Small Business Marketing: Adapting to the Digital Revolution

Starting a Journey into Efficient Internet Marketing for Your Own Webpage

What kind of online content production strategy should I adopt? Your content generation approach mostly hinges on the specific needs of your target audience throughout the numerous phases of the acquiring course. Start by creating ideal customer profiles (use these easily accessible templates or persona creation tools) to decipher the key aims and obstacles that your target audience faces in relation to your personal enterprise. At its center, your internet content should aim to assist them in achieving these goals and conquering these obstacles.

Small Business Marketing Strategies

Further, you should evaluate when your viewers would be most open to absorbing this content, in accordance with their position in the buying process. This is referred to as material mapping. The main objective of material mapping is to align material to:

1. The characteristics of the individual consuming the content (buyer personas are integral here).
2. The closeness of that individual to finalizing a transaction (their lifecycle stage).

Regarding the presentation of your information, there’s a abundance of alternatives to try with. Here are some suggestions we advise for each phase of the buyer’s journey:

    Recognition Stage

  • Blog posts. Extremely successful for augmenting your natural traffic when combined with a powerful SEO and keyword strategy.
  • Infographics. These are incredibly shareable, which increases your opportunities of discovery via social networking when others spread your information. (Utilize these free visual aid samples to start your efforts.)
  • Short videos. These are also highly spreadable and can present your brand to new target audiences by hosting them on platforms like YouTube.
  • Consideration Stage

  • Ebooks. These are excellent for lead acquisition as they tend to be more elaborate than a blog post or infographic, implying that someone is more likely to exchange their contact data to access it.
  • Research reports. This high-quality material is also excellent for lead generation. Research reports and new findings for your industry can function in the awareness stage as well since they are frequently picked up by the media or field press.
  • Webinars. Being a more detailed, interactive variant of video material, webinars serve as an effective consideration stage material format as they provide more comprehensive material than a blog post or short video.
  • Choice Stage

  • Case studies. Detailed case studies on your site can be a potent type of information for those on the edge of making a purchasing decision, as it aids in positively influencing their decision.
  • Testimonials. If case studies aren’t well-suited for your company, having brief testimonials scattered around your website is a worthy alternative. For B2C brands, consider testimonials in a broader sense. If you’re a clothing brand, these could manifest as photos showcasing how others have styled a shirt or dress, sourced from a branded hashtag where people can contribute.

Planning the Course for Digital Marketing

  1. Define your goals.
  2. Initiating digital marketing demands the explicit identification and definition of your goals, as these will dictate your approach. If your goal is to boost brand awareness, you may desire to concentrate on reaching new audiences via social platforms.

    Alternatively, you may wish to surge sales for a specific product — in this case, focusing on SEO and optimizing material to draw potential buyers to your website is essential. If sales are your aim, you might desire to experiment with PPC campaigns to drive website traffic through paid ads. Regardless of the specifics, shaping a digital marketing strategy becomes significantly easier once your company’s overarching goals are established.

  3. Identify your target audience.
  4. We’ve touched on this earlier, but the beauty of digital marketing lies in the possibility to target specific audiences. However, this advantage is meaningless without first pinpointing your target audience. Your target audience can vary depending on the channel or goals you have for a particular product or campaign.

    For example, you may have noticed that your Instagram audience leans towards younger individuals who prefer amusing memes and quick videos, while your LinkedIn audience comprises older professionals seeking more tactical advice. You’ll need to tailor your content to cater to these distinct target audiences.

  5. Establish a budget for each digital channel.
  6. Your budget should reflect the different elements of digital marketing you utilize. If your focus is on inbound techniques like SEO, social platforms, and content creation for an already established site, the silver lining is that you don’t need a significant budget.

    However, for outbound techniques like online advertising and buying email lists, some costs will be incurred. The extent of these costs is dependent on the level of visibility you want to gain as a result of the advertising.

  7. Strike a harmonious balance between paid and free digital strategies.
  8. A well-rounded digital marketing tactic generally necessitates a mix of both paid and free elements for optimal effectiveness. For example, you can invest time in creating comprehensive buyer personas to better understand your audience’s needs and generating high-quality online information to convert them, which can yield strong results with minimal ad spend.

    However, if paid advertising forms a part of your digital tactic, you might see quicker results. Ultimately, strive to grow your organic (or ‘free’) reach through material, SEO, and social media for sustainable success.

  9. Create engaging content.
  10. Once you have discerned your audience and determined a budget, the next step is to create content for the various channels at your disposal. This could take the form of social media posts, blog posts, PPC ads, sponsored content, email marketing newsletters, and more.

  11. Optimize your digital assets for mobile.
  12. Mobile marketing forms a critical component of digital marketing. In fact, smartphone usage accounts for 69% of time spent consuming digital media in the U.S., while desktop-based digital media consumption constitutes less than half.

    This means that optimizing your digital ads, web pages, social media images, and other digital assets for mobile devices is crucial. If your company has a mobile app that facilitates user engagement with your brand or allows them to shop your products, your app falls under the purview of digital marketing as well.

  13. Conduct keyword research.
  14. Effective keyword research is fundamental for optimizing your site and information for SEO and ensuring people can find your business via search engines. Keyword research for social media can also assist in marketing your products or services across various social channels.

  15. Iterate based on the analytics you measure.
  16. To create a sustainable digital marketing strategy for the long term, it’s vital for your team to learn how to pivot based on analytics.

    For instance, you might notice that your audience isn’t as interested in your Instagram content anymore but is highly engaged with what you’re posting on Twitter. Or, you might find an older webpage isn’t getting the traffic it used to. This could be an opportunity to either refresh your Instagram strategy or update/remove the underperforming webpage.

Digital marketing provides businesses with incredible possibilities for continuous growth — it’s up to you to seize them.

Embracing the Plunge into Digital Marketing

If you’re already utilizing digital marketing, you’re probably reaching specific omhbmg segments of your audience online. No doubt, you can identify areas of your strategy that could benefit from some refinement.