1. Own Page 1 of Google SERPs
Control the first page of Google search results for your brand name and other branded keyword phrases. Find out what else ranks for these terms and why. Then do better. Give yourself multiple opportunities to rank by creating new pages and building profiles on social and directory channels. Research SEO 101.
2. Create content for intent
Create interesting content for customer intent, and distribute on the channels where your customers are active. Think beyond the blog. What content does your target audience want? You know them better than anyone. Give it to them. Resource guides, videos, email newsletters, tips. Find out the right mix.
3. Create an outreach process
Build outreach and content sharing into your creation processes and editorial guidelines. Write a sharing checklist and follow it with every blog you publish. Post across social channels. Have all internal employees like and share. Tag related companies and people. Aggregate content into newsletters and send out on a routine cadence. Having a robust distribution process is critical to finding eyeballs.
4. Find a focus on social
Be active on social media but don’t overthink it and don’t commit to too much. You don’t need to be on every channel, contrary to popular lore. Just the ones where your customers are. Pick 1-2 key channels that make sense for your business, and post on them regularly. Mix formats. Engage with other people and brands on social. Like, share, and interact with content. Use UTM tags to properly attribute traffic.
5. Manage your rep
How’s your brand reputation? Do you have reviews profiles on multiple sites? Make sure they say only positive things. If they don’t you might have a problem satisfying your customers. Or you simply aren’t getting reviews from the right people. Find ways to ask for reviews at the moment your customers are happiest. This is probably immediately after you’ve just provided your product or service.
6. Find creative brand distribution points
Where are there additional FREE opportunities to get content or brand materials in front of people? Equip your sales team with content and social posts to share when they’re on the front lines. Do your customer service reps have scripts that reference valuable content? Consider adding content to your product or service via packaging and post-purchase touchpoints. Are there off-line opportunities to share? Don’t resign yourself to a blog and social channels.
7. Engage with like-minded people
Join communities where you can respond to questions, share content, and interact with customers or prospects. Join LinkedIn and Facebook Groups. Create a Reddit profile. Answer Quora questions. Get your name out there. But don’t spam. Only contribute when you have something meaningful to add to the online conversation.
8. Launch a content campaign
Create some badass content to share with media. Use data if possible, as it will catch the eye of journalists and bloggers. Compile customer surveys into a massive study. Do qualitative research and package it up into charts and infographics. Work with a data scientist and a designer if you can. Or, launch a new product, hold an event, speak at a convention and write an in-depth report about it. Anything original is great PR fodder.
9. Get efficient with your content creation
Repurpose everything. Milk your content for what it’s worth. If you shoot a video, cut it into multiple bits and re-share short clips on social. Transcribe the script and turn into a blog. Think of every blog post or resource guide as a hub piece with multiple derivative spokes (social, email, etc.). Make one piece of content 10.
10. Do your corporate responsibility
Do something meaningful for the community outside of your core business. Create a public service campaign or charity. Donate profits to a cause relevant to your industry. Start or contribute to a scholarship. Publish a press release and blog on these activities and share across media.
11. ABC: Always be calling to action
Optimize your online experiences with CTAs. Every section of every page on your site should have a clear purpose and CTA. Blog posts should have links or promos. Consider a sticky menu with a signup button. Always have an ideal action you want users to take: then ask for it. Preferably in more than one place.
12. Set up a KPIs dashboard
Make sure you have good analytics and attribution in place and then create a KPIs dashboard to maintain and track them in one place. Know where your visitors are coming from. Track everything you do and learn your best channels. Then double down on them. Experiment.
These tips only scratch the surface. There are lots more things to do to grow. But the bottom line is that you should make organic growth a priority. Carve out a little bit of dedicated time and resources and contribute bit by bit, day by day. Stay committed to the work and constantly think across channels and the customer journey. It’s a long game but it will pay dividends.
Originally tweeted by Joey Campbell (@jrok78) on March 19, 2021.
Photo by Aaron Weiss on Unsplash