Digital marketing isn’t a one size fits all solution, but it is a necessary part of any marketing strategy. Local businesses often do not recognise the benefit of a digital marketing, or they restrict themselves to only social media. Yet, with the advancement of online ad capabilities, targeting and automation, digital marketing opens up a vast marketplace that cannot be overlooked.
Digital success is about finding a specific strategy that will work for you and your business. Read on to find out your local business can capitalise on a personalised marketing strategy.
Social Media Ads
If you have been running your local business for a while, chances are you have set up a social media business account. Social media is a fantastic way to communicate with existing customers while uncovering new ones.
The next step in growing your audience is Social Media Ads, whether your business is B2B or B2C, social ads work to expand your reach and amplify your message. Whatever your chosen platform Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and so on, the advancement of ad targeting means that you can now pinpoint and target exact areas, ages, interests, behaviours, relationship status, and much more.
To ensure maximum return on your ad spends, it is also important to ensure your attached sales funnel is conversion optimised. You want your funnel to convert, so A/B testing is recommended. Try out different landing pages, target or customer audiences and visuals until you find out what works for your business.
SEO
When it comes to your business’ online presence, effective advertising needs to be supported by an optimized website. Your business doesn’t have to rank number one on Google to be successful, but research does show not many users scroll to the second page of results.
For a local business, you will want to at least rank well in your area, so small changes like keeping your Google My Business page up to date and posting regular updates on your website can go a long way to helping customers find you.
When choosing what imagery you will use, try to steer clear of stock photos where you can opt instead for candid, in situ photos (taken by a professional photographer – pictures on your website need to be quality!) to communicate your local appeal.
Lastly, your website should be responsive to all devices. As a local business, it’s likely that the majority of your traffic comes from mobile or tablet so it’s important to ensure that your website works as well on these as it would do on desktop.
If you think your business could benefit from a responsive, SEO optimised website get in touch today. Our team of designers, and content creators can create a beautiful and simple web design that will have users coming back time and time again.
Email Marketing
The most important aspect of a local business is its customers. Creating an open dialogue between them and you are the key to retaining customers and attracting new ones. We’ve established that social media marketing is vital for staying on your customer’s radar, but once they are in the sales funnel, email marketing helps them convert.
Customers who sign up for marketing emails are already interested in the product or service you provide, so now is the prime time to present them with special deals, offers or extra information to help them commit. Marketing emails can be as targeted or as broad as you like.
You can target customers by everything from area to web pages they have visited, just be sure to keep your emails short and sweet to avoid spamming.
Today’s consumers spend a lot of time online researching businesses and their products or services before making purchases. They expect to find quality content online that keeps them informed about the business, how it operates, and what kind of relationship it has with their communities. Make sure they can find this information by producing tons of quality content, ranging from text descriptions of products to behind-the-scenes videos of the company’s operations. Every audience is different, so use metrics like click-through rates and comments to see what works best.
Conclusion
Developing an effective digital marketing strategy for growing a small business can be tough. It requires research, hard work, and patience. When in doubt, find an online advertising agency that can help.
This blog is inspired by our friends from Red Media.
