The Basics of Online Marketing
Cracking Google's algorithms is akin to solving a Rubik's Cube. Both tasks require a strategic approach, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills. Just as each twist of a Rubik's Cube affects the outcome, every algorithm adjustment can significantly impact search results. Both endeavors demand perseverance, patience, and the ability to think several steps ahead. But, once the pattern of solving these puzzles is understood, completing it becomes a straightforward task.
When approaching online marketing, don’t let the idea of Google’s algorithms intimidate you. If you get stuck, there are loads of information online, or you can always reach out to marketing professionals for assistance.
Below are a few basics of online marketing to help you prepare for the game of Google. Let’s start with the basics: definitions.
Online Marketing Definitions
Organic Marketing: The use of non-paid marketing strategies to attract and engage an audience. This can include tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media engagement, and word-of-mouth. The goal of organic marketing is to build brand awareness, establish trust, and drive traffic to a website or business without relying on paid advertising.
Content Marketing: Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. (Example: this blog you are currently reading is content marketing)
Email Marketing: A digital marketing strategy that involves sending emails to a targeted list of recipients to promote products or services, build relationships with customers, and drive sales. This form of marketing allows businesses to communicate directly with their audience in a cost-effective and efficient way. Email marketing campaigns can include newsletters, promotional offers, product updates, event invitations, and more.
Social Media Marketing: A form of digital marketing strategy that involves creating and sharing content on social media platforms to achieve marketing and branding goals. This type of marketing involves activities such as posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that engages the audience, as well as paid social media advertising. Social media marketing aims to increase website traffic, generate leads, and boost brand awareness. The major social media platforms used for marketing include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): A form of digital marketing that involves increasing a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through paid advertising. SEM primarily consists of pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to improve organic search rankings over time. By utilizing SEM effectively, businesses can enhance their online presence, attract relevant traffic, and achieve their marketing objectives.
Paid Marketing or Pay-per-click (PPC): A type of online advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. This method allows advertisers to drive traffic to their websites by purchasing ads on search engines or other platforms rather than earning those visits organically. Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their target audience, and when users search for those keywords, the ads are displayed. PPC can be a cost-effective way for businesses to reach their target audience and drive conversions.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of improving a website's visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. SEO aims to increase organic (non-paid) traffic from search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo by optimizing various aspects of a website, such as content, keywords, and meta tags. The ultimate goal of SEO is to attract more visitors and potential customers.
Search Engine Results Page (SERPs): The page a search engine displays in response to a user's query. It includes a list of websites relevant to the search terms entered by the user. The SERP typically features both paid advertisements and organic search results. The order and ranking of websites on the SERP are determined by the search engine's algorithm, which takes into account various factors such as relevance, authority, and user experience.
Where to Begin? Define Marketing Goals
To define marketing goals, start by conducting an analysis of your business objectives and target audience. Clearly outline what you aim to achieve with your marketing efforts, such as increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales. Ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant. Consider factors like budget, resources, and timeline when setting these goals. Regularly monitor and assess your progress toward these targets to make any necessary adjustments for optimal results.
Next? Organic Marketing
Starting with organic marketing before paid marketing is crucial for building a strong foundation for your brand. Organic marketing allows you to establish credibility, trust, and authority within your industry without having to invest a substantial amount of money. By focusing on creating valuable and engaging content, optimizing your SEO, and building a loyal following on social media, you can attract an audience that is genuinely interested in your brand. This organic growth not only paves the way for a more successful paid marketing strategy but also ensures long-term sustainability and brand loyalty. By prioritizing organic marketing efforts early on, you can set your brand up for success in the competitive digital landscape.
Organic SEO - The ultimate goal of organic SEO is to achieve higher visibility in search engines for targeted keywords and increase organic traffic to your website. Organic SEO is a long-term approach focused on non-paid/organic marketing methods. Key components of organic SEO include keyword research to identify relevant terms, optimizing website content with these keywords, enhancing user experience, and building external and internal links. Technical aspects such as site speed, best security practices and mobile-friendliness also play a crucial role in organic SEO.
Regular monitoring and analysis of performance metrics help in making data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.
