How to Build an Organic Marketing Strategy

So you’ve started a business. You have the willingness and drive to make it succeed. What you don’t have (yet) is a big budget or enough knowledge to select and use the tools at your disposal — such as the ones provided by Google, like Google Analytics, but also social media platforms and research tools for keywords.

A lot of technical information and jargon can be more confusing than helpful for someone new to digital marketing. In this article, we’ll help you understand what organic marketing is and how to set up a plan that works for you. 
​

What is Organic Marketing?

Organic marketing is a strategy set up to get increased traffic to your website that doesn’t come from a paid ad. If you google anything, the first couple of results that will pop up are ads. They’re clearly delineated, and people tend to not click them and jump straight to the next links, which are the organic search results.

An organic marketing strategy can include search engine optimization (SEO), production of content for blogs and email marketing, collaborations with other people and brands through guest posting, and public interaction with your customer base. They’re meant to drive traffic to your website indirectly if you will.

The advantages of organic marketing include its longevity, trust from the audience, and little to no monetary cost. You’re likely to build a loyal audience and larger brand awareness through organic marketing, as potential customers are more suspicious of ads and constant self-promotion. 

And, since you’re not paying for specific posts to be promoted, you’re not spending much money. Of course, it will not be fully free, as you might spend a lot of time developing the multiple skills required for these steps. You could always outsource some of these tasks, which would increase your costs.

The disadvantages of organic marketing include the time it takes to see results and the maintenance. Organic marketing demands constant effort for a long time before any tangible change happens, so a lot of it is invisible work. And since algorithms are ever-changing, you’ll need regular research to keep being successful. You need to understand how google search engine results work so you can work your way up the search results.

Therefore, the best solution for a company is usually a mix of organic and paid marketing, as they work well with each other. Doing paid ads or an influencer partnership, for example, can help in bringing more eyes to your product. However, paid marketing can be risky. You need to be absolutely sure your investment will pay off, and that isn’t easy.

So, if you’re tight on your budget and still figuring your business out, what is it you can do now to set yourself up for success?

How to Create a Plan? 

Your organic marketing strategy will differ according to your company’s needs. So, before anything else, you need to do some research and analysis. In this step, look to answer these questions:

• What has been working for me?
• What’s working for others?
• How can I optimize my work?
• What isn’t working?

How do you figure this out, you ask? Well, there are some wonderful tools, such as Google Analytics, that can help you see what generates the most traffic to your website. Maybe some of your blog posts bring people in, maybe some don’t. Maybe your website is not mobile-friendly. It is important to look at successful companies in your niche, what kind of content do they produce and how do they use social media.

All this information should be compiled and put into a plan. Cut out what isn’t working, increase and optimize what is, and implement what has the potential to work. These are the general instructions you should follow both for an overall strategy and each of its steps. 

For example, if you see that Instagram reels are helping similar businesses to yours, try making some for your business. Experiment with several video ideas that engage with your audience — one where you show a day in your life as a business owner, one where you show yourself packing an order, one where you share a hack about your niche — put them out there to see what generates the most engagement and develop from there. It’s all about trying and seeing what works and being flexible.

How to Set up to Execute your Plan

Part of your research should include looking for the gaps in your current digital marketing strategy. So, before going through all the effort of creating content to attract potential clients, make sure you’re visible to your audience.

You should have a Google business profile; you’ll want to sign up for any local online directories and create social media accounts for your business. Keep all your information updated and complete through all your accounts, including an accurate address, contact list, and working hours.

When describing your business on your website, be specific. If people accidentally go to your website based on an inaccurate description and then click off, your website is less likely to show up on top of google’s search results.

Get rid of any dead weight. If your website or social media has any broken links, you’ll look less professional. A clean and consistent branding through all your profiles is preferable.

Lastly, set everything up so it’s as easy as possible for your potential client to do what you want them to do. If you want them to sign up for a newsletter, have a pop-up on your website for that, and maybe offer them a coupon in return. If you have a link in your Instagram bio, make sure there aren’t too many options once someone clicks it. The less work a person must do, the better.

And you’re set up!

After going through this work, you should have a better understanding of what you need to do with your organic marketing strategy. Next week we’ll investigate tangible steps you can take in this process.​

Ana Pizarro

Writer
​The Modern Artist Project