Are you here, but not convinced you need an online marketing plan? Let me explain why you do. A small business owner has to be smarter than a corporate business; simply because they have limitations in resources. A corporate business can easily spend thousands of dollars for their marketing campaign, while a small business has a limited budget and needs to be cautious about the strategy they are going to use because they have no room for mistakes.
Though in my experience, many small business owners give little value to online marketing; they think it would be a waste of time or simply they do not have any idea about it.
But the true fact is, by using online marketing to advertise their small business has the potential to increase sales without much effort. Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, a website has automation procedures thus increasing efficiency and reducing costs. On top of that, your small business can get thousands of new customers from other locations that would otherwise be impossible.
All big brands run their businesses in both brick-and-mortar stores as well as online shopping sites. In the last 6-7 years, online sales have been increasing every year. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, brick-and-mortar stores have been devastated because of social distancing while online stores achieved record-breaking sales. And experts believe that this is just the beginning, from now on online sales will continue to rise even more.
So it is imperative to leverage online marketing to increase your small business’s sales. However, without prior knowledge in online marketing, it would be very hard to make a stand in today’s competitive market. You need proper direction on how to do it from beginning to end. And that’s why I am writing this guide to give you a clear direction towards your goal.
Let me show you how you can take your small business into the next level with a simple yet powerful 27-day online marketing plan.
Days 1-7: Build Your Online Presence
Before we start your online marketing plan, you may already have some knowledge or even used Google Ads or Facebook Ads for your online business. Though they are very powerful platforms, but also very costly when compared with offline marketing.
For example, in Google Ads, every click in your advert may cost you from $0.20 to $2 depending on the competition level for that specific keyword you have chosen. Thus in order to receive 1,000 targeted visitors you have to spend $200 to $2,000. The same goes for Facebook Ads. Like I said before, for corporate business spending thousands of dollars is not an issue. However, for small businesses, every dollar counts.
Therefore, building a website for your small business is vital to increase your efficiency and reduce cost in marketing.
Many small business owners may think that spending money on building a website is a waste of time. But the true fact is, the website will get popular day by day and after a while, you will receive thousands of organic visitors from search engines like Google with $0 cost. Not just for a website, this will happen in every online platform like the Facebook page, Twitter profile, LinkedIn profile, Instagram, etc.
From day 1 to day 7, your task is to build a website for your small business along with a Facebook page and Twitter profile. If you have products to sell like leather goods or furniture then do not forget to build an Instagram page as well.
On your website try to showcase all of your products and services and also link up your Facebook page, Twitter profile, etc. Then share with your customers to gain exposure. For website help, read these articles:
- Three Options for Getting Your New Small Business Website Up and Running
- Do You Need a Custom Website or Can You Use a Site Builder?
- Shopify SEO: A Detailed 5-Step Guide to a Perfect Online Store
Days 8-14: Leverage Content Marketing to Increase SERP Rank
Content is the king of all online marketing. As I mentioned above, after a while when your website becomes popular you will receive thousands of free organic visitors from Google. But how will you become popular? By creating great content for your customers.
Google loves content and ranks websites in their SERP (Search Engine Result Page) based on that. A website with high-quality engaging articles has a greater chance to get ranked high than the website without any content. For example, you have a small business of leather products. On your website try to create high-quality articles that are related with leather products & make sure your customer would love to read it.
In case you do not have the necessary skill to write a quality article, you may use freelancer article writer service to create high-quality articles for your site. Depending on article size you may have to spend $100 per 1,000 words article.
Another great tool is the email marketing campaign. Your website visitors can subscribe to your email newsletter then you can send promotional offers directly to their inbox. A great way to increase your sales without any additional advertisements.
Web push notifications are a rather new invention in the online marketing platform. It is similar to email marketing however, instead of sending promotional offers to customers email, using push notification you can send messages directly to their device like PC, laptop, mobile, etc.
Try to create several high-quality contents from day 8 to day 14. And set up an email marketing campaign as well as a push notification. More on email marketing:
- A Guide to Launching Your First Email Marketing Campaign
- Beginner’s Guide on Starting with Email Marketing
Days 15-27: Search Engine Optimization
After you have done all of the previous tasks it is time to dive into the technical side of the online platform. Let me tell you in advance, if you do not have any problem with funds then this technical part will be in full automation. There are many website optimization services out there just do some Google search.
In case you do not have enough funds or want to do it by yourself, then read on I will explain how to do it all.
Let’s talk about onsite optimization. After building your website check whether you have used your focused keywords in blog, product page/service page and homepage. Remember, in title, slug, headlines, meta description & paragraphs focused keyword must have to include. When choosing a keyword always try to use low competitive and high volume search keywords. For doing your keyword research use Google Keyword Planner tool, it’s free.
For small business owners, local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is essential. Do not forget to build a contact page with your business details like name, address, contact no, etc. To get more help you may use some tools specifically designed for local SEO optimization.
Finally, you have to use analytics to measure the performance of your website. Use Google Analytics tool, it is completely free.
For more on SEO:
- The Complete Guide to Mastering the Art of SEO
- A Non-Technical Local SEO Guide for Small Business Owners
- 7 Essential SEO Tips to Get Your First Online Store Sale
Summary
From day 1 to day 27 of your online marketing plan, all you have done is prepare for a great journey into online business. Like a brick-and-mortar store, you always learn from your surroundings and try to beat your competitors. The same goes in online business. You have to learn more and implement this knowledge in your online business. When your website and social media profiles and pages become popular you will enjoy increased sales with low expenditure.