rewarding them accordingly.
Finally, don’t forget about offline marketing that will generate buzz online.
Guerrilla marketing is an incredible way of making your business go viral, and sometimes it’s as simple as drawing something in chalk on the sidewalk.
You can also experiment with pop-up events, interesting sandwich boards (if you own a brick and mortar business), and even including your customers in an interesting marketing campaign disguised as an activation.
When you want to market your business online, not even the sky is the limit.
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If you’re using mailfloss for Sendinblue email verification, you have four options at your disposal. Before explaining the four options, make sure you have properly connected Sendinblue to mailfloss. You only need to do this once and from then on mailfloss will be able to automatically perform email verifications for the connected Sendinblue account. Here’s a screenshot of the […]
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The money is in the list is a term you may have heard. That's because email remains one of the most lucrative channels available, with a 3800% ROI per subscriber. Read this article to find out how to make more money from your email list with these 7 proven to work ideas.
The post How to Make More Money from Your Email List appeared first on mailfloss.
Email may not be a glamorous channel, but you can’t deny it’s lucrative.
Marketers who use segmented email campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue. And for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you’ll get $38 in return.
That’s a 3800% ROI!
So yes, email marketing may be the coolest thing since PB&J. But if you’ve got an email list, it’s not always easy to know how to monetize it without driving your subscribers away.
In this post, we’ll take a look at seven ways you can make more money from your email list immediately. Let’s dive in!
You’ve heard of membership sites. Now get ready for:
Membership mailing lists!
Paid membership mailing lists are a great way to monetize an email list in which you provide exclusive resources that can’t be (easily) found anywhere else for free.
This is a great option for experts at something. Yes, the internet is full of content but most of it isn’t that comprehensive, and often lacks the expertise only professionals with field experience can have.
And it lacks the anecdotes, too.
Take a look at Hot Pod’s example.
Trends in the podcast industry are numerous and updates are almost as frequent as sunny days in July. People who are serious about this field just need a way to filter the most important information.
The owners of Hot Pod charge a $7/month subscription and in return the members can learn everything they need to know about podcasts in one simple newsletter.
Another great example is the Stratechery newsletter which’ll set back a tech whiz about $10/month.
This newsletter analyzes the sea of tech information and provides the takeaways so the subscribers know what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what they can expect to happen as a result.
The price people are willing to pay for information is high so paid newsletters prove themselves to be a great way to make more money from your email list.
Ads are the oldest trick in the book for monetization of pretty much anything.
However, not all ads were created equal. Some are just better than others and generate more revenue.
The main prerequisites for selling ad space in your email list are:
When we say segmented subscribers, we mean that your best chance of selling ad space is having a highly-targeted audience.
Two thousand subscribers who are interested in baseball paraphernalia are better than ten thousand people whose only shared trait is the need to eat every day.
Advertisers are always willing to pay more (even if you have a small email list) for a niche audience.
This doesn’t just matter to advertisers. It should also matter to you.
If you advertise a product relevant to your subscribers, they won’t mind. In fact, they’ll be more willing to buy it and consequently, consider you as credible and trustworthy for keeping their needs in mind.
Otherwise, you could be considered a sellout and sent straight to the spam folder.
There are a few ways you can add advertisements to your emails:
These are complete emails dedicated to a sponsored offer.
For example, Expedia offers access to tens of millions of their subscribers with sponsored email.
You can also use sponsored emails to feature exclusive offers and promotions.
However, you should work closely with the sponsor to create the best content for your subscribers. And as always – keep it relevant. Don’t advertise socks to zebras.
If you can use ad networks for your site, you can use them to make more money from your email list, as well.
You can feature full-blown carousels with multiple ads, or you can add a small ad or two to your usual emails.
However, make sure you keep it relevant because you could completely disrupt the flow and credibility of your newsletter.
While most people have become immune to seeing ads everywhere, sending a serious newsletter with clickbait-y ads can give off a bad vibe.
If you think this is a good choice for monetizing your email list, check out email ad networks like LiveIntent and BuySellAds.
Finally, you can place ads within your content. You have to disclose that it’s a sponsored link, but it’s a good way to integrate ads that make sense with your original content.
In this example from Pocket, the email was sponsored by Monday.com.
However, the email is still contextually relevant and interesting, with the only advertising additions being a few sponsored posts.
