Digital Marketing works – it is absolutely the most effective method of marketing, especially in the current climate. There are endless opportunities to be discovered online, and any small to medium business not pushing themselves in the online space is missing out. Digital marketing is flexible, scalable and most importantly measurable. Unlike traditional advertising, when you advertise online, you can easily track spend vs results, and see where your money is going.
What works well for one business may not work well for another, especially if the budget is tight. There are many different channels available and it can be tricky to decide which of these will work best for you and your customers.
Probably around half of the clients we speak to have no idea how well their marketing is currently going, or are not doing any digital marketing at all. We offer a service that is built around a client’s individual needs, linking up with the client’s Google Analytics account, to see historical data on how the site has been performing. Google Analytics is a free tool that can be easily and quickly added to your website, providing invaluable information on how many people are visiting, what pages are they looking at, how long are they spending on each page, where they have come from, and much, much more.
Once you’re clear on your current position, the next step is to set your individual business goals, and a timescale for achieving them. Importantly, they need to be measurable and achievable. It’s no good having a £100/mth marketing budget but saying you want to triple your revenue, for example. Once you’ve set these goals, it’s important to regularly review your performance in line with these goals to help keep you on track.
Traditionally, your marketing budget should be around 10% of total business revenue. However, this is entirely up to you, and should be in line with the goals you have set (We could write another blog solely on this topic!) It is vital to allow for ongoing marketing costs as well as the outlay for the initial website build; it is no good getting a shiny new website, if you haven’t planned how you are going to get traffic visiting it.
There are, however, some quick wins, that cost you nothing more than your time –
Organic Social Media:
Be it LinkedIn, Facebook or Pinterest, writing interesting content on social media about your product/service will allow you to engage with your customers, increasing awareness of your brand and giving you credibility in your field.
Google my Business:
This is a free listing which appears on Google Maps & Google Local search results. Update your profile on a regular basis, create posts to promote your services, and engage with customers to review your products.
Blogs:
Write about your products/services and share your knowledge with your customers. If you don’t find it easy to sit down and write a blog, why not do a video blog instead? As an added benefit, it will give your SEO a boost too!
If you want to take your marketing to the next level and to see quicker results, then the next step is to look at paid advertising channels –
Google isn’t just a search engine, it’s the world’s most popular paid advertising platform. Assign a budget, create your ads, and immediately sell your ads/services to a whole new customer base. Beware, Google can swallow up your budget quicker than you can say, “thanks for your purchase” – knowledgeable and experienced PPC experts are literally worth their weight in gold!
This is a more long term strategy and can be very time consuming. If executed well, investment into SEO can produce fantastic results and will often have a lower cost per conversion than any other marketing channel.
Email Marketing
As you are marketing to existing customers, email marketing can be incredibly fruitful. Using the valuable customer information collected at point of sale, this can be very specific with your targeting and is a total no-brainer for any successful business.
2020 saw a significant increase in people taking to social media to engage with their friends, family and brands. Choose the social media platform most relevant to your target audience; Pinterest or Instagram is more relevant for image heavy brand awareness, whereas Linkedin is ideal for B2B leads. Generating great social media content can be done by any business, no matter the size, and for ecommerce businesses, setting up a shop on your facebook page is a great way to promote your products.