How to choose the right acquisition levers?

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When starting a digital marketing campaign, it's always difficult to decide which levers to use to distribute content. To help you get started, we've put together a brief overview of the options available to you.

To this end, this article will describe each of these levers.

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1. Search engine optimization or SEO

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Search engine optimization (SEO ) is a long-term, low-risk lever involving little or no expenditure.

However, it's only suitable if you're looking for long-term results, as it takes several months to implement. On the other hand, the return on investment is substantial, as good natural optimization will have an unrivalled impact compared to other activatable levers.

The anchor point of your SEO strategy is knowledge of your customers' buying path and needs, from which it will be easy to adapt your strategy according to more or less discriminating criteria.

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In order to meet the requirements of the search engine algorithm, it's important to produce content that's relevant to your target audience. That way, you'll have a better chance of displaying your publications, and therefore your site, on the first page.

A complete site (website, blog, business case, etc.) is therefore essential both for your SEO and to maximize your customers' experience.

This extremely time-consuming lever represents your best weapon, as its results are exponential and the investment zero (apart from the time spent). What's more, financial investments not spent on this item can be allocated to other projects.

The results of a search engine optimization campaign are recurrent, relevant traffic and, above all, conversions.

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The relationship with your audience must be based on mutual trust. On the one hand, you respond to customer needs by offering quality content; on the other, viewers bring you notoriety and therefore likely new customers.

SEO is therefore a powerful lever to implement, offering a substantial return on investment, but it's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket.

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2. Social networking sites or SMO

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Youtube, Facebook, Linkedin, TIK TOK, Pinterest, Instagram are all weapons at your disposal to boost your visibility and therefore your brand awareness, both through their ever-growing user base and their differentiated audiences.

More than just a social presence, your positioning on social networks will have a strong impact on your homepage's traffic. What's more, maintaining links with your customers means keeping them loyal.

What's more, the recreational nature of social networking means that you can reach prospects outside your usual scope, as well as showcasing your products and guidelines in a setting that's more open to discussion.

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Social networks will also help you benefit from better search engine ranking, as search engines now implement social network pages directly in search results.

As with SEO, you need to opt for a long-term strategy that will enable you to reach as many people as possible, and to build up a large number of followers in the process.

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The many features offered by the various platforms will enable you to reach a more differentiated audience, one that is more likely to use your services. This is particularly the case with targeting tools, enabling you to refine the audience reached by your publications as much as possible.

SMO is therefore an interesting lever for building loyalty and developing brand awareness, but it requires a double investment in terms of time and money.

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3. Backlinks or partnerships

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Partnerships or backlinks are links on external sites that direct traffic to your site. They are a powerful tool for boosting your traffic and therefore your search engine optimization.

Affiliation of your site with links on other sites will enable you to benefit from a new flow of traffic. These redirections can be made using a variety of methods:

• guest blogging, i.e. hosting your content on a "friendly" site, will enable you to increase your number of viewers. The downside of guest blogging is that it's often monetized, which means you have to spend money.
• Co-branding, i.e. the association of your company with another for the development of a good or service, will enable you to benefit from your partner's audience.
• The recommendation is a simple principle, but one that will ensure you receive quality leads that will have a beneficial impact on your reputation.

Customer reviews and content are an aspect not to be neglected, as they help to develop your brand awareness and image.

As your customers are your best representatives, their generated content (citing you) will not only bring you traffic , but also prospects with a higher-than-average propensity to convert.

In fact, a favorable opinion from a recognized company will have a reassuring effect on potential customers, making it easier for them to use your services.

The use of influencers can also be considered, but represents a risk as the investment required is quite substantial and the potential returns are difficult to quantify.

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4. Paid search or SEA

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In terms of short-term results, the most appropriate acquisition lever is undoubtedly paid search.

Through your digital advertising campaigns, you'll be able to reach a wide audience, which willincrease your brand awareness and thus the number of potential customers.

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The investment required may be high, but the ROI benefits will enable you to cover this expense and reinvest in new projects.

Support from a third-party structure, such as Sparkto develop and optimize your campaigns. This will enable you to make the most of your investment without having to hire or train an employee.

The number of platforms offers exponential advertising possibilities, but each platform has its own specific audience, so it's important to choose wisely when embarking on your SEA adventure.

Your advertising will take the form of campaigns , which in turn will take the form of ads on search engines and/or social networks, depending on your strategic direction.

These ads will allow you to display your site at the top of search engine results, or to be inserted between other publications on social networks.

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SEA is therefore a powerful lever enabling you to reach a qualified audience in the short term, but it requires investment and support in order to be a viable optimization solution.

You now have the information you need to choose which levers to activate, and for which needs. All these levers require an investment, whether in time or money, but they are nonetheless necessary to achieve the desired results.

The support of an external structure can also enable you to make less demands on your staff, and thus achieve greater profitability for your various campaigns.