Online Marketing Strategy

Every business needs an Online Marketing Strategy. What do you want to achieve online? This should not be a short-term fix like creating a Facebook page or a static website. Think about where you want to be in 5 years in an ideal situation. You can achieve this with a robust and achievable Digital Marketing Strategy. This is the starting point you need to consider for your business. 

Online Branding

How is your business or organisation viewed online? Is this the same as offline? If you wish to promote a professional and highly-competent product or service, then this needs to reflected in the perception of online customers. Online Branding is crucial to reaching your online goals.

BE FOUND ON GOOGLE

Ranking highly on Google is essential for most businesses. Many agencies and cold-callers will entice businesses with promises of first positions on Google. No-one can guarantee these claims and these unsubstantiated sales or marketing messages should always be ignored. The only way you can ensure you rank highly on search engines is to develop and implement a Digital Strategy which aims to incrementally increase your ranking for identified keywords (search terms) over time. This is known as Search Engine Optimisation. To view more about SEO click below.

Innovative Idea Generation

Blue Shark Digital, unlike other agencies, refuse to follow a Digital Marketing Strategy template which is applied to every client. Each business and/or organisation is different, has contrasting online goals, budgets and aspirations. Therefore each strategy will be unique with the clients business/organisation at the core. Fundamental to the success of these bespoke plans, is fresh ideas and innovation. We pride ourselves on thinking outside the box, and utilising the latest digital marketing and online advertising techniques to give clients a significant ROI on their campaigns.

WEBSITE AUDIT

Is your website fit for purpose? As online shopping becomes more and more important, customers have come to expect to purchase a product or book a service online. Many companies, including large PLCs fail and fail badly in this regard. If your Digital Marketing plan is to incorporate an e-commerce element then you may need to consider embarking on a new website project. The Blue Shark Digital website audit can determine if this is necessary. A new website project may thus become central to your Digital Marketing Strategy. It would be unproductive to drive converting traffic to a website, if the mechanics of the website were obsolete or the website wasn't fit for purpose.

Strategic planning and timescales

Blue Shark Digital can manage the entire project plan process, from initial conceptualisation to delivery and measurement. Each activity can follow a critical path to ensure that project runs smoothly and is manageable.

market and competitor research

A crucial, and often overlooked, element of any Digital Strategy involves analysing the market in which your business/organisation operates. What avenues can you exploit and over what timescales? There is also no point competing against the market leader on aspects of digital if this is unrealistic, etc. Market and Competitor Research allows for realistic refinements to the Digital Strategy to be considered and implemented.

BUDGET PLANNING

Blue Shark Digital can manage the Digital Marketing budget for you. At the outset of the Digital Marketing Strategy implementation, agreed budgets and targets will be set, and this will be basis on how we will evaluate the success of the project or campaign(s).

DAY-TO-DAY Management

We understand that every client will have different needs and requirements will their Digital Marketing. We also appreciate that each client will have different resources in relation to marketing and digital. Blue Shark Digital can assist with the day-to-day management of these digital and marketing resources and supplement them with our own to ensure that the strategy goals are met. Simultaneously, Blue Shark Digital offers Digital Training in which to up-skill your employees on all things digital, from basic to expert level.

New Website Build

If your website is no longer fit for purpose, you may need to embark on a new website project. With many years experience in new web projects, Blue Shark Digital are here to manage this process from the initial concept right through to the delivery, involving our clients at every stage. For more information on previous projects and to ascertain if your business could benefit from a new online portal, please contact us below.

WEBSITE DESIGN & Styling

Blue Shark Digital can help with a style refresh of your website as an alternative to a new website build. A web refresh can have a dramatic impact on the brand perception, right through to the performance of the website, whether it be from driving sales or reaching other online objectives.

INCREASE web visibility

Driving more traffic to your website is essential. We can assist with this through our SEO services, however from a design perspective, there are several components and strategies that can be used to increase the visibility of your website online.

WEB security

Worried about your website security and the integrity of your customer information. Blue Shark Digital can assist your business to ensure that customer data remains safe and secure and that your website is resistant to any phishing or viral attack.

E-commerce

Do you wish to sell your products online? We can assess if your website is suitable to support e-commerce and guide you through the entire process. Our conversion tracking software can also provide in-depth analysis to determine what is driving these sales, from the online advertising medium or indeed the organic search term or keyword, although for greater efficiencies and return on marketing spend.

