Every small business in the modern era needs an online presence. Your customers, even those who live down the street, start their shopping process with an online search. They look for local shops, restaurants, and service providers on Google Maps. They check the reviews, explore the website, and browse online inventories or service pages before they take the first step to engage in person. In fact, you probably do the exact same thing.
Today’s digital hybrid lifestyle makes digital marketing a top priority for every business, big or small. While large businesses have their own marketing departments, small businesses thrive on quick, actionable strategies that can boost online visibility, credibility, and competitive presence with just a few easy steps. As digital marketing experts, McAllister Marketing can offer you a crash course in boosting your small business with five top strategies you can implement today.
1) Boost Your Online Presence
The first and most important step in digital marketing for a small business is to create and build your online presence. You need to be visible and easy to find online for your customers to discover what your business has to offer.
- Build Up Your Website
- Start by developing an appealing website with a to-the-point home page and detailed product or service pages. A typical website needs a nav bar with Home, About, Shop/Service, Blog, and Contact links and an easily navigable site map. Make sure clients can easily understand what your brand is all about and complete a conversion in just a few minutes, if their minds are made up.
- Complete Your Google Business Profile
- Make sure you are “on the map” by completing your Google Business Profile (previously Google My Business). Claim your map marker, fill out your business information, post some attractive (and informative) photos, and add a few seed Q&As from your FAQ. Then stay attentive and respond to each customer review with a personalized thank-you.
- Join Business Associations and Directories
- Increase your presence by joining business associations and directories based on your industry. This ensures your business or on-staff professionals are listed in multiple locations.
- Share Guest Posts and Advertising Partnerships
- Add to your presence by partnering with other brands and websites. Share insightful and interesting guest posts on other websites and publications and put together partner advertising campaigns to access compatible audiences of other brands.
- Invest in PPC Marketing
- Don’t forget PPC marketing. If you have any spare marketing spend, invest in a few strategically placed PPC (pay per click) ads. You’ll get the best results by consulting with a PPC expert, as strategy on this front can be finnicky, but rewarding with top Google results.
2) SEO and SEM Tips
Everyone knows that SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) are essential for a digital marketing strategy. But what steps should a small business take to get started, get an edge, and get ahead of the competition?
- Research Your Keyword Strategy
- Start with keyword research. The best keywords are what your audience is looking for when they are learning about your services or products, ready for a solution, or in need of immediate help.
- Find a Niche Your Competitors Haven’t Discovered
- Look for keywords and niches that your competitors have overlooked. Finding an untapped niche is a great way to get an edge on the competition.
- Create Just-In-Time Content Your Audience Can Rely On
- Create content that is exactly what your audience is looking for when they search for top keywords and specific long-tail keyword phrases. “How to fix” “What is” and “What to do when” type articles are often powerful SEO elements that draw new clients through just-in-time expertise that your audience can rely on. These types of content also build your brand reputation.
- Create Content Other Brands Want to Reference
- Boosting the credibility aspect of your SEO can be done with highly linkable content. For your inbound link strategy, publish studies and infographics that other brands want to link to make their own content more credible.
- Link to Credible Information Sources
- Inside your content, link to credible research, charts, and professional reports. This creates outbound link SEO and increases the trustworthiness of your content. You can also directly quote your own staff experts.
3) Social Media Marketing Techniques
Social media is a free way to advertise with a lot of potential for a small business. But it’s also easy to get lost in the mix with too much, too little, or badly timed content. Here’s how to jump-start your small business social media strategy:
- Choose Your Top 3 Social Media Platforms
- Don’t try to be on every platform. Choose the top 3 social media platforms that best suit your brand. Twitter is sensational, Facebook is conversational and more locally focused, Pinterest and Instagram are great for glamour photos, and so on.
- Streamline Platform-Specific Content Formatting
- Every social media platform requires slightly different content formatting – file types, file sizes, image aspect ratios, and text content length. Streamline your process of adapting content to each of your chosen platforms to save time and create compelling posts for each platform.
- Translate Your Best Content Across Platforms
- Re-use your best content across all platforms. Write a great blog and pair it with a great photo (or gallery). Then hype, quote, or tease the blog on social media with an eye-catching image and a link to the blog. Whether you’re sharing tips or event news, it’s an efficient and effective way to market on social media.
- Hold Social Media Events
- Social media events include contests, discussions, give-aways, and other reasons for your audience to interact – not just view and click. This not only boosts engagement, but it also extends your reach because people see that their friends and contacts are interacting with your brand.
- Automate and Schedule Posts for the Optimal Times of Day
- Don’t forget to use automation tools. Social media automation saves time by allowing you to queue up a long list of posts, but you can also schedule those posts to release at the most impactful times of day for big audience exposure.
4) Email Marketing Strategies
Email marketing is a way to engage new customers and re-engage your existing customer audience. Email goes directly to a person’s inbox instead of scrolling by on search results and feeds. It can be a powerful engagement channel, even for a small business, but you need a strategy to keep your emails from being unsubscribed or ignored.
- Build an Onboarding Email Sequence
- Start with your onboarding email sequence. Create 1-5 friendly emails that release once a day after a new user has signed up, introducing them to your brand, services, app features, or whatever you think is most appealing to new customers.
- Create Interesting and Valuable Newsletters
- Draft newsletters that re-engage customers and appeal to the interests of your audience. Make sure each newsletter contains valuable content, offers, and details that make your audience want to open each one.
- Design Re-Engagement Campaigns
- Craft re-engagement campaigns to reach out to customers who have abandoned a cart or haven’t shopped with you in a while. Make them fun with your brand personality and give customers a reason to come back.
- Segregate Your Mailing Lists by Interest
- Don’t lump all emails into one list. Divide your email lists (email segregation) based on interest, shopping patterns, past service requests, or other categories that make sense for your business.
- Give Your Audience Email Opt-In Control
- Put the power of email frequency and content into the customer’s hands. Allow them to adjust their own email settings to opt-in and opt-out of certain email lists and decide how often you send them emails.
- Personalize with AI Email Marketing Tools
- Try out the latest AI email marketing tools that can personalize emails with custom product suggestions, deal bundles, and newsletter sections, and more.
5) Hone Your Strategy with Analytics Data
Last but not least, put data analytics to work. Use data-driven insights to continuously improve your digital marketing strategy and continue to see better results from the time and money your small business spends on marketing.
- Plug In Google Analytics and Other Analysis Tools
- Google Analytics is a powerful free platform, so be sure to make use of it. You can also plug in other free and paid on-site and off-site analysis tools.
- Choose Your KPIs
- KPIs are Key Performance Indicators. They are data types that help you track your progress on specific goals like boosting website traffic, optimizing conversions, or increasing your SERP ranking.
- A-B Test Digital Marketing Strategies
- Use A-B testing to discover which of two digital marketing strategies performs the best. Each time you have different ideas, page designs, or techniques you want to try out, publish both and direct half your audience to one and half to the other to see which option wins.
- Continually Adapt Based on Data Results
- Use the data you collect to regularly update your strategy for continually improving results.
Mastering Small Business Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is not as imposing as it seems for a small business, especially if you have an expert team on your side to help you devise and implement your marketing strategy. McAllister Marketing is here to help boost your small business visibility, reach, and conversion success through digital marketing services. Contact us today to see how we can help your business grow.