Learn how to do digital marketing for small businesses in 2024. Find out how to use videos, SEO, PPC, and social media together to unlock the potential of your business.
If you want to make your small business big in no time, digital marketing is the solution for you. Any SMB who neglects digital marketing in 2024 will regret the decision years later. It’s because things would become more tough and businesses would find themselves in a difficult situation to make a place in the online world. The sooner the better. That’s why you must not see digital marketing as an option. Instead look at it as a necessity and find this time an opportunity to start investing in it.
The biggest reason to invest in marketing for small online businesses is that 93% of people read online reviews before making a purchase. It shows that the majority of the people are online and they use the internet to buy stuff. Perhaps you can decide to not invest in digital marketing, you would ignore 93% of people who could be your potential customers. So if you want to learn how to do digital marketing for small businesses, Keep on reading, as we’ve prepared a list of actionable tips on internet marketing for small businesses.
Although there are many digital marketing tips to implement, we have listed the top 10 that could get your business the quickest jumpstart. Every digital marketing strategy for small business that we’ve mentioned is highly relevant for the year 2024. So have confidence in all these online marketing ideas for small businesses.
Checkout our 7 Latest Digital Marketing Tips You Need in 2024 Concised.
Our first digital marketing strategy for small business is video marketing. Videos easily reach people, build trust, get new customers, improve search engine rankings, and increase social media interactions. Telling stories through videos grabs people’s attention and makes them feel something, helping brands reach specific groups of people. For example, a popular video about a boy who made braille printers from Legos got 1.5 million views on YouTube, showing how powerful storytelling in videos can be. As Richard Branson said, great brands create feelings instead of just selling products.
Making an emotional connection through videos helps build a stronger bond between the brand and its audience, leading to better recognition and loyalty. Statistics show its power: online media use in the US went up by 215% during the pandemic, and 82% of all online media now includes videos. And by 2020, 83% of US internet users watched video content. Platforms like YouTube have 250 million hours of watch time daily, showing the wide reach and engagement potential of video content.
According to Wyzowl, 77% of viewers said that a brand’s testimonial video influenced their buying decision. Video reviews and testimonials are trusted by 9 out of 10 people more than information given by the company. This trust is shown in testimonial videos, like the one with Mike Allton, a social media influencer, which help show authenticity and reliability. Also, video marketing helps get new customers and make sales. 88% of consumers are convinced to buy after watching a brand’s video, and 73% prefer short videos to learn about products. This shows how powerful videos are in turning viewers into customers.
When people visit a website, they don’t read the content in order like they would with a book. That’s why designers need to use visual elements in smart ways to catch and keep visitors’ attention. Today’s designers are leveraging typography to achieve this goal. The size, shape, and placement of different fonts can significantly enhance a message and guide visitors’ focus. Bold typography, for instance, can draw attention to critical information, while a mix of cursive and typewriter fonts can lend a webpage a vintage, personal feel. The strategic use of color to emphasize certain words further attracts the eye and sets a positive tone for the content.
Infographics and videos can make people more interested in your website and increase sales. Infographics show information in a picture form, which makes it easier to understand and remember. For instance, people remember 65% of what they see with pictures after three days, but only 10% of what they read as text alone. Videos also help by making people more likely to click on links and buy things. A short, well-made video can connect with viewers emotionally and make a company seem more friendly and relatable. Gifographics add movement to infographics, making them more engaging. High-quality photos with text are great for social media and attract more visitors.
Comics and memes add humor, making complex topics easier to understand. Interactive tools like quizzes and checklists engage users, offer personalized value, and boost conversions by showing how a product or service can help. With 86% of businesses using video as a key marketing tool, failing to embrace this trend risks falling behind competitors. YouTube’s staggering 2.5 billion monthly active users underscore the pervasive influence of video in modern marketing strategies.
Read Expert Insights: 9 Creative Brands Visual Content Tips with Examples
Start by setting clear goals and using tools like Google Analytics to track how customers interact with your site. Regularly reviewing data shows you trends and areas to improve, making your strategies better and predicting future customer needs. Customer data helps understand their experiences, pinpointing both successes and areas needing improvement. Tracking interactions and feedback identifies issues like engagement and satisfaction, guiding focused improvements. But use data ethically and follow privacy laws to protect customers’ information.
Improving customer experience involves making a good impression and keeping customers coming back. Customer experience is about how a brand treats customers from the start to the end of their buying journey. Good customer service not only boosts sales but also brings in new customers. About 72% of happy customers tell others about their good experiences. This is where using data to shape customer experiences becomes important. It helps to push customer satisfaction even higher. Research reveals that happy customers spend 140% more and stay loyal longer.
