Introduction: The Action Plan
In today’s competitive market, effective marketing strategies have become critical for driving growth and generating leads. Having a clear action plan that fits your time, budget and resources will make sure your efforts lead to results. It is also important to adapt to the evolving landscape of technology, tools, and platforms, along with understanding the current culture and consumer needs.
Explore actionable marketing strategies that can help businesses of all sizes and industries boost their brand awareness, engage their target audience, and ultimately achieve their growth objectives. Whether you are a startup or an established brand looking to expand your customer base, we share practical and valuable insights to elevate your marketing plan.
Here are the marketing strategies we will unpack:
- Boosting Digital Visibility
- Utilizing SEO Tools
- Strategic Collaborations & Outreach
- Impactful Content Marketing
- Offers Strategy
- Digital Advertising
Boosting Digital Visibility
This is the digital age, where having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses to generate leads and brand awareness. Having visibility across various digital channels will increase your chances of being seen by your target audience. Here are some channels to review and add to your checklist:
1. Website
This seems like a given, but many brands have not fully optimized their website to make browsing user-friendly with clear calls to action. Take the time to audit your website speed, content, SEO keywords (we will go into that below) and its selling points compared to competitors. A great tip is to link a business WhatsApp to your page, with research showing people in the Middle East prefer using WhatsApp for inquiries and bookings.
2. Social Media
It is important to have a presence across social media channels that include: LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, TikTok & Snapchat. With limited resources, it can be difficult to maintain sharing unique content across all these platforms but repurposing the same content is possible. Start with 3 social media channels that your target audience uses most, sharing valuable content at least 4 times a week.
3. Google Business Page
If you are in the service industry, having an optimized Google Business listing is key to helping you come up in local searches by your target audience. A great tip is to name the images you upload to the listing, using search terms that fit your brand like “best spa in Dubai” instead of uploading it as “Image123.” This will support your chances of coming up for those searches. Also, utilize your Google business page using all their tools adding your products, services, reviews, offer posts etc.
4. TripAdvisor Page
Having a listing on TripAdvisor is great if you are a spa, salon, restaurant, or general destination that can be experienced. TripAdvisor shares a great opportunity for gaining excellency awards that can be promoted to improve your brand’s image, trust and reputation with consistent great reviews posted.
5. Directory Listings & Other Platforms
Do a quick search for your services in Google, to see what relevant local directories come up. For example, a web design agency will want to be listed on website directories for agencies like Clutch.co. Another example is if you are a restaurant, being listed to shop via platforms like Deliveroo or Talabat is a great way to boost your visibility.
Utilizing SEO Tools
The ultimate goal is for your website or online shop to come up on the first page of a relevant Google search, for free. Doing this requires a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work, which you may consider outsourcing (we recommend Redberries, a leading agency in Dubai). The key is having a lot of valuable content via your digital pages and blogs, which can be worked on internally if you have the time and resources. Here are some beginner tools to support your SEO work:
1. Google Keyword Planner
This tool can help you find keywords or search terms that are highly searched in your target city. For example, the data shows that “translation agency in Dubai” is highly searched, so for a translation agency to come up for that search it would need to plug in that keyword across their website’s content and blogs. It is also important to note that the more valuable the content using keywords, the better, rather than overwhelming the page with search terms that don’t make sense or fit.
2. Ubersuggest
This is an easy tool that is not free but starts as low as $12 a month. It helps you see your competitor’s backlinks, which are basically all the websites that link to their website pages. Backlinks are important to have to be able to rank on the first page of Google, and are best on websites that have a high domain authority (or simply a high-value ranking). Ubersuggest also helps you track your SEO keyword ranking and does a website audit for you to help improve your results.
3. Google Analytics
This can be linked for free to the backend of your website giving detailed data about your website visitors, their behavior, and the performance of your marketing campaigns. By analyzing these metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions. It helps show you what search terms or platforms are currently working to link to your website.
Strategic Collaborations & Outreach
Achieving growth and sales requires strategic collaborations and outreach activities. By partnering with other businesses or influencers in your industry, you can expand your reach and tap into new audiences. Here are some actionable strategies to consider:
1. Cross-promotions
Partnering with brands that have a similar target audience base to cross-promote your products or services is a great sales opportunity for both parties. For example, if the target audience is people who value fitness and wellness, a spa collaborating with a fitness studio is an ideal match. Giving each other’s clients an offer or value-added experience is a win-win, resulting in increased brand awareness by the right audience.
2. Community Events
Being part of the local community is important not only for establishing more brand awareness but also for becoming a trusted local brand. Find events that you can have a physical activation at, or share prizes or discounted vouchers in goodie bags to reach out to your target audience directly. Corporate events are also common in the UAE, whether you are looking for B2B outreach or sponsoring giveaways for employees at internal corporate events.
3. Influencer Partnerships
Identify influencers in your niche and collaborate with them to promote your products or services. This can help you gain credibility and reach more engaged leads with people who match your target audience. Even with a limited budget, many influencers accept barter deals with high-value giveaways and incentives. Make sure your social pages are fully optimized before you reach out, it helps get more responsive results from influencers and results from their tagged posts.
