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FOCUS: DIGITAL MARKETING Shopfloor


September 2023 ertonline.co.uk


Put your best digital foot forward


There is no ‘one size fits all’ in digital marketing; customers view multiple digital touch points before making a purchase and are influenced by so much information online. So Emma Louise Smith, Director at Moxie Business Marketing, shares her do’s and don’ts to help boost retailers’ digital traffic.


With new social media platforms popping up like mushrooms, AI- and interest-based ads stalking us around the Internet, and ecommerce platforms becoming more sophisticated – how can you ensure you are putting your best digital foot forward? Digital marketing is easier to test and measure than offline marketing,


1: Website mechanics


Whether your site is ecommerce or a ‘brochure’ style, you must ensure it follows best practice and gets you a seal of approval from Google and other search engines.


• DO: Maximise SEO across your entire website. For every page you publish and want indexed include; page titles, heading tags, meta descriptions, images and accompanying alt-text.


• DON’T: Keyword stuff! Adding the same keywords over and over again on every page.


• DO: Build links. Deploy a combination of both inbound and outbound links. E.g. linking to products from your blog, or linking to useful information from a product landing page. Add links to your website in forums, via press articles, or request links from relevant, trustworthy websites.


• DON’T: Buy links. Considered ‘black-hat marketing’ you will run the risk of your site facing penalties and being unindexed from Google!


2: Social media


Don’t overlook the value of ‘social searching’ – not everyone automatically uses Google! In fact, TikTok and Instagram are rapidly becoming the ‘go-to’ places on social media to search for reviews and recommendations of popular products and services.


• DO: Create fresh, authentic content for your brand using a combination of video and imagery. The more authentic you are, the more engaged your audience will be.


• DON’T: Use your social channels for copious sales advertisements. Offer your value through helpful content and allow your potential customers to decide for themselves when they’re ready to commit to a purchase!


• DO: Build excitement amidst your followers/subscribers – and attract new ones by running competitions/giveaways. (And ensure your T&Cs are clear!)


• DON’T: Encourage people to share competition posts in order to be entered. Today this is seen as platform spamming and could result in your account being suspended.


and will allow you to better understand your audiences, which in turn will help you to shape your future content and campaigns, improve customer retention, and ultimately, win new business. Each of these four key areas offer plenty of free tools, insights and resources to help you monitor your campaign/content effectiveness…


3: Email marketing


Email marketing can be a quick-win for any retail business, yet it’s important not to use this key marketing medium to saturate your audience with too many sales-driven messages. Your email marketing strategy should include a healthy mix of news and updates, with the occasional promotion thrown in!


• DO: Use catchy subject lines – you’ll get just one chance to make the right first impression.


• DON’T: Forget to include a link to your unsubscribe button and to your website’s privacy policy.


• DO: Optimise for mobile. Your email may look sophisticated on a wide desktop but it will shrink down on a mobile. Also, try and ensure a 70/30 rule: 70 per cent text and 30 per cent images.


• DON’T: Forget list hygiene. Remove any hard bounces, and pay careful attention to those that aren’t opening your communications. These can be easily removed, or segmented away from your master database.


4: Online advertisings


Whether it’s platform specific social media ads, one of the nine different Google Ads, (responsive search, dynamic search, display ads, app promotion, video, shopping, local search, or call-only), your ad must be relevant, and any links must take the user directly to the product/ service they’ve been looking at.


• DO: Answer your customer’s pain points/questions. Think, ‘Need more storage for your Autumn harvest? Shop chest freezers’. Or, ‘Looking to upgrade your home cinema experience? Shop TV, soundbar and speaker offers’.


• DON’T: Use deceptive copy. If you’re going to advertise a price. Show the actual price, inclusive of VAT.


• DO: Target specific audiences. It’s better to advertise to a smaller group of people with retargeting ads, than applying a scatter-gun approach in the hope something will convert.


• DON’T: Lose sight of your brand awareness. Every ad you serve places your brand in front of a new audience. The more authentic you are may ensure a like or follow and a sale at a later date!


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