6 Digital Marketing Tips For Small Businesses
- March 22, 2024
- hubdigit_hubnew
- 6:15 am
- No Comments
According to the 2023 Statista report, online shopping now accounts for more than 20% of all global retail sales.
This trend is expected to grow further in the coming years, and businesses can no longer afford to neglect digital marketing.
Establishing a digital presence is imperative for small businesses across all industries, from local landscaping companies to bed and breakfast joints.
Younger consumers often begin their interactions with businesses on their smartphones by visiting their social media profiles or websites. If your online presence fails to inspire confidence, you risk losing potential customers.
To prevent this, here are some innovative digital marketing tricks you can use right now to increase brand awareness on the internet.
1. Make Short Form Content:
You must start working on your content marketing, specifically on viral short-form content.
TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are filled with creators making videos about their day-to-day work.
It turns out that most people are interested in the routine operations of small business owners.
Next time you scroll, notice how many businesses are making videos to answer questions asked by curious onlookers.
So, what’s stopping you from making similar types of content? Using videos for your content marketing is substantially better than all other posts.
Numerous studies show people engage more with video content rather than text or images. In fact, using video content in your social media creatives can increase your conversions by 80%.
So make sure you post plenty of short-form videos and use them for your sponsored content as well. If you are personally handling all the digital marketing, don’t worry too much about making perfect-looking content.
For certain kinds of small businesses, adding an amateurish touch to your production quality helps drive engagement. The only skill you must focus on is your ability to tell interesting stories. And this neatly brings us to our next point.
2. Tell Your Story:
Let it be heard: your biggest advantage as a small-scale business owner is your ability to make a personal connection with your clients.
The giant corporations operating in your area might have more capital, employees, and other resources. But they can’t compete with you in one thing: personalized branding.
Every small business owner has an inspiring life story behind their brand—the challenges they overcome on a daily basis inspire others to pursue their dreams.
It mostly has to do with our fascination with independent entrepreneurs who are in control of their lives while some huge soulless corporation employs the rest of us. So, when you are out there competing with massive conglomerates, your biggest asset is connecting with your potential customers.
Most of us spend much of our time online, but we still crave the human aspect of conducting business. If you start catering to this deep-seated desire, people will not only buy from you but also support you on your journey.
3. Work on Local SEO:
Work on localizing your online presence, and you’ll easily sidestep the established international competition.
Building a solid local presence involves several key steps. Start by optimizing your online listings across platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and local directories.
Provide accurate and consistent details, like your business name, address, phone number, website URL, and hours of operation, to help potential customers find you easily.
Another aspect to consider is creating engaging localized content for your blog and social media. This may include blog posts, videos, or social media updates tailored to your local audience’s interests and needs.
Focus on creating locally relevant landing pages and product/service descriptions that incorporate location-specific keywords.
Lastly, build local citations by listing your business on online directories, local business associations, and platforms offering local tourist guides.
4. Learn From the Competition:
I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. ‘ Well, not to dramatize this point, but you have to keep an eye on the competition.
Take some time to identify people who are selling similar products, and make sure to follow all their social media platforms.
Focus on peers who are the best at digital marketing, and you’ll see them try new things. Then, you only need to observe what works and what doesn’t, objectively assessing the content based on the engagement it generates.
And lo and behold, you’ll have a whole list of new things to try.
This approach is especially helpful for small business owners who need help figuring out where to start.
As your understanding grows, take a step back to look at the bigger picture and utilize a more holistic approach to your competitor research. See what platforms your competitors are using to generate additional traffic and list your business there as well.
5. Understand Your Target Audience:
Understanding your customers is crucial for small businesses; it helps to tailor products/services and marketing efforts for your primary demographic.
An excellent place to start is conducting market research to identify demographics, such as age, gender, income level, education, and geographic location, that align with your business offerings.
However, psychographic factors like interests, values, lifestyle, and purchasing behavior can also give you deeper insights into your customer preferences.
You can collect this information in many different ways, like surveys, social media analytics, website analytics, and plain old observation through interaction.
Recognizing industry trends can provide valuable data regarding your target demographic’s wants, needs, and preferences.
6. Engage With Community:
Small business owners can also benefit from engaging with their local community to foster brand loyalty.
Actively participating in local events, collaborating with neighboring businesses, and offering exclusive promotions to community members can increase your visibility, which ultimately attracts new customers.
Supporting local causes is a great way to communicate your core values. It’ll demonstrate your commitment to serving the community and help you become a part of the local conversation.
Supporting local causes can also lead to partnerships with local influencers who are interested in combating similar issues.
Consult an Expert:
Sometimes, it’s just easier to get a professional to do all this work for you.
Often, small business owners are hesitant to take this step, wondering if they’ll be able to bear the expense.
But here is some good news for you: As the need for digital marketing grew, the services actually became more affordable. And some agency owners have specialized plans for small businesses that might need some help.
HubDigit is one of those agencies with a solid commitment to supporting budding entrepreneurs. So give us a call, and you’ll be surprised how budget-friendly our services can get.
Final Thoughts:
Digital marketing has become a necessity for almost all businesses. You can’t afford to have a mediocre social media game, so start getting creative. To stand apart, you must focus on building a local presence to avoid international competition. As a small business, the best thing you can do is humanize your brand identity to establish a connection with your regular customers. Focus on your content marketing, employ storytelling techniques, and target your local audience. However, if you feel overwhelmed by keeping up with all the new trends, try consulting a professional, and you’ll be surprised at how affordable digital marketing services can be.