There are three core categories for digital marketing: brand credibility, online visibility, and lead generation. The first step in digital marketing is to determine the objective, then which type of digital marketing services will result in that objective being met.

Brand Credibility

“I’ve been in business for 15+ years. How is my brand not credible?” 

Your brand is credible to those in your immediate circle. Walk into a networking event or look in your address book, there are people who know your name when they hear it. 

The question isn’t how is you brand not credible, rather it’s, “Is it credible to people that don’t know you?”

People who look for the types of services that you offer or are randomly referred to your company by someone else start by opening a browser window prior to making a phone call. They will start with Google search to find your website. 

What does your site say about you? Does it address their pain points immediately? 

Ensuring that your website looks clean, updated, easy-to-navigate, and encompasses the right content to show all the amazing working you’ve done in the last year is imperative. These are the minimum pieces needed to just this potential client to the next step in their research: LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a platform that recruiters live on day and night. Recruiters are constantly scouring the site to find the right candidate by reviewing their credentials. When was the last time you looked at your personal as well as your company’s LinkedIn profile? Do they each tell the proper story about your brand and highlight your successes? 

Your profile should have an up-to-date headshot, cover photo, overview of specialty areas, and testimonials from former candidates placed, clients, and associates. Each of these pieces will build your online brand and credibility.  

Online Visibility

Once credible online, it’s time to work on your brand’s visibility. 

Start with your website and social profiles by utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) tactics. Implementing SEO tactics on your site, when done correctly, will help your brand be discovered when people begin their research on Google or other search engines. 

A large part of all digital marketing efforts revolves around content marketing. Once your site is setup for success with SEO, you need to ensure you have the right content created, and available, on your site to show up on the search engine results page (SERP). 

It’s important to continue creating original content and publishing it to your site on a consistent basis. This helps keep Google seeing new content on your site–which helps your overall rankings–as well as assists with additional outbound sales engagement. New content can be shared on social media and with prospective clients and candidates. 

Social media accounts need to have a person behind them, it’s a digital marketing tactic that is important to ensure your brand is visible online. Social profiles are an easy way to share out content that you find important and show people the culture behind your organization.

Lead Generation

Once you’ve established credibility and can be found online, it’s time to start generating leads for your business. 

Leads come in all forms, and this is no different in the digital space. Creating different types of offers such as a free consultations or downloadable content (such as a salary guide) is the first step to capturing a lead via online efforts. Once these offers are created, it’s time to utilize paid advertising on Google, LinkedIn, or Facebook to drive people to the offers and speed up the lead generation.

Email marketing also assists in generating more leads for your business. The best example is to think back to the Most Placeable Candidate emails. These emails are one of the easiest ways to start conversations. Previous connections can be reengaged with email marketing by utilizing blog posts you’ve written.  Older conversations can be rekindled with content offers you’ve created.

The utilization of marketing automation is one of the largest driving factors to higher conversation rates. It allows for ongoing nurturing to those in your system. Once someone downloads one of the content offers you’ve created, your marketing automation platform kicks in and sends them emails to automatically move them down the buyer’s journey to be ready for your services once they pick up the phone and reach out. 

If you’re interested in starting a digital marketing campaign, or you want to expand your existing efforts, our team can help. Get in touch and learn more about our services today.

KAREN FEDER

VICE PRESIDENT, PARQA

Karen brings nearly a decade of tactical and strategic marketing experience to the Parqa digital marketing team. As the VP, Karen acts as an idea hub within the agency to provide clients with innovative digital approaches and solutions for their websites and marketing campaigns.

Karen’s expertise lies in her ability to imagine and appreciate how all digital channels can work together. She quickly develops a deep understanding of her clients’ businesses, the challenges they face in their market, and their business goals. She then creates a blended and integrated digital approach that delivers measurable outcomes. Prior to Parqa, Karen was a Digital Strategist at Webtrends in Portland, Oregon where she helped establish the SEO and digital marketing strategy practices and worked with clients including 3M, Microsoft, Polaris, and World Vision.