The Adobe Summit starts today so we asked our Sage Business Experts for their top digital marketing tip for starting or growing a business. Today find out how to choose the right digital marketing platform and content. Tomorrow we look at tips on social media, websites and blogs.
Choosing the right digital platform
Jo Booth – Social Media Makes Sense
My top digital marketing tip for starting or growing a business would be to not spread yourself too thin. Research which digital platforms will best serve your business. Study how to use them to best effect and start implementing. Don’t just join every site and do a little bit on each. Focus your efforts based on industry successes.
Sarah Arrow – Sark e-Media
My tips would be to be where your prospective customers hangout online, and then listen before you speak. You’ll build your following and influence faster by being supportive and listening, than pushing your business onto potential customers.
Sue Keogh – Sookio
Pick one or two channels and do them well. Don’t spread yourself too thinly or you won’t be able to keep them updated with content. So maybe if you’re a B2B business you could focus on getting a great LinkedIn company page and blog, or a bakery could get going on Instagram. Just don’t take on too much or it will become a chore rather than something you enjoy doing, and it won’t get results.
Steve Revill
Whether starting or growing a business, my top digital marketing tip would be for business owners to ‘listen’ and ‘learn’ about their online target audience before leaping in to ‘speak’ to them through digital marketing channels.
There’s a whole host of free tools like Facebook Audience Insights or Google AdWords Keyword Planner to help you to understand the size and behaviour of your potential online customer base. Spending time on this research up front will allow you to be more effective when building a digital marketing strategy later.
What content should I use?
Antonia Chitty
Marketing is all about relationships, and that applies online as well as face to face. Don’t just create marketing messages to sell your products via social media: you need to truly interact. Listen to what your audience is saying, take part in a conversation and respond to their needs. All this will help you build real and lasting relationships with people who will trust your brand and buy from you in the long term.
Jeremy Corner – Blue Eyed Sun
Create engaging content that’s useful, relevant or amusing for your specific customers. If you can’t create then curate, just make sure it’s meaningful for your target audience.
Ian Rhodes – Brand Less Ordinary
Don’t fear the niche. Champion your niche. It’s better to be something to somebody than everything to everybody. Knowing your audience means you can empathise with your reader. You can share your knowledge and perspective in a context your reader will understand. Think about how you can grow your market, not necessarily grow your business. What can you do to step outside of the funnel and reach people with a shared mindset and shared goals that your business can help them achieve?
Lee Jacobson – CWP Studios
My top digital marketing tip would be to understand who your customers are and to provide them with great content. Whether it’s through social media, blog posts or even a podcast, by creating the kind of content your potential customers want to consume, you give yourself the perfect platform to promote your product or service.
Tracey Bird
Digital has revolutionised marketing communications. The digital tools available today make it possible to share information and knowledge quickly and cost effectively. Content marketing is an effective way to provide value and create competitive advantage. Share information and knowledge via blogs, videos, podcasts, tips, interesting articles to become established as a trusted expert in your field. Make content educational and insightful as opposed to promotional to create and engage a community for your business who will share your content and become your greatest marketers.
Julie Johnson
My top tip – Be yourself. Choose one or two channels that you like and will enjoy – don’t follow the crowd or try to post everywhere. Take time to check out where your ideal clients are, then focus on giving value and connecting with them in a way that fits you and is congruent with your business product or service. This means knowing your style e.g. fun, edgy, educational – and sticking with it. And thinking about what you sell and how it’s delivered or consumed, so you can provide tasters in the same format.
Tell us your digital tips?
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