In this day and age, business owners have a wide variety of digital marketing tools at their fingertips. So many choices can also make your head spin! If you are a small business owner looking to boost your digital marketing efforts, here’s a quick overview of some of the most popular channels utilized by small businesses.
Social Media
It’s no secret that social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools for modern businesses. Social media offers endless opportunities for brands to engage directly with existing customers as well as attract new ones. Aside from being a great tool to promote your business and build engagement, social media can also be utilized for customer service and increasing overall brand awareness.
Social media marketing can consist of short videos, images, text and any marketing asset that can live in a digital format. The best social media marketing will be creative, on-brand, engaging and shareable across multiple platforms (think: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram). It’s important to stay consistent on social media so you stay top of mind for your audience– try creating a social media calendar to stay organized and ensure you’re providing a consistent flow of content across all social platforms.
For more tips or information about social media for small business, read our Owners Guide to Social Media or check out these 4 Tools to Improve Your Social Media Presence.
Website
Let’s face it – in 2022, a website is an absolute must-have for small business owners, even if your business does not sell products or services directly online. In a time when most people hop online to find more information about a business or its products, you need a site to establish a credible online presence for your brand. What consumers see online will influence their purchasing decisions and shape their expectations surrounding your brand – from quality to pricing – so a strong website is crucial.
Additionally, consider investing in search engine optimization (SEO). Whether searching for your business by name or looking more generally, you want potential customers to be able to easily find your site on Google or other search engines. Improving SEO can help to boost your ranking and get your website on the first page of the search results.
Launching a new site or updating an existing one? Check out Four of the Best WordPress Themes for Your Small Business Internet Website for some inspiration.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another powerful way to engage with both new and existing customers who have shown interest in your product or service offerings, brand or website. With email marketing, you have complete control over the content your subscribers receive and how often they receive it.
When utilizing email marketing, always make sure you look for opportunities to segment your distribution list, personalize your campaigns and test and optimize your emails.
If you’re a small business owner interested in using email as a marketing channel, check out these Tips for Writing Email Subject Lines for Your Small Business.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is becoming increasingly important in social media for small business. Once reserved for big name celebrities and large enterprises, today, any individual with a decent-sized social media following can call themselves an influencer.
Influencer marketing campaigns typically include reviews, collaborations, giveaways or competitions, with the influencers agreeing to post, mention or promote your brand or products on their social media platforms in exchange for an agreed upon fee. When you work with an influencer to promote your small business, it is important to ensure they are people who would genuinely use your product or service and that they fit with your brand’s values, messages and image.
Interested in influencer marketing but don’t know where to start? Check out this post.
The four channels above are just a few of the tools you can use to meet your marketing goals
and business objectives. Try one or try all four– and optimize your chances of digital marketing success.
