As the world increasingly shifts online, digital marketing for small business is no longer negotiable. If you’re new to this arena, where do you start?
According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, more than 60% of small businesses cease operations entirely within their first three years of trading. While this can happen for a multitude of reasons – and sometimes even outside of their control – even those with the greatest of potential can fall flat.
For small business owners who have thus far managed to avoid becoming another statistic, the key to survival is often considered to be adaptability. While we’ve spent the greater part of two years battling lockdowns, density restrictions and social media, it’s never been more important to master digital marketing for small business as a means to get seen online.
Once upon a time, small businesses would connect with customers through newspaper advertisements, radio segments and even through word of mouth. While the latter still plays an enormous role in lead generation, newer platforms like social media, email newsletters and even Google are the new age alternatives that have replaced many of the previous tools.
Like it or not, embracing digital marketing for small business is not only an important survival strategy, but can also help to exponentially grow your brand and secure your market position for the future. For those new to this arena, what are a handful of the basics to consider?
The Basics Of Growing Your Business Online
In simple terms, digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. A safe rule to consider is that if the internet powers the advertising, then it can be considered as a form of digital marketing.
However, digital marketing for small business can be incredibly overwhelming for managers and owners who are inexperienced in this arena. Like it or not, ignoring your brand’s digital presence can often do significant damage to the reputation that you’ve spent years building, so making the effort to at least cover a few of the basics is a must.
Optimise Your Website – One of the most basic strategies for digital marketing for small business is ensuring that your website is performing as it should via optimisation. If you haven’t made sure that it works for mobile and desktop users, has the right types of keywords, and is fast and user friendly, there’s little to no chance that customers can actually find you.
Get Active On Social Media – Using social media to connect with new and existing customers is a great way to market your brand on a shoestring budget. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to post three times a week on every single platform, as not all will be suitable for your niche or industry. Get to know your audience, dig into your analytics, and select your target.
Start Posting Blogs Online – As one of the key pillars of good SEO – or the process of getting discovered via search engine results on platforms like Google – brands who prioritise blogging have reported up to thirteen times the return on their investment. Although it’s very much a long game, when done well, it’s a marketing strategy that can yield results over the long term.
Build An Email Database – Customer retention is often much easier than customer acquisition, and email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools to encourage this. When actioned well, an email based digital marketing strategy can convert prospects into loyal, raving fans that swear by your business – and is something that no amount of money can buy.
Add Value To Your Content – Once you get comfortable producing content for your marketing platforms such as your blog, your social media accounts and your email subscribers, resist the temptation of the hard sell. Instead, share your knowledge with your audience to provide value at no cost. This way, they’ll come back to you when they’re ready to buy.
Ask For Online Reviews – For those who still aren’t swayed by the publicity power of Google reviews, what if we told you that there’s also a technical aspect linked to SEO as well? Not only will online reviews add a layer of authenticity to your brand, but they can also help you get discovered online through your Google Business listing.
Mastering the world of digital marketing isn’t easy for the unfamiliar, so it’s always a good idea to double check if you’re eligible for any state or federal business grants. In addition, enlisting the help of the professionals is often the most cost effective approach when it comes to growing your business online – but where do you find them?
The Key To Good Marketing Is Great Content
Producing quality, consistent and on brand content takes time, effort, experience and resources, but avoiding these responsibilities altogether may actually be doing your brand a disservice. Thankfully, investing in a solid content marketing strategy has actually never been easier.
Here at Content Hive, producing top quality digital content is exactly what we do best. We have itemised a list of digital content services, and allocated credits next to each of these. This means that each month, you can use your credits with us to produce digital content such as blog articles, social media posts, videos and even animated Instagram stories. By using this model, we believe that it enables us to produce high quality content with faster delivery times.
If you aren’t quite sure where to start on your digital marketing journey and would like to speak to a professional, why not book in a free discovery call with us at Content Hive today to discuss how we can get your brand buzzing online.
