Often, when you start a small business, your focus is to get your first batch of customers to your store. Thus, you tend to shift your marketing efforts to traditional advertising, such as coupons, print ads, and even big signs on the road.
You think that since you have an excellent product or service, it will only be a matter of time that customers will find you.
Although adopting this kind of strategy brings in leads for your business, there is a better way. No matter how big or small your business is, you should not overlook the benefits of digital marketing.
In this post, we’ll discuss the top reasons why your small business needs digital marketing:
Consumers’ Behaviors Have Changed
Are you avoiding digital marketing simply because you think you’re not yet ready?
Well, the problem with this kind of thinking is that your customer’s behaviors are already shifting from offline to online. Meaning, they are doing an online search first before making a purchase. If they cannot find you online, they’re more likely to pick someone else.
That’s how it is. If someone is particularly interested in products or services that you offer, they’re going to look up for your business or your products online first to learn more about you.
They also expect that you have a website and a strong social media presence. They might be scanning online reviews to know what other people are saying about you, and whether you’re a good fit for them.
If they can’t find you online, then they’ll probably think that you’re not legit. As a result, they won’t take you seriously and will just then go to someplace else.
For Audience Targeting
One of the primary reasons why digital marketing is now winning over more traditional marketing is because it helps you target a specific audience.
Also, the interactions that you do with your target audience are more goal-driven and results-oriented. With email marketing, for instance, it’s possible to target a particular person.
That’s why digital marketing is considered as one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing out there.
Cost-Effective Than Traditional Marketing
As the owner of a small business, you probably have a limited budget. All the more that you need to take advantage of digital marketing.
One of the main reasons why small businesses should consider digital marketing is that it’s a more cost-effective option that drives in results. In fact, a study revealed that businesses that tap into digital marketing are 2.8 times more likely to experience revenue growth than those who don’t use the internet.
Digital marketing gives you better control over the costs and expenses of your company, making it easy to track your expenditures and the impact it brings to your business.
Digital Marketing Lures People to Take Favorable Action
Another reason why small businesses need to implement digital marketing is that it encourages your prospects to take favorable action.
For instance, the whole concept of inbound marketing is based on the actions that are initiated by prospective customers.
Digital marketing allows you to create campaigns for various personas of your prospects and then lures them to take action. A call-to-action or CTA, for example, encourages a visitor to take action to your website, such as signing up for your email list, downloading your free e-book, or purchasing your products.
CTAs are maximized in a way to make sure that favorable actions are taken by your site visitors.
Delivers Conversion
One of the best ways to measure whether a marketing effort is effective is its conversion rate. In fact, at Voy Media Facebook Advertising Company, we believe that a business’s conversion is a strong indicator of whether our campaigns are driving return on investment (ROI).
In relation to this, one of the effective ways to boost your small business’ conversion rate is through Facebook advertising pixels.
A Facebook pixel is a code that you install on your website in order to collect customer data and track conversions. Once it is installed and working properly on your website, you can use the collected data in two ways:
- Remind Facebook users who engaged on your website (i.e., checked a product on your online store) about your products or services
- Run Facebook ad campaigns attract new audiences who are similar to your existing ones to your website
What’s cool about Facebook advertising is that you can run an A/B test while your campaign is ongoing. That way, you’ll know which of your ads are helping you improve your conversion rate better.
Generates Better Revenue
When you beef up your digital marketing efforts, you’re also potentially increasing your revenue. The more exposure that your business is getting from your marketing campaigns, the more leads you’ll be generating.
The more customer data that you can get from these leads, the better you can promote your products and services. Thus, the more likely you can convert them and generate sales. All it needs is patience.
Track Performance and Measure Results in Real-Time
The availability of your online analytics is a game-changer for digital marketing.
Through these analytics, you can track the actual performance of your digital marketing campaign. Furthermore, you can measure your results in real-time.
Analytics will help you know the strengths and weaknesses of your current digital marketing campaign. It gives you an idea of where your audience is coming from, and what types of content interests them.
With traditional advertising, it may take months before you know how well a particular digital marketing campaign has performed. In digital marketing, on the other hand, analyzing your campaigns will just take days or even hours.
Through different web analytics and social media marketing tools, you can easily access your target customer’s demographics, gaining insight on how they engage with your website, as well as with your advertising campaign.
Improves Brand Reputation
Every business wants to attract more customers. That applies to digital marketing, as well.
You can start with the goal of getting the optimal number of clicks to your various marketing platforms and website. Over time, people will start to get to know your brand more, and when you offer them precisely the thing that they’re looking for, then the reputation of your brand will eventually improve.
This helps you win over the trust of your prospective customers.
Your Competitors are Online
You might not have successfully launched an online campaign yet, but most probably, your competitors have. With so much competition out there, it’s quite challenging to market your small business online and to get ahead from the rest of the pack.
One of the primary reasons why online advertising doesn’t quite work well with small businesses is that they don’t connect or engage with their audience online. So know what’s working best for you, and know what your current and prospective audience is engaging with. Once you already know what’s working for you, repeat the process.
At the end of the day, it’s not how visually appealing your site is, but how you convert online visitors into prospective customers.
When you provide your audience with a unique brand proposition, a strong call-to-action, and a great online user experience, then you’ll likely come up with a more successful digital marketing strategy.
In Summary
By this time, it’s already clear. You need digital marketing to stand out and rise above the rest. Most of your prospects are online, and it’s also a preferred platform for reaching out to them. Keep in mind that the modern buying process nowadays begins online.
About the Author
Kevin Urrutia is the founder of Voy Media, a Facebook Advertising Company based in New York. He is dedicated to helping businesses triumph over the ever changing marketing landscape through the effective use of one of today’s most effective marketing platforms – Facebook. He crafts results-oriented solutions that are tailor-fit for each client his team works with.
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