Impactful Content Marketing
Having great content amongst the current high volume of strong digital creators has become essential to stand out. Creating valuable content that solves a problem, is educational or is simply entertaining, can help you drive business growth. By consistently delivering meaningful content, you can effectively attract and engage your desired target audience. Here are some strategy tips to consider when building your content marketing plan:
1. Focus on Selling Points
Create a list of all your products or service’s unique selling points and benefits. Use this throughout your creative execution. Examples of selling points that can lead to conversions are: “10 mins away from Dubai Mall” showing you are conveniently located to targeted locations, or “Award-winning Italian Restaurant” showing you are a must-try to customers.
2. Understand Your Audience
Research and understand your target audience’s behavior, expectations, needs, pain points, and interests. Tailor your content to provide solutions and valuable insights that resonate with them. For example, if you are targeting an audience that spends on luxury products, they would likely expect to experience a 5-star service, which should be built on via your content and customer journey.
3. Diversify Your Content Formats
Experiment with different content formats such as blog posts, video lengths, podcasts, and e-guides. This allows you to appeal to a wider range of audience preferences and makes your content more shareable. Sticking to one form of content can limit your reach and engagement.
4. Quality Over Quantity
Focus on producing high-quality content rather than just churning out a large volume of mediocre content. Well-researched, informative, and engaging content will help establish your brand as a leader in your industry. Review what is trending and popular to understand the content people are engaging with most. It is also important to be aware of what your competitors are doing, to share better content and understand what your common target audience enjoys.
Offers Strategy
Creating compelling offers is a major component in driving growth and generating leads for your business. Offers are incentives that inspire your target audience to act and engage with your brand. Here are some actionable offer strategies to boost your conversions:
1. Combine a Bestseller with a Slow Mover
Look at what services or products sell the most, and find a matching experience to combine it with, that isn’t doing so well. For example, if you are a salon with blow-dries as your best seller, try selling a discounted offer combining a blow-dry plus hair treatment. Hair treatment services which are not moving so well can get a sales boost, and it matches the experience already being booked.
2. Create a Sense of Urgency
By incorporating time-limited offers, you create a sense of urgency, encouraging your audience to act quickly. This can be achieved through limited-time discounts, exclusive offers for a specific period, or early bird pricing. If your audience knows an offer is always going to be available, they may not feel the need to act fast.
3. Personalize the Offers
Understanding what your audience or current customers need helps you make informed decisions when planning strategic offers. For example, if you offer a service that customers need every month, creating a discounted package offer to buy in advance is a benefit for them, and in turn, helps you maintain long-term loyalty.
4. Simply Offer Something of Value
Whether it’s a free e-book, a high first-time trial discount code, or a free consultation, ensure that your offer provides real value to your audience. Sharing a discount of 5-10% is not a great approach, being a low saving value that isn’t beneficial. For example, giving a high value offer like 25% off their first service experience, may seem like a loss, but it can encourage a repeat purchase or visit at full price once they try it.
Digital Advertising
Advertising helps drive growth and sales, making sure your product or service is seen by your target audience. When done right, it has the potential to scale your business and gain brand awareness faster than building it organically. Here are some things to consider while planning your digital advertising campaigns, whether you are executing it yourself or briefing a professional:
1. Define Your Goals
Before launching any digital advertising campaign, you must clearly define your objectives. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating leads, having specific goals will guide your campaign and content strategy.
2. Choose the Right Platform
Consider your target audience and their online behavior when selecting the digital advertising platform. Whether it’s search engine advertising, social media ads, display ads, or video ads, make sure to choose the platform that aligns with your audience. A great approach is to check on Google Search data, for average monthly searches related to your business, to determine if Google Search Ads would be the best approach.
3. Optimize Your Ad Creative
Create compelling ad creatives that grab attention, communicates your brand message effectively, and encourages action. Use captivating visuals, persuasive copy, and strong calls to action to maximize engagement and conversions. The most critical step of a digital ad is ensuring high-quality creatives and copywriting are used. Even with a flawless backend ad set-up, if the creative presented isn’t great, it won’t get the best results.
4. Monitor & Optimize
Regularly monitor the performance of your digital advertising campaigns and make data-driven enhancements. Test different ad variations, audiences, and targeting parameters to find the best-performing combinations and maximize your return on investment. You can also review what worked best organically on your page, to get an idea of what your audience enjoys and engages with best to test.
Conclusion: Simplify Your Marketing Activities
Use this guide to break down all the marketing activities you need to execute, to achieve your goals. Simplify the steps you need to get there and work on tasks that will get you the biggest impact. Driving business growth, gaining maximum leads, and boosting sales all require an intentional strategy.
At Lingo, Translation and Consulting Agency in Dubai, we offer a complimentary discovery call to connect with our expert brand consultants. We help create personalized brand strategies and marketing plans, based on years of successful experience with industry leaders in the UAE.
