How to Scale Your Digital Business in the Next 12 Months

There are over four billion internet users. That’s more than 50% of the entire world population.

The internet is your most important tool in reaching your customers and promoting your products and services, and never has it been more critical than amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The next 12 months will be crucial to the growth of your digital business. Along with focusing on digital marketing, you will also need to learn the art of managing remote teams if you want your business to flourish in these challenging times. Here are ten great ways to start scaling your digital business right now. 

1. Use the right tools to manage your remote team

You and your team are probably working remotely right now. Experts predict that this “new normal” is likely to continue for another 6 – 12 months. Managing your remote team and maintaining their morale will be crucial to getting your business through the current crisis. 

Make use of digital collaboration tools such as Trello (pictured above) and Monday.com. These allow you to assign tasks to specific people, monitor progress, and leave feedback. 

You can also use time clock solution to keep track of how your team members are spending their time. Keeping track of time will ensure you meet deadlines, distribute work equitably, and spot any productivity issues early on. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Mutual trust and respect are vital in effective management, especially when your team is working remotely. Trust your staff, and do not try to micromanage. Instead, be there for them if they need you and show plenty of appreciation for their hard work in these difficult times. 

2. Boost your social media content to reach your audience

The average Internet user spends over 2 hours a day on social media, viewing content shared by their friends and favorite brands. If you don’t appear in their timelines, you’re missing prime opportunities for engagement.

But to truly harness the power of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you need to go further than just creating and posting content. 

These platforms’ algorithms are always changing. So even if you post regularly, promoting your content via paid ads is the best way to get it in front of the broadest possible audience.

A post with paid ads behind it will help your content reach existing customers and new audiences based on demographic parameters that you set. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Promoting your posts with paid ads means you no longer have to post fresh content hourly to keep appearing in your audience’s feeds. Instead, you can create just a few pieces of content, set a duration and a budget for the promotion, then let the platforms do the rest for you. 

3. Use Community Management to build relationships 

People like to engage directly with their favorite brands. This means that you can’t put out content and then just wait for your audience to come to you. If you don’t actively engage with your followers, you’re wasting an opportunity to build your brand by establishing an online rapport. 

Source: Flickr

Community management is about more than moderating the comments on your posts. It also involves actively taking part in community discussions and creating and nurturing new connections.

Community managers can also respond to complaints and questions, heading off any potential problems early on. 

Keeping your followers happy and engaged is the first step towards turning prospects into customers and customers into endorsers. Building genuine relationships is what gives your business a human face. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Occasionally surprise some of your most engaged followers with a physical gift. This is a thoughtful way of saying thank you and creating goodwill.

As a bonus, your recipient may well talk about the gift on their social media channels. Going this extra step to show love to your followers is a powerful way of building brand loyalty. 

4. Reach a larger audience through Facebook ads

To increase your sales, you need to reach new audiences consistently. This pulls prospective customers into your sales funnel, giving you more potential conversions. 

Using Facebook ads is a great way to target your ideal audience and make them aware of how your brand can help them. 

Source: Statista

With Facebook and other platforms owned by the company reaching over 3 billion people every month, it is a channel that you cannot afford to ignore. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Native videos (that is, videos hosted directly on Facebook as opposed to via a third party platform) get the highest level of engagement out of all forms of content on the platform.

Therefore, creating a high-quality video ad will help your brand reach the largest possible audience. This should be connected to a relevant landing page or sales funnel. You can use a landing page builder to create these pages.

5. Utilize Google Display ads to ensure constant brand presence

Have you ever used a mobile app or game and been asked to watch an ad in exchange for a perk or freebie? This is the Google Display Network in action.

With a membership of over 2 million websites, videos, and apps, Google Display is the largest advertising network in the world and reaches 90% of all internet users globally. 

Google Display uses a Contextual Engine to determine the best placement for your ads. This means your ad will be shown near to relevant content and seen by users who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Google Display offers the option to dynamically retarget people who have used your app or recently visited your website.

It uses cookies and device identifiers to show your customers products they have previously browsed, in an attempt to close the sale. Again, you should send these people to a custom landing page.

6. Improve conversion rates using Google Search Ads

41% of clicks go to the top three ad results in an average Google search. This is why smart brands are willing to pay good money to appear in those spots. 

