The Importance of Email Marketing: 10 Reasons to Have an Email Strategy

About 68% of all activity online begins with a search engine. Meanwhile, 46% of all Google searches are local searches. With a Google My Business profile, you can appear for these searches. Then, more people will find you online, improving your local search visibility. Why is Google My Business important? How can it benefit your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts? Read on to discover the benefits of optimising your profile today! Boost Brand Visibility About 59% of consumers prefer to shop from brands they already recognise. The more they appreciate, recognise, and believe in your brand, the more they'll buy. If consumers can't find your business online, however, you'll miss the chance to generate sales. As part of your digital marketing strategy, it's important to appear in front of consumers at multiple touchpoints. An omnichannel marketing strategy can help you generate more brand awareness. Optimising your Google My Business profile for local search results can help you appear in front of consumers online. Each time they see your business, brand awareness will grow. With repeat exposure, awareness can turn into recognition. Generating brand recognition ensures your business remains top-of-mind. People could start associating your offerings or industry with your brand. The next time they need your offerings, they'll choose your business above the rest. Optimising your Google My Business listing will also ensure your business takes up prominent space on Google search engine result pages (SERP). Organic listings appear as lines of text. Your brand won't always stand out when you appear for searches. Your Google My Business listing, however, will stand out. Your listing will show your: Business name Operating hours Website Phone number Address/directions Customer reviews Updates Photos and videos Adding visual content to your listing can help you draw the consumer's gaze. Your profile will stand out among other organic results. You could have an easier time generating brand awareness and engagement as a result. Strengthen Your Reputation About 95% of consumers read reviews from other shoppers before making purchases. Meanwhile, 93% read reviews of local businesses to determine their quality. When your Google My Business listing appears for a local search, it will also display reviews from your recent customers. Generating positive reviews can help strengthen your reputation. A strong brand reputation will help trust and loyalty to grow. Generating brand trust and loyalty can encourage your target audience to make more purchases. In fact, products that generate five reviews have a 270% higher chance of getting purchased in the future. When higher-priced items have reviews, your conversion rate will increase by 380%. Businesses with over 25 reviews can earn 108% more revenue on average. Meanwhile, reviews make consumers 71% more comfortable purchasing specific products. Improving your brand's reputation can have a major impact on your success as a business. Without reviews, consumers might not trust your brand. They might decide to take their business elsewhere. Before that can happen, make sure to claim and optimise your Google My Business listing. Increase Engagement Consumers want easy access to the answers they're looking for while online. If they can't find your address, phone number, or website, they'll turn to your competitors. Optimising your profile with a local search service can help you boost consumer engagement with your brand. For example, consumers can click on your listing to get directions to your store. They can call you directly or visit your website, too. About 86% of shoppers rely on the internet to find local businesses. You can also use your profile to reach mobile consumers, too. After all, 30% of all Google mobile searches are related to location. About 72% of consumers who search for businesses visit a store within five miles of their location. Nearly 80% of these searches result in purchases, too. As people learn more about your business and engage with your brand, they might have an easier time remembering who you are. Remember, remaining top of mind could help you generate sales in the future. Generate Traffic Consider working with an agency to learn how to improve local search results this year. Ranking higher for local searches can help you generate more website traffic. Remember, your Google My Business profile can direct consumers to your website, too. Generating more website traffic can help you improve your search engine rankings. Higher rankings will help you generate more traffic in the future. It will also ensure your website ranks ahead of competitors, allowing you to generate brand awareness, leads, and sales. As people visit your website, they can learn more about your business. They might recognise you're a helpful thought leader. Becoming a thought leader will help your brand's credibility and authority grow. Remain Transparent When choosing a local search service, make sure the agency will help you respond to the reviews you generate online. Don't make the mistake of deleting negative reviews. Instead, respond to these reviews and try to resolve the problem. Responding to negative reviews can help you remain honest and transparent. Transparency is essential if you want brand trust to grow. Optimising and managing your profile for local search rankings will help you remain transparent. Build Trust and Loyalty Learning more about your business will encourage brand trust. In time, trust can turn into brand loyalty. Gaining a loyal audience of customers can help you generate repeat sales. Your loyal customers could help your business grow in the future, too. For example, they might tell others about their positive experiences with your business. Word-of-mouth marketing will help brand trust grow with new customers. Generating more brand loyalty will help your ROI rise. Gather Insights You can also learn about your target audience once you optimise your Google Business profile for local searches. For example, you can learn about the problems your customers are facing. Then, you can make improvements to your business for better user experiences. Making these changes can encourage shoppers to love your brand all the more. Start Using Google My Business to Improve Your Local Search Presence Don't make the mistake of neglecting your Google My Business listing. Instead, use a local search service this year. Learning how to improve local search results can help you generate more leads and sales. As a result, you can set your business up for lasting growth. Eager to get started? We can't wait to help. Learn more about our services today to get started.

