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What’s Missing in Your Digital Strategy?

Thomas Young, CEO of Intuitive Websites, has found many companies choose to pay little to no attention to digital marketing. Such companies have very simple websites, and these sites have been on the web for about ten or fifteen years. They do not do anything with blogs, or with social media content. So their websites are basically like brochures, or placeholders. The people running these companies commonly say “Well, we don’t get much business from the Internet.” Unfortunately, the business that these companies do not get from the Internet is going to their competitors.

Companies who choose to ignore their digital strategy are losing market share in their targeted markets. Young has said that because they are unaware that people are leaving their brand for other websites, they are also unaware of the fact that they are losing market share. As they are losing market share, they are also losing sales.

Google Analytics is a key indicator of market share. The traffic coming to your website is seen through Google Analytics, and if you do not see those visitors coming, or if you see their numbers decreasing, than they are more than likely going to a competitor. This rule applies to major online retailers and yet it also applies to small local businesses. In the Digital Age, business measurement tools are becoming increasingly reliant on digital means.

The Modern Approach

The key to having a complete digital strategy is is to think about marketing in a modern sense. Ten or fifteen years ago, websites were online brochures, they were there to tell people, “Hey, this is who we are, you can contact us!” Now, however, people are researching your company, your products, your services, your employees, and all kinds of information about your business. If you do not get your digital strategy on the right track, then people will miss out on your company because they won’t be able to research you.

Having a well-developed online presence can also help support your sales team with good information about your company’s products and services. If someone is talking to your sales representative, they can go to your website and do some research on your company. In this case your potential client would be more informed, and thus they would be more comfortable in talking with your sales representative.

Responsible Branding

In some ways, if you’re not on top of your digital marketing, you are doing what Thomas Young calls “irresponsible branding”. It is important to get as much helpful information about your company onto the Internet as possible. So don’t let the lack of knowledge that you have about Digital Marketing hurt your marketing efforts and prevent you from being seen on the Internet.

A lot of people do not do anything with digital marketing because they don’t know how to do it. A team must be in place in order for your efforts to be successful. If Digital Marketing is done correctly, the results will be measurable in terms of increased success for your business. This applies to all kinds of businesses, even those that rely on person-to-person relationships.

Young brought attention to the fact that younger demographics are bringing an increased use of online tools into the marketing world. These younger demographics are the decision-makers of the future, and they use the Internet to make a branding impression of your company. They are constantly demonstrating that the Internet can be used in all kinds of surprising ways, and these younger demographics are going to turn into your prospects, if they haven’t already.

So, in summary, don’t hang on to what you know! Be ready to make changes and adapt to what’s happening in the digital marketplace. The Internet has drastically changed marketing and it continues to evolve. The Internet will do all kinds of great things for those who are smart about their marketing.

Digital Marketing Action Items

These are Thomas Young’s “Action Items” for a sound Digital Marketing strategy:

  1. Check out your stats on Google Analytics: Is your traffic dropping, increasing, staying the same?
  2. Update your website: If your website does not look modern, your competitors will make theirs look modern, and this will take away your market share.
  3. Look at your competitors: Get a sense of what your competitors are doing, and try to understand how your competitors are attracting decision-makers amongst younger demographics.
  4. Keep in mind that someone is going to do this work for you: To get an effective digital marketing strategy together, you will need to hire a company like Intuitive Websites, or you will need to bring someone in that knows what they are doing.

If you do these things, you will see a great return from your content and your website.

Thomas Young

Thomas Young is the CEO and Founder of Intuitive Websites. He is a consultant, award winning Vistage speaker and author of “Winning the Website War” and “Sales and Marketing Alignment.” Tom has helped thousands of companies succeed online and has over 25 years digital marketing experience.