Here’s the formula for marketing an online business:
Great Content + High Visibility + Precise Marketing Funnel = Traffic, Leads, and Customers
We’re an online business and this is exactly how we’re generating millions of visitors to our website.
And now we are going to show you how to do the exact same thing.
If you want to generate more awareness, traffic, and sales for your business, then read on until the end of this post.
How To Be Successful In Marketing Online Business
When it comes to marketing an online business, a lot of people think it is very complicated. But on a high level, it’s not.
You just have to understand how your customers use the Internet. And eventually, you develop a skill for how to interact with them.
But if you don’t understand how people use the Internet, then you probably won’t be successful at marketing your business online.
But don’t worry, there’s only one big thing you need to know about the Internet.
And it can be summarized in one word – content.
Everyone on the Internet is consuming content.
Whether that’s in your email inbox, an Instagram news feed, or even in this post, content is the magnet that captures people’s attention.
This means if your business does not have any content, then you effectively have no way of generating attention on the Internet.
No content. No attention. No traffic. No customers.
Our Formula For Marketing Online Business
Great Content + High Visibility + Precise Marketing Funnel
= Traffic, Leads, and Customers.
If you’re not generating enough traffic in your business, your problem is in one of these areas.
So let’s drill-down into each of these areas so you can grow your online business.
3 Stages Of Our Formula In Marketing Online Business
Stage 1: Content
What is content? Content is anything that you can read, listen to, or watch.
That includes blogs, podcasts, videos, and so on.
If we think about it, none of these marketing channels would exist without content.
Like, who would get on YouTube if there were no videos to watch?
Or who would check their email if there were no emails to check?
These platforms would not exist without content.
And because these platforms exist by content, the only way you can effectively market your business on these channels is through content.
For example, if your business does not have a website, how in the world are people going to find it on Google?
And if your website does not meet Google’s best practices, why in the world would they rank it first in the search results?
So the first step is to create content.
Lots of content. You have no chance at marketing your business without content.
The second step is to make sure it is quality web content.
You need to create value. It’s a cause-and-effect relationship.
No value. No effect.
Or in other words, no engagement, traffic, or leads.
So how exactly do you do this?
How to Create Content
There are a lot of ways to create content but we personally like this content pyramid by Gary Vaynerchuk.
- Top-Down Approach
Basically, you start with a big piece of content like a blog, video, or podcast to share on your website, YouTube, or podcast platform.
Then, you take snippets of that larger piece of content and share small pieces of it on the best social media platforms out there.
- Bottom-Up Approach
But not everyone is able to create these larger pieces of content.
The good news is that you can take the Bottom-Up approach.
You can start by publishing micro-pieces of content on a consistent basis that results in a high volume of followers, traffic, and conversions.
For example, a lot of our clients focus on publishing several pieces of helpful micro-content to generate customer engagement.
Then this engagement leads to more relationships with their customers, and eventually more traffic to their websites.
So by now, you know you need effective content to market your online business, let’s talk about stage 2 of this formula.
Stage 2: Visibility
Great content alone is just a part of the equation if you want to be successful at marketing your online business.
Here’s how you can increase your visibility for free in one sentence:
Make it easy for people to find your content online.
For example, millions of people are already searching for content on Google.
You can reach them for free by including keywords that people are searching for on your website in a way that complies with Google ranking factors.
And the more website engagement you have like:
- backlinks,
- traffic, and
- user experience
…the more reason Google has to trust your website with higher rankings.
On social media, one of the most popular ways to reach people for free is by including hashtags in your posts.
Millions of people use hashtags and keywords to find the content they are most interested in.
Whether you’re doing:
- podcasts,
- YouTube videos,
- blogs,
- social media
…or anything else – the simplest way to get visibility is by making it easy for people to find your content.
You need to know what people are searching for, and there are a lot of tools to help you do this depending on the platform you’re marketing on.
If you make it easy for people to find your content, and you post lots of content on a consistent basis, then you will be on your way to increasing your visibility.
To be fair, organic visibility is a slow process.
So if you have a few dollars to spend, then advertising will boost your visibility dramatically.
Most of these platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Google, Instagram, and so on all have an advertising feature that allows you to promote your content.
This will help you reach more people faster, allowing you to gain more engagement which will lead to traffic and leads in the long-term.
And some people even rely on these advertising tools for short-term results.
For example, we have clients where we only use our social media advertising services to drive leads and sales.
So instead of promoting content on their social media page, they send people directly to their website.
Here’s a client example where we spent $4,300 in Facebook ads which resulted in $130,000 in sales.
We manage a lot of campaigns like this, but there is a higher level of risk involved with these types of direct-response advertising.
Direct-response advertising is like fuel. If your business is already on fire, it will blow-up even more.
But if your business is not on fire, and you add a lot of advertising dollars to the mix, you might just end up blowing your money.
For this reason, newer online businesses should spend most of their social media budget to boost their content visibility.
This is a normally safer bet than draining your entire budget on a shotgun advertising campaign.
And that’s how you can boost visibility for your online business. Now let’s look at your funnel.
Stage 3: Marketing Funnel
So what happens when you have all of this visibility?
You can have millions of subscribers, followers, or people who like your content.
BUT, that does not mean they are going to buy from you.
That’s where your marketing funnel comes in.
Your marketing funnel provides a step-by-step framework for how you will move people from being aware of your business to actually considering buying from you.
Up until this point, we’ve only discussed building awareness of your business which is what most people are lacking.
So how do you move people down the funnel to actually buying from you?
The answer is content, but a certain type of content.
You need to share company-specific content that builds interest in what you’re selling.
You might share:
- customer reviews,
- case studies,
- what makes your business unique, or
- just specific benefits of the products or services you’re selling
If you don’t share what impact your business is having on your customers, then you’re not giving people a reason to buy from you.
Does this mean the only content you should post is information about your company?
No, you need to segment your content to target 3 groups of people:
- Top of Funnel – These are the people who are becoming aware of your business.
- Middle of Funnel – These are the engaged people that you want to sell to.
- Bottom of Funnel – These are people who are actively considering your business.
Each segment of your funnel will require different types of content and channels.
For instance, you might create top of funnel content to build brand awareness on social media.
You might have an offer, like a free guide, to engage people and also capture their email addresses. This would be content for the middle of your funnel.
And finally, you might have a series of emails or retargeting ads with the company-specific content we discussed for the bottom-of-funnel leads.
Conclusion
Remember, to succeed at marketing any online business, you must have great content, high visibility, and the right marketing funnel.
If you need more help in marketing your online business, LYFE Marketing has your back.
Contact us today at 404-596-7925 to get started!
