- Why most small businesses fail to fully harness the power of digital marketing
- How to supercharge your digital marketing for small business
- How to set your business up for sustained growth
Q: What kind of marketing should I focus on for my small business? Is digital marketing the most prudent direction to take my marketing efforts?
A: The kind of marketing you want to focus on depends largely on what type of business you’re running. For modern businesses and online stores, digital marketing is the most effective direction.
The way we work has evolved in recent years. Although the changes were prevalent before the pandemic, Covid-19 ushered in a new era of employee-centric, flexible working arrangements that, in many cases, gave employees the upper hand after decades of strife.
In addition to the social changes we’ve experienced, marketing is exponentially more advanced than it was even a decade ago.
In the past, marketing was seen as an expense that was rarely worth it.
Now, marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US alone, and digital marketing for small businesses is one of the best ways for smaller operations to secure attention.
According to HubSpot’s 2022 Marketing Strategy and Trends Report, short-form videos are expected to see the most growth this year, influencer marketing will continue paying dividends for businesses savvy enough to find the right fit, and branded social media DM tactics are becoming more popular.
Needless to say, the future of marketing is more digital than ever. Small business marketing tools are in-demand, and if you’re running a business, exploring digital marketing for small businesses is necessary to stay competitive.
According to Forbes, the digital marketing revolution has already begun, so there’s never a bad time to start familiarizing yourself with modern initiatives and tactics.
In this article, we’ll be explaining why most small businesses fail to fully harness the power of digital marketing, how to supercharge your digital marketing for small businesses, how to set your business up for sustained growth, and finally, how Alliance Virtual Offices may benefit your digital marketing for small business efforts.
So, if you’re searching for location-specific queries like “digital marketing for small business Australia” or “digital marketing for small business UK” – you’re in the right spot.
Alternatively, if you’re just looking for generalized tips and tricks about digital marketing for small businesses, look no further.
- Why most small businesses fail to fully harness the power of digital marketing
- How to supercharge your digital marketing for small business
- How to set your business up for sustained growth
- How Alliance can benefit your digital marketing for small business
Why most small businesses fail to fully harness the power of digital marketing
Unfortunately, not all businesses are properly optimized to get the most out of their digital marketing for small business efforts.
Many businesses are so focused on finding the most affordable option for their marketing efforts that they neglect to determine which of these efforts are the most effective.
Read more: The Best Affordable SEO Services for Small Business
Sure, if you’re searching for specific positions or areas of your online marketing efforts, searching for an affordable SEO specialist or social media marketing manager is a fine decision
Issues arise when companies focus entirely on finding the cheapest option rather than trying to find the one that provides the most value.
Below, we’ve covered a few ways modern businesses tend to neglect their digital marketing resources.
- Lack of knowledge and resources
- Limited budgets
- Inconsistent or inadequate strategy
- Difficulty in keeping up with trends
- Ineffective measurement and analysis
Lack of knowledge and resources
Small businesses often lack the necessary knowledge and resources to effectively navigate the complex world of digital marketing.
They may not have dedicated marketing teams or individuals with expertise in digital marketing strategies, leading to missed opportunities and ineffective campaigns.
Many businesses neglect to hire for marketing positions and instead opt for in-house marketing efforts. While this may be a good idea if you have capable individuals staffing these positions, this is typically done to save money and often results in individuals with virtually no marketing prowess being put in charge of large and expensive marketing initiatives.
Rather than trying to do everything yourself, marketing is one of the best areas to outsource.
Think about it this way: if you are a renowned fan of apples and you’re running an apple business, you may not be the best person to ask how to get new people interested in eating apples.
Utilizing outsourced marketing help allows you to focus on what you care about while leaving the attention-grabbing to more capable professionals.
Limited budgets
Digital marketing can require significant financial investments, including website development, paid advertising, and content creation.
Many small businesses operate on limited budgets, making allocating sufficient funds to digital marketing initiatives challenging, resulting in less impactful campaigns and limited reach.
Some businesses want to outsource marketing labor but lack the budget. If you’re paying for everything out of pocket, you may find yourself between a rock and a hard place while ironing out your marketing initiatives.
Consider handling website and content creation in-house for businesses in a similar position, especially at the beginning. This allows you to save money for outsourced marketing efforts while helping you save capital on content and website creation.
