Digital marketing is the way forward for any business that wants to maintain productivity and remain competitive in their field. Especially for small businesses, digital marketing is the way to gain a customer base without the kind of expenditure on advertising that big businesses have to spend.
During this time, when people are focusing on working from home, establishing a digital foothold becomes paramount. Take the time to train your staff to work effectively online and provide your customers with safe and secure transactions. Safe digital business means having secure information storage and backup systems in place. Once assured of your system’s security, customers will be more likely to seek your products, and you are sure to see a surge in your online sales.
Develop a plan that is both dynamic and effective. The strategies that work for you will depend on your brand, the image you are trying to project, and how you want that brand to grow.
Identify and Target Your Customers
Offer existing customers vouchers or discounts in exchange for filling out surveys. These surveys should help you to identify the demographic attributes of your customers. This will tell you who they are, why they purchase from you, which income group they come from, their age, and other useful information you can use to draw up your marketing plans.
When you know who likes your products, you can focus your marketing efforts on attracting more of the same target group. Use the same survey to find out what attracted the customer to your product and emphasize those features in future marketing promotions.
Offer Value to Repeat Customers
Repeat customers are a valuable resource that you can use as a soft marketing technique. By offering them rewards and exemplary online customer service, they are more likely to develop a personal connection to your business.
This will result in them sharing your website with their friends on social media and commenting and liking your business’s social media postings. This is the word-of-mouth technique for the digital age. People trust other people’s recommendations, so this is a good way to gain new business.
Make Full Use of Testimonials
Customer testimonials carry very heavyweight with possible future consumers and should be utilized as an important resource. If your small business is still starting and striving to gain market share, you will not have the funds for glitzy advertisements anyway. It can cost more to get new customers than to keep existing ones.
Therefore, invite customers who leave reviews to do a video on social media. Conduct live chat sessions on Instagram or Facebook to connect with customers and discuss your products. This dedicated, grassroots involvement with your customers will go over very well with potential new customers.
Short-Term Targeted Online Advertisements
If you can set aside a budget for paid advertisements, focus on digital targeted advertisements. Depending on your product or service, you know the keywords and interests of the potential customers to whom it would appeal the most. Pay for advertisements on targeted social media sites that allow you to adjust the audience you want to reach.
Make sure to focus on the content and graphic design to ensure that the advertisement will be irresistible to people who intend to purchase your product. A well-designed advertisement will cause people with less buying intent to click through to your website as well. It will remain in their minds should they desire the product in the future.
Quick Response Times
Digital marketing strategies can go from the idea stage to the execution stage in much shorter time frames than real-world campaigns. Use this speed to take advantage of news stories and meme content that can be related to your products. People are constantly seeking entertainment, and if your company can provide them with a quick laugh, they are more likely to humanize your business in their eyes.
Giving your business more personality via joining appropriate Twitter hashtags is a great way to promote yourself outside your target group without a financial investment. Humanizing your business could attract a new demographic and help you expand your digital foothold in a new direction.
Utilize the power of online marketing to carve out a niche for your business where you can focus on growing the brand image you have always wanted to project. Always focus your content on ideas and areas that will engage and excite your customers.
Digital marketing is a good way to show your business’s standing on issues that inform how people make purchasing decisions. Share your CSR policies and draw attention to how your business is environmentally friendly. This will attract both new customers and possible partnerships.