For years the oil and gas industry has relied on trade shows, conferences, and lobbying efforts to help maintain its positive image with the public. But with the always-changing dynamics of the world, to remain a top revenue collecting industry, the oil and gas industry needs to devote time and effort to developing effective digital marketing strategies.
The oil & gas industry is as chaotic as it can be profitable, with volatility expected amongst the prices, technologies, and geopolitics. Environment concerns have also shifted the public’s focus away from using fossil fuels and onto more sustainable energy sources.
In a recent study, the International Energy Agency predicted that the world’s demand for oil and gas will diminish by 1% over the next 20 years. These circumstances paired with the fact that the average marketing budget for an oil or gas company is under 7% will directly affect the financial well-being of the oil & gas industry.
Developing and implementing effective digital marketing strategies within the oil and gas industry is a complex challenge. It requires thorough planning, a true understanding of the industry, and access to the appropriate resources you’ll need to become a well-established name.
According to HexaGroup, a company that specializes in oil and gas marketing services, research shows that oil & gas companies who have leaned into digital marketing strategies have created a niche for themselves. Over time they’re able to reduce their costs, improve their reputation within the communities they serve, and streamline their business processes. Below we’ve compiled five examples of digital marketing strategies companies in the oil and gas industry can use to enhance their overall performance.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is pivotal for any digital marketing strategy to succeed. SEO is defined as the process of getting more traffic to your website by targeting your audience’s most used keywords and phrases to enhance your positioning within search results. Your company’s positioning within search results is important because over 70% of users do not look past the first page of the search results to find their answer. If you want to ensure your company has a chance of sustaining your traffic let alone increasing it, you’ll want to implement a strong SEO strategy that guarantees you a spot on that first page of search results.
Social Media Campaign
Social media campaigns help communicate companies’ ideas to a vast audience. With these campaigns, you can target both your key demographics as well as new customers you may not have within your target audience. Think about partnering with specialists, for example, if one of the biggest arguments against gas and oil companies is about the toll they take on the environment, think about a campaign that partners with scientists that can help explain what your company is doing to mitigate its negative effects on the climate.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with new and potential customers. You can update them about new hires in your company, your goals for the year, sales, and special events. You can even incorporate a way to receive feedback from your customers via your marketing campaigns. It’s great to know the first-hand thoughts and experiences of your customers to know if the services they’re receiving are in line with what they are expecting.
Gated Content
Special papers, documents, and other high-value deemed content can be kept behind paywalls or information walls. To access the content, users will need to sign up for a monthly subscription or give over their email information. By doing this, you’ll be able to gather data from those who are interested in sharing their information with your company, which can help you identify your niche client bases and serve them accordingly.
Pay Per Click
Pay-per-click marketing should be conducted on a niche, targeted audience that is more likely to be interested in the marketing campaign. It’s essentially a way of buying visits to your site, rather than earning them organically. These are the sponsored ad websites at the top of the search results pages of Google and Bing! Every time the ad is clicked, you have to pay a small fee to the search engine for the traffic they’ve provided. However, when used correctly, the fee doesn’t matter because the increased traffic to your site will be directly reflected in your ROI.