The way you’ll monetize your email list largely depends on what kind of email list you’re running.
However, a good rule of thumb if you’re selling your own product or offering a subscription is to monetize every step of the way.
This means:
Or, at least, hint towards monetization and advance the subscribers through the sales funnel.
For example, if you sell a product, you can mention it under a ‘P.S.’ on the opt-in page.
If you have an independent project like Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings, you can mention that you accept donations.
A lot of people don’t use these pages for anything more than confirming subscription, but they are micro-moments which ultimately lead to sales.
If you don’t have a product of your own, you can advertise your affiliate partnerships on these pages.
Again, the more relevant the product you’re pitching is, the more success you’ll have.
Contemporary advertising spoiled us rotten.
Every day, there are so many new and awesome offers that a regularly-priced product doesn’t stand a chance.
But add a “50% DISCOUNT, 24 HOURS ONLY” line to your email and you’ll see some real magic happen.
On average, if you use urgency when advertising your offers, you’ll get customers more excited to the tune of 59% higher transaction-to-click rates.
Other sales tactics that you can use to make more money from your email list are:
In addition to these tried and true tactics, you should also include a discount if you want to really motivate your subscribers.
Don’t forget to announce the offer and follow up with them, as well.
By the time you send the email with the offer your subscribers can’t miss, they should already be aware of what’s going to happen. Then, follow up with them a few times to remind them of all the benefits.
Don’t forget about introductory, tripwire offers.
These can be automatically triggered so the subscribers get a special offer as soon as they sign up. According to Digital Marketer, people who purchase the tripwire offer are 10x more likely to purchase the core offer.
Trigger-based offers are a great way of making more money from your email list in general. You can also set up triggers for events like cart abandonment and capture the lead while they’re still hot.
Finally, you can monetize your email list further with up-selling and cross-selling.
If they bought product A, they may be interested in product B which is complementary. Or, if they have the basic plan, they may enjoy a more advanced plan.
In addition to the main product you’re selling, you can also create by-products to make even more money from your email list.
This is another great way to upsell and cross-sell, especially if you’ve got a highly-targeted audience.
For example, you can create webinars that educate your subscribers more on the niche you’re in. You can also create eBooks or paperbacks to provide even more value.
If you have a good base of subscribers who have also purchased from you before, they’re the ideal target audience for these byproducts.
For example, Cole of Honey Copy uses his email newsletter to sell a book on copywriting.
He’s pretty authoritative in the industry and his subscribers have enough trust in him to know that the book he’s recently written is worth the price.
This is where thought leadership is really beneficial. It positions you as the expert and creates even more demand for your materials.
And while you should use valuable resources as lead magnets, consider monetizing the in-depth resources that your subscribers will surely be interested in.
The real key to successfully making more money from your email list is having great content that people love reading.
Yes, you could have the best product that has ever been made, but it wouldn’t stand a chance unless the content around it is equally excellent.
So when you’re thinking about monetizing your email list, you should first think about sending great emails consistently.
The first thing your emails should be is inspirational.
You shouldn’t just understand the basic demographic facts about your audience. Instead, branch out into psychographics and understand what their goals are and what motivates them.
By understanding this, you’ll understand how to phrase your offers.
The second thing your emails should be is useful.
In addition to telling your subscribers that they’ll achieve their goals with something you’re selling them, show them a clear roadmap of how they’ll get there.
Make sure you personalize your emails and segment your audience to tailor the messaging. This is especially important for email lists with thousands of subscribers. You can’t reach anyone with a generic message.
But you can reach and motivate the right people with a personalized message.
Send the emails consistently so your subscribers know when to expect them. Sporadic emails don’t build the trust you need to make money from your email list.
And speaking of building trust, include social proof.
You can use reviews or feature your customers’ success. If you don’t sell a specific product, you can simply highlight the story of an active subscriber.
Finally, once you’ve gotten the hang of things and built up your email list, make sure you analyze the preferences of your subscribers.
The majority of email marketing tools offer built-in analytics that will show you when your emails are opened, how many people open them, and the click-through rate.
What you have to do is put it into context:
Learn everything there is to know about your audience. It’ll help you encourage repeat buyers and referrals.
And finally, just ask them what they like.
There’s nothing like seeing that a brand cares to make you buy everything on the shelf.
