Strategy on its own, a revolutionary concept is no longer enough to boost the growth of a company and to sustain it. The reason is that the current competitive environment is very aggressive. Companies are grabbing market share and giving themselves the means to attract customers from their competitors.
Faced with this, you must redouble your ingenuity. Instead of just surviving, unfortunately, many companies do, stand out and focus more on growing. This is what will allow you to boost your profitability.
For this, it is a question of carrying out actions that are as effective as they are concrete to develop your customer portfolio. Otherwise, potential customers risk favoring your competitors to the detriment of your company.
Customer development is not an easy thing, however, it requires both hard work and long-term effort, but also the activation of a number of levers. In this article, we will dwell on a few digital marketing tactics that you can take full advantage of.
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing: the best acquisition and conversion lever
Inbound marketing is proving to be very relevant in the face of the growing digitalization of consumer behavior. It has been seen that the digital-first consumer segment continues to ramp up like never before. This explosive phenomenon was notably propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictive measures.
The digitization of customer shopping habits has brought about new experience requirements including authenticity, heightened consideration, and personalization. Inbound marketing is the very first tactic that will allow your business to comply and succeed.
Entrust your inbound marketing to a specialized digital marketing agency
We have to admit that the deployment of inbound marketing cannot be improvised. It involves the mobilization of a multitude of resources that you do not necessarily have internally. Therefore it seems more appropriate to solicit a digital marketing agency for your inbound marketing of your project, even though you have a qualified internal team.
Such a digital marketing service provider takes care of your inbound marketing from A to Z in accordance with your requirements and your budget. It guarantees you total peace of mind and allows your employees to devote themselves entirely to what they know how to do best as well as to the most strategic missions.
The intervention of the digital agency goes from the audit of your company as well as your resources to the deployment of your acquisition campaigns. This will also go through the definition of your buyers, the strategic framework, the choice of levers to implement, and the planning of the deployment.
It can also go as far as the training of your internal teams. The goal is to enable them to master inbound marketing and to continuously improve and sustain the actions already implemented.
The digital marketing agency ensures that your expenses are optimized to the maximum and you only benefit from methodologies that have already proven themselves.
Find new customers with inbound marketing
The principle of inbound marketing
Inbound marketing is an online marketing practice that consists of attracting prospects to you instead of seeking them out using outbound techniques. Remember that, outbound marketing is traditional marketing. More specifically, it is based on a digital content creation strategy.
These are the ones who will lead prospects to the end of the conversion tunnel while retaining newly converted customers and transforming them into real prescribers.
Learn more about traditional marketing VS digital marketing.
Clearly, inbound marketing brings prospects to a brand, makes them prominent, and accompanies them in each purchasing journey and lasting relationship with them, thanks to content marketing.
Inbound marketing is also closely linked to search engine optimization (SEO), which allows your website to position itself in priority on different search queries in search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo.
Therefore, it will bring organic traffic to your website, and in this way, you can grow your business online. And, without an effective SEO strategy, there can be no visitors, and therefore no prospects.
Is inbound marketing more advantageous than its outbound counterpart?
Inbound marketing is actually far ahead of traditional marketing on several points:
Inbound marketing generates more leads than outbound
In outbound marketing, it is the salespeople who prospect and canvass by betting, among other things, on advertising (media and non-media), SMS or email campaigns, POS, the acquisition of advertising space, sponsored links, and social ads.
On the other hand, inbound marketing is quite the opposite since consumers prospect themselves, up to canvass salespeople. In this context, inbound can generate more leads than outbound and accelerate the sales cycle.
A minimally intrusive marketing strategy that guarantees an increased conversion rate
Outbound methods are more aggressive and intrusive. This is all the more true when they are used exclusively. In this case, the margins of error are substantial since today’s consumers mostly say they are “irritated” by advertisements, both traditional and digital. If they have developed a certain resistance to promotional methods of all kinds, it is because they are tired of being overwhelmed with them on a daily basis.
Inbound offers non-intrusive methods by letting consumers move spontaneously toward the brand through appropriate Calls to Action (CTA). Here, they seek to learn more about the brand and access premium content.
The company only has to “feed” them with relevant, useful, adapted content with high added value and which is centered on their needs, which is referred to as “lead nurturing”.