MOBILE responsiveness

Is your website mobile-responsive? If not, you could be losing a lot of customers who may find it extremely irritating to use your website. In order to rectify this, again Blue Shark Digital can guide you through the process.

ASSESSING Impact of Google Algorithm updates

Google, the leading Search Engine, is constantly updating it's algorithm to determine how websites rank in results. At Blue Shark Digital, we keep abreast of all the latest developments and potential impacts on websites. Either through our SEO Audit, or SEO Management services, you can make sure that your business website is not penalised by Google and your visibility in search is not affected. In turn, your website traffic, enquiries and sales will also not be at risk. For more information on how your website may be affected by Google algorithm updates, contact us below.

SEO Audit

At Blue Shark Digital, we recommend that you have an SEO Audit of your website as soon as possible. We can identify errors that can be remedied immediately, and others that we can begin the process to improve and eventually resolve. We can also identify opportunities that you can exploit that can also influence your Digital Marketing Strategy. The main areas the Audit will cover will be:

• Technical Audit - identify errors
• On-page content audit
• Off-page audit
• Speed tests
• Link analysis - internal and external
• Algorithm impact - Google Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon, etc.
• Mobile optimisation
• Optimisation for Keywords
• Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
• Landing Page Optimisation
• Intelligent Search Optimisation

KEYWORD RESEARCH

By determining which search queries are driving traffic to your website is one of the key aspects of any web strategy. In addition to this, by identifying keywords that not only drive traffic, but drive converting traffic becomes crucial. You don't want window shoppers on your website. Yes, they do no harm and are welcome, but if you have to focus on any segment of your web traffic, you need to concentrate on those visitors who buy your product or service, or meet your online goals. This function ties in very closely with CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation), where converting keywords or search terms drive the right traffic, and this is assisted by on-page and off-page CRO to ensure enquires and sales.

LINK BUILDING

Since Google released its Penguin updates, there has been an intense focus on the quality on in-bound links to websites. The SEO Audit will identify poor quality or spammy links to your website, however having a strategy of organic, high-quality and relevant link-building is essential to have a top-performing website. Blue Shark Digital can develop a link-building strategy for your website, that incorporates your optimised content and blog solution and social media management.

AFFILIATE MARKETING

This process involves a website rewarding a partner website for driving traffic and/or sales. An affiliate to your website has a vested interest in offering your services to its customer base of website visitors, usually via a financial reward. For any business that wishes to grow quickly, Blue Shark Digital can help you gain affiliate marketing partners.

SEO STRATEGY & WEBSITE IMPROVEMENT

Based on our combined experience of over 15 years working on websites, we can make recommendations on how to improve your return from your website. Content can be re-written or optimised to drive more (converting) traffic, errors and bugs can be fixed and we can produce a Website Improvement Report and/or SEO Strategy in order to advise on the best way forward for your online platform.

Paid Search (Pay-per-click)

Paid Search Marketing has many names and descriptions and encompasses many guises and areas of Digital Marketing. The most common type of Paid Search is Pay-Per-Click (PPC). PPC involves the process of paying an amount to Google (or other search engines) each time someone clicks on an ad with the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). How to place these ads, under which search terms (keywords), which ad text, and how to monitor the performance of these ads is the tricky part. This is where Blue Shark Digital can help.

Blue Shark Digital consultants are Google Certified Professionals in using Google Adwords and delivering on Paid Search campaigns.

DISPLAY ADVERTISING

Display Advertising is very similar to Paid Search in that it typically works on a PPC model as well. The main difference centres around the ability to include imagery and animation within the adverts to entice a click-through. Display adverts can be placed on a huge range of websites, and indeed a selection of (relevant) websites via website grouping, such as the Google Display Network. Display Advertising can be extremely effective when strategically managed and measured. Again this is where Blue Shark Digital can help.

RETARGETING

This is a very effective form of online advertising. In short, you can target customers who have previously visited your website with extremely relevant display advertisements. You may have experienced this form of advertising before. You look at an item of clothing from an online retailer and don't proceed to purchase, yet you see the same item on a totally different website later, in the size and colour you were interested in. Again, the retailer only pays when this ad is clicked on when using the PPC model of payment. To find out more if your business is suitable for retargeting display, consult Blue Shark Digital for a free assessment.

SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Social Media is becoming the main form of communication for many people, bypassing telephone calls and emails as the main contact medium for friends and family, with the average smartphone owner spending 1.72 hours a day on social media platforms (source: Global Web Index).

Each social media platform has different advertising options. With many years experience in advertising on social media, Blue Shark Digital can assess which social media platform advertising may be best suited to your business and gain the biggest return in terms of enquiries and/or sales.

