Underutilized Digital Marketing Tools

If you’re not taking advantage of these extremely effective digital marketing tools, it’s time to start! These five tools are proven to be effective for any industry and can help increase website traffic, improve sales, and build brand awareness. Learn how to incorporate these tools into your digital marketing strategy and watch your business grow!

Google My Business

Your business likely already has a Google My Business account, and if you don’t, make creating one a top priority! But are you taking full advantage of this valuable tool? Far too many businesses stop filling out their Google My Business profile once they’ve added their address, hours, website, and general description. In reality, the more information you add to your profile, the more your profile shows up in user search queries.

Optimizing your Google My Business profile is an easier form of SEO. On-page website content search engine optimization is often more involved and time-consuming than optimizing your GMB profile. GMB also offers some great insights that can give you valuable information on how users are finding and interacting with your profile. Here are a few easy ways to get your business to show up earlier in search results and generate more leads with Google My Business. 

• Advanced info: In addition to the basic information mentioned above, make sure your categories, service area, and “from the business” sections are fully optimized. Add every city and county you serve, add as many relevant categories as you can, and fill out all sections in “from the business”.
• Services/products: For service-based businesses, add every service you offer with a filled-out description for each. For eCommerce, list your product on your GMB profile for maximum views.
• Photos: Regularly add photos to your Google My Business profile. Photos can range from office photos to staff photos and everything in between.
• Reviews: More reviews and higher reviews not only look good to potential customers but also help your profile show up sooner. Share the review link for your profile (under “get more reviews”) on your social media, in emails, and as many other places as possible.
• Posts: Post regularly about sales, updates, awards, new offerings, etc. to your GMB profile. 

Bonus for service-based businesses: Create a Google My Business profile for each of your service providers. This increases your odds of being discovered and allows for more specific profile information. 

Emails

Email marketing is by no means a new tool, but it is so versatile that some valuable functions are often overlooked. Aside from the standard emails about sales/promotions/new releases, there are a few other ways you can take advantage of email marketing. 

• Newsletters: Newsletters can be a great way to stay connected with your subscribers without frequently bombarding them with emails. Newsletters can include any news and updates, sales and promotions, and more, all in one monthly or quarterly email. 
• Email receipts/invoices: Sending out follow-up emails to customers after a sale or service is more valuable than you think. In addition to providing them with a summary of their purchase and a thank you, there are a few other things to include. 
  • Link to review your business on Google My Business
  • Links to social media profiles
  • Option to subscribe to more updates/emails
  • A coupon or loyalty/rewards for the next time they make a purchase/appointment 
• Re-engagement emails: If your email subscribers have been inactive for a while, sending a touch base email can have a number of benefits. Sending a special offer or feedback email puts your business back in the customer's mind and encourages engagement. 

Remarketing Ads

The majority of website visitors don’t buy anything or book appointments the first time they visit your website. Google remarketing ads (also known as retargeting ads) can identify and market to these visitors. This form of Google Ads shows your ads to users who have visited your website in the past. This form of paid advertising can be extremely effective and cost-efficient and can also be used to target users who have visited a competitor's website. By advertising to users who have expressed interest in your business, or a business similar to yours, you efficiently hit your target market. 

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is an immensely valuable tool that can give in-depth tracking data on how visitors interact with your website content. Tags can be added in various different spots on your website to track engagement and other metrics. Tags can let you know: how far on a page a user scrolled, downloads, submission form completions, and so much more. This information can provide endless insights into the effectiveness of your web design, content layout, and so much more.

For example, if you install tags on pages with different types of content, different web design styles, different content layouts, etc., you can see which ones perform better than others. You can answer valuable questions such as where users typically stop scrolling, what types of content are most engaging, and more. 

Referral Traffic

In our blog, Understanding and Improving Your Website Traffic Channels, we discussed what referral traffic is and why it’s important. Referral traffic puts your content in front of new users on platforms that likely cater to the same target market. This type of traffic is great for increasing brand awareness and generating new leads. 

A few ways to increase your referral traffic:

• Monitor and increase listings for your business on online local directories
• Guest blog on relevant websites
• Hire influencers to promote your content on their blogs/websites
• Be active on industry forums 

Where Do I Start?

A good digital marketing strategy is one that is comprehensive and ever-changing. If you’re not currently utilizing one or more of these tools, it’s time to start. Making sure your Google My Business account is fully optimized is the best place to start regardless of your industry or marketing goals. Dipping your toe into each of these tools can yield tangible results sooner than you may think, and can give you a great jumping-off point.

Trial and error is a vital aspect of marketing, so don’t be afraid to test these tools out and see what ones work best for you and your business. These are all tools that work best when your business and a digital marketing agency collaborate. Your goals and industry knowledge combined with the experience and advanced tools of a digital marketing company create the most effective results!

All the Tools, None of the Stress

Save time and skip the learning curve by letting Global Reach set up these tools and more for you! Global Reach provides expert, comprehensive digital marketing services in Iowa and beyond that are custom-tailored to your business. Never miss out on valuable digital marketing tools again!

Get a FREE Digital Marketing Consultation Today!