By doing so, it can subtly show them that it can meet their expectations, even the most specific ones. It positions itself as a true expert in its field, without ever forcing the hand of consumers.
Then, once the leads are interested, the brand can contact them and calmly accompany them to the end of the conversion funnel. Some of them may even request a quote and meet the company on their own initiative. In any case, it is easier to mature purchases and retain customers acquired through inbound marketing.
As part of an inbound marketing campaign, the brand acts delicately, strategically, and surely. It does not bother prospects in any way. As a result, it can claim a much higher conversion rate and focus 100% on the closing and loyalty components.
Inbound reduces acquisition costs and rhymes with a significant return on investment (ROI).
In terms of cost and ROI, the head start is once again for inbound marketing. When you know how to make the most of it, you can generate the maximum number of leads and then convert them at a lower cost.
Experts in the field claim that inbound marketing is about 65% less expensive than outbound marketing and any expenses incurred in deploying it can quickly pay for themselves. The reason is obvious: inbound marketing is an investment, while its outbound counterpart is an expense.
For you to be able to exploit its full power, as a digital marketing professional, we remind you that you must ignore internalization in favor of a fruitful collaboration with a digital marketing agency specializing in this marketing tactic.
Other interesting marketing avenues to expand your customer base
While inbound marketing and outbound marketing are different, they complement each other and can therefore enhance each other when you know how to do it.
In this case, it is relevant to add a little outbound to your inbound marketing strategy in order to boost its effectiveness. Used sparingly and strategically, outbound allows you to reach a larger target in less time and generate qualified traffic both on your website and in-store.
It also provides you the possibility of offering the most relevant advertising to the right target, at the right time and in the right place. Also to follow up with prospects who have shown an interest in what you are offering, but who have not finalized their purchase.
Social media marketing
Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Pinterest are undoubtedly an integral part of consumers’ daily lives. They have become a real business generator, both for B2C companies and for B2B structures. You will have everything to gain by placing them at the heart of your acquisition strategy.
These platforms are an opportunity for you to diversify your sources of traffic, generate a maximum of qualified leads, and unite an active and committed community around your brand.
They also allow you to interact directly with your customers and prospects, to follow more closely the evolution of their requirements, and to strengthen your relationship with them.
Online growth hacking
Beyond the methods mentioned above, consider exploiting growth hacking. It is a question of adopting a maximum of marketing means to generate a maximum of leads in the short term, and this, with low costs.
We would point out, however, that growth hacking requires a great understanding of user and customer data, a good dose of innovation, and the implementation of a series of tests.
How to be close and seduce your customers?
When we talk about marketing, we mainly think about carrying out different analyses. This department plays a great role in an organization.
Whether it is a small or medium-sized business or even a large-scale business, marketing remains a key function that ensures the sustainability of its activities. The studies carried out are divided into two main parts.
The first focuses on the behavior of the market and new customers, while the second focuses on consumer behavior and consumer expectations in relation to products directly.
In any case, the clientele is an important element in increasing turnover and maximizing sales. In this section, we will talk about the steps to follow to find new customers and retain customers.
How to approach customers?
Since the dawn of time, customers have been approached in the traditional way, and that issue is not resolved by talking to them face to face. Sales agents had to approach future customers at their workplaces.
This type of approach allows proximity with the customers since one can define by their gestures, expectations as well and appreciation of the product.
Subsequently, with the advancement of technology, we first went through telephone approaches. They consisted of calling a list of numbers each day to ask for their opinions and their assessments.
Then, we continued with the approaches via emails. We sent reminders to the customers or sent enticing advertisements to future prospects so that they could become interested in the company’s products and services.
Nowadays, we have reached a new level of approach. We now use social networks to reach customers. In addition, there are software as well as extensions that facilitate the work.
Indeed, we can carry out an acquisition strategy with tools, which will allow you to benefit from a large address book where you will find many future customers categorized according to areas of interest, professions, or according to the needs of the company.
How is customer retention going?
First of all, you should know that customer retention is quite close to the approach of new prospects. Indeed, it is quite possible to approach customers to ask them for an opinion on products and services.
You can use the same techniques such as calls, emails, or posts on social networks. Then, you can also build customer loyalty through commercial gestures. Your company can set up a system based on the loyalty card, such as offering a gift when the customer reaches certain purchases, such as 5 or 10.
