Small businesses usually become the victims of unplanned marketing strategies. They are very often charged with the harsh reality of simply keeping the lights on. Marketing Communication in the current digital era is complex and many businesses find it obscure—not everyone, especially those who are confined within specific geographies, finds it hard to optimize their existing marketing structure. Hence, these small businesses suffer as a result of their own misery by not investing in digital marketing and rather opting for traditional and expensive communication mediums that are incompetent in today’s time.
The Challenges
As a small enterprise, you may face day-to- day problems, enough to be pinned down in this article. However, here we will discuss the key areas of digital marketing and identify where we should tickle and where not. Digital Marketing being the most effective and accurate marketing medium is perhaps the most resourceful battleground in marketing front. It has distinct features, which when exercised well can reap benefits without budgetary restrictions, unlike traditional marketing mediums, which require budget prioritization over implementation.
Professionalism, when it comes to Digital Marketing is not only limited to serving your customers with just a smile, although that counts for much, they need professionally packaged product and services.
Here, as a marketer, you must be aware of WHAT your customers need, WHEN they need and WHAT they DON’T NEED. If you are promoting marketing irrelevant content, it might backfire and you will end up being unsubscribed and there is no way that you can regain the confidence. So, be cautious and share information that is apt, accurate and pertinent.
When it comes to Digital Marketing, MOBILE IS THE KING!
We are living in a country where the number of sim cards equals the number of people, with a penetration of 730.7 million. A dynamic website designed for lead generation will push the mobile user towards a sale, however, there is a lot more
to this. So what does this mean for small businesses in the Indian Subcontinent?
If your small business does not have a responsive website and your content is un-optimized, then you are actually fighting a war where your competitors are busy invading virtual geographies to market their presence. A small business should be as credible online as it is offline.It should make the best of every opportunity to display credibility cues to its new and old customers. Nothing can be as helpful and accurate as digital media. Online customers are way more skeptical and while you reach out to them, the first thing you need to do is list your physical business along with the contact details, operating hours and other critical information before you are ready to kick start.
Thanks to technology giants like Google, Microsoft, and IBM – they’ve made listing businesses online possible. Many small businesses in India struggle with defining and executing Inbound Marketing strategies; they consider it as random acts of marketing and do not understand its importance for business growth. It’s important that these small businesses understand that a strategic digital marketing plan and social media campaign management can greatly help in brand recognition.
What should a small business do and what is an ideal start for them?
- Defining the target market and understanding what their ideal customers are searching online:
This can be done by customer segmentation and identification of customer personas to match the customer base to ensure that the small business is speaking directly to them.
- Creating a brand message:
By defining customer journeys and key phrases which will reflect the business structure. Also, defining business strengths, weaknesses, threats and potential opportunities are imperative.
- Develop touch-points and marketing materials:
Describing the benefits of your services and products with the help of a dynamic, high-performing website. A website is the easiest means of highlighting the values of your organization on a larger scale.
Why does your business need a website?
A website is a valuable source of information, not only for your customers but also if you are looking to partner up with other service providers. If you have an e-commerce website you can partner up with Amazon, eBay and list your products to drive traffic to your website. Within no time you will see that people are spending time on your website and the digital footprint has multiplied. With monthly newsletters, events and community pages, your small business will be able to reach out to more number of people with fewer efforts and in a cost-
effective manner.
Why you need a Web Presence?
Small businesses that are doing most of the business through traditional advertising and feel that they are missing out on the majority of online customers need to embrace strategic digital marketing for marking their web presence.
Digital Marketing is the art and science of selling services and products on various digital networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube etc. This can further be linked to a mobile marketing plan seamlessly, which enables the business to follow-up, promote and connect with existing as well as potential customers. The art of strategic digital marketing involves the right mix of tactics that appeal to the business prospects based on their personas.
Many home-based businesses are nowadays focused so much on enhancing customer experience and providing their products and services to a specified audience. Their ability to reach the market is spectacular if they prefer investing a fraction of their budget in digital marketing. Prior to the internet and e-commerce, marketing, especially to the millennial was extremely difficult and expensive. The Internet has made it feasible, however, traditional marketing methods have its own significance, alongside Internet marketing.
How should Small businesses use Social Media Platforms?
- Converse rather than sell
As a business owner, your primary goal on social media is to converse with customers and not bombard their inboxes with an information overload. If they like your approach and social media campaigns along with products/services, they will associate with your brand without you waving a hand in their faces all the time.
- Listen more than you post
Business owners who are new to digital marketing should really pay attention to this rule. Being on social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn at an initial stage is more like being stranded on an island full of strangers. The first thing to do is to find out who your targeted customer is and figure out the buying traits of that particular customer, understand what he/she wants to read and see. This will enable you to outline your marketing campaigns better.
- Be empathetic and trendy at the same time
Whatever you are sharing must be closely related to your business and must not confuse the customer. Make sure, whatever you are posting is not perceived merely as advertisements. Follow-up with the comments and remarks on an empathetic post and never ever leave any posts unattended. For every post, figure out what is the latest on-going trend and use relevant hashtags to stay in trend, you can also be a trendsetter by campaigning the right way.
- Give people what they really want
Marketing on Digital Platforms is essentially anything you do to promote your small business in a hope to increase your customer base. Social media is a place where people are always looking for information and knowledge. Make sure to surround your products and services with related stories that keep viewers engaged.
The Value of a Small Business
The value of SMEs is way more significant than many people realize, including the business owner(s) sometimes. Digital Marketing empowers the foundation of a company’s presence in the global business space, therefore increasing the chances of finding the right people to partner with, alongside the right people to serve.
Some people think that with digital communication come lack of technical support and many more obstacles. However, this is certainly untrue because it all depends upon the digital marketing agency they have partnered with. It is effective and affordable to consider digital marketing than investing in traditional mediums or hoping to grow your business overnight without a proper strategy.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, you are the expert on your own product and you will have to decide what works best for your business. Nonetheless, in this process never miss out a chance to enlighten others about your availability and willingness to serve. Make sure your online presence is all that it can be. Moreover, there is no better way to compete with the rivals and biggies. Digital marketing will certainly let you take a bite out of your business rivals’ volume.
Stop being invisible and come out of your comfort zone. Show the world what you have to offer. With an affordable yet great marketing strategy, you will see your business touching new heights in no time. All of these things build authority and lets you showcase your potential to the customers by offering just what they’re looking for.
Get in touch with a strategic digital marketing agency today and explore endless business opportunities, beyond boundaries.
