5 More Ways to Enhance your Digital Marketing Strategy
We add-on five new digital marketing strategies from the article we blogged last week.
1) Watch out for Copyright Law
If you haphazardly use images you find online, it’s only a matter of time before your pocketbook takes a hit.
Here’s why.
Every time someone creates an image, they have full ownership over that image. Even if they post it online. Even if Google’s image search indexes it. If you use someone’s image without their permission, they can sue you. It’s not atypical for these claims to cost thousands of dollars.
The good news is that some generous people waive their copyright claims. There are free photos out there for your site. The bad news is some free photos have restrictions. If you don’t follow these restrictions, you are violating copyright law. For instance, some photos require attribution to the original owner. Other photos can’t be used for commercial sites.
If you’re confused, only use photos that fall under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This is the least restrictive of the licenses. You can use a CC0 photo anywhere, and they don’t demand any attribution either. You basically have unlimited freedom with these photos (as long as you don’t claim them as your original creation).
There are many websites out there that have free photos. This site is useful because it only has CC0 photos, but it isn’t the only site of its kind.
2) Write Unique Descriptions for Your E-Commerce Business
When Google introduced its Panda update in 2011, many experts declared that SEO was dead.
These people turned out to be wrong. Very wrong. Low quality, non-authoritative articles lost their value. SEO is just as important as it ever was.
There has been a marketing paradigm shift. It’s important to provide original content, instead of the same material everyone else has. For instance, let’s say you are selling a niche product online. That product typically has a default description, one provided by the company who created it. You can get an edge over your rivals who are selling the same product by writing a unique description no one else has.
If you write fresh information about physical products, researchers will be drawn to your page. Once they are on your page, you are more likely to make the sale.
3) Go from a Discount Model to Value-Added Model
Apple sells a lot of iPhones. But volume isn’t the only reason the iPhone is successful. Cupertino keeps the iPhone’s margins high. They can do that because they have a strong brand, a brand people are willing to pay more for.
You may be saying that’s great and all, but I can’t follow the Apple strategy. If my price isn’t the lowest, then my customers will go elsewhere. That means you need a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). If you’re the cheapest, you have one. But, once someone offers a lower price, you’ve lost your USP.
There are other USP’s besides price, and they are generally the ticket to higher margins. What could your USP be? It could be a number of things. Safe packaging. Amazing customer service. A gorgeous and intuitive website. A partnership with a charity. It could also be a combination of things. You sell collectibles. You’re not the cheapest, but you’re cheapest who uses excellent packaging.
Once you have a compelling USP, promote it on your website.
4) Embrace Great Headlines
Advertising legend David Ogilvy wrote a headline for a famous automobile advertisement 104 times. Here’s his final product.
“At 60 miles an hour, the only thing you hear in the new Rolls Royce is the ticking of the dashboard clock …”
That robust headline funneled people into the body copy. And that’s essential. 80% of your visitors will read your headline, while only 20% will read your body copy. That’s why your headline has to be awesome. If you don’t have engaging headlines, you are doing the rest of your writing a disservice.
Here are two simple rules that will help you write a great headline.
- The Best Headlines Inspire Curiosity.
The point of the headline is to make your visitors crave more of your writing. The headline “Green Apples are better at Lowering Cholesterol than Red Apples” is not as good as, “One Question You Should Ask Yourself Before You Eat Another Red Apple.”
Don’t give away your body copy in the headline.
- Avoid Deceptive Headlines
Effective, well-paid writers use headlines that inspire curiosity. Recently these types of headlines have inspired a bit of a backlash. The reason is that people write headlines and don’t back them up. They are deceptive headlines. This is much worse than a bland headline, because it tarnishes your brand.
Use catchy headlines, but always deliver on the promise of those headlines.
5) Schedule Blog Posts Regularly
Blogging is about more than SEO. Yes, content marketing makes you more visible on Google searches but there are other benefits as well.
Blogging establishes you as a thought-leader in your industry. If you have something fresh and interesting to say, you will gain a group of loyal followers. The best way to keep them happy is to decide on a posting schedule and stick to it. It’s much better to post every Friday morning than to randomly post four times a month.
Even worse is the prospect of going long stretches without posting. If you don’t post for 6 months, you are going to lose a huge chunk of your followers. It’s okay to take a hiatus. Tell your tribe you can’t post next week, or that your next post will be an abbreviated.
Bloggers are always looking for exposure. If you have a decent amount of traffic, secure a quality guest post that relates to your blog. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you might need to hire a freelance writer.
Above all, communicate with the people reading your blog. Try to consistently give them fresh and exciting content.
Conclusion
Hopefully, some of these digital marketing tips are useful to you. If you like this article you can check the other 5 tips from last week.
About the Author
Zachary is a freelance copywriter and will help you grow your profits. Just send him an email, and he will personally analyze your newsletters, product descriptions, or landing page copy for free. No risk, no obligation. Get in touch at Zachary Writes today!
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Obviously, there are no guarantees of success; however, if you do the above, your chances for success are improved.
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Why not tell us about your own digital marketing strategies and how they have affected your business? Please do so, either in the comments below, or by submitting a guest post to us. We review these posts carefully, and as long as your contribution adds something to the entrepreneurial community we’d be happy to feature it on our site with a link back to yours!
