4 ways to ensure digital marketing optimization

Digital marketing optimization (what we lovingly refer to as DMO) involves developing an entire digital marketing plan that allows you to leverage various marketing outlets that all feed into one another. With social media being so easy and convenient to use, sometimes we tend to flock into using ONLY social media for our businesses when, really, we should be using much more than that.

Marketing is known to:

• Drive brand awareness

• Develop trust with your audience

• Act as a funnel for sales

And more. Although there are multiple marketing outlets to consider for your business, these four tend to be the most important and popular:

1. Website + Blog

2. Social Media

3. Email Marketing

4. PR

Use the below to help you map your DMO and understand how to best use each outlet.

website + blog

Websites are what convert people from being visitors to becoming clients or customers. It shows who you are, what you do, and how you help. Going along with a website is a blog, which is crucial for any industry. Blog posts are known to…

• Drive users to your website

• Position you as an expert or thought leader within your industry

• Improve your SEO

And the list can go on. Ultimately, you want to be able to write blog posts that solve some type of issue for your audience so that they view that piece of content as valuable and want to bookmark it to save for later or share with friends who may benefit from reading it, too. Use your blog to provide a solution to a common problem your audience faces.

And when you publish a blog, you most definitely want to share it via social media and with your email list to get as many eyeballs on it as possible, which leads to the next two parts in our DMO plan. But before we can move onto those, however, brainstorm some blog posts that will work well for your audience:

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social media

You may be tempted to join every single social media platform that exists because you think you’ll be able to reach more people, but you really want to focus on using the platforms where your audience exists, which Sprout Social shares through this report.

Similar to the purpose of blogging, you’ll want to publish social media posts that benefit your audience in some way. Examples include:

• Testimonials: Describing positive experiences that clients or customers have had with you pushes potential clients or customers further down the buying decision process.

• Tips: Listing quick pieces of advice that your followers can easily take and implement positions you as an expert.

• Personal Content: Giving insight into who you are as a person builds that know / like / trust factor with your audience.

• Blog Posts + Peress Features: Sharing blog posts you published or publications that featured you to help position you as an expert.

Social media also drives your audience to other places. It can be used to get people to join your email list, bring people to your website, encourage them to read an article you were featured in, and more.

What are some top social media topics that will work well for your audience?

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email marketing

Email marketing is great in so many ways, but there are two huge reasons why you should use it:

1. Creating lead magnets that grow your email list

2. Sending newsletters that nurture your subscribers

You’ll first want to start out with finding a way to grow your email list, which can easily be accomplished through a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a free resource you provide in exchange for someone’s email address. This resource can be a video, checklist, PDF, or any other form of content. When someone signs up to receive the freebie, they get added to their email list, and then you can continuously market to that subscriber through newsletters.

And that leads us into the second part of email marketing. It doesn’t matter how often you send newsletters--it could be weekly, biweekly, or monthly--as long as you are consistent with it. It’s easy to let things slip before you realize you’ve now gone months without sending an email to your list, so make sure you designate time to send valuable information to your audience.

Your newsletter can contain new pieces of content you’ve created (blog posts, podcast episodes, webinars, etc.), recent updates, tips, and more. The main goal is to benefit your audience in some way.

Your newsletters can drive your subscribers to new blog posts or press features you link to or to your social media profiles if you encourage them to follow you for more updates, tips, and behind-the-scenes looks.

Do you have a lead magnet set up yet? If not, think of ideas that will serve your audience:

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public relations

Is there anything better than seeing someone else feature your business and your work? That’s all thanks to PR. You’ll want to incorporate this into your DMO plan for three reasons:

1. These features usually backlink to your website in some way, which improves your SEO.

2. You can cross-promote yourself in front of a larger yet targeted audience to obtain additional exposure.

3. Getting featured by a publication positions you as an expert and thought leader while boosting your credibility.

PR allows people who never knew you before to now know you, which means that they’ll be interested in checking out more of your work, and there’s a high chance that they’ll go to your website and follow you on social media.

What are interesting topics that you could discuss on podcasts or in online publications?

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Creating a well thought out DMO plan allows you to get more results, serve your audience better, and reach maximum awareness of your brand--all while helping you to make more money!