Video Game Designer Mike Ionita Explains How Businesses Can Market Themselves Online
The pandemic has posed serious challenges to brick-and-mortar businesses, forcing them to lean into (or build) their digital strategies. With just over 3.5 billion internet users worldwide, there are endless opportunities for growth online if you know what you’re doing. Leaning into remote working and providing engaging content online, Mike Ionita knows all about embracing a digital strategy. Using these digital strategies himself at Crux Video Game Design, Mike Ionita is sharing some of the best ways that businesses can successfully market themselves online amid COVID-19.
Build a Blog
According to WordPress, every month, more than 409 million people sift through over 15.5 billion pages on its platform. Mike Ionita explains that by producing blog content relevant to your audience, you will create a lot of organic traffic for your business. While it takes time to craft high-quality content on a regular basis, Mike Ionita explains that it is a cost-effective way to reach new audiences. Content marketing provides valuable content to your audience without asking for anything in return. You may want to ask yourself: What does my audience value? What content do I find interesting? Are my blogs useful? It may take time to get it right, but the rewards easily outweigh the risks.
Optimize SEO
When you’re looking for new information, products, or services, where do you go? Google. When someone Google’s ‘Creating your own mobile app’, you want your blog to be the first to show up in the results. Mike Ionita claims that the best way to ensure your blog writing efforts don’t go to waste is to focus on search engine optimization (SEO). Google Adwords has a Keyword Planner Tool that allows you to research relevant keywords to include in your content. If you stay on top of this every week, you will find that your content will connect with a larger audience. For Mike Ionita, keywords like ‘online video game’, ‘free video game’, and ‘mobile games’ currently have high conversion rates, and so he ensures they are included in any content they publish online.
Strengthen Your E-Mail Marketing
While e-mail marketing may seem like an outdated method of marketing, it actually has a higher return on investment than most other digital marketing methods. To succeed with digital marketing, you need to offer your customer something for free — or a discount — to get them to sign up. Mike Ionita explains that everyone who signs up for the Crux Video Game Design e-mail newsletter gets one-month free access to their online library of games. Unlike posting on Instagram, this will build a directly marketable audience you can share new content, products or services with. For every $1 spent on an email marketing campaign, companies achieve an average $44 in ROI.
Work with Influencers
Depending on your industry, you may want to consider working with social media influencers. Mike Ionita explains that sending PR packages to popular Instagram influencers that align with your business and brand is a great way to expand business. Consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on referrals from social media influencers. You can find the right influencer for your brand by searching different hashtags and looking at the top posts for who receives the most engagement.
