Staying relevant through blog writing and social media posts seems easy enough. You’ve got access to free publishing platforms like Facebook or Pinterest. You’ve written a few blog articles for your website from time to time and enjoy it. Keep it going! Only you know what’s best for your company. But what we’ve seen and experienced is that staying on the forefront of people’s mind is work. In fact, it’s a fulltime job! Large companies have a team designated to just social media. Here at Paveya, some of our team members are designated just to researching and writing blogs.

If you’re a business operating with a small staff, you may not have the same luxuries as a larger corporation to remain relevant where it counts for current customers while building a foundation for attracting future leads. Like we said, it’s a fulltime job and one that Paveya routinely and uniquely accomplishes. Reaching an audience in the digital age is not something that you can turn on or off as inspiration hits you. It requires building a following through consistency and unique, worth-while information.

With that said, think of the blogs and company social media that you enjoy and return to time and time again. What is it that they offer their audience and clients? The answer is unique content delivered consistently. A pillar of Inbound Marketing.

So as a regional business, how do you move forward with a marketing plan that will yield results over the long run?

• Forget trying to rank at the top of a Google search. While ranking high means increased exposure and therefore increased traffic to your site, unless you are an extremely unique business or operating in a niche market, you could be missing the forest for the trees. Focus on building traffic organically through content.
• Often times the pay-per-click (PPC) strategy is a waste of resources that could be allocated towards more beneficial services with a higher ROI. Unless backed up by unique and consistent content, a PPC approach is a wasted effort. It’s throwing money at the problem and with some annual PPC budgets, a company could hire additional staff to build a creative foundation that will last for years.
• By creating a lasting presence online through increasing organic traffic, you’re creating a lasting audience of people who want to visit your site. When people want to visit your site, they’re more compelled to share your site with their friends and therefore become promoters of your business. Think of when you are looking for someone to provide a service, you probably go with someone who was recommended by someone you can trust over someone that is subtly shouting at you via online ads.
• A good rule of thumb is to assume everyone is intelligent. Writing blogs specifically for keywords is a fast track to losing an audience, forever. First impressions are everything these days. You’re not just competing with other businesses in your industry, you’re competing with the internet as a whole to grab someone’s attention and keep them from leaving your site and never returning.
• Don’t fake the content, the message or your track to building an online presence. People will see right through your website’s intentions and will never return. Be genuine, consistent, and dedicated.

These are a just few tips to think about while building your brand or rethinking your digital marketing strategy. Think of how you can market your business to be exciting or interesting to a target audience while not losing your principles or mission statement. Staying true to your brand and your company should guide everything you do.

For more advice on digital marketing strategies, check out more blog posts from Paveya!