With the advancements in digital technology and online platforms, businesses are now starting to move away from traditional marketing methods to concentrate on the digital environment.
Digital technologies have allowed small businesses to generate the highest possible returns they can from a limited marketing budget. Below are a number of easy to implement digital marketing techniques, that will do wonders for your awareness and customer interaction.
Local search marketing
For new or small businesses who are looking to service a particular area, local search marketing is a great place to start.
Local search marketing is the process of optimising your digital offerings, platforms and listing so that they show up in relevant local searches. For example, as a local restaurant, when people search for restaurants in your area your place will be one of the first listings shown.
The best place to start is to ensure all your online platforms have the correct and complete address of your business, so when people search in that area, the search engine will pull your details straight away.
Building and implementing a local search marketing strategy is not a simple fix or something you can start and think it will take care of itself. But when done properly and maintained regularly, it can do wonders for your business.
Optimise your website
If you were a customer, how would you feel about your website? Does it look sleek and modern or does it look like something from 1995?
In today’s consumer world, where we want everything to be fast, accessible and easy on the eyes, the look and feel of your website is critical. A few things to watch for; make sure your website loads quickly, is attractive, easy to navigate and has relevant calls to action.
You must also ensure your site is fully optimised to be efficient on mobile phones. As consumers increasingly use their mobiles to search and interact with brands, having a website that doesn’t operate fully on mobile could be the difference between you and your competition.
Understand keywords
Keyword research and optimisation should form a critical part of any businesses digital marketing strategy. It is a great way to understand what customers are searching for when they look for your products or services online.
Gathering and understanding keywords is fairly easy now. With tools such as Google Adwords and Google Trends making it easy to find relevant keywords. However, even partially typing your offering into Google and seeing what their recommend search is, will give you a basic understanding of relevant keywords.
From there you will be able to sprinkle these relevant keywords throughout your online platforms. This will make it easier for people to find you as they search for similar products or services.
Collect email addresses
Whether you shop online or in physical retail stores when was the last time you didn’t get asked for an email address or to sign up to a loyalty club?
It seems like every time we go to buy something, we get asked for our email. There is a good reason for this. Collecting customers or potential customers email addresses is a simple and efficient means of gathering data from our customer base.
From here, you will be able to stay in contact with them, by sending them regular emails which can include news and information, special deals or even personalised content. Ideally, leading to the formation of a strong relationship built on trust and mutual benefit.
Online reputation is key
In this world of online reviews and consumer backlash, small businesses need to be aware of, monitor and build a strong brand reputation.
One of the best ways of doing this is to monitor your social media platforms, to see how the public is interacting with your brand. There are also programs available that allow you to see when people post about you on their profiles or other public social pages.
In order to build a positive reputation, it’s critical you stay active on your channels. Make sure, you post regular value-adding content, whether it be special deals, blogs or relevant articles. On top of this, make sure you are active in solving issues that may arise.
Facebook ads
The crowning jewel of a digital marketing strategy is Facebook ads. This is a sure fire way to get your products and services out in front of your target audience.
Facebook has a number of various ad types which you can build into your digital marketing strategy. Facebook ads are a great way to increase local awareness, drive traffic to a landing page or website and showcase products or services.
To get the most out of it, you will need to actively monitor your ads and tweak them when needed. Facebook ads are also a great way of getting the most out of a small budget.
Whether you are a newly launched startup of an established brand, every business needs to have a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.
With the advancements in digital technologies, it is now easier than ever for small businesses to make the most out of the resources they have.