6 Marketing Skills Every Business
Owner Should Master
by: Business
Insider
from: SUJAN PATEL
Skill 1: How To Make Videos That Actually Bring You More Business
If
you're not yet quite convinced of the value and potential ROI of making and
sharing videos for your business, consider the following statistics:
·
"90% of
information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed
60,000X faster in the brain than text."
·
"188.2 million people in the US watched 52.4 billion online
content videos in December 2013. The average American spent more than 19 hours
watching online video."
·
"Website visitors are 64% more
likely to buy a product on an online retail site after watching a video."
In
2015, video marketing is going to be bigger than ever. If you haven't taken the
time to start experimenting with video, now is the time. You can start by
watching this Video
Marketing Success Webinar from Kissmetrics, which will teach
you how to set the right goals and follow the right processes in order to
accelerate your video marketing success.
Skill 2: How To Acquire Customers Using Email
Email
marketing is another area that is sure to be big for businesses in 2015. Last
year, more businesses than ever spent resources developing and implementing
marketing strategies in an effort to connect with and retain more customers.
For many businesses, the investment has been paying off. In a recent Capterra blog post about
email marketing, author Caroline Malamut included the following
statistic:
·
"When marketed through email, consumers spend 138% more
than people who don't receive email offers."
Email
marketing can seem a bit intimidating if you've never used it as a tool to
connect and communicate with customers in the past, but it doesn't have to be.
There are a lot of great resources being published every day that can help you
learn how to get the most out of email marketing. Start by reading through this Acquiring Customers with Email Guide from
Help Scout. It's packed full of helpful examples and tips that can put you on
the right track.
Skill 3: How To Automate Marketing
If
you want to become a more efficient marketer, you have to be willing to invest
in tools that can help automate your efforts.
Last
year, more businesses than ever adopted and implemented marketing automation
tools in an effort to streamline processes, understand their customers better,
and make more money. In fact, according to Salesforce,
"a quarter of all B2B Fortune 500 companies are already using marketing
automation, along with 76% of the world's largest SaaS companies."
If
you're not sure what marketing automation is, how it can help your business, or
where to start, spend some time listening to this four-part series on The Future of
Marketing and Sales Automation from Sugar CRM. In it, you'll
hear from a few industry experts as they discuss a handful of examples, best
practices, and upcoming trends in relation to marketing automation.
Skill 4: How To Become a Better Copywriter
In
the last few years, content marketing has become one of the primary strategies
that companies use to connect with more people online. If you want to make
waves online as a business, you have to take the time to regularly write and
publish blog posts on your website. But publishing regularly week after week
won't do you any good unless you also take time to ensure that the content you
include in every post is thoughtful, original, and helpful.
In
2015, your ability to write and share high-quality content with your prospects,
customers, and followers is going to be more important than ever. If you don't
consider yourself much of a writer, start by reading through this Copywriting
Guide from Quick Sprout. It'll teach you everything you need to
know about writing compelling copy for the web.
Skill 5: How To Use SEO The Right
Way When Developing Content
Despite
what some may tell you, SEO is still important when it comes to building online
awareness for your brand, boosting traffic to your website, and landing new
customers. That being said, SEO isn't what it used to be. In recent years,
Google has been seriously cracking down on and penalizing companies that
implement what they feel are shady tactics in an effort to "work the
system." As a result, companies can't use the SEO strategies they
used five years ago.
But
that doesn't mean SEO is dead. It has just evolved. Now it's much more
content-focused. To gain more understanding on how SEO is changing in 2015,
spend a few minutes reading through this SEO Driven
Approach To Content Marketing Guide from CoSchedule. It will
give you insight on the steps, processes, and tools you need to use to get the
most out of SEO this year.
Skill 6: How To Develop and Implement a Social Media Marketing Strategy
Along
with content marketing, social media marketing is another major opportunity
that you'll want to take advantage of this year. Like SEO, content marketing is
constantly evolving, so it's important that you stay up-to-date on trends,
strategies, and best practices.
If
you want to be more strategic and intentional when it comes to implementing
social media marketing strategies in 2015, make use of this Social Media
Marketing Resource Kit from Buffer. It will help with deciding
which social media sites you should be participating in, when you should be
sharing updates with your followers, how to track ROI, and more.
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