9 Digital Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

With the use of the internet and a lot of reliance on the digital landscape, digital marketing is providing more value to small businesses.

At the beginning of 2020, for instance, it was reported that businesses would spend $1.3 trillion on digital marketing. But the Covid-19 pandemic changed that as businesses had to cut costs. It was also during this period that small businesses had to figure out what would work best for their brands.

It may have been and continues to be a chaotic and challenging period. But it’s also a good time for brands to take a hard look at their marketing strategies.

Digital marketing Strategies for Small Business Owners to Adopt

It doesn’t matter how much the last few years or months have impacted your business. As an entrepreneur, you must ensure an up-to-date online presence and engage with your clients.

Adding a digital marketing aspect to your business strategy will help your business grow even in uncertain times. Here are a few digital marketing strategies that you can adopt for your business.

Read: Top Content Marketing Strategies in 2022

Content Marketing

Using content marketing for start-ups to promote brands has always been a great strategy. You must, however, note that this is more than just using the right keywords. If you want to build your brand’s identity, personality, and authority, you need to make content that is useful, interesting, and relevant.

Content marketing for small businesses involves planning and sharing posts, articles, videos, and any other information that speaks directly to your audience. But content marketing for startups isn’t only about the information that you share with your audience. It’s also about the timing, presentation, how, and when you write. All these aspects must be put into consideration.

If yours is an ecommerce company that can’t invest in sheer volume, blogging should be at the center of your strategy. This content idea will enable you to share how-to guides, tips, eBooks, and anything else that will help a leader consider your product.

Frequency is also important in content strategy. Thus, you must try to have at least 2 blog posts a week. Take advantage of your social media platforms to boost the reach of your content. You can also mix new pieces with reports to keep your persona engaged.

One thing that you must strive for is honesty and the ability to provide reliable information. Note that once your brand becomes an authority in your field, it will stick in the minds of your audience. A consumer may not be buying today, but they will remember when the time comes in the future.

Read: 4 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Content Marketing

Know Your Audience

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “anyone” is your buyer. Large companies can appeal to a wider market. But they say, ”the riches are in the niches” for a reason. As a small business, a niche is where you’ll have the most leverage.

To find a niche and appeal to consumers in that niche, you need to know their pains, problems, trigger events, and priorities. But what pushes consumers to make a buying decision? Knowing the answer to these kinds of questions will help you craft some messaging that resonates with consumers.

Small business owners must ensure that they know their audience. Think about your current customers and who you’d like to work with. You should then create a buyer persona to begin the process of getting into the minds of your ideal customers.

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Capitalize on Short-term Plays

Start scrappy and keep an eye on the return on investment as you scale. That is what will give you the momentum and cash flow to set aside for large projects. The ROI will give you the money you need for long-term plays and more sustainable growth models.

Tactics that take time to build, like search engine optimization, are poor fits for primary initiatives. That’s because you’ll not see an ROI soon enough for your liking. If you have enough resources to start there, it’s totally okay. But it’s not wise for you to put all your eggs in one basket.

If you have proof that consumers are turning to Google with the buying intent for your particular solution, you may realize that paid ads give a short-term ROI.

Read: How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy That Will Generate the Most ROI

Search Engine Optimization

One of the best strategies to give your brand visibility isn’t paid. It might seem strange considering that mass media advertising has been the primary form of bringing visibility to brands for a long time. But no paid ad today is as strong as seeing your website at the top when someone Googles a related keyword.

Being well-positioned in search engines will help you to get organic traffic. It will also help your brand in building trust with the audience since it’s the first contact that they have on search engines. In any case, if your website ranks high, it means that it’s worth it, doesn’t it?

The techniques, actions, and tools that cause your brand to rank higher are called search engine optimization. SEO’s goal is to make search engines recognize the value and relevance of what you have to offer.

It causes Google to favor your brand when users search for specific keywords. Thus, SEO is crucial for small businesses when it comes to digital marketing.

Read: Biggest SEO Trends to Look for in 2022 (UPDATED LIST)

Create a Website for Your Online Presence

Having a professional-looking website is an important asset for small businesses. It’s through the website that you’ll show consumers who you are, what you have to offer, where you are, and how visitors can get in touch with you.

Unlike other online platforms that can change their policies or go out of style, a website is a channel you’ll always own. It has the capacity to generate organic traffic and be a place to send traffic from advertising and other marketing initiatives.

Note that your brand’s website is not a simple brochure. That’s because you have the ability to turn it into a 24-7 salesperson by knowing how to convert traffic and turn it into leads.

Nurture Leads Through Email Marketing

Successfully converting your site’s traffic into leads does not guarantee that the leads are ready to buy. You need to stay on their mind and move them closer to a buying decision.

Email marketing is an important part of a brand’s marketing toolkit. In fact, statistics show that 73 percent of millennials prefer communication with brands via email.

This digital marketing strategy for small businesses is an easy, free, and scalable way to communicate with both new and existing clients. Once you have an email marketing tool in place, experiment with emailing out promotions to your database.

Read: The Benefits of Email Marketing

Understand the Power of Existing Customers

It costs businesses more to acquire new customers compared to retaining existing ones. This means that you shouldn’t continue marketing your products to your customers even after they have made a purchase.’

Identify your opportunities for repeat purchasing and cross-selling. That’s considering that your existing customers have already made a purchase, meaning that they know, like, and already trust your brand. If this customer’s experience is good, you gave them a reason to do business with you again if the need arises.

Even if the need doesn’t arise, you should still delight your customers. That’s because word of mouth is a powerful promotional tool and it can get you more customers.

Read: Pros and Cons of an IT Managed Service Provider for a Small Business

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing isn’t just for the bigger brands.

This digital marketing strategy is also powerful for small businesses as it helps with brand awareness and generates high-quality leads. Remember that influencers have a loyal fan base on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. These influencers interact with the fans that look up to them for personal recommendations.

A high engagement rate makes influencer marketing one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses. Entrepreneurs can select and draw an influencer contract with influencers working in their niche to endorse their brand.

Assuming that your brand is built around the plant-based movement, partner with influencers advocating for a vegan lifestyle. With a little investment through partnerships with influencers, you’ll be able to reach out to a high-potential target audience.

Read: Customer Retention Strategies You Need to Adopt

Use New Channels to innovate Your Business

Small business owners must consider all the ways of creatively connecting with their audiences based on their industry. So, how should you position your brand and your products? Consider having your products or services available on online platforms. You can also choose to adjust your current e-commerce strategy.

Read: Marketplace Development Companies: Architects of Digital Commerce  

Small business owners must ensure that the content they’re sharing is relevant to the situation or brand. Doing this will help you to virtually educate or entertain your followers. It also helps to give your business a human voice. Give your followers a reason why they should continue supporting you.

To make this strategy work for you:

• Create engaging video content or do a live stream on platforms such as Instagram.
• Share educational tips about what you have to offer on your social media platforms.
• Be sure to promote what makes your brand unique. This can be your products, your hard-working employees, or any of your brand’s specialties.
• Set up an online store on your website. You can also do this through Instagram shopping to give your products an online presence.

Read: 8 Best Instagram Tools to Grow and Engage Followers

Conclusion

Whether your business strategy is focused on short-term or long-term planning, digital marketing will give your bottom line a much-needed boost.

The continual disruption of normalcy and increased uncertainty can be unnerving. That’s especially the case if yours is a small business. These digital marketing strategies for small businesses will help you to thoughtfully and innovatively adjust your business strategy.