Whether it’s about a company, online store, non-profit or any other type of organization, good promotion is always needed. The main reason is that the online market is an oversaturated and highly competitive environment. Did you know that most searches are being done in Google and that 92.41% of the search engine segment is controlled by Google? So, if you are optimizing your website, make sure it’s optimized for Google Search Engine.
The only way to stand out and ensure that people will notice your organization is to promote it like crazy. However, simply promoting your organization won’t be enough in most cases. You have to know what you’re doing and how to ensure that your promotions are as effective as possible.
If not, you’ll end up wasting both your time and resources without producing any viable results. That’s why promoting an organization requires a certain level of expertise.
You have to understand how to navigate the market and how to communicate with online consumers so that they’ll shift their focus towards whatever it is that you’re offering. With that in mind, here are a few tips on how to promote your organization like an expert.
Focus on market research
Determining how to promote your organization the right way requires information and knowledge. The only way to obtain the data you need is to focus on market research. This will help you identify your target audience, choose the best marketing channels, opt for the best marketing strategies and so on.
Without research, you’re basically going in blind. What that means is that you’re more likely to make a costly mistake that will set you back significantly. Wasting time and resources is not a good idea because every organization runs on a tight schedule and budget.
That’s why you have to make more informed and more strategic decisions when it comes to promoting your organization, or you won’t be able to succeed. That said, here are a couple of things you should focus on when conducting market research.
- Identifying your target audience.
- Determining your audience’s preferences, needs, demands and expectations.
- Determining your audience’s demographics.
- Creating ideal buyer personas.
- Conducting competitive research.
- Identifying the best marketing channels.
- Choosing the most effective marketing tactics.
Create an awesome website
A website is a must-have for every organization that wishes to operate in the online world. However, not just any website will do the trick. Instead, you’ll have to create a truly amazing website that will impress your audience.
There’s no doubt that a lot of consumers will eventually end up visiting your website. Whether that’s because they’ve found you via organic search, a friend told them about you or they were led there by your marketing is not as important as providing them with an exceptional experience once they do get to your website. That being said, here’s how to ensure you have an awesome website to welcome your visitors.
- Ensure seamless navigation.
- Make sure your website and individual pages load as fast as possible.
- Guarantee both user and mobile-friendliness.
- Enhance website security.
- Ensure a seamless checkout process (especially important eCommerce stores and businesses that sell products or services through their website.)
- Provide exceptional customer service and support.
- Provide information either via allowing consumers to contact you or via FAQ and knowledge base pages for self-service.
With the growing popularity of advanced platforms like Wix creating your own website now takes under an hour. On the other hand, tools like SendPulse may have a basic website builder but provide tons of tools to promote your business.
Develop a brand for your organization
Branding is one of the most effective marketing strategies today. Consumers tend to connect with brands on a more personal level, which safeguards loyalty and engagement for years to come. Developing a brand can help your organization in more ways than one. You should start with your business name, which should be unique and loud. The best approach will be applying a business name generator.
For example, you can implement your branding efforts into other marketing strategies so that you can amplify their effectiveness. However, you must first present your brand to your audience in the best way possible. Start with appealing branding components; use logo maker to create a memorable logo, create social media accounts and run campaigns to strengthen brand identity.
What that means is that you need to create a strong brand identity. This isn’t an easy task to accomplish because you have to communicate your organization’s core values, mission statement and brand promise to your audience the right way.
Fortunately, you can always find a company that specializes in brand identity services that can help you out if you’re not able to do it yourself. The important thing is to develop a unique brand your audience can easily relate to. Here are some of the aspects of a well-designed brand.
- A strong brand identity.
- Unique selling proposition (USP)
- Well-designed brand persona.
- The correct tone of voice.
- A unique story.
- A memorable logo.
- Consistency.
Leverage the power of social media
When it comes to promoting your organization, there’s no better channel to do so than social media. Social media has significantly grown over the past years and is now considered to be one of the most important marketing channels for businesses and organizations alike.
The main advantage of social media is that it places your organization in front of a vast number of consumers. For example, Facebook alone has over 2.47 billion active monthly users. This is a promotional opportunity no organization can afford to miss out on. That said, here are some tips on how to promote your organization like an expert on social media platforms.
- Publish high-quality and relevant content regularly.
- Create various forms of content, such as articles, videos, webinars, podcasts, etc. Check out the benefits of podcasts for social media.
- Engage in conversations with your audience.
- Organize events, contests and giveaways.
- Use targeted ads.
- Tag products or services in your posts.
- Create a loyalty program.
Leverage SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the best marketing strategies that can help you promote your organization the right way. Moreover, SEO can help you promote your organization like an expert in a natural and organic way. In other words, organic traffic means that prospects and leads have found your organization through online search.
Their intent was matched with your keywords on search engines and they’ve decided to explore your offers further. SEO is a cost-effective strategy, which means you can dedicate as many resources as you want and you’ll be able to produce viable results.
That said, SEO is extremely efficient at helping any organization boost their visibility, authority, credibility, awareness and exposure. However, SEO can take some time before it starts to show results, so you have to be patient.
Some of the SEO tactics you can use to promote your organization include publishing relevant content with tagged images, building relevant backlinks from quality sites, using location-based and industry-specific keywords, as well as ranking high search engines, such as Google.
Leverage word-of-mouth promotions
Nowadays, the best way to promote your organization like an expert is to encourage others to do it for you. Word-of-mouth promotions can do wonders for an organization. The key is to have happy and satisfied customers that will gladly promote your organization to their friends and family.
You see, online consumers trust other consumers way more than they would trust any business or organization. That’s why a lot of companies leverage user reviews and testimonials. Around 91% of online consumers read these reviews and testimonials.
Furthermore, 84% of those consumers trust those reviews as much as they’d trust personal recommendations from a friend or a family member. Therefore, happy customers can easily become the brand ambassadors who will promote your organization. You can encourage customers to leave reviews and testimonials by simply asking them or by incentivizing them through a referral program.
Promoting an organization can be a daunting task. However, if you create a solid strategy and pick the right channels, as well as the right methods, you’ll be able to get the publicity and exposure you need in no time.
Author Bio
Oliver Deighton is a passionate digital marketer & tech blogger, internet nerd, and data enthusiast