The Importance Of A Digital Marketing Agency In Essex, Moving Forward
As we make our first hesitant steps towards some semblance of normality, again, brands the nation over are once more going to be competing for the general public’s hard-earned disposable income. Securing even a slither of that pie is going to be more difficult, moving forwards, because customers will be wearier, and want to be more certain before making any purchasing decisions. The team here at VerriBerri, a leading digital marketing agency in Essex, wanted to examine where you should be channelling your energies in the coming weeks and months.
You Need To Secure Your Customers Before They Leave The Home
People are understandably much more anxious about leaving the home than they were, say, six months ago. Even the most gregarious and outgoing of people will waver over whether to go out or stay in. That’s what a lockdown will do to you. This has been a period of time lacking certainty, stability or control and so people will want to regain aspects of these feelings where they can. One way in which this need to grasp control will manifest itself, is by making decisions before leaving the home. What we mean by this, is that, nowadays, people are inordinately less likely to choose a restaurant on the fly than they would’ve done pre-lockdown.
People are more likely to go out with a set list of things they want to buy, places they want to go or services they want to use. Alternatively, they may skip on going out altogether and utilise online shopping, instead, for example. This means your brand needs to be stronger than ever, which is why our digital marketing agency in Essex is so keen on advocating the following…
Stronger Social Media Presence
People have had a lot of spare time recently, and one of the things that they’ve been doing with that time has been scrolling through social media. There’s no sign of that social media usage slowing down; therefore a stronger social media focus will position yourself as one of the accounts that’s worth following. In other words, it will help separate the wheat from the chaff. But what does a stronger social media presence look like? It looks like three things: consistency, quality and engagement.
Let’s first look at consistency…
A social media account is nothing without consistency, regardless of the platform we’re talking about. Consistent posting (which needn’t mean a massive frequency, just regular posting at consistent and regular intervals) enhances your image and brand image. On the flipside, however, a lack of consistency will leave people wondering whether you’re professional enough to warrant their custom at all.
In terms of quality…
Something that can massively bolster the professionalism of your social media accounts is by utilising bespoke graphic design. Having images created using your branding as the core conveys a stronger sense of brand image, with every image and graphic created feeding back into the idea of your overall brand.
Engage, engage, engage…
It’s all very well putting out nice, shiny content but if you’re not then following up on that with engagement, then it doesn’t much matter. By taking the time to reply to comments, engage with other brands and solve inbound problems or queries, you come across as a brand that actually cares about their customers. Far too many brands have beautifully curated accounts, but fail to work beyond that. As a result, they come across as vapid and shallow.
You’ve Got To Be Seen To Succeed…
Have you ever heard of something called SEO? If not, then it might be worth doing a bit of research on it. Search Engine Optimisation is the primary technique used to bump your website and its content up the ranking pages of major search engines. This mainly revolves around Google. Appearing high up on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) is a sure-fire way of getting people to trust you up. Think about it, if you were on Google and saw a result appearing 1st, you’re probably going to trust that more than that of a page languishing down at 98th.
There are two main ways in which you can work on your website’s SEO: blog-writing and back-end work. Both are most effective when used in tandem, both with one another, and with other marketing techniques. Our digital marketing agency in Essex has seen first-hand the benefits to clients of utilising a consistent SEO strategy. It may not be as in your face, or instant as PPC, but it’s certainly more sustainable in the longer term.
Have Other People Sing Your Post-Lockdown Praises
Has your brand dealt with the lockdown situation in a particularly good way? Perhaps you’ve managed to implement radical new working methods which you think people should hear about? If so, then the best thing you can do is to have someone else talk about you, rather than yourself. To do this, you need to utilise PR to your advantage. PR (Public Relations) involves securing editorial features in leading publications, on your brand’s behalf. Personally, I know I’d much more readily trust a brand that I’d read about in a well-regarded magazine, than if I’d seen that same brand promoting itself in some way. It’s less advertorial and, as a consumer, you feel less like you’re being taken advantage of. Our digital marketing agency in Essex features a team of experienced and energetic PR professionals, who are keen on securing that kind of exposure for your brand.
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All of these tactics work best when used in collaboration with one another. A multi-pronged attack, covering all bases, is always going to reap better rewards than simply focusing on one discipline. So, if you’d like to find out more about our digital marketing agency in Essex, then get in touch! Contact VerriBerri today on 01376 386 850. We’d love to have a meeting with you to discuss where we think your brand should be heading, moving forward! We’ll even provide the biscuits…