Digital marketing is for everyone, be it a small business or a very successful business. Being digitally present and active is very vital for any business now. Marketing plays a huge role in the sale of any product, and since the world is moving towards digital now, digital marketing is an important aspect to grow any business.
It is about finding leads and converting them into customers. The key is to attract the prospective lead to your product and show them the benefits of using your product instead of your competitors. With digital marketing gaining traction, it has become easier to represent any business creatively and innovatively.
Budget is an ignorable problem when it comes to most of the digital marketing strategies. Startups and small businesses need to be mindful about their spendings as they’re just starting out, hence these digital marketing strategies will help them save more while also gaining a lot of customers.
From paid marketing to unpaid advertising, there’s just so much a business can do in terms of digital marketing. Smart moves at the right time are the key.
It is very important that one knows the aim of their marketing campaign before developing one.
Some of the proven digital marketing strategies for small business and startups are –
Table of Contents
1. E-mail Marketing
For a long time now, E-mail marketing has been at the top of the game. Nothing can beat the power of e-mail marketing. It is the best source to find leads, retain them, and convert them to customers. Also, continue to target them and update them with the latest deals and offers.
E-mail marketing if done right can prove to be very useful for your customer. The basic step is to let customers sign up for your e-mail newsletter. It is also important to give customers the choice to unsubscribe from you.
Make sure to not turn into a spam mail, and be clear with your offers. Have a sense to when an E-mail should be sent and to whom, as per your business and target audience. While the existing customers are sent updates on new offers, and relational emails, new customers could be sent deals and ways they can benefit from your business.
E-mail campaigns go a long way and very useful when done in the right manner.
2. Google My business
Listing on google my business should be a top priority especially for local businesses with local clients. Google my business helps in gaining more customers by listing your product when it is searched for.
It is very simple, just adding some of your business details like location, number, etc and you’re good to go. Google my business listing helps you gain local leads and it’s a proven method. This helps you save a lot on advertising as you appear first in the listing already.
By your uniqueness, reviews and location, if you manage to land on top three listings, your business is sure to gain more customers through this.
Any startup or small business is advised to list their business on Google my Business first, and as for local businesses, this is their top marketing source.
3. Content Marketing
Content marketing is the most effective digital marketing tool currently. All businesses, big or small, new or old, should adapt the content marketing as their growth strategy.
Content marketing strategy differs with the target audience. When a small business or a startup is trying to make people aware of their product or services, they should opt for blogs, infographics, videos, etc of their product. If you have a website, you could include these in the website itself. Blogs are an interesting way of gaining the attention of the audience.
When you’re looking to target an audience, You could give them more information about your brand through e-books, newsletters, etc. When it’s time to convert these leads to customers, you need to show more content like customer stories, product updates, events, etc. This way, once you recognize your audience, it becomes more clear as to what kind of content you should present to them, respectively.
Content marketing is a great way to retain customers and keep their attention on your business and product intact. It doesn’t require a huge budget, so a small business or startup can readily make their content strategy.
4. Social Media Marketing
Social media is a whole big world in itself. We are a part of it, and we all need to pay attention to everything happening in this world. There are so many social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, tumbler, Youtube, etc. and every platform has its own set of audience, rules, and content that works.
Especially for a startup or a small business, social media is a good place to start. Spreading brand awareness is the first step for any business, and social media is the right place because a ton of audience can be found on these platforms. Apart from brand awareness, the brand story can also be talked about on social media platforms.
It is important that you’re aware of the kind of audience you’re targeting, being updated with the current ongoings in the world, and how that can be related to your business and also, what is trending in your field of business. If you actively present yourself as a well-aware and updated brand, there are high chances of gaining an active number of potential customers.
Like every marketing strategy is it very important to be aware of your target audience and the target social media platform, and create content accordingly.
5. SEO Marketing
Search engines are a good way to gain attention to your business, as long as your rank is high enough for people to find you. For startups and small businesses, it is good to depend on the organic search result for long. It saves them some money, and also if their business is using the right keywords and optimization, it should be easier to appear in the organic search results.
However, as keywords play such an important role it is important to use the right keywords that are specific to your product. There many tools available online for keyword research and it is advisable to spend some time on this.
Search engine optimization is vital to increase your website visibility and increase traffic on the same. It comes into more of the technical side of the business website, but it is important to optimize it in a way that the ranking is high. For doing so, it is important to keep your page unique, relevant, helpful, and beneficial enough for the customer to come back.
6. Paid Advertisement and Marketing
Although, while organic search help in saving budget, paid advertisement helps in gaining the right target audience. Paid advertisements include using a small amount of money to get brand recognition and awareness.
Paid advertisement includes Facebook advertisement, Instagram advertisement, Google Adwords, etc. It is about using the right platform as per your target audience.
Using Facebook advertisement has proved to be working for a number of small businesses and startups as it is cheaper when compared to others and connects you to the right audience. Few things to keep in mind are whether you’re aware of your audience’s demographics, interests, and other important factors. As Facebook Ads let you add your target audience and show you ads to potential customers only.
Once You’re aware of the basic information, make sure you also know the aim of your advertising campaigns. It is always advisable to do an A/B testing to see what actually works for your business.
Google Adwords also is a great place for paid advertisements. Keeping it simple and clear is a good way to go, but as a small business, you need to be mindful of your budget and spend on the campaign that’ll actually turn out effective for you.
Conclusion
As you already might have figured out, Digital marketing is the way to grow your small business or startup. E-mail marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, Google my business, and Paid advertisements are some of the proven digital marketing strategies. Many small businesses have used these and it has been proved successful for them.
Although these digital marketing strategies are important, another thing to keep in mind is having an idea of what is actually working for your business. It makes no sense in spending time and effort on something if it is not even working for you. Google analytics if one of the best tools out there to track your marketing campaigns, and plan the next one accordingly.
Also, for a startup or a small business, it is important to get the attention of their user so much so that they tell others also about you. One way to do that would be using referral programs and also offering beneficial coupons and deals.
So go on then, apply these digital marketing strategies and take your business on the road to success.
