Let’s face it. As a digital agency owner or freelancer, the last thing you want to do is spend your entire day in back-to-back sales calls.
Not only is it incredibly draining, but it also eats into what little time you have to serve existing clients and work on your own internal growth.
But you’ve got to sell if you want to make money, right?
If you’ve found yourself staring into your jam-packed calendar, a single tear running down your face, thinking there must be a simpler way, then you’re in the right place. You’ll be glad to know that there is life outside of the repetitive loop of endless sales calls.
When it comes to making online sales and maintaining a stable income, an effective, well-thought-out digital marketing strategy can take some of the pressure off. And understanding how to make your content do the selling for you is a serious game-changer, freeing up your schedule so you can focus more of your energy on what you do best.
Ready to finally unlock the untapped potential of your digital marketing efforts? There’s no time to waste – let’s get right into it!
How to increase sales through digital marketing campaigns: the content edition
1. Refresh your website content
Your website is the backbone of your digital agency. Give it a little stretch every once in a while.
Think about it: after a long day working at your laptop in full prawn-mode, your real spine needs a little movement to be able to stay in top working condition. The same is true for your website content.
Now, I’m not saying your website should move to the mountains, grow out its hair, and become a yogi. But your website content should never be rigid. Instead, it needs to be fluid, malleable, and ready to change with the times.
Or, in less meandering terms, your website’s content needs to be updated regularly for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it’s essential that all information listed on your website is current, relevant, and represents your brand as it is today.
Think about it from your own perspective. You check out a website, and it’s full of links to events that happened a few years ago, showcasing a service they don’t offer anymore, and listing a phone number that no longer exists. You’re not going to trust that source enough to give them your business, are you?
If you want your website to sell for you, you’ve got to set it up for success. Keep your content fresh and up-to-date to avoid website visitors abandoning your site and jumping right over to your competitors.
Another incredibly important reason to update your content is to keep things ticking over in terms of search engine optimisation.
You already know how vital SEO writing is for getting your website content seen. But SEO trends are constantly changing based on how people are conducting their online searches. If you want your website to keep reaching potential clients and performing at its best, you’ve got to invest in an ongoing SEO strategy.
SEO can be incredibly influential in driving sales for your agency. In fact, 70% of marketers found it to be more effective than PPC advertising for landing sales.
Make sure you’re regularly performing keyword research to see which short and long-tail keywords your target audience are using when searching for your services online. You can also use SEO tools like Surfer, Semrush, and Google Analytics to test how SEO-friendly your website is and maximise its ability to get selling!
2. Start blogging regularly
Keeping your website content fresh is key to the success of your business – and that includes generating qualified leads that convert into sales!
But, while updating content across your web pages is key, it’s not like you’re going to be changing things up every week on your homepage or services pages.
That’s where blogging comes in.
As professional word nerds and content fanatics, we obviously have quite the soft spot for the humble art of blogging. <3
But it’s not just because we enjoy writing so much! We also love blogs for all the wonderful benefits they offer our clients.
Blogging helps you:
- Position yourself as an industry expert
- Generate more organic traffic through SEO
- Offer valuable insights to your target audience
- Establish customer trust and loyalty
- Sell your services through your expertise
Businesses with a blogging strategy generate 67% more leads than those without one, so establishing a regular blogging habit (or hiring your favourite team of professional copywriters to do it for you!) is a no-brainer.
While it’s not necessarily advised to use blogs as a direct sales tool – they should be more informative in nature than on the hard sell – they’re a very powerful indirect sales tool.
Don’t forget to optimise your blog posts for search engines, too! Trust me, between climbing the ranks on search engines and showcasing your value, with a solid blog, you’ll start attracting more of the right kinds of leads to purchase your services.
3. Commit to social media marketing
Listen, no one really wants to hear it, but when it comes to growing your customer base and driving sales, social media really is the place to be these days.
But don’t worry, with a good strategy, you can make social media marketing work for you, attracting and engaging with your target audience on the channels they use most.
Right, but how? Well, for one thing, there are a ton of social media platforms out there, all with their own audiences, content formats, and trends. And things move fast on social media – what’s trending now can sometimes seem to change by the millisecond. It’s impossible to keep up with it all, so don’t try to.
That might sound a little controversial coming from a content agency! But please don’t call the content police on us just yet.
Of course it’s super important to stay informed about how people are engaging with specific channels and to understand what kind of content works where. But when it comes to social media, the most important thing is authenticity.
Just because lip-syncing to a certain sound off a TV show you’ve never even heard of is trending on TikTok doesn’t mean you need to jump on the bandwagon – in fact, you probably (definitely) shouldn’t!
Unless you can find a way to truly make them your own, it’s a good idea to steer clear of fads or trends online. Online audiences are more media literate than ever before and will sniff out your try-hard attempts in a heartbeat.
Instead, find a way to use social media that feels natural to you and feels true to your brand. Communicate with your audience in a way that reflects your unique brand personality.
Just like in real life, people are far more likely to connect with the version of you that’s real and honest. Social media is an incredibly important place to make those connections now, so you really can’t afford to risk losing them by trying to be something you’re not.
Plus, you’re far more likely to commit to regularly posting on social media if it’s something you actually feel comfortable doing! So, remember to have fun with it and be consistent. The results will come in time. 🙂
4. Set up email marketing campaigns
Email marketing can sometimes get a bad rap.