To take advantage of Google Search Ads, decide which search keywords you want to rank for and then bid for these keywords. How much you’re willing to spend, as well as the popularity of your chosen keywords, determines how many times your brand will appear in the top three results. 

Those who use your buying keywords are likely ready to make a purchase and are looking for the products or services that your brand can provide. Using Google Search Ads allows you to reach this targeted, high-quality audience and convert them into customers. 

Here’s how the pros do it: To increase your clickthrough rate, consider using Google Ad Extensions.

This allows you to give potential customers additional information about your business, such as prices and store locations. It also increases the amount of space your ad takes up on the search results page. 

7. Run lead generation ads

With a 42:1 average ROI, email marketing is a vital part of any digital strategy. Therefore, growing your email list is critical. 

To grow your email list, you need a compelling reason for people to give their email addresses and join your mailing list. Therefore one of the best ways to build this list is to offer free content, discounts, or other incentives in exchange for customers’ email addresses.

Here’s how the pros do it: What do you think your customer base would want from you? The answer to this will be different for every business. Some options include a white paper or case study, a free consultation, or a discount code for your best-selling product.

8. Start an email newsletter

Once you’ve built up a good list of qualified leads, you need to nurture these relationships by keeping in contact. This is where your newsletter comes in. 

Starting an email newsletter allows you to promote new products, announce sales and events, and share content that backlinks to your website.

It also regularly reminds your customers and prospects of your brand, making it highly effective at driving conversions. The key is to ensure that your content is relevant, timely, and valuable. 

Here’s one example of an email newsletter I receive: 

Here’s how the pros do it:  MailChimp and other email marketing services allow you to send automated email sequences linked to information you have on the person.

This means you can automatically send welcome emails to new subscribers, walk new customers through your newsletter, or send a special promotion to a customer on their birthday. 

9. Create website content and optimize it to connect with customers

When a customer visits your site frequently, they are six times more likely to make a purchase. To bring them back again and again, you need to establish credibility and turn your site into an authority in your industry. This is where content marketing comes in. 

Blog posts, videos, images, and infographics can inform and entertain your customers while building your credibility. They also give you a space to promote your brand directly, such as through case studies that show how your product solved a problem. 

You should make your content easily shareable and promote it across your social media channels. You should also pay attention to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) metrics such as adding the relevant tags and using the right keywords.

If you’re serious about content marketing, other ways to scale your blog include writing guest posts for other websites that contain backlinks to your content. Backlinking builds credibility for your site and allows it to rank higher in search engine results. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Approach your content plan strategically. It is not an add-on, but a central component of your digital marketing. Keep your ideal customer foremost in your mind and consider their needs, their interests, and their challenges.

Writing content that speaks to them will keep them returning to your site and increase your chances of a sale. 

10. Shoot custom photos and videos for your brand

67% of consumers say that images are an essential factor in their online purchasing decisions. Therefore the pictures and videos you use on your social media channels and website should be relevant, high quality, and on-brand. 

This means no stock images! They might save time, but they are nowhere near as effective. And it should go without saying that you must never use other individuals’ or companies’ images and pass them off as your own. Instead, invest in custom, high-quality photographs. 

Video is another great way to bring your brand to life. Many online users prefer to watch a video rather than reading written content, and 76% of marketers say that using video increases their sales and traffic.

Video allows you to tell stories and deliver engaging content in a more easily digestible format. 

Good video content can be used on your website, social media channels, and in paid ads. If it’s interesting, relevant, funny, or moving, your followers will share ii, helping to grow its reach. 

Here’s how the pros do it: Plan your photo and video shoots carefully. Develop a mood board, make or buy props, hire talent who will resonate with your audience, and write a script.

For video content, remember to factor in the 15-second soundbites you’ll need social media ads and Instagram stories. 

Scaling your Digital Business Effectively

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, your brand will need to stand out from the competition. You will need to consistently build brand awareness, create engaging content, nurture relationships, and promote through all the available channels.

I hope the tips in this article have given you some new ideas and some inspiration. 

The next 12 months will be crucial in ensuring your business’s growth and securing its future. Be strategic, stay true to your values, and always keep your ideal customer in mind. 

Good luck! 

Bio

Owen Jones is the Senior Content Marketer at Zoomshift, an online schedule maker app. He is an experienced SaaS marketer, specializing in content marketing, CRO, and FB advertising.