A small business guide to digital marketing

42% of small-scale entrepreneurs confess that they do not utilize social media channels as a marketing strategy to promote their company.

Marketing can be the cornerstone of your enterprise. Without an effective plan in place, your clients won’t notice your services.

Small businesses and startups should put more of an effort into marketing than established large companies.

Business owners face the daunting task of allocating both funds and time to marketing. Thanks to technology advances, digital marketing techniques are more accessible than ever allowing entrepreneurs to implement it into their businesses quickly and start reaping its benefits right away. This guide offers an introduction into some of the most common techniques so small entrepreneurs can start applying them immediately.

Every business aspires to increase sales. Marketing directly to your customer in order to convince them to purchase immediately or building brand recognition will ensure customers return later – the ultimate aim of marketing should always be increasing sales.

Social media marketing

Social media has quickly become the go-to method of communication for companies to interact with their clients in recent years. Not only can companies advertise products free of charge and interact directly with customers and clients on these social networks, they can also receive instant comments and feedback.

Establishing a following on social media platforms is of utmost importance, as the more people you can connect with, and your brand becomes known, the stronger its position becomes.

While social media provides many advantages for business, its use can also increase competition between companies online. An ever-increasing number of businesses have adopted Facebook and Instagram’s services for business use and are competing online against each other.

Create a content strategy

“Content is King” has become an increasingly common refrain among large corporations; however, many small businesses remain skeptical of content-based marketing as an effective solution.

Content can come in the form of blog entries, videos, images ebooks guides as well as infographics – serving multiple purposes in digital marketing.

Good content will grab people’s attention on social media feeds and draw them toward your company, drawing users in for further examination of your services – potentially leading to sales!

Advertise with pay-per-click (PPC)

Pay-per-click marketing can be an excellent way to drive sales growth with a manageable marketing budget.

PPC ads, or pay-per-click advertisements, appear at the top of search engine results pages when conducting online research. Companies pay to be featured here so their advertisements appear at the forefront.

Utilizing Google AdWords, businesses can easily create advertisements to promote their product or service and reach a targeted audience, set a budget for their campaign, and post it online. Cost of results may differ depending on competition in your sector; brands with lesser competition could get exposure at lower costs while businesses with greater rivals must pay more to feature their advertisements prominently.

Email Marketing campaigns

Marketing via email is the ideal way to stay in contact with customers and inform them of new products or special offers. Email marketing helps increase sales on your website while remaining relevant in recipient’s minds.

Where do I start?

No matter which digital marketing method you opt for, experimentation should always be key when starting off digitally. Find out what works and what does not, and adjust campaigns based on results.

Although many marketers would love for small-sized businesses to engage in all the possible marketing activities, this may not be feasible given their current workloads. Too much marketing activity may consume your time and energy while possibly leading to negative outcomes.