In this in depth guide you will learn how you can exponentially grow your small business with Digital Marketing.
Just imagine this: Your little bakery not only smells like a dream but also talks to folks on Facebook, shows off its goodies on a cool website, and even pops up on potential customer’s screens with ads. That’s the real magic of digital marketing, and today, we’ll guide you through the steps that can turn your business dreams into reality.
The Benefits of Digital Marketing
First things first, why should you care about digital marketing? Well, knowing digital marketing is like having a secret weapon when it comes to growing any kind of business. According to the latest stats 82% of small businesses worldwide say that digital marketing helped them achieve real success and exponential growth.
Digital Marketing isn’t just about following trends and looking like a pro online, it’s all about taking your business to the next level and opening doors to lots of new customers. Plus a good digital marketing strategy will also help you make your business more trustworthy which will also attract more and more new clients.
Unlike traditional offline marketing, with digital marketing you can pinpoint exactly who you want to see your message. On social media platforms, search engines and other digital channels let you define your target audience to ensure you only reach the right people, who are very likely to be interested in your offer, and become new clients.
It is also much more cost effective compared to traditional marketing. Just imagine this: a billboard on a busy street VS a Facebook Ad for example.. The cost difference can be huge, digital marketing lets you do more with less money. With PPC (pay per click) ads for example, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
Another huge benefit of digital marketing is that you can actually measure results. There are many analytics tools available for digital marketers that provide real time data. This data is very important, it shows you how many people saw, clicked and made purchases through your ad.
Having this data allows you to tweak your marketing strategy so you can always improve results.
Digital marketing can also bring your small business onto a global stage. Even if you are a local business in a small town, you can easily reach customers and potential clients beyond your local borders. Expanding your reach will open doors to new markets and opportunities you might never have dreamed of.
These are just a few examples why you should care about digital marketing in the first place, there are many more in depth benefits that we are going to unveil in more detail in this article.
So now let’s get started and learn how to start your Digital Marketing journey to get more clients to your small businesses!
Build a Strong Social Media Presence
Building a strong presence on social media is probably the most important step when it comes to digital marketing. So first you need to choose the right social media platform for your business. Not all platforms are the same and some might not be the best fit for your business, but generally, Facebook is a platform that should work for any type of business.
But for example, if you’re in a ‘visual’ business, like some kind of boutique, or bakery, etc. Instagram and Pinterest might be gold mines for your business. However I recommend building a presence on all major social platforms for bigger reach.
When you start building your brand on social media, think about it as a storybook, and make sure your business personality, visuals and messaging remain consistent on all platforms. It’s very important because consistency creates your brand identity and helps customers recognize, and most importantly remember your business.
When it comes to creating content for social media, keep in mind that your content needs to be engaging, this is crucial! Try to focus on eye catching images/videos, informative posts like mini guides for example, or behind the scenes stuff. Encourage your audience interaction with questions, polls etc. The more engaging content leads to more shares that can spread like wildfire!
Another thing that is super important is consistent posting. Social media loves consistency, so it’s important to have a posting schedule, whether it’s daily or 2-3 times a week, regular posting will keep your business on the radar. To save time, you can use scheduling apps to help you plan and automate your social media postings.
If you have been on social media for some time, you are probably familiar with hashtags. They are like search keywords for social media. So you should do some research to find the best and most relevant hashtags and use them in your posts to expand your reach. You can also create branded hashtags for your business to encourage user generated content.
When users start commenting, liking or sharing your content, make sure to acknowledge them. Whether it’s a simple thank you message or a response to a question, this engagement is important, it builds a positive relationship with your audience, and it also shows that there’s a real person behind the brand.
Create a Professional Website For Your Business
No matter what kind of small business you have, a professional website is highly recommended. Think of it as a modern storefront welcoming your visitors and showcasing your products or services. Just like a well designed physical store attracts visitors, a well designed website will draw new online visitors and potential customers to your business.
Creating a professional website isn’t hard at all these days. There are many tools like drag and drop website builders that allow anyone to build a website easily from scratch. Of course you can also hire a professional if you don’t want to spend time on building a website and want to make sure you get professional results.
However if you decide to do it yourself, what you will need is a domain name, a hosting plan, and a website builder like Wordpress for example.
