The events of the last few years have changed the way in which businesses will operate far into the future. The largest influence in this way was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the swift societal transition to a remote workforce culture was only made possible through a previously laid groundwork of technological solutions. Now, as we enter the final few months of 2022, much of the professional world has been operating on a remote basis for over two years. This has coincided with a booming virtual and mobile marketplace that saw a major influx of users and transactions throughout the pandemic. The trend for online shopping and conducting all aspects of business in a remote fashion hasn’t slowed down either, even though the pandemic has.
As organizations continue to work through the transitions involved with the new-aged and technologically enabled economy, sales, marketing, and advertising professionals are continually searching for new ways to meet the evolving and ever-changing needs of the consumer, while simultaneously boosting sales.
“To continuously keep growing, businesses have to adopt strategies that fuel their growth. Taking a thorough look at how the business is operating, including what value is being created for current and potential customers, is an important step when scaling. Though entrepreneurs know there are a multitude of ways to go about increasing the sales of their businesses, the challenge is determining what strategy will be easy to implement.”
– Forbes Business Council –
Utilize Social Media
Over the past couple of decades, social media has evolved from a new-aged technology that was only being taken up by early adopters and people who were considered in-the-know, to a wildly diverse and massive landscape over which billions of users interact each and every day.
Whether it was intentional or not, the creation of Facebook, and its eventual iterations like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok didn’t only create a space over which individuals could interact with one another; but they also created some of the most powerful marketing machines in the world.
There are a wide variety of social media marketing tactics, all of which come with their own unique pros and cons. For example, a giveaway or contest conducted over a social media platform is really great at boosting consumer engagement and increasing brand awareness, even though it isn’t necessarily a sales-heavy-marketing-tactic. Whereas running a paid-ad-campaign may be a stronger social media strategy for sales specifically.
“There are a ton of different ways that modern organizations can utilize social media in order to boost their sales. Social media is so versatile and diverse; not only for consumers, but for businesses as well.”
– Omid Semino, CEO and Founder, Diamond Mansion –
Organizations can also make use of influencers on social media in order to elevate their sales and further establish themselves as an authoritative presence in their industry.
“Our brand really started finding traction when we started targeting partnerships with influencers who our target audience was following. Shout out to our marketing team, it was a really savvy way to go about it.”
– Dr. Michael Green, Chief Medical Officer, Winona –
Build the Right Target Audience
Many social media strategies, and other sales campaigns rely on a company’s ability to put that campaign in front of the right people. Creating a target audience isn’t a new strategy by any means, organizations have been using messaging and strategic positioning to better place their products in front of their intended demographic for as long as marketing has been around.
However, the way this is accomplished today is through the use of sophisticated and high-powered technology. Finding the right audience for your brand on social media platforms or online in general would be extremely difficult without the modern day enterprise software that’s available.
“If you’re going into digital marketing you have to know about target audiences, at least to some degree. It’s just so crucial in modern marketing strategies, it’s a really hard part of the digital marketing process to ignore with any success.”
– Lionel Mora, CEO, Neoplants –
The more sophisticated the software involved, the more precise a target audience can be. Some very well known and top-tier organizations make use of targeted campaigns on an extremely individualized basis. Behemoth organizations like Amazon and Netflix, for instance, customize the user journey through buying and watching suggestions respectively.
Depending on the products and services your organization offers though, your target audience may be better suited at a larger grouping.
“The nature of the campaign all depends on who you’re trying to reach, right? Building an ad-campaign for Chicago Bears fans looks a lot different than building an ad campaign for high-end paint-brushes. You have to know the audience to whom you’re selling.”
– Ryan Azimi, Director of International Development, ETIAS –
Make use of SEO Practices
Heavily involved in the world of digital marketing and the online economy are SEO practices. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it plays a major role in successfully connecting organizations with their intended audience. In fact, this is a two-way-street as strong SEO practices actually bring interested consumers to the doorstep of the brands most relevant.
“There are very few businesses that can survive right now without making use of SEO practices. Most organizations and brands in today’s day and age have some arm of their operations tied to an online presence. With that, SEO is simply a must.”
– Brook Hiddink, President and CEO, Audacia Home –
SEO practices are a constantly evolving thing in digital marketing too. This is because the algorithms that search engines use to determine which websites and pieces of content are the highest quality and the most relevant are also constantly being improved upon.
“Every time the Google algorithm updates, there is going to be a shift in the ranking because different factors and variables are weighted and factored into the equation on a different level. Most recently, for example, there was a heavier emphasis put on the importance of having a healthy library of both internal and external links.”
– Alex Wang, CEO, Ember Fund –
Deliver an Excellent Customer Experience
This may sound like it has nothing to do with boosting sales whatsoever. Afterall, a lot of people imagine the customer experience as sort of an arbitrary part of conducting business. The data speaks for itself, though, and it’s actually been shown time and time again that organizations capable of delivering a top-tier customer experience see higher rates of customer retention, engagement, loyalty, and in turn, sales.
“Having a really well-designed customer experience can be the competitive advantage that sets your brand apart from the rest of the players in the industry.”
– Karim Hachem, VP of eCommerce, Maxine of Hollywood –
Creating a highly regarded customer experience can also boost direct and personal referrals. Even in the digital age in which we find ourselves, personal referrals remain as one of the best forms of organic growth that a company can experience.
“There are so many different pieces involved in creating a high-quality customer experience, but at the end of the day; if your customer can walk into any one of your competitors and receive a similar experience, then you aren’t delivering the best customer experience possible.”
– Charles Tichenor IV, Founder, Facebook Distrupter –
Develop a Content Marketing Strategy
Many strategies designed for digital marketing revolve around engaging the consumer organically and providing value in order to win their favor, and eventually their business. One such strategy is content marketing. Content marketing has made a huge splash in the world of digital marketing, and has especially caught on in recent years. Now, almost every influencer, startup organization, and brands looking to establish themselves as a serious player in an industry are utilizing content marketing strategies for their businesses.
“Content marketing has become the new bill-board race. The entire marketing world used to be obsessed with billboards, and don’t get me wrong they’re still very effective; but content marketing is just wildly popular right now.”
– Cody Candee, Founder and CEO, Bounce –
One of the reasons that content marketing is so popular with advertising, sales, and marketing professionals is because it’s a very versatile form of marketing. From podcasts, to blogging, to creating infographics, content marketing can be adapted for any brand in any industry.
“I genuinely believe that content marketing will continue to dominate the digital economy for the foreseeable future. It’s already playing a major role in the overall sales strategy for a wide variety of organizations. Both big and small.”
– Temoer Terry, Partner, The Mommy Care Kit–
Final Thoughts on Boosting Sales
We’re in a period of rapid change. This applies to the economy, technology, society, and everything in between. Having an idea of how to increase your sales by better connecting with your consumers in the modern day can help you maintain relevance and stay competitive now, and well into the future.
“There are different channels used by businesses for improving online sales such as social media, organic traffic, paid ads, etc. However, businesses need to continually reinvent sales strategies by listening to their customers to meet a constantly changing paradigm.”
– Snigdha Patel, Customer Experience Researcher & Author, Reve Chat –
