Marketing is a powerful tool for businesses. It allows you to connect with prospective customers in a bid to persuade them to subscribe to your service or buy your product. That said, for a long time, marketing was reserved for well-established organisations that could afford to pay for expensive TV ads and billboards. Fortunately, things are taking a turn thanks to the increasing popularity of the internet and social media. Digital marketing is now the front runner in reaching prospective customers, and the good news is that it is accessible to all businesses.
If you are yet to adopt this marketing type, here are five benefits of digital marketing for small businesses that you should know about.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing, also known as internet marketing, is the use of digital channels to promote products and services. These digital channels include search engines, social media, email, websites, and mobile apps.
Benefits of digital marketing
1. Budget-friendly
Digital marketing has levelled the field for small businesses. It allows small business owners on a tight budget to market their products and services and reach their target market, thus increasing their competitiveness.
Most digital marketing channels are very affordable, and some are completely free. For example, posting a picture of your products on social media costs absolutely nothing, but it can have great returns. If you decide to use a paid channel like pay-per-click advertising, you can start with a low amount and gradually increase your investment as performance increases. There are no minimums on ad campaign buys for PPC advertising, so you can reach your target audience regardless of your budget.
2. Wider reach
One of the major shortcomings of traditional marketing methods is that they are restricted by geography. Digital marketing, on the other hand, offers a broader reach since it happens over the internet. With a website and a solid social media presence, your small business can reach an international audience.
While international reach is a great advantage, most small businesses rely on nearby customers. Digital marketing also helps improve local reach through locally targeted ads and local SEO. The combination of global and local reach opens many opportunities for small businesses looking to grow and expand.
3. Increased brand awareness
Brand awareness is a priority for small businesses and start-up brands trying to penetrate new markets and make a name for themselves. Because digital marketing employs multiple strategies, it can really widen your reach and increase your brand awareness. For example, optimising your content for SEO helps drive more organic traffic to your website. Social media, on the other hand, allows you to connect and engage with your target audience, further increasing brand recognition.
To increase brand awareness for your small business, combine multiple strategies for the best results. Optimise your website for SEO, run ads on social media and search engines, partner with social media influencers to create content, create a blog, etc.
4. Precise targeting
Digital marketing takes the guesswork out of audience targeting by using reporting metrics to show exactly who interacts with your content and advertisements. Keyword research from SEO and demographic information from social media provides you with a wealth of information about your target market, allowing you to customise your marketing strategy appropriately. Effective audience targeting reduces marketing costs and increases the likelihood of conversions.
In addition to audience targeting, digital marketing also allows for customer segmentation. Segmentation breaks your audience into smaller groups allowing for a personalised customer experience. This increases the chances of sales further and improves customer loyalty.
5. It is measurable
Another great benefit of digital marketing for small businesses is that you can track and monitor results over time. Using analytic tools such as Google Analytics, Mixpanel, SEMrush, Optimizely, etc., you can find out which strategy and campaign brought you the highest return on investment. If you have a website, you are also able to learn more about your customers, like their demographic, how they got to your website, and how much time they spent there. Read our blog to find out what the best marketing reporting tools are out there.
Tracking the performance of marketing campaigns is especially important for small businesses because it helps you spend your money only on the campaigns that work instead of blindly pumping money into campaigns that might bring no results.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a must-have for all small businesses. It allows you to advertise to your target market without breaking the bank, and the great news is that you’ll get a great return on your investment.
If you need a helping hand with your digital marketing efforts, why not get in touch with our expert digital marketing team? They’ll advise you on the best strategies to utilise from SEO to PPC and more! Take a look at the services they offer to help boost your business.