Why Digital Marketing is Crucial for Small Business Today
Any businesses, including small brick-and-mortar businesses, should be taking advantage of digital marketing right now. Marketing online provides tons of opportunities for small businesses, even those that have a small budget. Digital marketing can be done on just about any budget and scaled as the business grows to continue fitting their needs. The following are some of the things small businesses can do if they start marketing their business online.
Reach Customers Where They Are
Consumers are online. Right now, 85% of adults in Canada are online and check social media accounts at least once a week. More than 80% of adults in Canada have a Facebook account, and 69% read a social media platform daily. As of November 2018, 86% of Canadians surveyed own a smartphone and regularly use it to go online.
Consumers are online, and they’re online often. They’re on social media websites, using search engines to find the information they need, and playing games or watching videos. Small business owners who want to reach more potential customers need to be online because that’s where their customers are. No matter who the business is designed to cater to, the customers are online and may be waiting to discover the company so they can see what’s offered near them.
Make it Easy for Customers to Find the Business
When consumers are looking for something, they most likely start with a search on Google. Most of these searches are for products or services “near me” so they’re looking for local businesses that have what they need. If a small business doesn’t have an online presence, these consumers won’t find that business and will likely end up going to a competitor instead.
Just diving into the basics of digital marketing allows small business owners to reach these consumers and let them know about the business. A Google My Business listing has the necessary information about the small business, and just creating the page makes it possible for the company to be found online. Consumers can spot the listing and get the business’s phone number, store hours, address, and more.
Have the Online Presence that Customers Expect
Once a consumer does learn about a business, they’ll likely look online to get more information. They may pass the storefront on the way to work and decide to look up the hours to see when it’s convenient to stop in the store. If the small business doesn’t have a web presence, they’re not going to find the information they need and will likely end up not visiting the business in person.
Consumers today expect businesses to have at least a minimal online presence. They expect to see a Google My Business listing, complete with photos, store hours, a phone number and address, and more. They also expect to be able to find a website for any business, no matter how small, so they can make sure the business offers what they need and get more information about the business before stopping by. A lack of a website is often taken by consumers to mean the small business isn’t legitimate and not worth visiting.
Become Trusted by Today’s Consumers
Just having an online presence and a website makes a business appear more trustworthy. Digital marketing also allows small business owners to engage with consumers online, making it easy for them to reach out to potential customers and see what needs to be done to make a sale. Any type of small business can take advantage of this opportunity. Using free advertising sites available across the internet is also a great way to reach your customers for no cost.
Some digital marketing techniques make it easier to reach out and connect individually with consumers. If a potential customer has a question about the business, a prompt and complete answer often makes it more likely the consumer will become a customer. They appreciate the attention and are more willing to trust a business when they can get fast, honest answers to their questions.
Easily Look into the Analytics and Adapt Strategy
Analytics makes a huge difference in marketing and reaching target consumers. With traditional marketing methods, it’s difficult to determine exactly how effective the method was and what can be adjusted to make it more effective in the future. With digital marketing, however, this is much easier.
Digital marketing allows for more tracking of marketing campaigns so small business owners can inspect every detail and adjust as needed. It’s easy to see who visited the website, what they spent more time doing, and what is going to make it more likely the visitor will stop by the local store to make a purchase. Once the analytics are examined, it’s very easy to adjust a digital marketing technique to make it far more effective.
Take Advantage of a Higher ROI
Another huge benefit of digital marketing over other types of marketing is the return on the investment. Digital marketing offers a higher ROI than any other type of marketing. Digital marketing is easily scalable, so small business owners can get started even if they’re working on a budget. They’ll still see a huge return for the time and money spent marketing online and can then adjust their budget as needed to continue bringing in more customers.
Digital marketing is highly effective and allows small business owners to find and reach out to more consumers than other types of marketing. With the return on the investment being higher than other traditional forms of marketing, it just makes sense to start marketing a small business online, even if it’s a small brick-and-mortar store that’s just getting started.
What’s stopping you from marketing your small business online? Though you may have questions about digital marketing, especially if you have a smaller marketing budget right now, the possibilities are endless, and marketing online will make it much easier for you to reach potential customers. Start looking into smaller ways to jump into digital marketing, such as by creating a Google My Business listing or creating social media profiles, and start to see the impact it could have on your business. The results may be amazing.
