New businesses that apply the basics of digital marketing practices into their day-to-day stand to increase brand awareness, improve on their online reputation, and engage with their customers. The best part? They don’t usually need a huge budget, just an intelligent strategy, the commitment to learn, and to iterate quickly.
Well-thought digital marketing strategies for entrepreneurs can generate the highest return on investment compared to more traditional marketing efforts. Take email marketing, for example; for every dollar a business invests in this digital marketing practice, they receive an average of $36 in return, according to a Litmus report.
Digital marketing for startups
If you’re getting started as an entrepreneur, chances are, you have big dreams and limited time and resources. This is why you need to establish digital marketing best practices. They are the most cost-effective when expanding your revenue and increasing your brand reputation.
Businesses that apply excellent digital marketing practices can connect with customers in a more accessible and personalized way. On the other side, it also allows them to expand and reach diverse target audiences from different parts of the world with just a click. Whatever your objective is, make sure you personalize your digital marketing experience to satisfy your business objectives.
Benefits of digital marketing
Increase and track sales more efficiently.
Automate processes.
Raise brand awareness and improve your online reputation.
Gather essential data for better decisions.
Generate personalized experience for your customers.
What are different types of digital marketing?
Pay-Per-Click (PPC): These are paid ads on search engines. Google Ads & Microsoft Ads being the top search engines to work with.
Email Marketing: If you have an-email list or your customers’ email list, this is a great and cost-effective way of reaching them.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This is the “organic” component of search engine marketing. This takes time, focus and effort, but at the end of the day you get the “free” traffic without the need of ding PPC.
Social Media: The world runs on social media. In many instances, customers would much rather DM you on Instagram than call you (depending on your business).
Affiliate Marketing: Work with other marketers that already generate traffic and leads. The best part? You get to pay them per lead or sale (usually).
Five digital marketing strategies for your small business
1. Define your Buyer Persona
You’re thrilled about your business and can’t stop telling everyone about it. But are you as excited when it comes to getting to know your audience? To incorporate the right strategies and ideal channels, you need to know your target audience. How, when, and where do they communicate online?
According to Rock Content Buyer Persona Statistics, businesses that have established their buyer persona make their website 2 to 5 times more effective to navigate. First, do your research. Gather information about this target audience through social media platforms, surveys, and researching the competitor audience. Create a target buyer persona document with the following documents:
Name
Age group
Job
Income
Location
Solutions your business can provide for them.
Ways they look for products online.
Social Media Channels of preference.
2. Find the right keywords
There are currently 4 billion Google users. Yes, when it comes to searching for new products or services, Google is king! So how can you make your new small business stand out in a sea of competition? With effective SEO practices and tools for your small business.
Implementing the best SEO practices into your website and content can be complex. Take some time to watch introductory videos on SEO and keyword research. You can also hire an external resource to give you a hand if you don’t have enough time.
Through keyword research, you can find out the specific words and phrases that your potential customers type when they look for the type of products or services that you are offering on the search engine.
Here are some SEO tips and tools that will help you find the right keywords:
Look for long-tail keywords (three or more words) with these SEO tools. They drive in a targeted audience, have lower competition, and a large percentage of searches.
Consider paid advertisements like Google Ads for targeting specific valuable keywords.
Get back-up support from Google Trends for trending topics and trending keywords.
Google Search Console can give you a glimpse of your SEO performance. We recommend Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Ubersuggest for keyword search.
3. Prioritize quality over quantity in your content
In the long run, quality outweighs quantity when it comes to digital marketing. Consider making your brand more personable. We live in an era of openness, and customers are looking for authenticity. Here are a few tips to help your company create more human content for better interaction.
Be current, relevant, and specific in your content. Think about the audience you’re talking too. Ask: Who are your current readers and customers, and why do they keep coming back to you?
Your rankings will improve as you build more high-quality links. These are some links you should consider implementing:
Internal Links: links to the other content and pages on your site.
Outbound Links: links to external websites. Mention surveys, data, and industry news from other sites.
Backlinks: These are links from other reputable sites whenever they mention and link your content.
Tools to improve your content plan:
Create a content calendar with establish deadlines and SEO guidelines to follow. You can use online documents for all your digital marketing team to have access to. We recommend using Microsoft Teams or Google Docs.
Add plug-ins like YOAST or Moz to your site to get constant guidance on the quality of your content before and after publishing.
Check your backlinks and see who’s been mentioning your company online with the Monitor Backlinks tool.
4. Establish KPIs to measure your digital campaigns success
If you’re just getting started, then you need to test what’s working or not. First, you’ll need honest and transparent feedback on your digital marketing practices. Measure results with a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) depending on the digital marketing task. Use these KPIs to see if you’ve accomplished your “SMART” goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Measure these KPIs to check if you’ve fulfilled your digital marketing goals:
Sales revenue
Website traffic
Cost per Click (CPC)
Customer retention rate
Conversion rates
Social media engagement
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)
Tools to measure and gather KPIs in one place:
Hubspot for easy-to-read dashboards.
If you have a lot of complex data from diverse channels, consider: Grow or Tableau
If you’re looking for CRM stats: SalesForce
When it comes to social media, LinkedIn and Facebook Business Suite keep track of engagement, reach, and views.
5. Use affiliate marketing to grow your new business
Many marketing specialists say that you can make money in your sleep with affiliate marketing. We can’t say we agree, but we can confirm that affiliate marketing is an ideal digital marketing practice for new businesses that haven’t consolidated their customer base.
Affiliate marketing happens when companies promote other business products in return for a small commission for each sale. There are three participants in affiliate marketing: the merchant, the seller, or the creator (this could be you), the affiliate partner (the brand that publishes your content, and the consumer. These three parties play a vital role in the sustainability of affiliate marketing.
What are some tools used for affiliate marketing?
These are some digital affiliate networks you can sign up for if you want to promote your new small business:
Invest in your marketing strategy
The world of digital marketing is vast, and you may become perplexed by the platform’s various channels. As a result, you must understand your products and potential clients to develop a marketing strategy follow marketing tips guides for your small business. In this scenario, start with the options that might be appropriate for you.
Don’t hinder your growth. There are no established limits to what your small business can take on with the right set of digital marketing practices. You’ll need to invest in resources to help you develop your marketing budget.
If you’re still not ready to dive in, why not hire a certified digital marketing agency to conduct all essential research and develop a strategy tailored to your needs. How about hiring a part-time employee to take ownership and help you apply these digital marketing strategies to your business?
You don’t need to put these objectives on hold. If you have been in business for three months or more and generate at least $7,500 in monthly revenue, you can get access to working capital through One Park Financials’ funding programs. You can check if you pre qualify right now in a few minutes.
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