2018 is here and your competition is gearing up for a new generation of business. You may not know how to direct your efforts, but there are some proven performance improvements that you can take to make a real difference. Let’s take a look at a few of the most important steps:
Fully Responsive Websites/A Mobile-First Strategy
The most robust of your marketing efforts will fall short if there is no destination for your new customers. It is one thing to improve your pure customer acquisition numbers; it is quite another to see those numbers through to an appropriate number of conversions. This is why you must set your destination pages up before you start spending money on the outreach.
If you do not have a fully responsive website, get one. If you do, begin focusing on a mobile-first strategy that brings your new innovations to those responsive sites first. Business continues to find its way into the mobile space–this is a trend that you can count on in 2018.
Enriching Your Content
Content was king in 2017. Rich content will be king in 2018. Google recently imposed new rules in the mobile space that will seriously regulate interstitials and other intrusive tactics that may have worked for you. If you want to keep your mobile-friendly tags, you will modify your strategy to include richer content inside of the new, narrower parameters that Google has set up.
Rich content is one of the best investments that you can make. Do it now before the rest of your industry catches up–you will be able to solidify market share as a first responder in the space for localized, highly relevant keywords. You can bet that Google will bring its “grandfather clauses” into the mobile space as well, rewarding sites with older content that remains relevant as time goes on.
Utilizing Social Influencers
Even in the B2B space, the use of social influencers is beginning to ramp up. As a matter of fact, products bought at a higher scale are perfect fodder for the indirect marketing that social influencers have mastered. You can also rely on this content to remain up for indeterminate amounts of time, reducing the amount of remarketing that you have to invest in.
Social influencers also cost less than traditional forms of advertising. The best of them also keep their own demographic and psychographic stats. You should be able to have a fairly in-depth conversation with a few of them before choosing your final partner.
Thought Leadership
Not all 2018 marketing strategies are focused on technology alone. The perspective that you bring is the aspect of your marketing that will set your company apart, assuming that you have your content on the proper channels and optimized to the correct audience.
Make this the year that your business becomes a thought leader in your industry. Do not be afraid of cannibalizing your business by providing free value or even how to tips. Buyers prefer to purchase from partners that showcase expertise. Buyers also like to think that the purchase was their idea. The more you keep them coming back for hot, relevant tips and important industry conversations, the more natural the buy will be to them once it takes place.
