Every business owner knows that digital marketing is how brands get their message out and reach their target market. However, many small business owners think only big companies can afford it. Here are some ways to give your small business a boost.
The truth is that digital marketing is an option for brands of any size; in fact, it is one of the few ways a small business owner can compete on equal terms. Digital marketing can cost little to nothing and reach a far wider audience than traditional advertising.
Establish a Brand Identity
In order to convince your ideal customers to choose your product or service, you need to earn their trust. This is one of the hardest parts of making a sale, particularly for small businesses, which often struggle to form an identity that stands out from their competitors. With a well-designed online strategy, this can be far easier.
Only slightly more than half of small business owners even have a website, so by creating one, you are already one step ahead. Use your business’s website to build brand identity by showcasing the values that set you apart.
Once you are online, you can interact with your customers to learn more about them. This will allow you to choose content that caters to their needs and interests, attracting more customers while keeping your old ones happy.
Marketing Done Affordably and Simply Better
More than half the world’s population uses the internet, which means that digital marketing has the opportunity to bring your message to a global audience. Whether it is creating a website or simply using social media, the cost is minimal for even a small business.
A professionally designed website can give your brand a big step up over the competition. The great part is that unlike in the old days, a professional-quality website does not need to break the bank. Beyond product and service pages, a website can feature blogs that will drive traffic to your website and help build credibility with potential customers.
The social media option can be a great one for small businesses just getting started with building an online presence. The advantage is that these platforms are typically free to join, drive a considerable amount of traffic toward your brand, and can easily be outsourced for little cost.
Increase Interaction
Adults, on average, now spend about a quarter of their day using digital media. From staying in touch with friends and family to shopping and working, our lives are increasingly spent on screens. This makes it important for small businesses to adapt in order to communicate with their customers.
Luckily, this shift has its benefits. With digital marketing, small businesses can use the many channels and even greater sources of data about customers to personalize their message more than ever before. This can greatly improve customer experiences and result in a more loyal and satisfied customer base.
Provide Transparency
A digital marketing strategy provides an opportunity to create a clear and open relationship with customers. With the ability to receive public feedback and interact through social media, small businesses can create a sense of community and show customers that they have nothing to hide.
This can be a great opportunity to display the best parts of any small business through positive feedback customers leave plus any photos and comments a business chooses to post. However, keep in mind that this transparency can be harmful if customers do not have a good experience—although even negative feedback can often provide a business with an experience to learn from and grow.
Digital Marketing Tools That Work
One of the best parts of digital marketing is how quick and easy it is to see what strategies are working to promote your business. With tools such as Google Analytics, you can view incredibly useful statistics such as consumer behavior and the rate of click-through. This can help small businesses to figure out what is needed to improve the visibility of their website to consumers.
Don’t forget to ask your audience how they found you using email addresses you have collected. By using these marketing efforts and reaching out to your target audience, you can truly know what is most cost effective. There are many marketing channels these days to check into for your business.
There are a lot of tools out there to help small businesses measure their web traffic and determine what can help them achieve more sales. Plus, with digital marketing, there are lots of opportunities to receive customer and visitor feedback to help determine what you can do better. Some suggestions would be using Google AdWords, using a email list, and social media marketing.
Be sure to include a call-to-action on your website and include that in your blog posts as well. Local businesses really do better with online marketing when they include a separate page for each service on their website.
Just a Reminder to Give Your Small Business a Boost
Digital marketing, far more affordable than traditional strategies yet reaching a far larger audience, is a great way to give any business a boost, no matter its size. Digital marketing can help small businesses to establish an identity, learn about customers, and ensure their brand message is aligned with their customers’ needs.
This can seem overwhelming, but there are a lot of tools out there to help track what works, and it is easy to adjust a digital marketing strategy. There is no better way for small businesses to give their marketing a boost!
Need some help? Contact MJI Marketing today to get started.
