Why Digital Marketing is Important for Small Business Growth
If you're wondering why digital marketing is important for small business or feeling confused by the seemingly endless "marketing strategy of the month" recommendations you hear about, you're not alone. No matter how large or small your business is, having a well thought out digital strategy will help you stay competitive and more effectively reach your target customers. It can make or break your success.
Some of the reasons digital marketing is so essential for small businesses include the ability to target your audience, improve your visibility, produce leads and quickly and accurately assess results so you can adapt. Whatever mix of strategies you decide on, they need to be built on a solid foundation if you want long term results. That needs to include a clear message, a website that's desinged to convert and is optimized for SEO, and a way to capture interest and follow up.
Here's how it can help you:
1. More Easily Reach Your Target Audience
First off, with digital marketing you can cost-effectively reach your target audience using specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This can have a huge impact on your chances for success. Here are a few ways you can do it:
Utilize Social Media Platforms
Fact: Facebook is the primary content distribution channel for marketers today. (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
One way to connect with people is through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn. All can be excellent tools for reaching potential customers where they spend their time online. And, you can reach customers without spending on paid advertising. The key is to post valuable content on a regular basis and do it consistently for longer periods of time. If you choose to use them for paid advertising, these platforms allow for very specific targeting and tracking of your marketing efforts so you can quickly measure and adjust.
Leverage Email Marketing Campaigns
Fact: 64% of small businesses say their email copy is effective or very effective. (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Also, email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to engage with both existing and potential customers directly in their inbox. Email open rates typically range from 15% - 25%, making it an essential channel for delivering targeted messages that drive results. This is another method that allows very accurate tracking so you can measure and adjust quickly. Check out Mailchimp's email marketing benchmarks to see how your campaigns stack up.
Search Engine Marketing
Fact: Google has 86% of desktop search engine market share world wide
Another option for paid search is Google. Google has a powerful platform that offers the ability to target very specific search terms and demographics. But, it can be complicated to set up correctly for your business and mistakes can get costly with little return. Unless you are familiar with Google's platform we encourage people to work with someone at first. We do not offer this service, but can refer you to a trusted partner if you're looking for help.
Key Takeaway:
Digital marketing offers some incredible tools to speak directly to your target audience. Social media can be effective free resource if you're willing to post high quality content on a consistent basis. Or, you can run targeted ads. Email marketing offers the highest return rate, by far. Of course, you need their email address for that to work. We cover that below.
We put together a quick checklist that covers key components. Grab a copy of our Marketing Essentials Checklist to get you started.
2. Increase Your Visibility So You Get Seen
In order for any digital marketing strategy to work, people have to see it. There are a few ways to help ensure that happens.
Paid Advertising
First, you can use paid advertising through a variety of platforms. This can produce quick and sometimes substantial results, but they are often short lived. When your ad campaign stops, you're stream of new business dries up. Paid ads can be an important component of an overall strategy, but relying on them exclusively can get very, very expensive in the long run.
Optimize Your Website for SEO
Fact: 69% of marketers invest in SEO.
SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, should be an important component of any online marketing strategy. In short, you're helping search engines know what you do so they can show you to people searching for products or services like yours. SEO is a longer term strategy and can take time for results to show up. But, once they do, with ongoing maintenance those results tend to carry forward with little additional expense from you. Effective SEO needs to be part of the foundation of any digital markting effort that's focused on the long term.
Create Valuable Content
Another longer term strategy that will enhance your visibility and authority is creating valuable content for your customers. This can be in the form of informational blog posts, webinars or even short form videos. An important benefit of doing this is that you can use it to boost short term engagement through ads and also long term engagement by keeping it available on your website.
Key Takeaway:
Use ads to get the word out quickly. Longer term, a well-optimized website will rank higher in search results, driving more organic traffic to your site. And, publishing high-quality content regularly can help establish you as an authority in your industry while also attracting new visitors through search engines and social media shares.
We put together a quick checklist that covers key components. Grab a copy of our Marketing Essentials Checklist to get you started.
3. Generate New Leads For Your Business
Targeting potential buyers is important, but most people won't buy the first time they hear about you. You need a way to capture interest and stay in touch. Even if your message is clear and you have a great website, without a plan for nurturing their interest you're just hoping they remember you when they decide to move forward. These folks are your future customers. So, you should stay in touch but you have to earn permission to do it. And, that's where lead magnets come in.
