Taking your brand to the next level requires myriad of time and effort, along with making the right decisions along the way.
With that being the case, where do you see your brand headed this year and down the road?
Many companies are saddled with a fixed budget on how much marketing and advertising they can do, therefore tying their hands at putting 100 percent behind their brands. Others, meantime, have the means to promote it, but go about it in the wrong manner.
One way you can get your brand’s face out there without bankrupting the company is by properly using search engine optimization (SEO) as part of a broader strategy involving content marketing and social networking.
First Step is Having a Strategy
In order to give your brand the attention it needs and deserves, having a comprehensive strategy to promote it should always be at the top of your marketing list.
Having a strategy of combining SEO, content marketing and social media allows you the best of all worlds, especially if your budget is on the tight side.
Start with the SEO component and go from there.
First, do you know the advantages of using SEO to give your brand a push?
Among the benefits:
- Authority – When your brand stands out from others in the respective industry as an authority, you are more likely to ring-up sales. Consumers are more likely to buy from those they trust, so use SEO to set yourself up as knowledgeable and trustworthy in your niche;
- Professionalism – Brands that have their act together will certainly better position themselves than those who look like a fish out of water. While money might be tight at times, spending some of it on bringing in a professional SEO consultant can be some of the best funds you will ever invest. He or she can make your brand look more professional in a number of ways, including what your content says about your business and industry in general, selecting the right keywords (especially long-tail keywords) inside your blog posts to better rank on search engines, and moving you forward on mobile SEO if you have not already incorporated it into your plans;
- Ranking – With a sound SEO strategy, your brand rises to the top of search engine rankings. Being on page one of Google or other search engine rankings in your respective industry as opposed to pages three or four can make the difference between getting and not getting a sale. This is yet another reason why you need to be consulting on SEO strategy for your business;
- Socializing – Part of your SEO strategy needs to incorporate social media. How your brand’s social profiles rank of course helps or hurts your ability to land new business. If your company’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and other such profiles are noteworthy; your brand will show up higher in search listings as they relate to brand names. This is yet another reason while social interaction (providing details about your products and/or services, answering consumer questions, solving consumer issues as they relate to your brand or industry etc.) is something that should be looked at as a necessity and not a choice.
Defining your SEO strategy in 2016 and beyond should be one of the most important decisions you do for your brand.
Are you ready to take the challenge?
Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com
About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.
Very well said! To withstand the strong competition in the online market, site owners must have to do SEO without which there is a very least possibility of getting any visibility.
I completely agree with you. Authority factor caught my attention. It’s not only about convenience of a person browsing the internet. It is also about psychological effect position one brings. Let’s say you have an SEO agency. It is not the same thing if you are number one in Google or number hundred. These are the things that can make or break your business.
Build your brand and trust, not the backlinks. I still see so many experts are offering and buying backlinks but those old school strategies dont work anymore. You need to bring unique value (not just unique content), improve usability of your website, work on your blog and product pages and you will get backlinks naturally.
Very complete and well said post. I work for a fitness blog aimed at girls in Latin America. During the final quarter of last year, visits decreased even though we created very original, interesting content. Our revenue decreased in addition to website traffic problems. We had to think about new strategies for our content; otherwise, we would have to close the page. We considered paying for ads, mentions, or a celebrity endorsement. But, we realized that these solutions would only temporarily fix a much bigger problem. My company does not have professional experience in digital marketing, so we approach a company that has experience reaching the right people. They designed the strategy according to the needs of our Latin American audience, targeting each country where they are working. Their services were a form of International SEO. The SEO we did with them has worked and our blog is gaining traffic. The company I hired is called the Dalai Group. They were serious about our project and I feel comfortable recommendaing them.
Great post and have to agree that it’s vital to address and engage prospects intent and needs. No matter how many backlinks you have the user experience (UX) will always work against you if you have a low-quality site. Google can’t be gamed through great backlink profiles if the bounce rates, time on site and page sessions don’t show the same high quality. That being said; understanding exactly what your prospects are actually searching for is vital for any company’s great content gaining the exposure it needs.
Are there plans for an updated article?
Also we all forget that we need traffic as well. It’s not all about backlinks and backlinks . Just make sure that that they are quality. Great info.