In part 2 of our online marketing tutorial we detail how to effectively use each online marketing instrument.
1. Basic instruments for every online marketing plan
- Search Engine Optimization: According to a recent study natural search is the key driver of website visits. Search Engine Optimization is therefore a critical success factor for your online marketing. Note that SEO is an ongoing process and progress can typically be measured only after a few months.
- Content Marketing: If people find interesting content online, they share it. This has a positive impact on your search engine ranking (external links or backlinks). A supplementary factor to improve your ranking is the popularity of your content in social networks. Nowadays, consumers are overwhelmed with advertising. You can stand out and gain your consumers’ trust by providing relevant content. Competitions and paid advertising can help grow your audience in social media. However, your audience might perceive an overuse of paid advertising negatively.
2. Additional online marketing instruments
- Search Engine Marketing: An SEM campaign is active almost immediately and therefore suitable for short-term activities, for example to promote time-limited offers. However, SEM is also a very effective long-term instrument. According to this study the simultaneous use of SEO and SEM leads to an increase of total visits to a website. In the following cases, a continuous use of SEM is a critical success factor for your online marketing:
- Low SEO ranking: If you are suffering from low rankings in organic search results, for example when you are launching a new website.
- High SEO competition: If it is difficult to constantly achieve good rankings for organic search listings due to highly competitive keywords.
Google is the most used search engine. As such, focusing on Google AdWords provides a good reach for SEM.
- E-Mail Marketing: Newsletter subscriptions have to be gained in advance. Make sure that your newsletter is promoted on your website and within your content marketing activities. Newsletters have a limited reach, as these contents cannot be shared like social media posts. A newsletter can contain a few offers but the main focus should be on insightful or charming content in order to avoid being marked as junk mail.
- Google Display Network: Advertising in the Google Display Network allows you to address people who are not actively searching for your offer. This is an expedient approach especially in the following cases:
- Low search volume: There might be low search volume for example if you are launching an unknown product.
- Remarketing (Retargeting): Within the Google Display Network, you can target your previous website visitors with your ads while they are visiting other websites. Remarketing gives you a chance to bring back indecisive customers, such as customers with an incomplete purchase in your online shop.
The Google Display Network reaches over 83% of all Internet users, so it is advisable to focus on this network.
- Display Advertising: Display Advertising makes sense as part of a ubiquitous campaign to maximize exposure. Such a campaign requires a considerable budget: besides online marketing channels you should include offline instruments such as print advertisements, TV commercials or billboards. Make sure to use websites with a very high reach for your display advertising, such as important media outlets and portals. In Switzerland, examples of such websites are Bluewin and the websites of the most widely read daily newspapers (e.g. 20 Minuten).
