We live in an age of a digital market. If you are a small business owner, you have to make the most of this particular niche in order to be competitive, successful and to attract the right customers. Studies show that about 90% of potential buyers don’t know a particular brand they want to buy from before starting their online search for a product. That sounds like a goldmine for a small business, right?
The internet makes online marketing for small business owners a piece of cake compared to the marketing strategies a decade ago. Here are the best website marketing strategies and tips that you, as a small business owner, must consider.
1. Have a Budget in Place
If you want to make your business more visible to the potential customers, the online market is certainly a good space to accomplish that. However, you need to have a limit on how much you are willing to spend on marketing. The last thing you want is to spend a huge chunk of your profits or capital that could be used for other business needs. Spending too much on marketing might put your business at risk.
Before committing to a certain sum, rationally evaluate how much your business can spare to marketing. Think about all the business costs – production, staff, taxes and more. There isn’t one budget that will suit every small business. However, one piece of advice does suit the majority of situations – be rational and start with a reasonable budget. Don’t invest too much at first as some marketing strategies might not work out.
2. Make the Most of Your Website
You probably already know that a website is a must for any business. A well set up and easy to navigate business website provides trust and showcases your company as a professional venture to the potential clients. That’s why when it comes to online marketing for small business, a well-designed site is one of the core components of a great marketing strategy.
One part of the budget mentioned in the first step should be allocated purely for the website building and maintenance. A trustworthy site first and foremost must be fast and perform really well. After all, page speed is one of the main metrics that That’s why finding the right hosting provider that will make sure the speed and performance are up to par is essential.
Additionally, make sure to pick a domain name that reflects your business (for example, www.yourbusinessname.com). For the more professional look, skip on the free website builders that offer addresses with subdomains (like www.yourbusiness.websitebuilder.com). Lastly, hiring a web designer to create a unique, responsive, and professional design might be a good idea (although you could try doing that on your own with a drag-and-drop website builder if your budget is tight).
3. Social Media and a Blog are Must-Haves
You must create a social media presence if you want to successfully market your small business. There’s just no other way around. Social media is here to stay – it is reported that an average user has 7.6 social media accounts! So one of the most important takeaways from this – be active on several different platforms. And there is definitely no shortage of social media platforms you can use to market your business.
You can use Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit, Quora, Twitter and many more to connect with your customers, pay attention to any suggestions about your business they might come up with. You never know, they might just come up with innovative ways that might take your company to the next level. Also, you should try paid ads on different platforms to reach a wider audience.
Additionally, adding a blog to your website is also something you should consider. A frequently updated blog has several benefits:
- Higher Google rankings – if your blog posts are
SEO optimized, your website will rank higher in the search results. That means more traffic to your website and, hopefully, more business!
- Reach a wider audience – sharing a blog post on your social media accounts will allow more potential customers to see your brand and consider using your services.
- Show a personal side of the business – write about the topics that are interesting to the readers, not only promotional posts about your services.
4. Target the Right Audience
This tip here is the basic 101 of digital marketing for small businesses and something that every business owner should know. Making it easy for customers to find you is one thing and that counts for nothing if you don’t understand who your target audience is. Give yourself enough time to do some research on the market and know who to carter to otherwise you will be wasting your advertising money.
You do not have to spend money hiring a professional to do research for you (although that might be very helpful). If you are selling baby products, for example, you do not need a rocket scientist to tell you to target mothers or new parents.
As a business owner, you will be able to figure this on your own without having to pay someone to tell you what you already know. Look at your product carefully and determine your audience based on their age, sex, income, location, profession, and other traits. Targeting your audience is especially useful on social media platforms like the majority of platforms offer tools to easily reach a desired demographic.
5. Know the Goals of Your Business – Both Short Term and Long Term
Goals are what your business aims to achieve and these can be either long term goals or short terms ones. As soon as you know your target audiences, it is time to know what will make the business flourish which means knowing the intentions. As the owner of the small business, you will be measuring your success on indicators like cash revenue, profits, and sales.
Short term goals might include selling X number of products, reaching X number of clients or gathering X number of followers on your social media. But look at the bigger picture – what is your business set to achieve in a year? In 5 years? That might be being a leader in your industry, building a prominent and recognizable brand.
If you are hitting your monthly target (your short term goal) it means your online marketing strategy is working because you have a clear idea of what you want your business to achieve on a monthly, weekly or yearly basis.
Online Marketing for Small Business: Explore Your Options
There are many approaches to digital marketing for small businesses to explore. Proper online marketing can turn any small business into an enterprise venture. Keep in mind your budget, make sure your business website is at its peak performance, and take advantage of all possible social media platforms as well as a blog. These are the pillar starting points of a simple marketing strategy. Don’t be afraid to experiment and add your own!