Here are some resources that will help you getting started:
Domain Registrars:
Web Hosting Companies:
Website Builders:
When it comes to building your website, it’s important to make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. A user-friendly design will make sure that your visitors can navigate through your site effortlessly. According to a survey by KoMarketing, 86% of visitors want to see information about products and services on a business’s homepage.
It’s also very important to make your website mobile friendly. These days most people use smartphones for browsing the web, and your website must look good on mobile as well. You also need to make it load fast! Google reports that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load. So make sure your website is optimized for mobile and that it loads fast.
To be discovered by new potential clients, your website needs to be optimized for search engines. You need to use relevant keywords on your website and in your posts, create quality content and again, make sure your website loads fast, it’s important for SEO as well. You can also use free or paid SEO tools that will guide you step by step what you need to change to make your website optimized for SEO.
Such tools are:
Your website and social media profiles should work together seamlessly. Integrate social media buttons and feeds on your website to encourage visitors to connect with you on all social platforms. According to Social Media Today, 53% of consumers who follow a brand on social media are more loyal to that brand.
Just like your social media profiles, your website needs to be updated regularly with fresh content. A Blog or News section on your website not only provides valuable information to your visitors but it also improves SEO, so make sure your website has one of these sections and update them regularly.
How to use Paid Advertising to Get More Clients
Paid advertising is the fastest way to put your business into the spotlight and get more clients. Advertising comes in multiple different forms, like search engine ads with Google Ads, or social media advertising like Facebook Ads, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Each of these traffic sources have their own benefits so you can choose the one that suits your business goals the most.
The best thing about paid advertising is that you can target specific audiences. These ad networks offer detailed targeting options to narrow down your audience based on demographics, interests and behavior. On Facebook and Tiktok for example you can target users based on very detailed interests and online behaviors so you can laser target your potential clients with these platforms.
When it comes to choosing the right ad networks for your business, Google Ads is the best for search advertising. These search ads allow your business to appear on the top of Google search results when someone is searching for relevant keywords. So it’s important to do some research before you start with search ads, and target keywords that are related to your business.
On the other hand, Social Media Ads are giving you a goldmine of advertising opportunities. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok with billions of users worldwide allow you to reach huge audiences, and with their amazing targeting opportunities you can target only those who are most likely to become clients.
Making good ads is one of the most important things in online advertising. You need to have good ad copies that are clear and compelling. Focus on highlighting the benefits of your products or services, offer solutions to a specific problem, and use strong Call To Action.
Ad creatives are just as important as the ad copy. Use eye-catching visuals that are high quality and grab the attention of your visitors. You want to make them stop scrolling when they see your ads. Whether it’s an ad image or video, the visuals are very important.
Believe it or not, paid advertising doesn’t have to break the bank, especially when we are talking about small businesses. You can set a budget that you are comfortable with based on your goals and financials. Test and optimize your ad campaigns as you go, and increase your ad budget when you see positive results.
Another great benefit of online advertising is that you can actually measure results. Use ad tracking tools to track the performance of your campaigns. Monitor the key metrics such as click through rates (CTR), conversion rates (CR), and return on investment (ROI). This data allows you to tweak and refine your campaigns for better results.
The key to successful ad campaigns is consistent improvement. To be able to improve, you need to test for optimization. You can test by creating variations of your ads to find what is working the best for your audience. Test different images, ad copies, headlines to find winning combinations that you can scale.
How to use Email Marketing for Client Acquisition
Email marketing is a very powerful strategy that allows you to turn potential clients into long term customers. To do this, you need to build an email list. You can start by collecting emails of your customers, social media followers and website visitors.
The easiest and best way to start building an email list is by offering them valuable content or exclusive discounts in exchange for their email address. Once you have their email addresses, you can send them emails any time you want and promote anything you want basically for free.
Treat your email campaigns like personal conversations with your clients. Craft compelling content that speaks directly to their interests and needs. Personalized emails can generate up to six times higher revenue than non-personalized ones. Use the recipient’s name, segment your lists based on preferences, and tailor your content accordingly.
Email Subjects are extremely important. Make them excited with your subject lines and encourage them to open and read your email. This is very important because if they don’t open your emails, your future mails might end up in spam and no one will ever open them.
Keep in mind, email marketing is not just about promoting your products, you need to provide some kind of value. Try to offer exclusive deals, early access to sales or good educational content that solves a problem for your audience. Most people would sign up for email lists to receive some kind of value like discounts or educational content.
