Hello & Welcome to this week’s blog about the different tactics that you could use for organic reach.
Hello and welcome to this week’s blog about the different tactics that you could use for organic reach. If you are here then that means that you understand the difference between organic and paid reach and are ready to start your marketing journey! It may seem contradictory for a marketer to teach you how to do your own marketing without me but to me it makes perfect sense. You see I love business! There is nothing in this world that I want more, than to see you succeed. With that being said, let’s hop right into it.
Organic reach through digital platforms-
Facebook-
As I mentioned in a previous blog, this is one of my favourite forms of organic reach. For this tactic I hop onto Facebook and look for all of the Facebook groups that are relevant to the business in question. Let’s say your business sells hand knitted baby toys; you would go and find all of the mommy groups on Facebook within your area, maybe the garden route maybe the whole of South Africa (Depending on your business model) and then I make an excel spreadsheet of all of these groups, with a like to each group, how many members each group has and what are the focal points of each of these groups.
After that I post about these hand knitted baby toys on these groups and see what kinds of posts work better with the different kinds of groups; maybe videos of the toys being made work better or maybe specific coloured backgrounds work better. Play around and see who likes what. This tactic is great for Start-up and small businesses because it is completely free, just make sure to not post too often because it will make people irritated with your brand. You can also post content that is not just products but also helpful tips for these moms; this will make your target audience trust you more.
Email Marketing-
My first recommendation for email marketing is to lower your expectations, so low that you almost have no hope. This may seem a little harsh, but email marketing is harsh! Most marketers recommend that you have some sort of set up on your website to help you collect email addresses, but what if you don’t have a website? Well, I’ve been there and although it makes it more difficult to do email marketing, it’s not impossible. What I did is I googled my potential target audience and I collected their email addresses off of their websites and Facebook pages and that is how I built my first email lists. It takes more time, but once you’re finished then you’ve got those lists forever.
Once these lists are build you have to know what to say in your emails, my best recommendation is to keep is short and sweet, no one has time for your 500 word essay. I would also recommend making it as personal as possible, use the persons or businesses name in the intro of your email. Finally I would recommend using images in your email if possible; people are a lot more likely to remember images than words. Email marketing can be one of your strongest assets if you know what you’re doing and it is one of the best organic marketing tools in the world at the moment. That being said, statistically only 18% of people will open your email and only 2,6% will actually follow through on an action. #hanginthere
Local SEO-
I personally believe that this tactic is the absolute best option for any business that relies on local customers for example restaurants or dog groomers. Any business that operates locally and not nationally or globally; Google My Business is your strongest free tool. I am not going to elaborate too much here because it is a blog post all on its own.
YouTube-
YouTube is not for every business and it isn’t the easiest channel to work through either, but if YouTube is for your business then let’s chat about how to optimise your channel. Firstly I would recommend consistency; maybe you could film in the same location every time and greet your audience with the same introduction. Like with any form of content I would recommend setting up a content calendar to help you see what videos you need to create and when you should post them.
My last recommendation may seem a little strange but it is in fact one of the best things you could do to get your videos seen by the right target audience. Besides choosing a super catchy and relevant title for your video, I would recommend inserting the script for your video into the video description. This way when people search on YouTube for the topic that you are covering, google can read exactly what is covered in your video and can recommend it to the right people.
LinkedIn-
Just like YouTube, LinkedIn is not for every business. But if your target audience are members of the corporate world then LinkedIn could be one of your strongest organic channels. The main aim of LinkedIn is to connect likeminded individuals, this is why I recommend blog writing for LinkedIn. I recommend that you write informative of entertaining blogs on w weekly or biweekly bases.
This will help you attract an audience who are interested in what you/ your business has to say. Building a following on any social platform takes time and a lot of energy but the good this, is that if you have started a business then you probably love what you are selling and can talk about it all day long. I recommend following other thought leaders in your field and messaging them for a shout out in their next blog post. I also recommend adding pictures to your blogs to keep people engaged.
Your Own Website -
It may seem strange that this is on the organic reach blog because a website is certainly not a free tool, it is however an investment and once you have it set up, it is a massive asset for your business. Your website should have blogging and video hosing capabilities.
I recommend posting blogs and videos about relevant topics on your website as often as you can, this will help your business to show up when your target audience searches for these topics. The more often you post the more active Google will think you are, increasing your chances of making it only the first page of Google. I would also recommend reading more about Search Engine Optimization.
Organic reach through traditional platforms-
Signage-
Although signage is not free, it is, genrally speaking, a once off cost. I worked for a print company in Perth who specialized in signage, so I like to think of myself as somewhat of an expert. Signage seems like one of the most obvious considerations when setting up shop, but then why do so many people get it wrong? There are no rules as to what you must and must not have on your signage but here are a few of my recommendations.
If you are paying thousands for this asset then why not use it for more than just displaying the name of your business? Why not include your contact details or product offerings? Be very considerate of the position of your business, make sure your signage isn’t obstructed or out of view for the people and cars going by. Looks and the signage around your sign and ask yourself how you can stand out? A sign says your business name; a great sign is a permanent advert for your business.
Magazines-
It is not the easiest task to get into a magazine for free, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. What are magazines and newspaper always looking for? A good story! If your business is interesting in anyway and you think that your story or products would make for an interesting article then write the article yourself and send it to magazines and newspapers that you believe would be interested.
Radio-
A long time ago I had the privilege to host one singular radio show… and it was wonderful! But what I realised very quickly is how strenuous it is to ensure that there’s no radio silence while you’re on air. There are always radio hosts out there who are looking to fill the time, and just like with magazines, you should feel welcome to write in to them and ask if you can come on air and tell your story to the masses.
Remember when deciding on which organic channel you would like to use for your business, to always consider your target audience first. The point of marketing is to talk to your target audience, so do your research and see where your target audience spends their most time and make sure your business shows up there!
If you feel like there is something that you would like to know more about then please feel free to email me and we can chat about your business.