By Maggie Simmons
Small business owners generally perceive that digital marketing is not their cup of tea. It is made only for the big players of the industry. However, the fact is that digital marketing gives equal opportunity to all sizes of the businesses.
If you are a small business owner, you must be preoccupied with other tasks, such as sales, operations, accounting, logistics, etc. Moreover, with the lack of time, you can always initiate the marketing campaigns utilizing the digital space.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is an umbrella that wields the digital channels like Google search, email, social media, websites, blogs, and online advertising to promote your business and to enhance your network with the existing and potential clients and consumers. Utilizing these digital platforms is valuable for your business.
Why should a small business use digital marketing?
Let’s explore the importance of a digital presence for small business.
Meeting the right people at the right time and in the right place. Direct mailing and cold calling are the age-old techniques of marketing. It is an undeniable fact that people spend most of their time on their mobile phones. Hence, they may overlook a print advertisement as they are busy with their phones. So, the digital presence of your brand increases the chances of being visible in front of your customers during their purchase decisions.
Measurable results to inform your strategy. Another great favor of digital marketing is that it helps the marketers to examine the accurate results in real time. Such instant results can’t be achieved through offline marketing. Moreover, with the usage of digital marketing, you can calibrate the return of investment of pretty much any aspect of the marketing endeavor by using analytics programs.
Digital marketing costs less. Marketing your business on a digital platform is cost-effective because various analytics tools and researches are applied to swiftly determine which approaches are working. This unique feature allows the marketers to spend less on the low-performing areas and invest in the campaigns that produce results.
I know it is not viable to try to spar in every aspect of the digital space, but the effort should be directed on a few key features where a small business can flourish. Let’s see some strategies and techniques that are essential for the small businesses.
How should a small business use digital marketing?
If you are running a small business and trying to compete with the hot shots, then this section will be an aid for you. I will share some free tools and strategies with you that may help you to survive in the digital landscape.
Start blogging. A business blog will act as a ticket for your journey of digital marketing. According to Wordpress, nearly 410 million people read over 24 billion blog post every month. A blog can create an attention that is needed for your website. It can lure a great number of people to connect with your business.
Create Facebook groups. This technique is underrated by the marketers. But don’t forget, it has a potential to expand your business even more. These user administered public groups within Facebook grant like-minded people to form a network to share and discuss new ideas. With the help of suggestions and search tools, you can broaden your reach. Such groups are considered as a goldmine for the small business owners who want to stay relevant in front of the competition without spending a single penny.
Form an email list. An email list is recurrently ignored by the small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups. Having a sound email list can play a substantial part in lead generation. It is even stated that every $1 spend on email marketing delivers an average of $44 in ROI. It is an exponential hike of 4400%. Moreover, the open rate of email is higher in comparison of social media post. Larger your email contact list, more fame your business will receive.
Host your video content on YouTube. Data acquired by Brainshark.com displays that around 75% of the internet traffic is video content. By hosting a video on such a platform will bring the light on your content to elevate the viewership. Furthermore, you can even monetize your Youtube channel to start a new revenue stream.
Respond to the online reviews. Online reviews can play an important role in creating a reputation for your business. People always check the reviews to learn about the experiences of other customers before making a purchase decision. The customers rely on the reviews posted by the people. By responding to the reviews, you create trust and accountability in the eyes of the end users and your business will spread like a wildfire. It is a win-win situation for everyone.
Make a presence on map tools. According to Google, 30% of the people search the location of the businesses. Having an updated business information on a mapping platform like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Yelp can be useful for clients as they can visit your store. If you are not on the map, now is the time to fix it.
What can a small business get from digital marketing?
These strategies can do wonders for the small business if done correctly. If you are still in the dilemma of whether digital marketing will work for you, then take a closer look at the benefits of digital marketing.
Improved business models. Digital marketing uses different analytics tools to make an informed decision about the investment of their resources. A regular report is formed with the tools to find out the success of the campaigns.
Personalized attention. Online marketing eradicates the approach of “one size fits all.” Tracking of customer behavior is done to find the relevant product for the end user. This elevates the customer experience thus the business gains trust and loyalty from the consumer.
Marketing automation. Robust marketing automation platform can be helpful in making reports digitally. This allows the marketers and managers to focus more on the marketing campaigns and measuring analytics. Thus, it sanctions the organization to optimize their strategies to perform productively.
It can be said that with digital marketing, a small business can gain the attention of a mass audience. While looking at the above-mentioned benefits and features, one should definitely opt for digital marketing as a part of their marketing strategy.