So, it is possible for you to offer your loyal customers a percentage discount on these purchases. Then, setting up a promotion at set times can build customer loyalty.
In any case, we notice that customers are loyal as soon as they are well treated and when we take their needs into account. It is therefore advisable to always listen to customers.
Marketing by object: how to set the budget?
Object marketing has been one of the most used communication strategies by companies for several years. It brings together all the objects or advertising goodies given in the form of gifts to thank employees, customers, or suppliers.
It is also used to reach a maximum of prospects during a promotional event and thus increase the visibility of the company.
So, if you are considering giving a giveaway, here budget is crucial. We give you the procedure to follow to carry out your project without breaking the bank or choosing an approach that goes against your interests.
The personalized product, a real communication tool
To mark the spirit of your collaborators, customers, or prospects, the advertising gift must be useful, functional, and personalized. It would indeed be useless to offer a gift that would be added to the trinkets in the drawer. Customers generally appreciate:
- Office accessories, such diary, calendar, notepads, pens, etc.
- High-tech goodies, such as USB key, smartphone case, power bank, etc.
Choose a quality logo, slogan, and description so that the customer proudly uses your products. The personalized product is a popular direct marketing tool. It is the information medium par excellence because it creates direct visual contact with your company.
Note that the price of personalized products varies according to certain criteria. These include the marking technique, the grammage, and the spinning technique.
The advertising object must be of quality, useful, and durable in order to ensure a successful campaign on all levels. To achieve this objective, it is then necessary for you to establish the advertising budget using the right method of financial development.
Methods for determining the advertising budget
To determine the online advertising budget of your company, different methods are possible. All you have to do is sort through to find the one best suited to your project.
The goal-oriented method
This is the method that seems to make the most sense, as it focuses on interacting with business prospects. You will estimate the number of customers to reach and the communication strategy to consider.
For example, to attract customers at a promotional fair, you may choose to add an advertising flag, or use social networks or mass media for more visibility. This marketing strategy will boost sales and increase performance.
The percentage of sales method
Generally, companies define the budget taking into account the percentage perceived on the sales or on the turnover. This evaluation makes it possible to establish a limiting margin on the cost of the advertising object. The budget can also be set based on the percentage of sales from the previous year.
However, this alternative is very little recommended, because it has limits and in particular, does not take into account real prospects. If the break-even point was not reached the previous year, offering a promotional item should still generate more sales.
The competitive alignment method
The principle of this method consists in establishing the advertising budget while referring to the expenses made by your competitors. To have your market share, it will therefore be necessary to make a higher estimate than the competition, especially if you have just established yourself.
Establish the advertising budget
This is the stage where you must ask the crucial questions on which the success of your visibility campaign will depend. Is the advertising object intended for a thank you or only to attract customers?
In any case, it will be necessary to define the advertising budget according to the target for which the gift is intended.
Define the target
The promotional item generally comes in two forms: corporate gifts and goodies. The first has a much higher value than the second. In most cases, the corporate gift is offered to employees or important customers.
Goodies, on the other hand, are suitable for attracting customers and prospects. When the gift is intended for employees, setting the budget you must take social security contributions into account. They will be determined annually based on the total value of the gifts received by each employee.
However, for any value below 5% of the monthly social security ceiling, the company does not pay any contribution. The tax authorities in fact consider gifts dedicated to employees as an advantage linked to the tasks they perform within the company. They are therefore subject to income tax.
With regard to the gifts offered to customers and prospects, the total value of the gifts is automatically deductible and is estimated under certain conditions. The company must offer the gift free of charge without expecting compensation from customers and prospects. The gift must also be given in the interest of the company.
Advertising budget calculation: Set prices
In developing the advertising budget, rough forecasts are important to make the gift memorable for the recipient. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the price of packaging, the unit cost and the quantity to be ordered, the delivery costs, the exhibition costs not to mention the printing techniques to be used on the objects.
Administrative taxation on the advertising budget
When making the decision to offer giveaways, it is important to find out about the tax rules and benefits established by law. In the event of non-compliance with tax legislation, you are subject to fines. The legislation is fortunately precise on the subject and rigorously fixes the applications with regard to the taxation of corporate gifts.
