Starting a small business is an exciting time, but it can also be incredibly stressful. There’s so much to do and since you are just starting out, there probably aren’t too many people to do it so you take on everything you can. Unfortunately, almost half of all small businesses don’t have a digital marketing strategy! Digital Marketing is THE way to get traffic to your business. Some small business owners may say their customers are not online, but they are! Companies using digital marketing have 2.8 times better revenue growth expectancy than those that don’t.
1) Website development. Did you know that 36% of small businesses did not have a website in 2020? All businesses need a website! Having a website gives your business credibility and allows you to reach more potential customers so your business can grow. Here are some important things to do with your website:
• Create a logo if you haven’t already, and put that logo, your company information, and website everywhere: your email signature, business cards, social media.
• Start a blog right away. Getting your content out into the interwebs will showcase your products/services. When creating blog posts, don’t write about how great your product is, instead, think about what someone who was in need of your product/service would want to read about and write about that. Give people something they can use, or something they can learn from.
• Make sure your website is mobile-friendly! 82% of people use their phones to make an online search before they make the decision to purchase from a store.
2) Social Media. Considering that almost everyone has a least one social media profile, you will certainly find many potential customers there. It’s imperative that your business have a Facebook and LinkedIn page. Having a company page on LinkedIn ups your business’s legitimacy and makes people feel more comfortable hiring you or buying your products. Social media is also a great place to run ads for your business. You’re able to customize your audiences in order to get your ad to only the people who would want or need your product/service. Social media PPC ads have blown up in the past few years. In 2019 alone, according to The Keen Folks, social media ads spend grew 20%, accounting for 13% of worldwide ad spend.
3) Keeping up with the competition. Your competition is online, whether you like it or not. Getting online and keeping up with digital marketing will allow you to be on the same page as them, and you can find ways to compete. You’ll also be able to look at your competitors and see what is working for them, and what isn’t.
4) SEO (Search Engine Optimization). As well as being on social media, you also want your potential customers to be able to find you in the SERPs (search engine results page) when they google keywords that pertain to your business. The higher up your website is, the more likely a customer will click on it. How does this get done? With great SEO! SEO can take your website from page 3 of the SERPs to the first page. Search engines drive around 93% of all website traffic, so you want to be on the first page.
5) Cost-effective. Digital marketing is much more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods. Think about purchasing billboard space in your town and how expensive that is monthly, and then think about hiring a digital marketing company to do all of your online marketing for you and for way less the monthly cost of just one billboard. You can even do some of your own digital marketing in-house, but we believe that small businesses should outsource anything that is not the core of their business.
Hopefully, after reading this you have a better understanding of how important digital marketing is to a small business! If you need help with digital marketing, please reach out to DVC here and schedule a free consultation.