When you are crafting your emails, always make sure that they are responsive to all device types with easy to read text and clickable buttons. Guide your recipients on what to do next with a clear and compelling call to action. Whether it’s making a purchase, downloading something, or signing up for an event, your CTA should be clearly visible and easy to follow.
Automate your email marketing campaigns and send pre scheduled emails based on specific triggers or actions. For example you can set up and send welcome emails, onboarding sequences and follow up emails.
Use automation tools to personalize your emails. Adding the recipient’s name to the email, recommending products based on their previous purchases, or sending personalized content boosts the customer experience, and delivers higher conversion rates.There are many email marketing tools out there that you can use to build an email list, automate and personalize your emails.
Here is the top 3 Email Marketing tools I recommend:
Just like your Paid Advertising Campaigns, your email marketing campaigns can and should be tracked properly. Track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Analyze the data to understand what works the best with your audience. Experiment with different strategies and optimize regularly to achieve the best results.
Customer Retention Strategies
Once you successfully gather new clients for your business with digital marketing, the next important step is clients retention. You don’t want clients to just make a purchase and disappear, you need to make them become long term customers for your small business.
That’s why you need to ensure that they always have a positive and memorable experience. This is very important because most customers would leave businesses after just one single bad experience, so you need to take this very seriously.
However, no business is always 100% perfect, issues may happen sometimes and it’s okay. But make sure that you are always transparent and provide solutions for every single issue that may arise.
Always try to treat your clients as individuals, use data that you have collected and make the communication with them personalized. Address them by their names, send them recommendations based on their preferences and personalized offers like I mentioned before in the email marketing section.
Offer some kind of loyalty program or rewards to make customers feel valued and encourage them to continue doing business with you. This can be some kind of point based system, exclusive discounts, or members only perks. According to a study by Bond Brand Loyalty, 79% of consumers are more likely to continue doing business with brands that offer loyalty programs.
It’s also important to regularly ask for feedback from your customers. It can be done with surveys, reviews or direct messages. You need to understand their thoughts and need to be able to improve. Show them that their opinion matters and that you care about making their experience better.
You should do this on your social media profiles as well by responding to comments, asking for their opinions in your posts, and sharing user generated content. The key is to make them feel more connected with your business.
Customer retention is an ongoing process, so you need to regularly evaluate your strategies, analyze customer feedback, and adapt to their needs and preferences. If you are committed to continuous improvements your business will stay relevant and customer focused, which will help you grow and build long lasting relationships with your customers.
Adapting to Industry Trends
The first step in adapting to industry trends is to create an environment in your business where learning never stops. Make sure you are always well informed about the latest developments in your industry, subscribe to relevant publications, and attend conferences if possible.
Technology is often the catalyst for industry evolution, so you need to adopt tech innovations that fit your business strategy. Whether it’s adopting new software, leveraging automation tools, or integrating artificial intelligence, staying tech savvy can boost customer experiences and give your business an edge over others.
As we have learned before, an online presence is crucial these days, so make sure that your business isn’t only visible on social media platforms, but is also responsive to the latest industry and online trends. This includes making your website mobile friendly, interacting with clients on social media, and keeping up with changes made in search engine algorithms.
For example, the way we work these days has been changed significantly, with remote and flexible work becoming a new trend. Small businesses can adapt by embracing remote work policies, utilizing collaborative tools, and providing employees with flexibility. This not only aligns with industry trends but also enhances talent acquisition and retention, which is good for your business.
The industry trends often require new skill sets. Make an investment in your staff’s growth by giving them access to training courses and chances to advance their skills. A skilled and adaptable workforce is always a valuable asset for any kind of business.
Conclusion
To wrap things up,if you run a small business and want to get more clients online, digital marketing is the way to go. It has so many benefits compared to traditional marketing, like targeting and tracking your audience or the fact that it can be way cheaper than offline marketing.
From being active on social media to sending emails and keeping up with trends, it’s all about being flexible and focusing on what your customers want or need. It’s not just about having a social media presence, it also includes mind storming marketing strategies, running ads, sending emails, staying up to date with industry trends, and always being ready to adapt.
So building a digital marketing strategy for your small business is very important these days, and it can grow your business exponentially within a short period of time. But also keep in mind, digital marketing isn’t just about keeping up and being active online, it’s always about setting a framework for what comes next.
