The Requirement of a Digital Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses
There are many positive aspects to the implementation of digital marketing strategies for small businesses. You need to take the time out for outlining and implementing the digital marketing strategies. Many people avoid long term planning because of the time constraints and opt for a reactive, short term approach for their sales and marketing campaigns. This kind of approach many times leaves you with little time for experimentation and research for figuring out the best options for your business in the short or long term. It ultimately leads to hampering the growth of your business. Many people adopt the “if it isn’t broken do not fix it” approach due to the fear of losing out on business while new channels for raising the sales have to be investigated.
There have been many businesses that attempted the paid advertising or social media campaigns half-heartedly. They did not take into account the time required for experimentation and failed as a result. These are necessary aspects of the business to decide what works for your business and what doesn’t. It is a shame really as it has become doubly important now to make sure that your marketing strategy evolves with time. It is critical for your business so that it doesn’t fall behind. We will see the benefits of promoting your business online by using your website and how you can get started.
Change in business models
Everybody is going digital these days and it means that if you are unable to cater to the new technology-savvy audience you are in all probability going to fall behind the competition and end up losing many of your potential revenues. This fact can be observed clearly in the case of the mini-cabs industry. There was a time when the small businesses needed just radios and phones for a set-up. A drop of leaflets in the local area and having a catchy phone number that could be easily remembered by people even when they were drunk sufficed.
Nowadays people have to deal with an audience that is used to the operation of seamless technology utilized by companies such as Uber. Uber was able to promote their business basically through the word of mouth policy as their experience of using the cab by booking it was made so easy. Customers are looking to book the cabs online, pay online, and not need to tell the cab driver the best possible route to reach the destination. Uber provided the cab users everything they needed and even the costs were maintained at a lower ebb due to the automation.
You must have become aware of the reasons why digitalization is such an attractive proposition for different users and why Uber was successful in dominating the field of online cabs. The whole industry got disrupted and the small towns and mini-cab businesses around the world are feeling the effects of the advent of Uber even today after so many years.
How small businesses can benefit from digital marketing
After you have got a website and a Facebook page and you have started posting a blog every month doesn’t mean that it ends there. You can achieve leads through the search traffic however, this trend is decreasing every year. You also should be a part of some online directories. These are the pre-requisites before the development of any strategy. You will need a long-term plan that reflects the changes and challenges you may be able to see in the market by using the most relevant and best available tools. For instance, using tools with functions like email search by name will take at least a quarter of the workload off your back.
The truth is that without having a digital marketing campaign for developing your visibility online there are few chances of your site being successful over your competitors. There is just a huge volume you must attend to. Low-cost advertising has become possible due to the rise of Facebook and Google and you can reach millions of people in a targeted manner. You can also gather useful data about the performance of the ads. It means badly performing ads can be updated or replaced. Compared to print, radio, and TV it is a greater return on investment. It is particularly helpful if the funding is tight.
1. Begin with the customers
The target for any high-quality marketing strategy is connecting the importance of your business with a customer base. You need to find where your clientele lies and have products and services useful for them. For example, you may need translation services for clients in non-English speaking areas. Once you are aware of their existence you will become aware of the marketing strategy you will need and the one you will have to avoid. However, it takes a bit of time to set up a digital marketing campaign. You should develop the personality of your business for the clientele. Think about how they use the internet and where their attention lies.
If they have bought from you earlier you will be aware of the clientele as you will have their details and would have followed up with the relevant questions. If you have not done it you must begin immediately because it is the customers who will propel your marketing campaign. After you have found out about their age, address, and their buying habits you may envisage where other customers like them can be found online. This is the place you need to go to next after your digital marketing strategy has been developed.
2. There is no magic marketing strategy for success
After you become aware of where your clientele likes to spend their time on the net, you must figure out ways of getting in front of them by selecting platforms and tools that lie within your budget and those you can test. For example, you can check out www.WebChimpy.com to see what tools they offer to help businesses increase their online presence. Your prior experience of occasional blogging and posting daily on Facebook may not apply to the new strategy. The social media network is massive around the world and the user’s attention can get distracted, so you need to chase their attention by using the right tools like Social Media Daily to reach them effectively. If you upload a bunch of YouTube videos to promote your brand, you may work with a digital marketing firm that specializes in ranking YouTube videos in Google search results.
If you have figured out a plan that is within your budget and time, you can go ahead with its implementation. It is a good idea to not try and do everything at once. Go about doing things systematically and keep a constant eye on your progress by using various tools. Sometimes you may wish to try and leverage more traffic for improving your mailing lists. This may be because you are aware that if you send an email to the customer base they will buy from you. You can try a bit of social advertising and test out various kinds of ads. You may get spread thin by doing demos of your products and services. You may also film the demonstrations to add them to your YouTube channel to help you reach a larger audience.
3. Plan for long term
You must become aware of the AGILE approach. It says that you should have a fixed period for development or creating something. Then you test this product and place it in the market. By using the results that were obtained you can make necessary improvements to the things you have done. It is a good idea to adopt this method for the digital marketing strategy of your business. It is key because this allows you sufficient time to get an idea about things that do not work and reflect on why they will not work.
A portion of the strategy should involve testing things thoroughly before you can move onto other approaches or channels. Closing down a strategy when there aren’t any leads after a week is not a real strategy. It may take weeks or even months for a new strategy to achieve traction and get results. It is a brave action on part of the business owner to plan on this but this can be used for short-term gains.