In principle, all promotional gifts are subject to VAT with a few nuances. The tax is reclaimed on gifts of very low value. However, it is important to remember that goods which are given free of charge or which are offered at a price much lower than that fixed by the market should in no case be subject to the deduction of VAT.
Ultimately, it should be remembered that the notion of the interest of the company is crucial in this process. It is thus necessary to anticipate a possible control by proceeding to the constitution of certain elements of evidence which must be material and factual.
For the present and future progress of the company, the precise facts justifying the attribution of the gift must thus be clarified for total transparency.
How to choose your digital marketing agency?
If you run a business and you plan to use online to increase your turnover, you must use digital marketing services. Nevertheless, it is still not obvious that you have mastered all its facets. This is where the usefulness of digital marketing agencies appears.
In this article, we show you several criteria to consider to avoid making mistakes in choosing your digital marketing agency.
Reflect and determine the goal you want to achieve
It seems trivial at first glance, but be aware that many people forget to ask themselves the right questions before embarking on their quest. You can’t search for a good digital agency if you don’t know what you want to achieve as a result.
It is not up to the agency to help you find your needs, even if sometimes it can help you discover other aspects that you have not been able to detect. The digital strategy agency as we have seen above is there to help you, to serve as your guide.
It will therefore not be a question of remaining inactive and putting everything on your back. Otherwise, you have an important role to play in your success, and it also has its two cents to contribute to the achievement of your goals.
For example, you have chosen to launch a business website for your activity or to launch yourself on a social network, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. You need to know why you made this choice and what it will bring you as a benefit.
Will you present your products or services on the site in question? The latter must be pro or classic? What are your competitors offering on their sites? How do you plan to overcome them through your site?
It is for this noble reason that we advise you to read articles on the subject. This will allow you to better choose your objectives without wasting your money while always remaining as competitive as possible. Write down your objectives in black and white, draw up specifications, and then take action
It is after taking stock of your needs and the improvements to be made within your business that you are now going to embark on the search.
Would you like to improve your search engine optimization or SEO? Turn to an SEO agency specializing in search engine optimization.
Do you want to sell more effectively on your site? Turn to an agency specializing in online sales.
Are you looking to get a little closer to your customers and gain good traffic to your site? Do you turn to an agency that offers traffic acquisition services? Thus, it is your objectives that will determine the type of digital marketing company to consult.
Embarking on the quest for a digital agency without doing this little personal work will cause you heavy losses and a lot of frustration. The reason is that without a goal, without a vision, you obviously won’t achieve a concrete result.
For further
For more ideas on the process to put in place to succeed in this step, we advise you to consult the article: How to create a specification for your website?
Cost of a digital marketing agency
Estimate the cost of your upgrades and make your selection. Whether you like it or not, you will have to face this crucial problem which is the cost of the services that your future collaborator will provide. So, how much do you have in your wallet? How much are you willing to spend on achieving your goals?
In most cases, the price of the services offered by digital marketing professionals is conditioned by the following main variables,
The time
The more demanding the work you entrust to the professional, the more time and sometimes resources they will need to accomplish the digital marketing mission. In addition, be aware that the more urgent the mission to be carried out, the longer the completion time will be and therefore the price of the services will naturally increase.
Mission requirements
The more accurate the results you expect for your project, the higher the cost of completing the mission will be.
The expertise of the professional
The third factor that can affect the price of the services is the number of years of experience of the professional agency that takes care of the mission. You should know that an agency that recognizes itself as an expert in a field tends to inflate its prices a little since they are sure that its offer will have a very positive effect on your business.
It would therefore be a good idea to prioritize your goals and then allocate a higher budget to those that you deem too important and a lower budget to those that are less important. Use the online tool or social networks to find the agencies that are more reliable and transparent to you according to your needs.
Compare their offers, their prices, and their respective skills in order to identify the one(s) with whom you wish to work.
In summary
Online marketing is now a must for any company that wants to solidify its position or grab new markets. Concretely, what benefits does it bring you? What are the most promising strategies today?
Any company must communicate to its potential customers, partners, and suppliers. Today, online advertising is the main tool of commercial communication. Among its most common objectives, we find the contribution of notoriety, the reinforcement of the brand image, and, most importantly, the promotion of products and services.
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