If you think having a Facebook profile and a simple website is enough of a digital presence, then we have bad news—you’re leaving a ton of money on the table and pretty much giving your competition more customers. Why? Digital marketing makes it easier to reach out to your target market and let them know you exist. If you aren’t making an effort to have an online presence on as many different platforms as possible, then you’re really missing out. In this guide, our WDK team will explain what a digital marketing strategy entails and why it is so crucial for your small business.
Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Small Business
The only way to succeed in digital marketing is to have a strategy. In simple terms, this means you need a roadmap for determining what goals you want to achieve and how you’re going to get there.
With so many moving parts and varying elements, you can’t just assume that putting up a new blog post on your website randomly or adding a couple of Facebook posts a week will be enough. Rather, you need a comprehensive plan to cover all the various channels your future customers frequent. Plus, you’ll want a way to keep your team on the same page in the process of growing your brand’s online presence.
A digital marketing strategy does this and more. Not only does it help you incorporate the best options into your overall online advertising, but it can also help keep you on schedule and within your budget.
12 Benefits of Digital Marketing for Small Business
As we just explained, you’ll want a marketing strategy if you’re looking to grow your company’s presence online. But what if you aren’t already using digital media or are using it very sparingly? Why might you want to start increasing your presence online? Here are twelve benefits of digital marketing for small businesses.
1. Higher Conversion Rates
No matter what industry you’re in, the main reason why you would advertise online—either through your own business website or social media—is to try to convert potential customers. This can be either new leads that your sales team then follows up on or those who make an upfront purchase.
If you have a digital marketing strategy, you can optimize your campaigns for higher conversion rates. The end results? Better sales and more growth for your business, which means attaining your goals faster and more easily.
2. Improved Lead Generation
Just like the goal to get more customers for your business, you also want more potential leads. Maybe these people aren’t ready to ask for a quote or make a purchase, but they do have a need for your products or services in the future.
When you use digital marketing tactics like search engine optimization (SEO), local marketing, and paid ads (PPC), you can boost brand recognition and position yourself as an industry leader. In most cases, they’ll remember who you are when it is time to finally buy or schedule an appointment.
3. Increased Revenue
Have you ever heard the saying that it takes money to make money? Digital marketing is exactly like this. While it might require hiring a digital marketing agency or learning how to complete certain tasks on your own, the end results for the future means increased revenue for your business.
If you’ve ever wanted to see growth and weren’t sure how to get there, digital advertising strategies are the best place to start. After all, there’s never been an easier time to reach your customers than right now through the internet and social media.
4. Target the Right Audience
How much do you know about your ideal customer? If you’ve been in business for a long time, there’s probably a good chance you know exactly what they like, dislike, and how they respond to certain topics.
That said, digital marketing makes it simple to target the right audience. While you might not have an option on who sees your billboard on the side of the highway or who views your television commercial, digital marketing tactics allow you to directly target the right audience for your brand, product, and message. In turn, this can lead to a much higher conversion rate and better success for your campaigns.
5. Build Brand Awareness
Not all marketing is geared towards making a final sale, especially if you have a high-end or super niche product or service. Instead, sometimes it is better to work on building brand awareness—i.e. getting potential customers to understand who you are while building trust with them.
Digital marketing makes this incredibly easy by allowing you to share content with added value that helps your audience get acquainted with your business. Using everything from social media ads to website blog posts, the more value you can give your potential leads and customers, the more likely they’ll remember your name when they need what you offer.
6. Cost-Effective for Smaller Budgets
If you’ve looked into the cost of traditional advertising these days, then you probably experienced a bit of sticker shock looking at the price. The truth is that the cost of things like billboard ads, radio jingles, and print marketing has skyrocketed over the last few years.
Instead, digital marketing is a lot more viable and cost-effective for smaller budgets. Most online campaigns can start at around a few hundred bucks a month and go up as high as you’re able to spend within your budget. It also offers a lot more customization, offering the ability to choose between several different channels or mediums until you find the right one for connecting with your ideal audience.
7. Level the Playing Field with Competitors
Another reason to consider using digital marketing for your small business? It helps you level the playing field with your competitors. After all, they’re already out there and marketing their business online. If you’re just now starting, then you have a bit of catch-up to play.
The good news is that it doesn’t take long to get there. Most campaigns can go live almost immediately and results can be apparent in a few weeks or months. Depending on your budget, you could even start getting your phone to ring in a few days with pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
8. Ability to Compete with Large Corporations
Have you ever wondered how small companies manage to compete with large corporations? The answer is through digital advertising. With online ads, even newbies in the marketplace can creatively reach major businesses in record time.
Is this easy to do? Not always. That’s why having a digital marketing team like WDK on your side is a good idea. With our proven strategies, we can help get your company name out in front of some of the biggest players in your niche.
9. Utilize the Power of Social Media
There’s no doubt that social media is more powerful than ever. Your customers are likely on more than just one platform, too. That’s why it is important to have a strong strategy and really utilize the power of social media to grow your business.
With digital marketing, you’re doing far more than just adding the occasional post when you remember to do so. Instead, you have a clear roadmap to follow that keeps your brand voice and message in focus while delivering quality content to your target market on the platforms they’re already using.
10. Target Local Consumers
If you have a brick-and-mortar business or rely on local customers, then digital marketing is an absolute must-have addition to your advertising process. Today’s consumers want to be able to jump on Google and find the products and services they need locally in a hurry.
If you aren’t taking advantage of this, then you’re really missing out. In fact, there’s a good chance that your competitors are already doing this, meaning they’re getting that business you’re missing out on. Yikes!
11. Provide Real-Time Customer Service
Digital marketing also makes it far easier to provide real-time customer service to your clientele. Instead of waiting on a phone call or an email to address their needs, they can reach you via social media.
In addition, a strong digital marketing presence means you’re ready to address any reviews they leave online, both good and bad. Speed is always a good thing when it comes to customer service, so this is one area where you’ll really want to jump right in.
12. Track and Measure Results
When it comes to spending money on advertising, you want to be able to track and measure results. After all, how do you know if something is working if you aren’t keeping tabs on it?
Digital marketing is one of the easiest methods for doing this. Not only do you receive tons of data about your website visitors and social media followers, but most of it happens in real-time. This cuts out a big chunk of the guesswork that you can have with traditional marketing campaigns.
Looking for a Digital Marketing Agency that Specializes in Small Businesses?
If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency that specializes in helping small businesses, WDK can help. We’ve assisted tons of new and up-and-coming companies with all of their digital marketing strategy needs. Best of all, we can help suggest the best opportunities for your particular niche, goals, and budget. Please contact us today for details or for more on small business marketing, read our 10 marketing tips for small business.
Additional Resources:
- What is the Difference between Inbound and Outbound Marketing?
- The Importance of Branding
- 4 Types of Digital Marketing
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