Toggle the navigation menu Digital marketing recovery tactics for any industry One of the many things that the coronavirus pandemic has taught us is that the wheels of digital transformation are already turning. Many aspects of normal life will depend more than ever on digital spheres and innovations, meaning that curating and maintaining an effective digital presence for your business is essential. To help you to navigate this process, we’ve compiled some key considerations for your future digital marketing activity, no matter what industry you operate in. Be audience-centric Whether you employ B2C or B2B strategies, your audience will always be at the heart of your digital identity. Every decision you make should be tailored to the preferences, behaviours, habits and interests of your target audience, with all content and tools refined to their customer journey. Revisiting your audience research could be the ideal starting point when preparing for recovery, especially as consumer priorities may have changed during the course of the pandemic. We would recommend the following models to structure your findings: Segmentation When you have determined your broader target audience, consider how you might divide this group into more specific categories, paying particular attention to different demographics, psychographics and behaviours. For example, geography, family life cycle, benefits sought and differing views can all affect buying habits, and will help to determine which platforms should be prioritised. Pen Portraits For each of your target segments, develop a pen portrait or “buyer persona” which delves deeper into the intricacies of their lifestyle. What do they read? What do they watch? What do they care about? Create semi-fictional characters based upon your segmentation efforts, designed to represent the real customers you are targeting. Empathy Maps An empathy map focuses on how these pen portraits act, think, feel, see, hear and do, adding an extra level of understanding to your marketing approach. For example, how you target people online could be influenced by how likely your audience are to see and engage with certain reviews, or if they feel a certain way about a given topic. Be as specific as you possibly can - get to know your pen portraits as you would with a real customer. Be SMART with your objectives How will you know how much progress you have made if you don’t clearly outline what you’re trying to achieve? Setting objectives will give you a clear direction and allow you to measure your progress via key performance indicators (KPIs) which align with your overall goals. When developing your objectives, consider your current digital performance and any strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities you are experiencing, then think about where you want to be in one month, six months, a year and beyond. SMART objectives are not a new concept, but the value of using this method will never grow old. SMART stands for... S - Specific M - Measurable A - Attainable R - Relevant T - Time-based ...and is designed to craft objectives which are truly reflective of your position and goals. Every time you set a new objective, work through each of these points and make sure it includes all of the SMART criteria. The data created within digital environments facilitates unrivalled insights into the successes and weaknesses of your current strategy, and your online marketing objectives should reflect this access. Still unsure what a SMART objective looks like? Here are some examples: To grow our Facebook audience to 3000 followers by June 2021. To rank on the first page of Google in the UK for the keyword phrase “digital agency” by the end of 2021. To decrease website bounce rate by 20% in the next quarter. Be visible Being visible online isn’t only about posting regularly on social media, especially as the volume of information available on the Internet continues to grow. As lockdown restrictions come to an end, businesses will face the challenge of standing out from the crowd as brands across the world ramp up their marketing efforts to compete for consumer attention, all at roughly the same time. Tailoring your digital strategy to your audience, as discussed previously, will increase your visibility by improving the relevancy and engagement potential of your marketing offer, but there are plenty of channels you can optimise to maximise brand awareness. We’ve compiled our top tips for some of these key channels below: Search engines Revisit your keyword research and adapt your selected phrases to changing consumer preferences and behaviours. Populate your website with these keyword phrases in a natural manner, both within the website content and meta information. Use tools like Moz, Neil Patel’s SEO analyzer and Serpfox to track your progress and identify critical issues. Consider using paid advertising on Google Ads (or similar systems) to reinforce your SEO efforts and further increase your web traffic. Social media Tailor your posting times and frequency to your audience / the platform you are using. Facebook, for example, penalize pages which post more than five times per week, while tweets have a much shorter lifespan, so more frequent posts on Twitter may help, rather than hinder, engagement rates. Make the most of Stories on both Facebook and Instagram, which create further opportunities for engagement and brand awareness while avoiding the tight algorithmical restrictions on the newsfeed. Video and animation are becoming increasingly important to all forms of marketing. Boost your video skills and incorporate video content in every element of your digital strategy. Ask your colleagues to share your company’s most important content, or anything that you feel needs extra momentum. Increase reach, engagement, traffic and more with paid social advertising, which can offer a huge return on investment if your targeting and creative are well-refined. Email Aim to grow your subscriber base before the world begins to open up again, using exclusive offers or valuable content to provide an incentive. Get creative and develop campaigns that add value to your subscribers, so much so that they anticipate your mailout each week or month. Optimise the subject of your emails and the time it is sent each period. Personalise your content as much as possible, whether this be by using personal information to address recipients or segmenting your lists to make each mailout as relevant as possible to their individual desires. If you’re struggling to manage your digital marketing, Arise provides the digital services you need to move your business forward. Get in touch today at hello@wearearise.com. AUTHOR Jazz Bovill SUBJECTS SEO · Social Media · Web Design Alongside passion and experience for the tourism and hospitality sector, Jazz is also studying Digital Media & Society at the University of Sheffield, bringing a further wealth of expertise to share with our clients. Maximise your digital impact with more industry tips & advice You'll receive an email update every 2 weeks with insight and advice to support you in your digital marketing journey. We treat your email address with care, and you can unsubscribe with just a click. 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