Sure, too many marketing emails feel like they’ve been sent from Spam City. But when it’s done right, it’s an incredibly impactful and effective marketing tool. In fact, 87% of businesses report it as being a fundamental part of their success.
So, how do you harness the power of email marketing in a way that drives sales and doesn’t make your recipients slam the “unsubscribe” button the moment your emails land in their inbox?
The key: segmentation and personalisation.
Think about it. Your mailing list is made up of your target audience. But that audience is likely made up of different groups with different needs, interests, and buying habits. It doesn’t make sense to blast them all with the same content and hope to get the best results.
Instead, segment your email audience into specific groups based on location, demographics, or stage of the buyer’s journey. That way, you can deliver a much more relevant, personalised experience to your recipients – and they’ll be more likely to engage in return.
You can take personalisation a step further by checking in with customers after a purchase or download to see how they’re getting on. With a good feel for their interests, you can send them targeted marketing emails about products or services that relate to their previous purchases and will likely be of interest to them.
Get deep into the data to create strategic email campaigns that focus on delivering genuine, personalised value to each segment of your audience.
5. Invest in online ads
Ever find yourself gazing wistfully out a window at the gently falling rain, asking yourself, “Do online ads really work?” Well, considering they can increase brand awareness by 80%, it’s fairly safe that they do.
It’s fair to have a few concerns about PPC advertising before you bite the bullet and invest in a campaign of your own. And to be fair, if you dive into paying for a load of ads without a solid strategy in place, odds are, it won’t be a good investment.
But when online ads are strategically planned, designed, and published, they can be an incredibly effective way to attract more website visitors, generate quality leads, and ultimately win more sales.
Here’s how to make the most of your online advertising efforts:
- Target the right audience
- Use keywords for local SEO
- Optimise your ads for mobile devices
- Test your ads to see what’s working
- Continuously adjust your approach
Going down the road of Google Ads shouldn’t make you feel like you’re about to freewheel off the side of a cliff. Take a strategic approach, and you’ll be fine! And if you can get a professional copywriter to write the ad copy for you? Even better.
Useful strategies to make your content do the selling for you
1. Get super clear on your audience
Effective content marketing is all about your target market. If you don’t know precisely who you’re talking to, you’re not going to reach your growth goals and are quite simply wasting your time.
If you want your content to capture the attention of website visitors and convert them into customers, you need to do a little research. Get to know your audience’s demographics, interests, and pain points before you start creating content.
Then, get to strategising! Think about how you can create a strong digital marketing campaign that really appeals to your audience, highlighting their unique problems and showcasing how your services can solve them.
2. Prioritise creating quality content, always
You know just how important it is to be consistent in terms of your content output. So, naturally, there’s a ton of pressure on digital marketers to keep churning out content like it’s nobody’s business.
But pause. Take a deep breath and consider the big picture. Yes, it’s important to publish content as frequently and regularly as you can to stay visible. But unless you’re putting out high-quality content, all you’re going to do is damage your content’s overall performance – and your agency’s reputation and.
That’s why we always recommend creating a solid content strategy. This way, all your content is planned out ahead of time. With a clear plan in place and a content calendar to keep track of it all, it’s easier to produce quality content on a regular basis. From updating your blog or website to posting on social media channels, always make quality your top priority.
3. Optimise your content for search engines
If you want your content to sell, it’ll have to be visible online first.
Always make SEO part of your content creation process. Do your local keyword research and pepper relevant keywords into your website text and blog posts in a way that feels natural to read.
Don’t forget to optimise your meta titles, meta and descriptions, and headings, too. These little sections of text are perfect for placing important keywords into your content. You’ve already crafted some high-quality, relevant content – optimising it with keywords will give it that extra little boost to rank higher on search engine results pages.
4. Always include compelling CTAs
Conversion copy is the art of writing persuasive content that engages readers and converts them into buyers. And an effective call-to-action is the perfect place to nail it.
Whether you want your audience to download, subscribe, or purchase something, your call-to-action text needs to be clear, concise, and compelling to motivate them to take the desired action.
When you write 10/10 CTAs and place them strategically throughout your content, it’ll start doing the selling for you in no time.
5. Actively engage with your audience
These days, we spend a lot of time online, meaning audiences are incredibly available.
But if you want to connect with your audience, it’s not enough to build a passive online presence. You’ve also got to engage with them.
Whether you want to create interactive social media content or send out customer satisfaction surveys, if you want to get the most out of your content, find a way to relate to your audience that feels authentic to you and your brand.
6. Analyse and adapt your content
To quote my close personal friend Albert Einstein, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
If you want your content to draw in paying customers, you’ve got to monitor its performance, pinpoint what works and what doesn’t, and adjust accordingly.
Make use of digital marketing tools like Google Analytics to analyse your content, identify the gaps, and hone your approach until you find the perfect way to attract, engage, and convert your target audience into loyal customers.
(***Pssst*** We offer content audits as an additional service!)
Take your digital marketing strategies to the next level with The Content Lab
High-quality content can be very powerful when it comes to increasing brand awareness and driving sales.
But when you simply don’t have time to create content, or if you don’t have the skills to write the kind of content you need to impress your audience, then we’re here for you.
We write high-performing, high-converting content that helps agencies like yours achieve their digital marketing goals.
Sound good? Get in touch and let’s talk content!
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