As a seasoned Fractional Executive with a proven track record of building successful online brands across multiple industries, I’m often asked about the key marketing skills required to drive growth and success in today’s digital landscape.
Based on my experience and insights gained from working with various businesses, I’ve compiled the following 13 essential tips to help you cultivate the marketing skills needed to build a thriving online brand. From setting clear goals to optimizing search engines, these actionable 13 steps will provide you with a comprehensive road map to establish a strong presence and achieve your business objectives.
- Set Clear Goals: I've found that setting clear goals is crucial for success. Reflecting on my experience with launching 84 products at One Preevay, where I established specific KPIs and targeted a niche market, you should outline what you want to achieve with your online brand, including your target audience, revenue goals, and key performance indicators.
- Engage with Your Audience: At One Preevay, I built a brand that connects with thousands of new customers online each month by actively engaging with them through comments, messages, and surveys. You should leverage similar techniques to understand your audience's needs and preferences better.
- Utilize SEO Best Practices: My expertise in SEO-optimizing content will help increase your online visibility. Invest time in learning SEO best practices to boost your brand's search engine rankings.
- Build a Strong Online Presence: A key achievement at One Preevay was building a user-friendly, mobile-responsive website optimized for search engines. Focus on establishing a professional website and social media profiles to create a strong online presence. I also expanded brand awareness and target sales with direct B2C engagement of more than 23,000 active customers via curated email funnels.
- Develop a Content Strategy: At Malley Group, I consistently created valuable and engaging content, from blog posts to social media campaigns. Develop a content strategy that resonates with your target audience by drawing on those experiences. Ensure your content is relevant, consistent, and valuable.
- Stay Up to Date with Industry Trends: Staying informed about the latest marketing strategies helped me excel at Malley Group. Follow industry blogs, attend webinars, and participate in online communities to stay current with marketing trends and best practices.
- Learn the Fundamentals: Learning the fundamentals of marketing was vital during my time at National Leasing. I immersed myself in target audience analysis, segmentation, positioning, branding, and the marketing mix (4Ps: product, price, promotion, and place). I highly recommend you do the same to build a strong foundation for your marketing skills.
- Experiment and Measure: At One Preevay, my willingness to experiment with new marketing tactics and adjust strategies based on data analysis was crucial for success. Continuously test new marketing tactics, track their performance using analytics tools, and refine your strategies based on the data.
- Get Familiar with Digital Marketing Tools: My proficiency with digital marketing tools like Mailchimp, Hootsuite, and Google Analytics, cross-selling and up-selling tools as well as retargeting events at each of the e-commerce brands I built, streamlined marketing and perfected performance tracking. You should also learn about these tools to enhance your brand's reach and effectiveness.
- Develop Your Creative Skills: My experience in graphic design, video production, and copywriting enabled me to create engaging marketing content. Invest time in developing these creative skills to produce compelling content for your online brand that you own.
- Network and Collaborate: Building relationships with other marketers and industry experts was a strength I demonstrated at National Leasing. Leverage your network to gain insights, collaborate on marketing initiatives, and boost your online brand. You never know where your next web visit will originate from and if they will become your biggest customer.
- Continuously Learn and Improve: My curiosity and dedication to learning new marketing strategies were evident throughout my career at Malley Group. Embrace the ever-evolving nature of marketing by staying curious and adapting to changes in the market and consumer behavior in real-time.
- Use Case Studies: Reflecting on my time as a Harvard Business School alumnus (2014), I attribute some success in building businesses to the principles of case studies. This approach has been instrumental in helping me understand the elements of a successful business campaign. By applying these principles, I’ve been able to launch campaigns that have yielded significant and measurable KPIs, informing the marketing strategy and driving specific and measurable results.
I hope these actionable 13 steps will be helpful to you in your own online branding journey. If you’d like to discuss further or learn more about my experiences, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m passionate about helping others build successful online brands.
Editor-in-Chief | Eric Malley
