Small businesses had to go virtual to reach consumers from home during the pandemic. Here are five steps for small business to utilise digital marketing.

1. Develop a clear digital marketing strategy catered to your small business

Before jumping straight into digital advertising, it is crucial for the small business to create a clear digital marketing strategy complete with goals, objectives, tactics, and a plan to measure results. As the budget for a small business is likely smaller than for typical digital marketing plans, it is important to outline what the company would like to achieve and plan accordingly before blowing their budget on irrelevant advertising or campaigns.

2. Set up e-commerce channels

“E-commerce activities went from expanding at 15-20 per cent a year, to surging by 40 per cent in 2020” -Vincent Létang, EVP, Director of Global Forecasting for Magna Global

Many small businesses learned the importance of e-commerce when government lockdown restrictions prevented customers from visiting stores in-person. Developing e-commerce channels is a key part to digital marketing in the pandemic, as it is crucial to conversion. Additionally, promoting e-commerce through email marketing or promotional codes can influence consumers to shop from home.

3. Communicate with customers

A perk of being a small business can be the connection you make with customers while they are shopping and the knowledge you can share directly with them about your product or service. Utilising virtual tools such as the chatbot can allow you to continue this aspect of customer experience, virtually. Additionally, using Google My Business to provide customers with a phone number and/or email to contact will improve customer experience.

4. Improve SEO to drive organic traffic

Increasing organic reach through SEO is an affordable way to increase the chances of your target market finding your small business. In addition to brand awareness, using SEO over paid advertisements creates trust between the consumer and the business. Using keywords, tags, and other SEO tools can help small businesses boost their overall SEO.

5. Utilise social media

Social media outlets

Advertising on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok can help businesses to reach their target market, but this can be costly. Creating a social media presence by creating relevant content can draw customers to your small business without the price tag.

Influencer marketing for your small business

Another form of social media utilisation is working with relevant influencers in order to increase brand awareness to their audience. Again, this can be costly but working with micro-influencers with a high engagement levels can be just as effective as working with larger influencers. Working with influencers can be a tricky game to play, and you can read more about the pros can cons here.

What’s next?

These five steps are the best place to start for small businesses looking to boost their online presence and improve their current digital marketing operations. This is more important than ever due to the changing Covid-19 restrictions and the inherent accessibility that digital marketing brings. After completing these steps, small business owners should evaluate the data produced from tracking the progress of their changes, and regularly adjust their strategy accordingly.

References

https://www.ft.com/content/01ad45ff-f825-4e89-8383-6d9e61ba1589

https://blog.alexa.com/beginners-guide-small-business-internet-marketing/ 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/04/05/how-to-build-a-digital-marketing-strategy-for-businesses-targeting-growth-in-2021/?sh=fa2c6e5a7ea7