Content Development - Search engines like Google prioritize high-quality content that matches the intent behind search queries. By creating well-written and informative content, websites can attract more organic traffic as search engines recognize the site as a reputable source of information. Additionally, regularly updating content and incorporating relevant keywords can improve search engine rankings, making it easier for users to discover the website through organic search results. Ultimately, a strong content development strategy is key to enhancing organic SEO performance and driving increased visibility and traffic to the website.
Local SEO - By focusing on optimizing a business's online presence for specific geographical locations, local SEO helps improve the visibility of the business in local search results. This targeted approach ensures that the business appears in relevant search queries made by users in its vicinity, ultimately driving more organic traffic and potential customers. Factors such as Google My Business optimization, local keyword targeting, online reviews, and consistent business information across online directories (and data aggregators) all contribute to improving a business's local SEO performance, which in turn boosts its overall organic search engine optimization efforts.
Email Marketing - When email campaigns include links to relevant blog posts or product pages on a website, it increases the likelihood of recipients clicking through to the site. This not only drives traffic but also signals to search engines that the site is valuable and authoritative. Additionally, email marketing can help generate social shares and inbound links from recipients who find the content useful, further boosting the site's SEO performance over time. By consistently sending high-quality emails with engaging content and strategic calls to action, businesses can enhance their organic search visibility and attract more qualified leads through their email marketing efforts.
Social Media Marketing - Social media marketing plays a crucial role in boosting organic SEO efforts. By sharing content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, brands can increase their online presence and drive traffic to their websites. When users engage with social media posts by liking, sharing, or commenting, it signals to search engines that the content is valuable and relevant. This social engagement can enhance a website's search engine rankings, ultimately leading to increased visibility and organic traffic. Additionally, social media profiles themselves often rank in search engine results, providing more opportunities for users to discover the brand online and further improving organic SEO performance.
Organic marketing's effectiveness can vary widely depending on numerous factors, such as the industry, target audience, content quality, and consistency of efforts. In general, organic marketing strategies typically take several months to a year before significant results start to materialize. Patience, persistence, and a focus on delivering value to the audience are key to success in organic marketing campaigns.
Paid Marketing
While organic marketing relies on engaging content to attract audiences naturally, paid advertising allows businesses to strategically place their messages in front of specific demographic groups. By investing in paid advertising, companies can accelerate their brand visibility, drive website traffic, and generate leads more efficiently than relying solely on organic efforts. This synergy between paid advertising and organic marketing can elevate a brand's overall marketing strategy to reach a larger and more targeted audience effectively.
Paid Advertising - There are various avenues of paid advertising in online marketing that businesses can leverage to reach their target audience. Some common options include:
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked
Social media advertising, which allows businesses to target their ads based on demographics, interests, and behaviors of users;
Display advertising, which involves placing banner ads on websites; video advertising, where video ads are displayed before, during, or after online videos
Influencer marketing, which involves collaborating with influencers to promote products or services to their followers. Each of these avenues offers unique benefits and can be tailored to suit different marketing goals.
Paid advertisements can start yielding results within a few hours to a few days after the campaign goes live. However, the timeline for seeing significant outcomes can vary depending on factors such as the platform used, target audience, ad creatives, budget allocation, and competition in the market. Some campaigns may require weeks or even months to optimize and generate a substantial return on investment. Monitoring metrics regularly and making data-driven adjustments are crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of paid advertising efforts.
In Conclusion
Both organic and paid marketing strategies come with their own uncertainties and challenges. Organic marketing, though cost-effective and has the potential for long-term payoff, relies heavily on ever-changing algorithms and search engine preferences. On the other hand, paid marketing offers more control over targeting and visibility but can be expensive and may not always translate to desired results. In the dynamic landscape of marketing, adaptability, and continuous optimization are key, regardless of the chosen approach.
Not feeling up for games? We’re here to help. Reach out to Appear Design for insights into digital marketing approaches or for a complete marketing package. While we never guarantee marketing results, we approach our marketing services honestly and transparently and are confident in the skills we’ve gained in over 20 years of combined experience. We’ll provide a free consultation to discuss our marketing recommendations for your business.
