Internet marketing is currently at a crossroads. Businesses are shuttering at a never-before-seen pace- albeit mostly temporary- and started reevaluating priorities. We in the industry have noticed, after years of clamoring to climb coveted search engine rankings, less competition. Businesses have started backing off their marketing priorities. This is a huge mistake, but an opportunity for those business owners with some foresight.
Internet Marketing Opportunities Abound
Though unfortunate and ill-advised, this sea change in the internet marketing world provides an opportunity. This is because companies still focused on marketing efforts (wise) can experience unprecedented marketing ROI. That’s because all internet marketing success- from SEO, to paid ads, to organic social- is based on competition. And if your competition is backing off their efforts, it’s your time to strike.
Let’s use an example. If you run a used car dealership in St Louis, where 20 or so other used car dealerships typically have an established online presence, you normally have competition. You compete with them on a regular basis for search terms such as “used cars St Louis,” “Used pickup in Missouri” and “2015 Camry St Louis.” These 20 other dealerships might stand in your way of getting to the top of Google search results and may cost you more for PPC.
Now let’s say one day all these 20 competitors vanished from any internet presence. Your audience targeting would be a whole lot easier, wouldn’t it? Reaching the top of organic search results would happen overnight, your paid ads cost would considerably plummet and your social media interaction would lead the local market.
Well, this goes for all businesses and it’s effectively what’s happening in today’s climate. Companies surrendering their marketing efforts are yielding any established internet marketing traction to the competition. Maybe this competition is your business.
Business Lull: A Chance to Refocus
When business slows, focusing your efforts on marketing is a sure-fire way to boost your revenue. And with the economy undoubtedly opening-up again in the very near future, it is no different in the age of COVID-19.
So if business isn’t exactly booming for you lately- or your state has altogether shut down your operations- use this time to build out a strategy. This will let you get a jump on your competition when we’re again up and running.
Internet marketing is how organizations reach their target audience on the most important resource of our time: the internet. There are 5 layers to every well-designed internet marketing plan: collectively known as your content marketing, this includes your organic, site design, paid campaigning, email marketing, and social media campaigning. And they all have to be implemented in a certain order.
We will get through this and our economy will persevere much sooner than you may fear. Internet marketing is crucial to driving new business. When it comes to your internet marketing efforts, like most initiatives, timing is intrinsic to your success. Doing your research, knowing your market and investing in your marketing wisely and consistently is imperative. That’s it. Or better, yet, leave it to the marketing agency experts.
