Digital marketing for small business – Things you can do on your own
There were times when people have ideas but not mediums to execute, now people have mediums & ideas but not knowledge. This post is dedicated to all of you who are rigorously exploring ways to do digital marketing for small business. I can relate to the hard work you all put in while promoting your business online. Your efforts are fruitful sometimes but you are also aware about the digital potential so you continuously hunt for right strategy to target and win customers. If you find this relatable, this post is definitely for you
Digital is so vast and hence the options to promote your business. It is fair to be bewildered while choosing medium to do digital marketing for small business but below are main points listed which can guide you with right steps to follow
Select the best medium for your business
The common mistake which most of the new and the small businesses do is they follow the same digital strategy across all mediums while doing digital marketing for small business. Beside being present on all mediums most of you are not able to use any medium to its full potential. I have always stressed on the fact that it is important to know where your audience is on digital before marketing your business. For your ease, I have listed each digital medium (where you can promote on your own) with audience they mainly comprise of
1. Facebook
Works best for 30-55+ age group . We all know our parents prefer Facebook more than anything else. Organic reach on Facebook has decreased but use of groups can be really helpful. When it comes to promoting middle age women and men this medium can work really well. Strategy will be soon shared in another post
2. Instagram
It is the place where youth is. Age group 13-40 engage the most on Instagram. From self branding to business this medium is best to market. Complete guide will be shared soon
3. Youtube
Almost everyone is there on Youtube from age 13-55. While doing paid promotion this medium is inexplicable but for organic promotion(promoting on your own without any paid activity) you need to be consistent and innovative with the content. Promotion of your channel on other mediums also plays role in the Youtube success
4. Whatsapp
Almost everyone is there. You need to choose this medium especially if you have broadcast list with you. For just selling this can give good number of sales. Will talk about Whatsapp marketing communication in separate post
5. Google(SEO/Blogging/Google Ads)
Having a website is important for business but I believe having substantial customer base is more important before moving to this step. Use other mediums to create that base and then have SEO optimised website. For businesses, which have knowledge sharing as a service for example digital marketing for small business related to health, fitness, nutrition, education, food and many more can choose blogging and get audience on their blog. (Will write one individual post on blogging so stay tuned). Paid marketing on Google also known as Google ads require budgets so will talk about this in another post.
Decide objective of your promotion
Without objective you cannot ace the digital marketing for small business. Decide the objective of your business and then go with the medium which caters to your goals. Read to know how to select the goal of your business
Build content specific to your medium
Gone are the days when customer & audience will remain your followers when you are just promoting your product/service on brand pages. You need to have a mix of content on your pages which should include – direct promotion, engagement with audience(quizzes, contest), feedback, giveaways, testimonials, Q&A with audience, sharing brand stories, related content to current times and more. Read tips about Instagram content here.
Understand the saturation of organic reach
Every digital medium offers two types of promotion: Organic and Paid. The new algorithm of every medium be it Instagram, Facebook, Youtube has some limitations to organic promotion (non-paid promotion). To start with paid promotion it is important to realize that you have reached the saturation level in organic promotion. Also, for paid promotion, more than the budgets you require accurate knowledge. I will share the same with you in my upcoming blog posts. Stay tuned!
Every Sunday a new blog post is published on ahead with digital. I write about the digital strategies which new businesses(small/medium) can adopt on digital mediums to scale up the business. Get answers to all your queries through my blog posts(Know details on About us). Do subscribe to stay connected. Happy Reading!
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