A few years ago, my husband and I purchased a home. The gardens needed a little TLC. Actually, they needed a lot of TLC. So each year I’ve been learning more about how and when to plant things, and how to successfully contribute to their growth cycle. Each year I become a bit more ambitious as my gardening know-how grows, along with the trees and annuals that have now taken up residency in the yard.

As I muddled through the weeds (both figuratively and literally), I started discovering and accumulating a few tools. A small garden shovel, then an edging shovel. A rake, some new hoses. And thank you internet algorithms for suggesting things I would have never known existed. The experience reminded me just how much having the right tools makes all the difference in mastering any project.

So this month, I thought I’d share my five favorite tools to help you successfully navigate the digital marketplace.

1. Strong Social Media Presence

Social Media is one of the most powerful and easily accessible tools that we have for digital growth, and right now that audience is more engaged than ever. Having a social presence not only makes it incredibly easy for your clients/customers to refer you, it can also put you in front of a target audience both organically and through strategic marketing. Posting branded content consistently is one of the best ways to continue an ongoing conversation with your audience so that they can get a feel for who you are, what you believe, and what is great about services/products you offer. Once an audience becomes engaged, they can convert new followers for you by seamlessly sharing your content and telling their friends. You may even take advantage of super active social media users, often referred to as influencers. These are individuals who have developed brand credibility within their audiences and can have huge reach in promoting products and ideas.

2. Highly Visible Brand

Having a visual identity is a solid starting point to growing any brand awareness. Having consistent colors, photo styles, typography and tone can create consistency so that your audience can develop triggers to remembering who you are. When these visuals align with your core values, your mission, and vision for what you are creating, your audience feels like they can be a part of it. This consistency helps your audience feel like they are engaging in an ongoing conversation, rather than one-off sales pitches and is a great tool to implement marketing and messaging across any channel with greater efficacy.

3. Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is one of the most affordable and underutilized tools to getting your brand in front of potential customers, often because many business owners don’t understand how it works. Digital marketing has the capability to take your message beyond the eyes and ears of your audience, and begin identifying friends and friends of friends of followers you already have and begin showing up in their news feed and on pages, they already visit. Digital advertising campaigns utilize video content and/or static ads (as opposed to using standard posts) and because the price per impression is low, it can be customized to fit just about any budget. The key to digital advertising is to be specific and let the data tell you how your customers want to be sold to. Want to test products and messaging on a specific target market? (often referred to as A/B testing)? Great! We have the tools to make that happen.

4. E-Commerce Platform

Having the ability to securely accept payments online is a game-changer in this new economy, and if the inability to meet in person has left your business in the lurch you’re not alone. Having diversified revenue streams in a volatile economy is necessary to keep moving forward. So when you think about making it a digital marketplace, think PRODUCTS, which is anything you can sell, (e-books, skills training, seminars, products, proprietary techniques, software). Products are much easier to scale than people because you only have so much time and accessibility, but if you can productize, the potential is infinite. Think about your audience and how you currently engage with them. What could you provide to them that would serve them? This could be a tangible product, intellectual property, digital resources, anything that you can hand off to a customer. Building an e-commerce platform within your website allows users to pay directly through your website which means you can be making passive income without lifting a finger. You can also connect this to a fulfillment provider so that your shipping and delivery is seamless.

5. CRM Email Marketing

The most likely place to grow more sales, is within the audience you already have. Having a digital CRM platform in place (customer relationship management) is a great tool for keeping track of people who already like you. By tracking your audience, you can send them regular emails with messaging that is relevant to their needs and adds value to their lives and/or businesses. It’s a great way to remain in communication so that when someone is ready to take action, you are top of mind.

Like any project, marketing comes with hundreds of tools. Knowing what you have to work with can help make your project much easier, and more enjoyable. If you would like help implementing some of these digital tools, or you would like to talk about your business goals and your growth options, schedule a free consultation and we’d be happy to help you grow. hello@intelativitycreative.com