If you’re building a business in today’s noisy online world it pays to be on top of your marketing and understand what will bring you the biggest return on investment.

We all love social media but it may not be the best place for you to spend the majority of your time if it doesn’t bring you in any paying clients.

So, what do you need to focus on?

Firstly, let me say this… The suggestions I am giving you below are a guide and may not be the right ones for you, but from what I’ve seen over the years in business is that those who do well and have built a sizeable business tend to focus on these three online marketing strategies among other marketing strategies.

I suggest that you spend some time testing this for your business, because it may well be your roadmap to success too.

1: Website

This first one might seem obvious but sadly I hear of businesses skipping setting up a website in favour of being on social media. Whilst social media is an excellent place to be for most businesses, and it’s where we build relationships with our audience, it’s also a place that’s controlled by someone else. What I mean by this is that if Facebook, Instagram or whichever platform you are using decides that it wants to shut down your account, they can.

Yes, unfortunately this happens to businesses. I’ve heard of cases where the business has built up thousands of followers and then has their account suspended or closed, which means all the hard work was lost.

Having a website means that you have a home-base, a place that you ‘own’ and where you’re the boss. The other advantages of having a website are that you can use your own branding, focus on optimizing it for search engine optimisation and install various tracking pixels.

Check this post where I explain why you should have a website instead of only a Facebook page.

2: Building a database

You may have heard me talk about list building before since I’m a big advocate of it. Building a list, or a database, of prospective and current client should be a focus in your business particularly if you offer something that you want to sell in higher volumes, like products, downloads or courses.

If your business relies on volume, having an email list will help you communicate with more people, nurture them and eventually convert them to sales.

The reasons for building a list are similar to the reasons above. Building your own database means that you have control over it and nobody can shut it down and undo all your hard work.

Having a list also means that you have the opportunity to build a closer relationship with your audience as emails are still a more effective way to communicate with people than social media is. Relying on social media means you’re relying on platforms such as Facebook to show your message to your audience, which often doesn’t happen. By owning your database you have control over who you contact and how often.

If you’re still unsure about why growing your list should be your top priority, check out this article I wrote about it.

3: Video

In the last year, video has become one of the major marketing strategies online. In particular on Facebook, where you can now host live videos and the videos posted directly to your page count towards building a retargeting audience.

There are many reasons for using video in your marketing strategy, some of them are:

Video can boost your sales or conversions

Research shows that having a video on your landing page or sales page can boost your conversions upto 80%. Check out these other impressive video stats for more reasons to use video.

Video builds trust

This might not come as a surprise, mostly because video is likely to engage us and ignite our emotions. When we see a video, many of our senses are stimulated including sight, sound and movement. Listening to and seeing someone on screen often speeds up the KLT (know – like – trust) factor. Trust is the foundation of conversions and sales. The whole concept of content marketing is based on trust and creating long-term relationships, video enhances this concept.

Facebook (and Google) loves video

Over the past year video has gained a lot of popularity on social networking platforms, but also on YouTube and other video hosting platforms. Because YouTube is owned by Google, there are some perks to having video on your landing pages.

What I’m really interested in, as a Facebook ads strategist, is Facebook’s love for video. You may have noticed quite a few videos pop up in your Facebook newsfeed and this is for good reason. Facebook loves video and prioritizes it in your newsfeed. They have also added a feature where you automatically build a retargeting audience when you upload a video directly onto your business Facebook page, no pixel needed!

If you use, or are considering using, Facebook ads in your business, you really can’t avoid using video in your marketing strategy. Right now it’s one of the best performing ads methods on Facebook, especially because you can retarget those who have watched a certain amount of your video.

Are you using video in your marketing strategy?

Recap:

With so many marketing strategies out there, how do you know what to choose for your business? It all comes down to trying various strategies for your business and measuring what works.

Right now, the three marketing strategies that I consider a MUST in your business are:

1: Website
2: Building a database
3: Video

Disclosure: Some articles on this site may contain affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, Bianca McKenzie may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.