The world of online marketing is changing on a regular basis. Something new is being released every day which changes the way we go about our business.
In today’s technology driven industry, it is only natural that flashy new tricks or tools will be appealing to most of us. Remember what happened with flash?
Now some of these tricks and tools have a strong retention ratio. For example, landing page automation is a legitimate tool which will make online marketing much easier in the coming years.
Other products don’t do so well. So instead of trying to keep up with this never ending cycle, wouldn’t it be easier to rely on tried and tested strategies which can easily adapt to granular programming changes and consumption shifts without compromising on the results?
For 2016, let’s take a look at three marketing tactics which have worked quite well:
1.Blogging
Blog written in bubble letters.
Blogging has been around for so many years now. But it hasn’t lost any of its effectiveness with time. Here are a few reason why:
- A blog is the best place for all announcements or news related content. Whether it is a product release, hosted event, or workarounds.
- Blogs have high search value. High value, search optimized content covering a nice mix of topics is a salient way to generate traffic.
- The versatility of a blog is second to none. It is not constrained by the imperatives of business. It is where you can discuss incidental topics and connect with prospects.
2. Reviews
Colorful Stars stars laying on a table.
It is critical to cultivate real reviews online too. Paying for fake reviews is not going to have the desired effect. The benefits of real reviews are greatly understated. They are:
- Reviews are search positive. A solid product or service review on high authority sites like Facebook, Google, Yelp, etc. can boost search rankings significantly. But bad reviews can have just the opposite effect as well.
- Review sites are excellent information databases. All reviews are data points for customers to look at and digest. The more reviews a website has, the better growth rate they have. Even if you can’t curate customer reviews, you could consider writing your own.
- Positive reviews are effective as sales tools too. Three out of four online shoppers trust reviews just as much as they trust recommendations from colleagues or friends. The more reviews you have, the more trust you generate for potential customers.
3. Informational Videos
Video marketing is the youngest marketing tool on this list. But this also means that it has the maximum opportunity for growth.
In spite of its engaging, tactile nature, videos work best when they are understated. Informational, boring videos like the ones below are the way to go. For instance…..
- Chat with key employees or founders. Personal, one-on-one interviews are the oldest trick in the book and they don’t look like they are going away anytime soon.
- A how-to video works wonders as well while teaching customers how to use the product or service.
- Take your customers behind the scenes. Give them a glimpse of what goes on in your company which is a prolific way of building customer trust.