4 Digital Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
As the world begins to open up once again and you begin preparing for the summer and your 2021 holiday season marketing ramp-up, now is a great time to think about how to get the most bang for your digital marketing buck.
As a small business owner, your time is just as valuable as your money, so incorporating marketing ideas into your strategy that won’t take up too much of your time or cost you more than you can afford is vital.
That’s why we’ve put together a list of four marketing ideas that we know will help you start your summer off with a bang, get you lined up for a rocking holiday season!
Digital Marketing: Develop a Cleaning Routine
Believe it or not, data cleaning shouldn’t be an annual event. Keep your emails flowing freely and your sender reputation on track by incorporating a quarterly or monthly data cleaning strategy. This includes taking time to perform an email list audit and review your email deliverability scores.
Email deliverability is more than just a buzzword marketers toss around. It’s at the core of any successful marketing strategy. If your email deliverability rate is low, then chances are your marketing emails aren’t reaching your target audience. Keep your email deliverability rates up by keeping your email lists clean and updated.
You can use tools like those found on MailMonitor.com to help you keep tabs on your email deliverability performance rates and sender reputation. They have affordable rates and will help free up your time so you can focus on some of the more critical day-to-day aspects of your small business.
Digital Marketing: Optimize Targeted Content
While it’s normal to want to sell, sell, sell in everything you create, post, and send to your customers, try and keep your sales pitching to a healthy level. Incorporate educational content, fun information, or videos, and thank you offers along with your product sales content.
If users know that all your emails ever contain is a marketing pitch, they aren’t going to open them. And, if they don’t open them, ISPs will begin to take note and they might start routing your marketing emails directly to the spam folder going forward.
When it comes to emails, make sure they are truly optimized for performance. Sadly, most users will only scan an email. Plus, users today received so many emails, you want to ensure your emails stand out in a crowded inbox. Here are four steps to help you streamline for optimal performance:
- Sender Address — Make sure your emails are coming from a recognizable sender name, preferably a business address.
- Catchy Subject Line — Does it tell the reader what’s next? Is what’s next worth clicking? If not, you’d better head back to the drawing board.
- Eye-catching Design — Is your content optimized for mobile viewing? Does it deliver on the promise of your subject line? Is it visually appealing and easy to read?
- Create a Clear Call-to-Action — What is your call-to-action (CTA)? Do the recipients know what you want them to do? Is it easy for them to do it? Make it clear and super easy for them to engage with!
Digital Marketing: Focus on Growing
Growing your business doesn’t only happen via social media posting and marketing emails, it happens out in the real world. I know…actually talking to people….gasp!
There are so many inexpensive ways you can go about growing your business just through everyday activities and events. Here are a few for you to consider:
- Business Cards — Yep, we said it…business cards! Business cards give you a quick way to exchange information and they can lend some credibility and professionalism, too, so always have them handy to whip out when you meet a great connection.
- Client Referrals — Let your current clients know that if they send you a referral that turns into a customer, you’ll give them 10% off their next purchase or invoice. Referrals from clients will give you warm, qualified leads.
- Network and Get Involved in Your Community — Networking is important and a quick way to start promoting your products and services is by creating more awareness about your business in the local community. Find out how you can benefit your community and how your products/services can make their life better.
- Grab a Partner — Partnering up with other small businesses — officially or unofficially — is a great way to go. This could be a vendor, but it could also be other businesses in complementary industries that share a target audience with you.
- Claim Your Free Listing — Your business can gain advantages with better exposure online, and you can start building your online presence by claiming free business listings.
Digital Marketing: Boost Your Social Media Game
No surprise here, but if you want to get noticed, then you’re gonna need to get social online! Regardless of the generation, you’ll find a large portion of your target audience online.
If you need a quick guide to the world of “play to play” social advertising, these links are a great place to start:
Along with the traditional social media content, visual content continues to grow in popularity thanks to platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. This shouldn’t really be a shock since the human brain processes images 60-times faster than words (traditional content).
If you want to make a name for yourself, have fun with your visual content! Fun content gets shared and the more it gets shared, the more people (prospective new customers) will see it.
Add short videos to your Snapchat or Instagram story that introduce your audience to your staff or promote a flash sale. You don’t need a full agency commercial shooting to create visual content that will make a splash online.
Digital Marketing: Need a Little Help?
Digital marketing is absolutely necessary if you want your small business to survive, let alone grow, but that doesn’t mean it needs to break the bank. These small business marketing tips can help you to actively invest in your business so you can get the most out of the time and money you have available.
Looking to take your small business to the next level or want to save more of your time by outsourcing your digital marketing needs?
