A craftsperson selling natural stone jewelry opens an online store, publishes three Instagram posts, then waits. Two months later, traffic is still below ten visits a day.
The problem isn’t the product or the price, but the lack of a structured marketing strategy. Building a marketing strategy to raise awareness of your business online means laying the groundwork before choosing channels—and, above all, measuring what works instead of multiplying random activities.
Set measurable goals before choosing a channel
It’s common to see entrepreneurs launch a Facebook page, a blog, and a newsletter in the same week. Without specific targets, these efforts become scattered. The first step is to set a clear goal: generate a defined number of quote requests per month, reach a target level of organic traffic, or convert a certain percentage of visitors into email subscribers.
A vague goal (“increase visibility”) doesn’t help you choose between competing activities. A measurable goal, on the other hand, guides every decision. If your aim is to collect email addresses, invest in downloadable content rather than daily reels.
The resources on Bordel de Nerd’s marketing offer a good example of how to structure this process step by step rather than relying on intuition. A measurable goal guides every euro and every hour you invest.
Online competitor analysis: what you’re really looking for
Analyzing your competitors doesn’t mean copying their posts. You’re looking for three actionable insights: which keywords they rank for in organic search, which content formats generate visible engagement (comments, shares), and which channels they aren’t using.
A competitor may dominate Google for broad search terms while completely overlooking YouTube or Pinterest. That gap represents a real opportunity. In a niche market like minerals and gemstones, a single well-optimized article targeting a specific search query can attract qualified traffic that no one else is going after.
Finding your competitors’ blind spots pays off more than copying their strengths. You can use free tools to identify search queries that no one is answering well, then build your first pages around those gaps.
Build a website that converts before attracting traffic
Driving visitors to a poorly structured website is like filling a leaky bucket. Before working on SEO or social media, make sure your site does three things:
- Every product or service page has a clear call to action (form, purchase button, appointment booking) placed above the fold
- Mobile load times stay under three seconds, which affects both bounce rate and search rankings
- Cookie consent management complies with current regulations: rejecting cookies must be as easy as accepting them, and cookies can only be placed after the visitor has made an explicit choice
This last point is often overlooked. A poorly configured consent banner can lead to penalties and distort audience data. You can’t manage a marketing strategy using skewed statistics from an analytics tool that records visits without valid consent.
Web content and SEO: publish less, but make it better
Publishing a blog post every week without an editorial strategy is like talking into the void. An effective content strategy starts with the real questions potential customers ask, identified through search suggestions, specialist forums, or questions raised in-store.
For an online business, SEO remains the most cost-effective channel over the long term. A well-crafted article can continue attracting traffic for months after publication, unlike a social media post, whose lifespan is measured in hours.
An SEO-optimized article works around the clock. Target one specific search query per page, structure the content with clear subheadings, and answer the question right at the start. The rest of the article can explore the topic in more depth, provide examples, and address objections.
Social media then serves as an amplifier: share your website content to drive inbound traffic, not the other way around. This inbound marketing approach puts your website at the heart of your communications strategy.
Compliance and influencer marketing: two often-overlooked aspects of a marketing strategy
When you work with content creators to promote your products, legal responsibility doesn’t rest solely with the influencer. The November 2024 ordinance brings the failure to clearly disclose commercial intent under the rules governing misleading commercial practices. In practice, this means advertisers must check that every sponsored post carries a clearly visible disclosure such as “advertisement” or “paid partnership,” appropriate to the platform used.
This changes how you write a brief for an influencer campaign. It should now include the required disclosures, the expected format for the disclosure, and an approval process before publication. Overlooking this step can lead to inspections and fines, as well as a loss of credibility with an audience that is increasingly attentive to transparency.
Measure and adjust every month instead of planning a year ahead
An online marketing strategy isn’t a fixed document. Set a short review cycle—monthly in most cases—to compare results against your goals. Three metrics are enough to start with:
- Organic traffic volume and its growth compared with the previous month
- The conversion rate from visitors to leads or customers
- Customer acquisition cost for each active channel (advertising, content, email)
Monthly adjustments help you avoid spending money on a channel that doesn’t convert. If your blog generates visits but no contact requests, the problem is probably with your calls to action or keyword targeting, not with content itself. Performance varies by industry, product type, and audience maturity, making regular adjustments more reliable than a rigid annual plan.
The most useful habit is to document every change and its impact. A simple spreadsheet, updated each month, will give you a clear picture within six months of what works for a particular business—far more reliable than any theoretical model.
