How to create a digital marketing strategy for a small business?
When it comes to finding the most effective way of marketing for your small business, there are a number of strategies that are both effective and affordable for small businesses. In today's business world, it's more important than ever to have a strong digital presence.
With the vast majority of consumers turning to the internet to find products and services they need, it's essential that small businesses have a plan for marketing themselves online. Fortunately, there are a number of digital marketing strategies that small businesses can use to get noticed online.
In the past, small businesses have struggled to compete with large corporations due to their limited budgets. However, with the advent of digital marketing in the modern age, that is no longer the case. Small business owners now have a plethora of resources (most of them free) that can help them with almost every aspect of their daily business from accounting and finance, to social media content, and even basic graphic design.
1. Create a Strong Online Presence
One of the most important aspects of digital marketing is creating a strong online presence. This can be done by creating a professional website and making sure that it is optimized for search engines. Small businesses should make sure to create profiles on all relevant social media platforms and to regularly post engaging content.
By creating high-quality, informative content, businesses can attract attention from potential customers who are looking for answers to their questions online. Content marketing can take many different forms, including blog posts, infographics, video tutorials, and more.
Another way to form a strong online presence is by using your immediate circle of friends and family to help spread the word about your business and your endeavors. Using existing and/or previous clients/customers to endorse you online is a highly effective way of gaining traction and validity online.
2. Email Marketing
Email marketing is an incredibly effective way to reach out to potential and existing customers. However, it is important to make sure that your emails are well-written and relevant to your target audience.
Many small business owners make the mistake of wanting to inform their customers of any new product, new sale/deal, business updates, etc., and wind up in the spam folder. Being sure to write content that is informative and interesting is crucial to email marketing.
Ethically gaining customers' emails can happen in a number of ways. Either via a POS system when customers make a purchase, sign-up on your website for a newsletter, or by attending an event that has them check in with their email in order to receive a coupon code. By collecting email addresses from potential customers and sending them periodic newsletters or special offers, you can stay top of mind and encourage them to do business with you when they're ready.
3. Using Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a great way to generate leads and sales from your website. With PPC, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, making it a very cost-effective way to grow your business. This puts the control in your hands over how much you choose to put into advertising. PPC ads can be targeted very specifically, meaning that you can ensure that your ads are only being seen by those who are likely to be interested in your product or service.
The main routes of PPC are in the form of search and social. Meaning, you may choose to advertise your business on Google, Bing, or any other search engine, or you can use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and multiple others.
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give you the opportunity to reach out to potential customers where they already are and engage with them on a personal level. With regular updates and interesting content, you can build brand loyalty among your followers and turn them into lifelong customers. Using these platforms, with even a small budget, can increase the likelihood of sales/revenue if they are properly targeted.
4. Implementing a Local SEO Strategy
Your website can be the pillar of your customer's experience by ensuring that it is up to par both visually and operationally. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long-term digital marketing strategy that can help small businesses to attract organic traffic from search engines.
While SEO can take some time to see results, it is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business in the long run. Once you start ranking higher in search results, you will continue to see benefits even if you stop investing in SEO activities.
Modern marketing tactics have taken the times of Pepsi, Chevy, and Apple-sized budgets for marketing and leveled the playing field for small business owners. There are numerous digital marketing strategies that are both effective and affordable for small businesses. In this blog post, we have discussed some of the most effective digital marketing strategies for small businesses which include creating a strong online presence, utilizing email marketing, using pay-per-click advertising, and implementing an SEO strategy.
Want to start your digital marketing journey?
If you are ready to grow your business, First Thought is here to help. Give us a call today at (509) 496-0147 or you can fill out the form at the bottom of this post!