Alternatively, Blue Shark Digital can devise a social media management plan to improve your presence and drive social goals. Click below to find out more.

Email Marketing Management

Blue Shark Digital can assist in the management of email campaigns. From the initial brief and message, data requirements, broadcast and measurement, we can assist any aspect of indeed the entire process. Email Marketing is a very cost-effective and targeted form of digital marketing that, when managed correctly, can have a significant return on investment for businesses.

Ezine Marketing

Ezines or electronic brochures/magazines that can be downloaded directly from your website or broadcast via email to recipients. Ezines are very effective when you wish to communicate a range of marketing messages and/or promote your range of product or services, much like a print magazines or catalogue would, without the print costs . With the ability to include links, video and other rich media, all of which can be tracked as to their interaction and conversion to sales or enquiries, Ezines are an extremely effective media when used correctly by suitable organisations or businesses.

Measurement and Conversion Tracking

With all digital campaigns and activities, tracking and measurement is key. Blue Shark Digital will produce high-level and granular reports to assess the performance of email marketing activity.

Social Account Management

Blue Shark Digital can manage your social media presence on a number of social platforms. We will assess which platform could work for your business and devise a content and engagement plan for your existing and potential customers bases. We do not believe the "build it and they will come" strategy, we only advise using social media under certain circumstances where it can benefit your business. Blue Shark Digital support Social Media management services in the following social platforms:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIN
• Pinterest
• Instagram

Social media campaigns

Blue Shark Digital can assist in the creation of bespoke and unique social media campaign for clients who wish to utilise social exposure for a campaign. We have a network of social media influencers who can promote the campaign and other strategies to ensure its success in a supporting or lead role in a co-ordinated marketing campaign.

MEASUREMENT and conversion tracking & optimisation

With any Digital Marketing campaign, measurement is key. We will continually assess the impact of any social media campaign or strategy and make adjustments and changes where necessary, to ensure that goals are met and exceeded.

BLOG AND SOCIAL COMMentary

Writing an engaging blog that users will read, share and appreciate is challenging in such a competitive and busy social world. There are several key rules that bloggers must follow in order to be viewed as interesting, authoritative and worthwhile. Blog content must follow a different content-writing style than any other aspect of digital marketing content, and cannot be written by a blog novice.

Brainstorming interesting content

In order to develop and write content that will be of interest to intended recipients, we can work with client's expert subject knowledge (their business, products and market) to brainstorm content ideas that will be engaging, interesting, useful and help reach online goals.

Fresh, innovative content creation

Of course, Blue Shark Digital can assist in the creation of content, incorporating the client's brand and tone, as well as tailoring the content to the intended media in which it will be communicated. For websites, it can be formal and optimised to increase search visibility, whereas on social it can be quirky and engaging. Either way, each client will have a unique content strategy formulated.

CONTENT PLANNING

Blue Shark can produce, in partnership with client's, a comprehensive content plan to cover everything digital including website content, email, social, etc. A content plan can work as a fundamental component of the Digital Marketing Strategy to ensure that the tone and brand of the company are maintained and enhanced through consistency.

competitor/Market analysis

Analysing what competitors are doing digitally, where they are weak and where our client's can take advantage. Through this process we can identify best-practice and benchmarks in which can influence all other digital services.

KEYWORD RESEARCH

What people are searching for on Google is key. Analysing what is driving traffic to your website is step one. Measuring what search terms (keywords) are driving enquiries and sales is of paramount importance. These converting keywords are your company's crown jewels, and affect all digital advertising, particularly PPC.

Budget Management

We will manage your budget to ensure that it is spent efficiently and wisely, always with the ROI in mind. With regards to Online Advertising, we will tweak and amend on a daily/hourly basis to ensure efficiency and maximisation of opportunities.

Competitor Analysis

Blue Shark Digital will monitor client's competitors behaviour online and produce regular reports as to their activity, their strengths, and any opportunities that we can identify and potentially exploit. This ranges from SEO and the organic search keywords they are targetting, to what they are doing on social media, and everything in between.

Bespoke Client Reporting

Depending on the services that are utilised by our clients, we will produce a bespoke report to evaluate our performance and underline our strategy to make further improvements. Some of the elements that may be included in the reports include:

Digital Marketing Industry Reports

Blue Shark Digital produces monthly reports on all the latest developments and trends in digital and how it can help Northern Ireland businesses. Sign up for this report below.