Use Lead Magnets To Attract Prospects
A great way to get introduced to new visitors is by offering a valuable piece of content in exchange for contact information. The key to success here is that whatever you're offering should be genuinely valuable to your customer. It's the first exposure they will have to you and the impression you leave them with may determine whether they come back. Doing this right will help you build your email list and generate more leads for your business. Check out OptinMonster's list of lead magnets to get inspired.
Use Landing Pages To Capture Leads
Design a standalone web page specifically for capturing leads with a compelling headline, persuasive copy, and a clear call-to-action (CTA) to significantly increase conversion rates and generate more qualified leads for your business.
Key Takeaway:
Lead generation should be a core part of any marketing plan and digital marketing offers great tools for this. Offer great content, feature it on a dedicated landing page and be ready to follow up with people via email after they give you their contact information. This is where the power of email marketing starts to come into play.
4. Quickly Measure Results And Adapt
Another great benefit of digital marketing is that it offers nearly real time feedback on the performance of your digital marketing initiatives. This gives you the ability to test and adapt quickly while you hone in on the right strategy for your business. Each platform brings with it its own set of key measurements. A few of the most important are:
Website: Google Analytics is a free, powerful tool that can provide key insights into website performance, including traffic sources, user behavior, conversion rates and more.
Social Media: Focus on engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, retweets and reach (the number of distinct users who view your content) to achieve success with social media.
Email: Open rates and click-through rates are two vital KPIs to monitor when evaluating email marketing campaigns' effectiveness, and industry benchmarks can help you gauge how well you're doing compared to others in your niche.
SEO: Be sure you have your Title, H1, Meta and Body Tags in place at a minimum and that they match the keywords you're trying to rank for. Keep an eye on organic search traffic, keyword rankings, and backlinks to assess your SEO efforts.
No matter which options you use, be sure to review your success regularly so you can continuously adjust and improve.
You Need A Solid Foundation
Whatever mix of strategies you decide on, they need to be built on a solid foundation if you want long term results. That includes:
A clear message that communicates how you solve your customers' problems.
A website that's desinged to convert visitors into customers.
Implementing SEO best practices.
A way to capture interest and follow up.
Donald Miller's book "Building a StoryBrand" is a great resource for each of these important foundational pieces.
For help clarifying your message there is a great, free resouce from Donald Miller here: www.mystorybrand.com
If you're ready to dig into your current marketing effort and start building for the long term, we've put together a Digital Marketing Essentials Checklist to get you started.
Key Takeaway:
Small businesses need to establish a clear message and unique selling proposition (USP) as the core of their marketing efforts. Your website should convert visitors into customers, be optimized for SEO, and make use of an effective CRM system to manage interactions with potential and existing customers.
Did We Answer The Question?
Digital marketing is important for small business because of the tools and insights it offers to reach your target customer, stay in touch and measure results. The combination gives you the ability to level the playing field against much larger competitors that you can't get through any other means.
Plus, it is crucial for small businesses to have a strong online presence because that's where your customers get their first impression of you.
And, digital marketing is scalable and allows you to measure the success of your campaigns in real-time. You can track website traffic, engagement rates, and conversion rates to determine what is working, what is not and adapt. This data-driven approach enables you to make informed decisions and optimize your marketing efforts for maximum ROI.
Whatever mix of strategies you choose, they need to be built on a solid foundation. This includes having a clear message, a well-designed website that is optimized for search engines, a plan for capturing interest and following up, and being active on social media platforms. Creating valuable content and engaging with your audience on various channels will help establish trust and credibility.
Let's have a conversation
If you've gotten this far, your marketing efforts are important to you and we'd love to have a conversation. We'll listen to your goals and offer suggestions on areas where you could improve your current marketing. At the end of the call, we'll be clear about whether we think we can help you or if you'd be better served by one of our trusted partners. If you want to move forward, we'll provide a detailed proposal that we can talk through together. We look forward to connecting.
Set up a no-obligation discovery call with us here: Discovery Call.
In the meantime, grab a copy of our Digital Marketing Essentials Checklist to get you started.