Small businesses often focus on traditional advertising like local print ads, brochures, banners, or even billboards. Traditional advertising is important, but it struggles to keep up with digital marketing when it comes to reach, targeting, cost-effectiveness, and measurability.
To make the most of your marketing budget as a small business, you should use a combination of traditional and digital advertising. Since people are going online to find new businesses, read product reviews, and make their purchases, you can’t afford to not be online, too!
Getting started with digital marketing can be intimidating, but we’re here to walk you through the basics. Here are five simple digital marketing tactics you can use to grow your business.
Tactic 1: Expand Your Reach Through Social Media
Social media is a great place to reach new customers! Make sure to research which platforms your ideal audience would most commonly use and pick one or two to start with. You can do some competitor research to understand what kind of content seems to resonate. Set up a simple social media plan with different post types and an editorial calendar. Make sure you have a mix of fun, informative, and promotional posts, all following your brand style guide.
Tactic 2: Use Social Media to Improve Your Customer Service
Social media also gives you an opportunity to provide better customer service. If customers have an issue and need assistance, it can be convenient for them to be able to reach out through social media. If someone has a bad experience, they may post about it online or send you a message. This gives you the opportunity to make things right and improve their opinion of your business. Make sure to monitor your inboxes and mentions so that you can respond quickly!
Tactic 3: Grow Your Collection of Reviews
Reviews are essential for your online presence—and for your brand in general. The vast majority of customers now research reviews online before they buy a product or check out a new business. When they look up your company name, you want them to see pages of glowing reviews. You can get great customer reviews with these five tips. The first step is simple: just ask your customers!
Tactic 4: Build a Basic Website for Lead Generation
If you don’t already have a website, make a very simple one that includes a method for collecting email addresses. Once you build your email list, you can start sending out carefully-crafted emails to provide your audience with just the right content to keep them moving through each step of the customer journey. If you need help, check out our article on how to write emails that work!
Tactic 5: Boost Engagement to Build Customer Loyalty
The more engaged your customers are, the more loyal they’ll feel! Coupons, contests, and giveaways are all great tools for boosting engagement. A sandwich shop could have customers submit fun names for a new menu offering, while an apparel company could have fans post photos of themselves at their favorite nature spot wearing a certain hoodie or hat. Connecting with your audience in fun ways helps solidify your customer base.
Using these five tactics, you’ll be well on your way to creating a digital marketing strategy that perfectly complements the traditional marketing you’re already doing! By tracking your email, website, and social media metrics, you’ll be able to see what’s working and what’s not so that you can improve your strategy as you go.
Get Started Today!
Digital marketing has so many benefits for a small business—it can increase your reach, improve your targeting, and give you measurable, cost-effective results! If you don’t yet have a digital marketing strategy, it’s time to start investing in one. And if you need help, 2XM is always here! Contact us for a FREE 60 minute consultation today.