Creating a website is easier than ever with the tools at your disposal. Thanks to countless drag-and-drop platforms that allow you to quickly create a website, even the most technologically illiterate individual could create one.
Inconsistent or inadequate strategy
Without a well-defined digital marketing strategy, small businesses may struggle to achieve their goals.
They may engage in sporadic or haphazard marketing efforts, lacking consistency and a clear direction. This inconsistency can hinder their ability to build brand awareness, engage with their target audience, and drive meaningful results.
This is why it’s so important to create a detailed marketing plan before you start your marketing initiatives. The more concise plan you’ve put together, the less room for error.
Difficulty in keeping up with trends
The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, with new technologies, platforms, and trends emerging regularly.
Small business owners and employees often have multiple responsibilities and limited time to stay updated on the latest trends and changes. This can result in outdated or ineffective digital marketing approaches that fail to resonate with their target audience.
For businesses in this position, consider hiring a young person. It sounds silly, but the younger generation is inherently more online, so hiring a younger individual and tasking them with keeping up with current social media trends may be an effective decision.
Ineffective measurement and analysis
Without proper tracking and analysis of digital marketing efforts, small businesses struggle to determine the effectiveness of their strategies. They may lack the tools or knowledge to measure key performance indicators, like website traffic, conversion rates, or social media engagement.
The absence of data-driven insights hampers their ability to make informed decisions, optimize campaigns, and maximize their digital marketing potential.
This is why utilizing the best analytic tools you can find is so important. The more data you have, the better off you are.
As you can see, digital marketing for small business can get thrown off by a variety of sources.
Thankfully, we’ve put together a concise list of ways you can supercharge your digital marketing for small business below.
How to supercharge your digital marketing for small business
Business owners looking to supercharge their digital marketing efforts are in the right place.
With the proper steps, even the lack of a professional marketing manager won’t be able to stop your digital marketing efforts.
It’s just a matter of taking the time, doing the research, and studying your target audience.
You don’t have to find a secret weapon to create world-class digital marketing materials, and you don’t have to pivot to business-to-business sales either. Fortunately, there’s an easier way.
Read more: Is B2B Video Marketing Your Secret Weapon?
Below, we’ve put together a short list of methods you may use to supercharge your digital marketing for small business efforts.
- Define clear goals and target audience
- Develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy
- Invest in website optimization
- Leverage social media marketing
- Embrace data-driven decision-making
Define clear goals and target audience
First things first, you need to start by clearly defining your digital marketing goals and identifying your target audience.
Understand what you want to achieve through digital marketing, whether it’s increased brand awareness, lead generation, or online sales.
Define your target audience’s demographics, interests, and online behavior to tailor your marketing efforts effectively.
The more concise your goals are and the more clearly defined your target audience is, the more you know about the market you’re hoping to conquer.
Remember, the more research you do at the beginning of your marketing efforts, the better positioned you are to succeed. You want goals that explain exactly what you hope to accomplish during your initiatives and a target audience that explains exactly where these individuals are, what they enjoy, which platforms they spend their time on, and most importantly, how best to connect with them.
Develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy
Create a well-rounded digital marketing strategy that incorporates various channels and tactics.
Consider a mix of organic and paid strategies, like search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and paid advertising.
Align your strategy with your goals and target audience to ensure a cohesive and impactful approach.
Again, the more detailed this strategy is, the better.
You want to plan for situations that won’t happen just as much as you want to plan for situations that will happen. The more direction you can provide for your small business digital marketing efforts, the better.
Invest in website optimization
Your website is the foundation of your digital presence.
Optimize your website for search engines and user experience. Conduct keyword research to target relevant search terms, ensure fast loading times, and make your website mobile-friendly.
Implement clear and compelling calls to action and create valuable content to engage with visitors and encourage conversions.
Too many businesses are content with poorly designed websites that inspire no confidence in consumers. Rather than building a boring, cookie-cutter website that won’t drive any sales, consider taking the time to build a detailed and company-aligned website that gets your customers excited.
The better the customer experience is, the more likely your customers are to talk about your company to their friends.
Leverage social media marketing
Social media platforms offer valuable opportunities for small businesses to connect with their audience. Identify the platforms where your target audience is the most active and establish a strong presence.
