The Top Marketing Strategy to Optimize Your Business’s Performance Through Coronavirus and into 2021
As the year 2020 is approaching it’s 4th quarter, businesses small and large are crawling toward the finish line. With lock down restrictions beginning to ease and only 3 months left in the year, it is time to take your business out of hibernation and take stock of your company’s visibility.
You’ve seen it everywhere. Scare headlines declaring that the economy is falling apart, big name businesses are having to close and small businesses struggle to survive as the coronavirus forces customers to avoid public places and limit shopping. Despite closures of non-essential business, restrictions and embracing social distancing, the patron shoppers of this world have not retired from their consuming habits. The means by which they are buying just look a little different. The buying journey for Americans has shifted and the business world must follow.
The Trends You Can’t Ignore: Online Shopping Craze
Research shows that Coronavirus has turbocharged a shift to e-commerce business for many Americans. In total, consumers spent $211.5 billion online during the second quarter of 2020 alone. Increasing the average dollar spent online by 10-30% more. Market trends predict that these numbers will increase in the future. Looking ahead as a business, it is important to know how you can build relationships with customers and close deals with prospective clients via the digital world. A smart start would be to identify and focus on the platforms by which your consumers are searching and doing business.
We’ve done the dirty work…
Here are the top buying journeys by which consumers are looking for goods and services:
Mobile Devices & Smartphones
Ah, yes. The portable computer that lay in the hands, pockets and purses of over 3.5 billion people. Roughly half of the world’s population. Forget the desktop! This device gives you the power of infinite information in a total of milliseconds at the palm of your hand. It would only make sense that the masses are using this platform to surf the web. And that is a trend that is not about to change anytime soon!
Disagree?
Here are the stats
- 51% of smartphone users have found a new company or product when searching on mobile.
- 60% of smartphone users have contacted a business directly after finding their website through search results
- The first organic listing on mobile receives 27.7% of clicks, versus 19.3% on desktop.
- 87% of smartphone owners use a search engine daily.
- 85% of internet searches are conducted on the mobile phone
Video Advertisements
There was no doubt that online video was growing rapidly pre- coronavirus, but ever since activities were limited to non-risk, video streaming has gotten bigger. Going to bars or public events with curfews in place before midnight we’re out of the question. Thanks to corona this meant most nights were spent streaming Hulu or Netflix and searching Youtube for DIY projects around the house.
Did you know that the second largest search engine behind Google is Youtube? Perhaps it’s time you invested your marketing campaign on video ads.
Disagree?
Here are the stats
- 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% online every day.
- 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video.
- 64% of consumers will make a purchase after watching a branded video on social platforms.
- Nearly 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product before visiting a store.
- Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by 80%.
- Blog posts containing a video have a 53x higher chance of ranking on the first page of google.
- Video content has 6 times higher conversion rate than non video pages. Pages with video content are 60% more likely to rank .
- 92% of users watching video will share it with others.
Local Searches
“Shop Local” is more than just a jingle; it is an image of unity amongst the marketplace during the pandemic. After observing the trends of consumer habits during coronavirus, buying and shopping locally has seemed to become the new essential. Consumers see their neighborhood business struggle, and want to help out. Shifting dollars from big- box stores to small businesses is becoming not only popular but the trend.
Disagree?
Here are the stats
- Over 65% of online searches are for local business.
- After searching on a smartphone for something nearby, 76% of people end up visiting the business within 1 day.
- 28% of local searches result in a purchase.
- 72% of people surveyed say they will continue to support post-coronavirus.
Voice Search
Last but not least, this should come as no surprise. As developers are expanding the power and tools of technology, it only makes sense that voice search would be added to the list. Voice searchers are starting to replace traditional, text-based searches. Voice search is easy, faster and something we can do while prepping for dinner, cleaning the house or walking the dog.
Disagree?
“Hey Siri, show me the facts on voice search statistics”
- 2019, 25% of searches were voice over google- 2020, 50% of all searches were done by voice
- 41% of adults use voice search at least once a day
- 62% of smart speaker owners will make a purchase using voice technology in the next month
- 27% of the global online population is using voice search on mobile
How Your Business Can Benefit from SEO Marketing
The future of buying, selling and building customer relationships has moved online. Whether your business is plugged in or not will determine its fate. As shown above, studies have indicated the vehicles by which your consumers are searching and buying. It would be considered malpractice if any company large or small did not take advantage of moving their sales process online!
However, a business can not stop there. Now and evermore, it is simply not enough to just have an existing website. There are over 1.95 billion websites on the internet! A website without a masterful presence will be consumed, engulfed and spat out in an instant. If a company wants to succeed in this market, their online platform must get in front of the right consumers, appeal to their right wants and needs, and have the right message that showcases the brand they represent.
Here is everything you need to know about how to optimize your online services.
The SEO Marketing Tool That Will Help Your Brand Stand Out
SEO marketing is an effective marketing strategy that ensures your company’s visibility to the target audience of your desires. Search engine optimization (SEO) enhances your online content by using keywords that are linked to high click rankings or organic traffic commonly used by the searcher. When a website’s organic traffic has a high ranking, Google, the number one search engine in the world, rewards the website by identifying it as a top result, landing it a 1st page position in search results.
Why is this important?
Well if the evidence above showing that your consumers are turning to search engines to find business isn’t enough…
Here are the stats
- On a given day people conduct more than 3.5 billion searches.
- 75% of all searchers start their searches on google.
- The first five results of google get 67% of all clicks.
- Studies show that 75% of people will never scroll past the first page on a google search.
Invest Now in SEO Marketing
If your business is still not convinced that you ought to invest in SEO marketing for the 4th quarter of 2020 and beyond, here is my final point.
SEO marketing is the most cost effective online marketing strategy and return on investment. It is a continual non paid exposure to your brand. Paid advertising for other social media platforms can generate traffic to websites, but as the studies have shown, the majority of online traffic is brought by search engines!
SEO is the only online marketing channel that, when implemented correctly, can supply cash flow gains over time. When a solid piece of content uses the right keywords and ranks high, traffic will continue to flow through over time, unlike other areas of advertising where continuous funding is needed to send traffic to your site.
GoBeyondSEO specializes in SEO marketing for all size businesses across the United States. We have a team of SEO specialists who KNOW how to optimize a website for maximum visibility.
There’s no better time than now to start investing in SEO marketing. You will thank yourself when you see all of the rewards it provides over time.
Click here to learn about the PLS (Predicable Leads System™).
