Are you researching types of digital marketing channels and studying digital marketing examples for your small business? Getting the locals in your door boosts sales and challenges your competition. Melt local patron's hearts by utilizing these five digital marketing options...
5 Digital Marketing Options Your Small Business Should Be Using
As a local business, chances are you have wondered if it is worth investing time and money into digital marketing. the answer is yes. To survive and thrive in the digital age, you need to have a digital presence to help you gain and retain customers.
Over 90% of consumers will look for something online before making a purchase, including local businesses. In turn, those that appear at the top of their search terms win the customer sale. If that is your company, your competitors probably need to be looking at your digital footprint and they would have work to do. If it is the opposite, your team would have work to do.
It goes without saying that the scope for digital marketing is limitless. No longer are you stuck deciding between leaflets, newspaper, radio ads, or handing out business cards.
What are the best digital marketing options available for your local business? Let's explore...
A Website And Social Media
Your first step with digital marketing options is to launch a well-created, functional website that is easy to navigate. If you cannot afford to hire a professional website developer just yet, choose a URL related to your business and set up a basic website after arranging for web hosting. The costs will be manageable.
Your company website will promote your business round the clock to find new customers and give existing customers the information they need to purchase from you.
Creating social media accounts for your business is fairly easy on:
Each social media marketing platform is different, so while you should display a consistent brand message, you also need to adapt your posts to fit each platform.
When creating and posting to your social media accounts:
- Determine where your ideal customers spend most of their time and create a business page there
- Post frequently and keep your page up to date
- Experiment with content formats like images, videos and infographics
- Actively engage your audience and reply to their comments
- Respond to direct messages quickly ad professionally
Instead of posting only updates about your products and service offerings, humanize your brand with:
- Behind-the-scenes photos and videos
- Customer testimonials
- Business milestone dates
- Giveaways
- Shared posts about causes your company supports
Your posts should always affirm your brand voice and values.
Local SEO
You need to be practicing good SEO. SEO is the practice of using keywords and phrases throughout your website and in social content to help you rank in search engine results.
However, if you are only serving your local area, your SEO efforts should target the correct nearby demographics.
Local SEO can help you reach a specific geographical location. However, it is a big task to manage and ensure maximum efficacy, so you need local business SEO services to help you target the right demographic for your business.
When your company ranks high in search results, Google is essentially promoting it for you -- to people who are looking for what you have to offer.
Essential Digital Marketing Options: Google My Business
Your Google Business Profile (Google's term for your Google listing) is what allows your business to appear:
- in Google Maps results
- the local section of Google Search results
- the right-side Knowledge Panel in Search results
When someone types in your business name and location.
This free listing should be a top priority because Google improves the ability to tailor search results to the searcher's location.
The key to using your Business Profile to promote your company is to confirm ownership of your listing using your free Google My Business account. Once you have control, you can optimize it to appear higher in search results and more relevant searches. The platform also supports social posts.
Encourage Feedback
Actively ask for testimonials and reviews posted online from current or previous customers. There is nothing like gaining a good reputation via word of mouth. If that word of mouth can be shared digitally, then even better.
Let customers know they can leave you reviews. List for them all the platforms or websites where they can do so.
Avoid arguing with negative feedback. Instead thank them for their care to share their thoughts and let them know that you will seriously consider their insight. After all, if you don't know what is going wrong, you cannot fix it.
However, even with this possibility, online reviews can help you to boost your reputation online. They give potential customers a better idea of what to expect when interacting with your business.
Google Ads
While SEO can help you get to the top of search engine results pages, it is a long-term strategy that can take weeks or even months to see results. Google Ads is the way to go for more immediate exposure if you have the budget.
Ads from Google appear at the top of search engine results pages, above organic and local listings. Among the available search engines, Google is the most popular because it:
- controls the lion's share of search engine traffic
- has a high level of flexibility
- has great ad building features
- contains detailed performance metrics
Mastering Google Ads can be a bit of trial and error. Still, a fully optimized ad campaign can be hugely beneficial to your company. It is worth persevering with creating the right ads so you benefit from the visibility online.
Final Thoughts On Digital Marketing Options And Local Business
Some believe there are 4 types of digital marketing to know about. Regardless, More and more businesses shifting to digital, online options. It is vital your local business is visible online to harness the power that digitization can offer.
Implementing the digital marketing options mentioned in this article for your small business can help improve your marketing efforts to more easily reach your target markets.
