How to Win at Organic Marketing
As we marketers are (painfully) aware, our marketing plans didn’t and won’t go as planned for 2020. Budget allocated to marketing is now reprioritized to other areas and we are left scratching our head wondering how to get about our business.
As marketers, most often our biggest worry is marketing spend. We ask the question of how much budget is available, even before we have a clear idea of what to do with it. And in times like this, we put creative ideas on hold, simply because “we don’t have the budget for it”. Unconsciously (or consciously) we associate marketing success with deep marketing pockets.
Making a Zero Marketing Budget Work
The good news is, there is a lot you can do with your existing channels and marketing investments, even when your budgets are down to zero. With a bit of critical and creative thinking, you would be surprised at how much you can do.
Having worked with budgets of all sizes, here are some of my recommendations on how you can make the most of your marketing efforts with limited $$.
The first step is to look at the organic channels within your marketing ecosystem. A website that does well with organic traffic, social media accounts that run daily with no paid promotions, email marketing through an existing platform, and webinars that can run via zoom/gotowebinar (which you would already use within your company). Don’t look at them as channels, look at them as mini-marketing investments, and optimize their performance.
Here are a few ways to do it
Boost your website’s SEO
With a hit on paid engagements, dependence on organic traffic is high. This makes SEO crucial. Conduct a sitewide SEO audit to make sure your pages are optimized for keywords, have appropriate backlinks, and the right URL structures. All it takes is a few days of work. Remember, organic traffic is more qualified than paid traffic. So your not only getting free traffic, you’re getting the right kind of traffic.
Revisit the web visitor journey
As people spend more time online, the experience they get via your website (the face of your organization) is critical. Look at your home page and its engagement. Are people interacting with your product/solutions pages by clicking on the call to action? Do you provide the right guidance for a visitor to navigate to relevant pages? If your bounce rates are high and time spent on pages is low, that’s an indicator that visitors don’t find your web content useful, or the in-site experience is poor. These improvements can lead to improved web engagement and better conversions!
Invest in content
If you’re in technology, content marketing is likely a huge part of your marketing engine. And the best thing about great content is that its free. Hunt down your best writers, folks who are recognized as thought leaders in your industry. Put together a plan to churn out quality content frequently. Commit to programs like weekly vlogs, bi-weekly expert lead webinar series, and monthly articles on trending topics.
Remember, your content has to resonate well with your target audience. Set clear goals and KPIs for your content. Then, work with your authors to write pieces that your target audience will want to subscribe to. Companies often spend a lot of money on content to be authored by external contributors, so this a great way to utilize your internal talent.
On the topic of content, Youtube continues to see increases in adoption . YouTube currently has 2 billion logged-in monthly users Their user population was only 1.8 billion in May 2018 [1]). Video content needs to be a crucial part of your content strategy. And if you don’t have a Youtube channel, it’s the perfect time to start one.
Build your community
A good community who believes in your thought leadership can do wonders for your marketing efforts. Think about it, even 50 people who believe in your expertise and contribution t can carry their positive vibe to another 50X people. The challenge is to build your community. Education is key, you cannot build a community through marketing messages. Empower your thought leaders to use channels like online forums, virtual meetups, and social media channels to start conversations around pressing issues and trending topics. It is one of the best organic methods to get people to take notice of your brand.
Get creative with social media
You need to get intimate with social media during a time of tight budgets. Think beyond your usual posting strategy, try and get people to take notice of your social media presence. While using your social media as a platform for news and announcements, you can also start different initiatives.
Conduct polls (both twitter and linked support this), ask questions, and tag both individuals in your company as well as external thought leaders to start good conversations. Another great way to get more engagement is via twitter lists. You can create a list based on people’s profiles and identify interest and share relevant content with them.
Up your email game
Never underestimate the power of a well-written email. If your organization already uses email marketing this is perfect timing to look at how you can optimize it. People do have more time to read the email but the number of emails sent out is quite high. Your emails should stand out. Use this time to segment how you send your emails, encourage more engagement with your content through recommended reading for different audiences and feature your thought leaders. Keep watching those open rates, click-throughs, and forwards. Be quick to take action if your KPIs aren’t met.
That’s all for now. Remember, marketing is a creative journey, so don’t let the $$ (or lack of) hold you back. All the best with your organic marketing endeavors!
