As a small business, digital marketing may not totally be on your radar.
Among all the other things you need to do, you may feel you don’t have enough time.
But that’s suicide in the modern economy.
For others, digital marketing is foreign territory, and you may not understand the point.
Regardless of the reason, though, you need to learn to embrace digital marketing.
Today we’ll talk about why.
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For Small Business, Digital Marketing Can Be Scary
Any time you’re faced with a necessity in an area you don’t fully understand, it can feel overwhelming.
Assuming you’re like most small business owners, digital marketing is totally foreign to you.
But that’s ok.
The key is, like anything else in small business, that you learn. Click To TweetYou have to truly embrace the idea that digital marketing is great for your small business.
Today, it’s time to get your strategy together and learn how to make digital marketing your new best friend.
Digital Marketing Is Easy For Small Business To Start
Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to get your digital marketing going.
All you really need is a computer and an internet connection.
With a few basic tools, you can make things take off quickly.
If you’re willing, I’ve got the first five things you need to look at.
By making these elements a part of your marketing plan, you can change the direction of your business for the better.
You can become a modern, thriving business.
What do you say? Are you ready?
Get Your Business Listed
One of the first and easiest things you want to do with your digital strategy is to get your business listings up-and-running.
Google My Business is important to making sure your business gets found.
Especially if you have a brick-and-mortar.
This is how you do a couple of awesome things.
- Get listed on Google Maps
- Feature your business’ content box in a search
- Receive (and moderate) reviews on Google
And it’s simple to do.
Visit Google My Business on the web.
Click the “Manage Now” button.
You’ll be asked to login, then it will take you to your profile.
From there, you can create a new location.
If you have more than one location, you can create location groups to help keep them organized.
Make sure you fill in as many of the details as possible.
Add plenty of pictures, too.
Those help your potential customers see that you’re real.
It’s a great start to your online presence.
Scope Out Your Competition
One of the key things you ought to be doing is finding out if your competition is outpacing you.
That means you ought to check out what they’re doing online.
If they’re worlds ahead of you, you’ve got work to do.
Check out their website, social media, and other content and digital marketing channels.
- Do they have a website?
- Are their lead captures on it?
- What social network channels do they use?
- Are they making frequent content?
- What other content channels are they using?
- Is their content getting engagement?
That last one is the real measure you need to look at.
Whatever they’re doing that gets engagement is working.
That gives you some real insight into what your target audience is interested in.
Start to identify the areas they’re in that you need to be.
Make note of the spaces that they’re falling short. Click To TweetThese are the areas you have the biggest opportunity.
From there, you can put together your plan to get yourself online and build a strong digital presence.
Sort Out Your Social Media
Social media is a cornerstone of digital marketing.
It’s a sort-of hub that helps you distribute your content to your target audience.
You’re going to need to find your stride here if you want your digital marketing to be successful.
As a rule, every small business needs to start with a Facebook page.
As the largest social network, Facebook has an audience that encompasses every demographic. Click To TweetYou’d be missing out on the biggest chunk of market available through social media.
After you’ve got that in place, decide how many more networks you can handle and which ones they should be.
Consider some of the staples.
- Snapchat
Figure out where your audience spends their time.
Then formulate a micro content plan for those channels.
There is a good chance you’ll find just about anyone you want on Instagram and Twitter, especially alongside Facebook.
Remember that your audience will take time to notice you.
Perfect exposure strategies for the networks you choose.
Get together a consistent schedule, then start working on content that will get your audience to engage.
Optimize Your Website For Success
How is your website currently performing?
Do you even have a website?
From the digital marketing perspective, your website is absolutely critical.
It can’t just exist either.
Your site has to be optimized for all aspects of your digital strategy. Click To TweetThink about whether you’re currently doing the things that are going to make your website a successful part of your digital strategy.
- Are you creating regular content?
- Do you optimize for SEO actively?
- Does your site have the ability to capture leads?
- Is there value in place to incentivize an exchange of information?
- Do you have a goal for your visitors to achieve?
The pieces to a great website are too important to your inbound strategy to ignore them.
Go through your website with a fin-toothed comb to make sure you have everything in place for success.
If you don’t have a website, make sure you’re working with a web designer that knows how to get it right from the get go.
The less time you spend with a website that isn’t ready to do the job, the better off your digital marketing strategy will be.
Streamline Your Email Lead List
As you’ve been in business over the past 20 years, you’ve probably built a sizeable email list.
With a combination of customer emails and those of various leads, you’ve probably got quite a few people you can send emails to.
However, if you’re not in the habit of keeping your email list active, you’ve probably got a little bulk. Click To TweetYou need to streamline that list and make sure it’s alive.
- Run your list through a validator.
- Ask your list to actively re-engage.
- Remove bounces and list members that don’t engage.
- Frequently retarget your list for new information.
This is going to keep your deliverability score up, which will keep you out of the spam folder.
That’s critical, considering email has such a high overall value.
Contrary to the popular belief that it’s dead.
That’s one of those ways that you can move ahead of your competition quickly.
But you’ve got to be creative about it and really learn to make your email rock.
Otherwise you won’t benefit.
But a truly solid email campaign can change your business.
Small Businesses Can Embrace Digital Marketing With Ease
It’s impossible to last without a solid digital marketing strategy.
Any small business that puts a great one in place is going to set themselves apart from their competition.
By learning to make digital marketing a way of life, you can assure that your business lasts.
You’ll break the statistics and become a legend in your field.
