In this quick-fire episode, we share actionable marketing and outsourcing tips to boost your online presence. From content marketing strategies that address user queries to the power of user-generated content in social media advertising, we cover key insights for maximizing customer engagement.
Hi there! It’s Adam from Outsource HQ again. Today’s episode will be a little different, as it’ll be a lightning round dedicated to boosting your online marketing and outsourcing game.
Digital is supposed to make everything easier, reaching a wider audience, and connecting in simpler ways. But how do you stay efficient instead of getting lost in all your options? Let’s get right to our tips.
Our tip for content marketing: Create content that answers questions
People go online to find answers. If they can’t find the answers to their questions on your content, whether that’s on your website, your Insta or TikTok account, or your shop’s FAQs, they won’t spend time with you any longer. Every content you have online should add value to the user’s experience and ultimately, resolve their dilemmas, even if that dilemma is to check out or not.
Outsource your blog, CTAs, or do a website content refresh fast with experienced copywriters rather than DIY-ing it. You’ll want to make sure that your content is hitting all the right notes in every micro-moment.
Our tip for SEO: Build quality backlinks by repurposing content
After you create content that answers your customers’ questions, it’s time to build your reputation. The better your rep, the better your ranking. Backlinks help with that. It’s like another website vouching for you when you have backlinks. Fortunately, you don’t always have to keep churning out new content for the sake of building quality backlinks. Look at your existing pieces, find one that has been backlinked often, and write a better, fresher version. Once you have a more updated piece, reach out to those who backlinked the older version, and let them know of the update.
The beauty here is you also refer to more sources in your update, so you can also connect with them to mention your article. That’s more backlinks.
Of course, the science behind building quality backlinks goes beyond reusing just any old content. Your outsourced team of SEO experts can identify which content may be used again to fit your business’ current objectives and how to ensure that your newer content is backlink-ready.
Our tip for email marketing: Personalize, but don’t over-personalize
It’s well-known that personalization in emails creates familiarity and increases the likelihood that your subscribers connect with you. Personalization is achieved through segmentation—making use of customer information to tailor-fit your offers according to their demographics. But you should only use information that enhances your users’ experience. In the same way you wouldn’t want to creep out a friend using what you know about them, avoid personalization that borders on intrusiveness. People are wary about their data privacy more than ever, and you should be careful to use only the information most of us already accept as something marketers collect and use.
In general, it’s best to work with experts who understand your target audience, and by extension, how to best connect with them. Work closely with your outsourcing partner to set up detailed customer segments from your customer actions and data.
Our tip for social media advertising: encourage UGC by reposting them
Reposting user-generated content is a great way to encourage your users to create more content and interact with your brand. GoPro, for example, is known for reposting stunning photos and videos taken by its users. Starbucks uses a #StarbucksLovers hashtag that their users can use to share their content, which the company often reposts. Repost what your users create with your brand and boost them via paid advertising, which makes your brand look more relatable, trustworthy, and authentic.
For every advertising campaign your brand will undertake, use analytics to gain insights towards success. Refer to the data showing the engagement rate to see what works and what doesn’t. Many social media platforms have built-in analytics tools, and you can outsource this aspect of analysis and strategy, along with copywriting and graphics for your ads.
Our tip for customer service: Invest in chatbots and help desk systems
In the digital world, people are getting more and more used to instant gratification. Customers now expect to receive immediate responses to their queries, leading to dissatisfaction if this expectation is not met. Chatbots aren’t new. Businesses have been using chatbots and helpdesk systems to help address customer needs.
Now your chatbots and autoresponders don’t have to be robotic. AI can be trained to understand repetitive tasks and common queries. Zendesk’s bot builder, for example, can be tailored to respond to individual customer issues using pre-set messages, help center articles, and more—no coding required. This leads to less friction during their customer experience, which results in more sales, revenue, and loyalty to the business.
Customer service is the most outsourced task. It has a lot of benefits like your customers getting speedy and human replies beyond the capabilities of even the most high-tech AI.
The challenge with outsourcing your customer service is that all customer complaints course through the team, and not directly to you. So, make sure to have SOPs in place for communication and collecting reports on customer feedback. Use a singular communication channel, such as Slack or MS Teams for transparency and accountability.
Our tips for outsourcing: Get good at writing instructions
The more you outsource, the more you get good at it. You get to know the most efficient ways of communicating your requirements and goals for specific needs. For example, detailed PDF style guides for graphic designers and using Adobe’s Comment tool as well for making comments on graphics. Slack for quick comms and FAQs for web devs. Every field can be different, and all of them are rewarding for your business.
Your outsourcing team can never read your mind. We’re experts and specialists but we don’t make assumptions, no matter our level of experience. That’s why it’s always important to communicate your expectations. Your instructions to your outsourcing team must be comprehensive and concise. It’s a fine line between being detailed without micro-managing. You can tell when you’ve done a good job: your outsourced specialist can proceed without follow-up questions, which can happen from both too little and too much information.
And there you have it, our lightning round of tips for marketing and outsourcing success. Though the digital world is one heck of a race to run, we hope these tips have helped you get a bit of a head start. Catch you later!