The internet is the world’s greatest method of communication. When it comes to using it, it’s easy for business owners to see the benefits it has to offer in terms of reach and the ability to get your message heard by as many people as possible. Before you start spending the whole budget in advertisements and other paid methods, it’s worth thinking about the organic side of things, too. By growing an organic online presence, you could increase the visibility, the reach, and the return-on-investment a lot more in the long term.

Know what to grow

All good marketing begins with insight above all else. You should have already done enough market research to know who you want to reach and what value proposition is going to have the most impact on them. Then you have to adapt that to how internet marketing works. For instance, look further to see what social media networks they use before you get on a platform where they’re less likely to see you. Before you start connecting your site to search engines in an attempt to make it easier to find, do your SEO keyword research to find which terms have the potential to yield the best results.

The seed of all great online marketing

The organic method of marketing is the most interconnected method, as well. The different tools we mention all work together and often it’s about driving traffic and adding visibility to one arm above all else: the website. Good website design is important in and of itself, but rather than using someone who knows only how to design a site, you should think about using a digital agency that knows how it’s supposed to connect to the other tools involved. Your website is the base of your brand online and it can be strengthened by treating that way. Connecting it to your social media and using it as a host for your content marketing are two of many ways to make it more than just a branded homepage.

Grow bright

The website might be the most important tool in your organic marketing strategy, but the others have to make sure that people can actually see the site and help to drive traffic towards it. Your PPC campaigns and other paid methods are best for doing this in short bursts if you have a specific deal, campaign, or product you want to see some short-term gain in. In the long-term, search engine optimisation might be the best method available. SEO makes it a lot more likely for people to find your site of their own will. Using appropriate keywords in the metadata to make it a fit for the most relevant searches, building links to other sites (and internal pages), and ensuring the site is rid of dead ends and other design errors can all help.

Tend your garden

The garden around your business is, of course, the market. The community of consumers, business partners, influencers, and more. Organic marketing should help grow them, as well, turning them from individual voices into a real community. A focus on social media is the best way to do that. Social media should be used as more than just another method of disseminating marketing messages. It should be used to share content from partnered businesses, to interact on a one-to-one level with consumers whether it’s solving queries or just engaging in banter.

Spread your roots

If you use it right, it’s not all that difficult to get reach through social media, search engine optimisation and a well-designed website. Many online consumers know that and might still be hesitant to put their truth in your business. One of the single best ways to give the business trustworthiness and validation to go with the visibility is finding PR opportunities. Reaching out to online newspapers, blogs, and other influencers can do your brand a lot of good. For one, you can benefit from having your business mentioned or profiled in more trustworthy publications, lending them some credibility. But it can help with your SEO, as well if people are more likely to indirectly come across your business thanks to a site that is significantly higher in the rankings than yours.

Take a leaf out of this book

You have probably already heard that “content is king”. Well, it’s true. When people are using the web to find goods and services or to communicate, one of the most common pastimes is reading content. Producing that content can be another way to get them on your site or at the very least exposed to the brand, creating a potential lead out of them. However, it’s not like an old piece of content is going to do the trick. You need to make sure your content has value above all else. Does it provide a solution to a problem? Does it share something interesting? Does it offer a new spin on a topic that the market is already interested in? Without value, content isn’t worth the space it takes up.

The gardener matters as much as the garden

There are a lot of benefits to be gained from focusing not only on marketing the business but the people behind the business, as well. If the name behind a company is trusted and respected, those same qualities can get reflected back on the company. Build a personal brand that’s separate, but connected to the business brand. Start your own blog providing tips for people in the same industry. Become an expert providing opinions in webinars and through guest posts on other sites. Joined networks like LinkedIn to become more known the people in your industry.

Organic marketing and paid have to work together. Paid marketing methods get you results quickly, but often for only a short period and a high cost. For organic marketing, you’re looking at the long-term decrease in costs compared to a higher long-term yield. Master them both and you can achieve steady growth from the start and far into the future.