Digital Marketing For Small Businesses Is Vital
Marketing is important for any business, but digital marketing for small businesses in 2022 is vital. In recent years, digital marketing has seen a surge compared to the more traditional marketing methods, and it looks like there are no signs of it going away any time soon. In this post, we’ll explain how digital marketing helps small businesses and how to make the most of it for your business.
What Is Digital Marketing?
The thought of digital marketing for a lot of small business owners can be fairly daunting, but what is digital marketing?! Put simply, it’s an overarching term that covers a variety of online techniques and channels used to promote your business and its products/services. But it doesn’t have to be scary and it can be really beneficial to help your business grow. So what does the term ‘digital marketing’ actually cover?
Websites
There are many digital marketing channels, but websites are at the very forefront of digital marketing - It’s usually the place all online marketing campaign traffic is directed and where customers are encouraged to take an action. Your site will showcase your business, and what it offers and give customers the option to buy in. It’s often a customer's first engaged touching point, so you’ll need to make sure is user-friendly, quick and portrays your business well.
Social Media
Since the introduction of the first major social media channel, Facebook, in 2004, social media has become a vital part of any digital marketing strategy for small businesses. The primary goal here is to build brand awareness and get your products/ services seen!
Having a presence across relevant social media platforms is important, but try to ensure it’s the right platform for your target audience. Targeting Gen Z? Hit up TikTok. A slightly older audience? Facebook is probably for you. Mainly B2B? LinkedIn should be your go-to.
And if you want to push social media even further to drive traffic, then you should look into social media marketing.
Search Engines
Since the early 2000s, search engines have completely revolutionized the way people use the internet and by 2012, Google was handling around 3 billion searches every day. Being visible on these sites can be a real game changer, and there are a couple of ways you can go about this.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay Per Click (aka. PPC) is the process of using paid advertising to get a website to the top of search engines… quickly. Through paid ads, and targeting specific searches, you can get your business in front of thousands with just a few clicks. To find out more about the PPC services we offer, click here.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search engine optimisation (aka. SEO) helps your site climb the search engine rankings and rank in those lucrative spots. Getting your site onto page one is the holy grail - it’s stated that more than 90% of people never click on the second page.
There are no quick wins or magic formulas here, but it’s vital if you want your business to have good visibility for relevant search keywords. To find out more about the SEO services we offer at Arise, click here.
Other Digital Marketing
Depending on your business type and customer base, there may be other marketing activities you’d like to explore. This could include email marketing, affiliate marketing, content marketing, SMS, and video… the list is almost endless.
Why Is Digital Marketing Important?
Why is digital marketing important? Well, it’s not just important - it’s essential! The internet has the power to connect your small business with its existing and potential customers, no matter who or where they are. Almost 5 billion people use the internet each and every day and it’s important your brand has its fair share of exposure.
The Benefits Of Digital Marketing
There are plenty of benefits of digital marketing, however, we’ve summed up a few below.
Reach people anywhere, at any time
The internet never sleeps and the power of the internet is huge. In fact, it’s used by a gigantic 63% of the population worldwide! The opportunity for your small business to reach more people is right there.
The Right Target Audience
Digital marketing can be highly targeted - gone are the times of placing posters across town and hoping the right people walk past. With the vast majority of digital channels, you can reach your exact target audience, no matter how niche.
Cost
By now, you’re probably asking ‘but hold on, how much does digital marketing cost?’ Well, it’s actually relatively cheap. Depending on your chosen channels, and level of knowledge, it’s very affordable and you can make a very reasonable impact with a small budget.
Measurable
So how to measure the effectiveness of digital marketing? Well actually, that’s quite easy. Unlike the majority of traditional offline marketing, digital marketing is very measurable.
Through a tracking platform like Google Analytics, you’re able to track everything from online sales to phone calls and attribute them to their original source. This means you can accurately track ROI and discover the channels that work best for you.
How much does digital marketing cost?
If you're looking to outsource your digital marketing, you'll want to know how much it'll cost. Well, the cost of digital marketing really depends on quite a few different factors. All agencies will have their own preferred pricing models, which is how they prefer to bill clients. This could be specific to each and every service that they offer. For example, the cost of SEO could be completely different to the cost of PPC. It also depends on a few other factors such as the size of the project. It's always best to provide as much detail as possible to get an accurate quote and then compare this to other providers and find the one that suits you.
In Conclusion
So digital marketing is great! Just ensure it’s relevant to your business and your target audience.
So there you have it, a whistle-stop tour of how digital marketing helps small businesses.
Digital Marketing Support
If you’re thinking ‘this all sounds great, but I know nothing about digital marketing!’, that’s where we can help! Here at Arise, we’re a seasoned team of digital gurus, working with a range of clients throughout the UK, helping them with their digital marketing. So for more information on our digital marketing services or for a quick chat, get in touch to see if we can help.