The internet isn’t exactly a small pond, and when you watch gargantuan retailers dominate the first page of a Google search, it can tend to rain on your parade a little. Launching a new brand or service online can be a daunting task.
So the question is, where are all the golden ticket cigar store marketing ideas?
As it turns out, the most powerful ways to up your marketing game for a cigar store are some of the most conventional, common-sense ways. Honestly, even a well-established brick-and-mortar business can struggle to get a good foothold online. In this article, we’ve compiled 8 of what our team at Cigarketing considers to be the most powerful cigar store marketing ideas.
1. Conduct 2023 Cigar Marketing Keyword Research
Keyword research is the name of the game! Finding the most relevant and popular keywords or phrases that people are searching for in your industry or niche will supercharge your content.
The goal is to identify keywords that have high search volume, low competition, and are relevant to your business. Once you have identified these keywords, you can then optimize your website, content, and marketing efforts around them.
For example, let’s say you’re running a bakery business in a specific city. You might use keyword research to find out what people are searching for related to baked goods in your area, such as “best cupcakes in [city name]” or “gluten-free bakery [city name]”. Then you can optimize your website and content around these keywords to increase your visibility in search results. Marketing for a cigar store is exactly the same. Of course, the exact keywords and phrases would be more relevant to our fellow aficionados.
In the truest sense, keyword research gives you a window into the minds of your target market. This is one of the best ways to fine-tune your website and content to not only rank higher on search but actually be relatable to the needs of your customers.
2. Improve Website Structure
The website structure refers to the way your website is organized and the hierarchy of its pages. An optimized website structure makes it easier for search engines to understand the content and purpose of each page. This can be achieved by creating a clear and organized navigation menu, using descriptive titles and meta descriptions, and using header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content.
Let’s say hypothetically you were running an e-commerce website selling shoes. It would be best for you to use descriptive titles and meta descriptions for your product pages such as “Women’s Running Shoes – Best Brands and Deals | [Your Website Name]”. You might also use header tags to structure your product descriptions, with H1 for the main title and H2 or H3 for subheadings like “Features” or “Customer Reviews”.
Good website design requires some know-how, but it’s actually very simple to get a hold of. Not being familiar with good website structure is no excuse for not learning, or hiring the help of an agency. This is foundational for your SEO game, and your web visitors will appreciate it too!
3. Create Quality Cigar Content
High-quality and informative content can attract more visitors to your website and improve search engine rankings. This includes creating blog posts, articles, infographics, and other types of content that are optimized for the target keywords. The goal is to provide value to your target audience and answer their questions or solve their problems.
Remember who you’re asking for clicks from! No, we’re not talking about demographics, interests, or any other SEO-oriented identifiers. At the end of the day, you’re just trying to do good to your customers. That means writing content that matters when marketing a cigar shop. Search engine optimization is necessary for success, but so is making your content actually valuable to your target market.
4. Build Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They are an important factor in search engine rankings because they indicate that your website is valuable and authoritative. Building backlinks can be done through guest posting on other websites, participating in forums, and using social media to share your content.
For example, let’s say you’re running a digital marketing agency like Cigarketing. You might write a guest post on a popular marketing blog, with a link back to your agency’s website in the author bio. You might also share your blog posts on social media, and if they are high-quality and informative, other websites might link back to them naturally.
This is something that can come as a nice little byproduct of creating quality cigar content. Worthwhile reads have a way of spreading around online and getting your brand out there.
5. Optimize for Local Search
For companies with a physical location, optimizing for local search is important. This includes creating a Google My Business listing, using local keywords in content, and building local backlinks. The goal is to make it easy for local customers to find and visit your business.
Running a cigar shop in a specific corner of downtown? If you haven’t already, the bare minimum is creating a Google “My Business” listing that includes your address, phone number, and hours of operation. You might also use local keywords in your website and content, such as “best Italian restaurant in [neighborhood name]”, and build backlinks from other local businesses or organizations.
6. Use Social Media
Social media platforms can be used to promote your website and content, and to engage with customers. This can improve brand visibility and indirectly improve search engine rankings. The goal is to build a following and engage with your target audience.
It’s important to identify the popular keywords and tags that people use in your corner of cigar social media and optimize your social media posts around them. Creating high-quality and informative content can attract more visitors and improve search engine rankings. After all, popular posts on social media sites such as Reddit will appear at the top of Google searches with enough traction and correct keyword placement!
7. Utilize Paid Advertising
Paid search and social media advertising can increase visibility in search results and on social media platforms. This can be particularly useful for new or competitive keywords. If you are feeling overburdened trying to put out a certain amount of content, simply paying for better ad placement can balance out your current efforts.
To get the most out of paid advertising, a cigar shop can start by choosing the right platforms to advertise on, such as social media or Google Ads. Utilizing the specific keywords we talked about earlier to reach their target customers, the shop should create eye-catching ads with clear and concise messaging that highlights the unique features of their products and services.
Regularly monitoring and adjusting their advertising campaigns based on their performance can also help them optimize their budget and maximize their ROI.
8. Monitor Analytics
Monitoring website traffic and user behavior can help companies identify opportunities for improvement and track the effectiveness of their SEO efforts. This can include using tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, bounce rates, and other key metrics.
For example, if you notice that a particular page on your website has a high bounce rate, you might investigate the possible reasons, such as slow loading time or poor content. This can help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your website and content accordingly.
Cigarketing: Marketing for A Cigar Store
You didn’t open your cigar shop or launch your cigar brand so you could worry about Google maps, search engines, event promotion, or web design. You created your business to serve your customers who love cigars. Cigarketing exists to ensure your shop stays full, the cigars move off your shelves (digital or physical), and you dominate your local market.
Cigarketing is the marketing agency a cigar shop and eCommerce site can rely on to get more people in their shop, buy from their website, and take off their plate the burdens of social media, website curation, and more. The cigar industry deserves an agency tailored for cigar business owners, fueled by a team that loves both marketing and cigars.
We’re ready to make you the best cigar shop in your city and on the web. Are you?
See what Cigarketing can do for you!