Four Practical Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Recently, the Oakmont Capital Service’s marketing team attended the Digital Summit, a 2-day intensive conference on all things digital marketing. Our objective was to walk away with practical tactics to implement “starting Monday.”

We focused on strategies and initiatives applicable to small business to both implement and share. Here’s what we learned:

1: Perfecting Your Email Subject Lines

In a session with keynote speaker Jon Youshaei, Head of Creator Product Marketing at YouTube and writer for Entrepreneur, Forbes & Inc magazines, we discovered the E.A.T. system. This process outlined a surefire way of crafting the perfect headline for an email or blog post. The crux of the process is to flip headline generation on its, well, head. Instead of writing email or blog content first and then crafting a headline, this method encourages you to begin with the subject line. Here’s how:

• Step 1: E
  Focus on the results the reader wants; e.g., “I want to speak French.”
• Step 2: A
  Address any objectives the reader might have; e.g., “I can’t afford a language teacher.”
• Step 3: T
  Outline the time it will take to accomplish the readers’ goals; e.g., “I want to learn a language in 1 month.”

Putting it all together, it might look something like this:

• “How To Learn French In One Month Without A Teacher” [E + T + A]
• “10 Ways To Learn French For Free” [E + A]

You can utilize the E.A.T. system in any number of ways, mixing and matching the letters or even omitting some elements of the system when necessary.

The most important message we took away from this discussion was to stop and think about the target audience’s needs when constructing an email or blog headline. Although this is a “back to basics” ideal, the combined exercise was a practical takeaway to put this methodology to use!

2: Videos Can Engage Your Audience More Than Text

According to Forbes, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text. However, it’s essential to recognize where video can fail in some areas and how to ensure that your video messaging is as effective as possible.

Here are the most common mistakes made when coming up with video content:

• Bad Opening Hook
  You have 10 seconds to capture and engage an audience, as 33% of viewers will stop watching a video after 30 seconds; 45% by one minute, per Ad Age. You must ensure that the attention of your audience is captured early on, to compel them to keep watching.
• Not Taking Creative Risks
  Considering that 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds, creative liberties are a must in helping you or your company stand out amid the noise. It’s okay to take a risk with video – you can always delete it or modify it later!
• Not Focused
  Ensure that your videos have a specific theme and target in mind. You’ll lose your viewers quickly if your video is hard to follow or doesn’t tell a compelling story.
• Not Thinking About Sound
  Facebook viewers watch 85% of videos without sound. Including graphics or closed captioning on a video often allows for more engagement than the sound itself.
• Bad Distribution
  Uploading platform-specific content can help you better track key metrics while also allowing your audience to view these posts in the most appropriate way possible. Bottom line, be sure to upload the right file format across various platforms like YouTube, Facebook, etc.

3: Getting More Out of Every Email You Send

When figuring out if you’re getting the most out of your email campaigns, it’s essential to use these tips for success:

1. Email is a channel for action, not a place to consume content. Keep your emails short and sweet. If you want to share more content, link out to a blog post or online article.
2. It’s all about the call-to-action (or CTA). Ensure that your audience can follow the lingo and tone of your email (the read message) while contrasting in color and size for recognition (the visual design).
3. Mind your real estate. Compelling copy and CTA must always be above the fold.
4. Refer to the V.E.N.T. system when curating an email campaign

Ask yourself if your message is:

• V Is this message relevant and useful for your audience?
• E Will it grab your audience’s attention?
• N What is the purpose behind the email?
• T Is everything you promise factual/can you deliver?

4: Preparing Marketing Efforts for Tomorrow’s Mobile Consumer

“People spend four times as much time on Mobile vs. Desktop,” according to speaker Sarah Tustin, Emerging Channels Strategy Lead at Google. When it comes to mobile consumers, they are more curious, more demanding, and more impatient. Thus, the mobile experience should be instant, intuitive, and helpful.

What do we mean by the “mobile experience?” Ensure everything your company curates on a digital platform also plays nicely when viewing on smartphones. Here’s an example from Google: your website should take no more than 3 seconds to load on a mobile device. Every one-second delay in load time will have a 20% negative impact on conversion rates. Mobile excellence is the key to business growth, which involves ensuring that mobile provides the best version of your company, right in the palm of your customers’ hand.

Digital Wrap Up

The Digital Summit was full of rich ideas to better help our company flourish beyond our previous online efforts. It was rewarding to see which feats we have already accomplished (kudos to us!), but even more rewarding to continue learning and discovering what new tactics we can implement to help our business grow.

If you’re a small business looking to improve your digital presence, be sure to integrate these tips into your digital marketing strategy! For any questions, feel free to contact marketing@oakmontfinance.com.