Create engaging content, run targeted ad campaigns, and interact with your audience through comments, messages, and live sessions. Utilize social media analytics to measure performance and refine your strategy.
This is another example of why creating a detailed description of your target audience is so important. When you know exactly who you want to sell your offerings to, it’s much easier to figure out which social media platforms they use and where they spend their time.
The more you connect with your consumers on your branded social media account, the better. Consumers will appreciate finding support directly from the profiles of the brands they follow on social media.
Embrace data-driven decision-making
Leverage analytics tools and data to gain insights into your digital marketing performance. Monitor key metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, email open rates, and social media engagement.
Use this data to identify what works and what doesn’t and make data-driven adjustments to your campaigns.
Continuously test and optimize your marketing efforts based on the insights you gather to maximize results.
If you’re getting a lot of data that says your video marketing emails are effective, focus on them rather than misallocating resources to less effective strategies.
Read more: Should You Use Video Marketing Emails?
Alternatively, if there’s another effective area, but your video marketing emails are falling short, allocate your resources to the effective areas.
Digital marketing for small business requires you to test out several different avenues before finding one that works and allocating the bulk of your marketing resources toward the effective initiative.
How to set your business up for sustained growth
Fortunately, there are some great ways to set your business up for sustained growth, or if you’re hoping to switch to digital-first operations, these tips will help you create a sustainable online operation.
Read more: Actionable Tips to Transition Your Business to a Digital First Model
You don’t need to be a small business marketing consultant to get a lot from these tips: keep reading for more!
- Establish a clear vision and mission
- Conduct market research
- Build a strong brand
- Implement scalable systems and processes
- Leverage a professional business address
Establish a clear vision and mission
Define a clear vision and mission statement that outlines your business’s purpose, values, and long-term goals.
This provides a foundation for sustained growth and helps guide decision-making processes.
Remember, the clearer your mission and vision are, the better off your business is.
Conduct market research
Understand your target market, customer needs, and industry trends through comprehensive market research.
Identify gaps and opportunities that can be capitalized on to drive growth. This knowledge will inform your product/service development, marketing strategies, and customer acquisition efforts.
Build a strong brand
Develop a strong and consistent brand identity that resonates with your target audience.
Create a compelling brand, story, logo, tagline, and visual elements that reflect your values and differentiate you from your competitors.
A strong brand builds trust and loyalty and helps attract new customers.
Implement scalable systems and processes
To accommodate growth, develop scalable systems and processes that can handle increased demand more efficiently than their counterparts.
Automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and implement robust technology solutions to optimize operations.
Scalable systems enable your business to grow without being hindered by operational bottlenecks.
Leverage a professional business address
Utilizing an Alliance Virtual Office allows you to establish a professional business address in a prime location, enhancing your brand image and credibility.
This can open doors to new opportunities, attract high-value clients, and support your business’s sustained growth.
With a Virtual Office from Alliance, you have access to physical space that can be used for coworking or meeting rooms, a professional and well-known address in any state, and almost any city, countless amenities that make your life as a business owner easier, and additional services that you can use to customize your Virtual Office.
How Alliance can benefit your digital marketing for small business
To set up your business for sustained growth, start by establishing a clear vision and conducting thorough market research to understand your target audience and industry trends.
Build a strong brand that resonates with customers, implement scalable systems and processes, and leverage strategic partnerships to expand your reach and access new markets.
Additionally, using an Alliance Virtual Office can provide your business with a professional address, enhancing your brand image and credibility, while opening doors to new opportunities and supporting sustained growth.
Further reading
- The Best Affordable SEO Services for Small Business
- Is B2B Video Marketing Your Secret Weapon
- Should You Use Video Marketing Emails?
- Actionable Tips to Transition Your Business to a Digital First Model
Alliance Virtual Offices offers Virtual Office services and a slew of other digital-first tools designed to help business owners reach real scalability in their operations.
Digital marketing for small business may seem like a frustrating task, but with the right approach, the right content, and a detailed plan, you can create or outsource content your target audience will love and resonate with.
Don’t make the mistake of trying to do too much alone. Remember that marketing works best when your consumers are the ones viewing the content, and focus on how you can make that happen.
Contact us today to see how Alliance Virtual Offices can benefit your digital marketing for small business efforts, and check out our Virtual Office Blog for more useful information!