The Importance of Email Marketing: 10 Reasons for Email Strategy

Do you think email marketing is still relevant? To learn more about the importance of email marketing, read these 10 reasons to have an email campaign.

Each year, there are about half a million new companies in the UK.

If you're new to the game and you want to stand out as a business owner, you need to have a solid marketing strategy.

However, it can feel overwhelming to decide what's most important. Did you know the importance of email marketing and how effective it is?

Read this guide on the top reasons you need to have an email marketing strategy today.

1. Enjoy the Highest ROI

About 99% of users check their email each day. Having an email marketing campaign is one of the most effective ways for businesses to grow. While social media is a popular option, it doesn't bring the same return that email marketing does.

Many struggle with social media, whereas when you have an email list, those are the people who are the most interested in what you have to say. Email marketing is also easy to measure success and view how many subscribe, unsubscribe, and open your emails.

2. Reach Mobile Users

Many users will be on mobile devices, so it's vital that your website is mobile-friendly. One of the most popular activities for mobile users is checking their email.

Keep the call-to-action in your email easy to find and click. Ensure that the entire email is easy to navigate. Use mobile-friendly email templates.

3. Keep in Touch With Your Audience

Keep your audience up-to-date on various deals, changes, and promotions. Consider personalising the messages that you send, it'll let the customer know that you're thinking about them. Be sure to send emails that they'll find helpful.

4. Affordable

Reach your audience for a more affordable rate than other methods. This is due to the cost per conversion being lower. Some plans allow you to send messages for free up to a certain number of subscribers.

There are plans to choose from to decide on the best fit for your company. If you're interested in sequence emails (sending out multiple emails over a certain period of time), then you'll need to pay a low fee per month. If you're short on time, you could hire someone to handle your email list for you.

5. Increase Brand Awareness

Email marketing can be just as effective as social media at building your brand awareness. Those who sign up for your newsletter are interested in what you have to say.

Come up with a plan to decide how often to reach out to your audience. You don't want to send out multiple emails a day.

Show off the good that you do in the local community as well. Be sure that your emails match your brand's voice and the colours of your company.

6. Boost Sales

Email marketing is a great way to boost the sales of your company. Drive traffic to your site. Be sure to include links to your products and services.

You can even split your subscribers into groups to perform tests. Send out an email to group A and a different email to group B. This will tell you which email is more effective with your audience.

It'll help you decide if you're using an accurate call to action, whether that's inviting them to buy a product, service, or contact you. Using positive and encouraging copy in your email with a clear call to action makes it more likely that you'll boost your sales.

7. Audiences Engage With Emails

Email is still one of the top choices of communication for many. Your audience is more likely to reply to an email than a call or text.

Engagement could be a reply, forward, or clicking on a link in a message. Use email to drive people to your website and increase sales.

8. Targeted Messaging

Each customer will be at a different stage of the buying cycle. Create a buyer persona to decide what content will work for each step.

Split your audience into the following groups:

  • Group A is the nurturing stage for building rapport
  • Group B might be researching and doing a comparison between products
  • Group C could be ready to buy a product

When you split them into groups, you're more likely to see higher engagement. Before they'll move into another group, the correct information needs to be presented to them.

9. Integrate With Your Other Marketing Efforts

Combine your email strategy with webinars, social media marketing, and more. Place your social media icons inside of your newsletter when you go to send them out.

Promote upcoming webinars through your newsletter. As the day gets closer, you can send out emails reminding them about the event.

Use website links as well. Be consistent and include your other marketing channels whenever possible without overdoing it. Products such as ActiveCampaign will allow you to have your CRM tools, marketing automation, and email marketing in one place.

10. Increase Traffic

Let your audience know when you publish a new blog post. You can give a quick overview of the post and a link for them to read the rest. Don't be afraid to use engaging images in your emails to keep your audience interested.

Understanding the Importance of Email Marketing

After exploring this guide, you should have a better understanding of the importance of email marketing. Take your time coming up with an action plan for your email marketing strategy.

Any questions that you have along the way we're more than happy to answer. From PPC audits to Facebook ads, we offer a variety of services to help you succeed.

If you're ready to get started on your total marketing strategy, schedule a call today!

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