Businesses are using information in different ways to make customers happier. They are using data to create content and show ads that match what each person likes. By studying this data, they see what parts of their advertising work well and which ones don’t. This helps them spend money better and find new customers more effectively. Businesses also use data to find their best customers and social media stars. They then make sure those people have experiences smoother and more enjoyable. This helps customers feel happy and keeps them coming back.
Read What is Google Analytics and How Does It Work? A Brief Guide
Our fourth digital marketing strategy for small business requires a lot of research. Even if you already know a lot about your customers and what they want, if you want to have a strong and lasting relationship with them, you need to learn more. Even a few insights from customers are much better than having no information at all. Interviews and surveys don’t cost anything and you can start with just a few questions on specific topics you want to know more about. Understanding your target audience means knowing more than just basic information about them. It’s about really understanding how they think and what they like.
To stand out in a crowded market with similar services, competitor research is important. It tells you what you can provide to customers that your competitors can’t. Start by understanding their brands and offerings. Check how your competitors are presenting themselves in their ads. Then you can continue adding in your ads those strong selling points and also the ones your competitors are missing. While your product can be copied, focus on improving customer service like training and quick installations. Build strong relationships with suppliers and make it easy for customers to do business with you.
Treat your employees well and offer great customer service, and use customer reviews like Trustpilot to show your reliability. Build a good reputation through happy customers who recommend you. Think about pricing that offers extra value, so customers see why it’s worth paying a bit more to work with you.
Note that each online platform attracts different groups of people. Adjust how you talk to your audience depending on where you are, like using social media for quick surveys and emails for more detailed questions. This way, you reach all parts of your audience in the best way.
In 2024, PPC advertising is really important for small businesses to quickly reach customers in the competitive market today. PPC requires you to work with someone who knows PPC advertising well. PPC experts know how to make the most money from advertising by spending less. They use platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads and aim their ads at exactly the right people using keywords, who those people are, and how they act online. PPC has some bidding strategies such as Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), Cost Per Mille (CPM), and Maximize Clicks. Each one is good for different goals and budgets. But all of them have a basic goal to get more people to click and buy. A PPC expert seamlessly chooses one depending on the project.
As a result, you can remain careful with your money. A PPC expert will choose the best keywords, create ads that catch people’s attention, and make sure the web pages those ads lead to are set up well to turn visitors into customers. PPC experts try out new marketing ideas and see what works best on different platforms. Setting up precise targeting to understanding exactly who your ideal customers are is important. You must know their age, where they live, what they like, and how they behave online. When you use PPC platforms, you can target people based on where they live, what kind of device they use, and how they usually browse the internet.
Breaking down your audience into smaller groups helps you create messages that speak directly to them. It also lets you set up strategies to bring back people who have visited your site before. On your landing page, things like showing off positive comments (Testimonials) from customers and having clear buttons (CTAs) that tell people what to do next can make a big difference. It’s also helpful to try out different versions of your page (A/B Testing) to see which one makes more people buy things, so you can keep making it better.
Check What Is PPC? Learn the Basics of Pay Per Click Marketing in 2024
Many of us prefer using our phones rather than laptops to browse the internet. It’s amazing that 6.92 billion people worldwide use smartphones, which is 86.29% of the world’s population. That’s why it’s really important that a website works well on mobile phones. It must work smoothly when people navigate it with their fingers on their phones. This is really important, especially if your target audience is majorly younger people. If the mobile experience isn’t good, it could hurt your business.
Customers expect websites to load quickly and work perfectly fine. The quicker your pages load, the better your chances of keeping users interested. Study shows that slow websites significantly lower your chances of turning visitors into customers. They also hurt your Google rankings because user experience plays a big role in SEO. Google PageSpeed Insights is a great free tool you can use right now to find and fix issues. It will help you make your site load faster and reduce bounce rates.
It’s important that your website looks clear and is easy to use. First impressions matter a lot online—94% of people decide if they like a website based on how it looks. As websites get better, customers expect websites to work well and be easy to use. If your website doesn’t work properly, it could make customers leave and therefore, make it harder for your site to show up in Google searches and be found by new people.
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You can’t call any marketing strategy comprehensive without including SEO. It’s the most convenient thing small businesses can start with since it doesn’t cost high budgets. Either you could be knowledgeable enough to work on your site’s SEO or perhaps hiring an expert would be the best option. Experts understand SEO principles and implement effective SEO strategically using keywords on your website to achieve higher rankings in SERPs. It drives increased traffic to your website, ultimately boosting recognition and business growth.
Businesses rely on SEO to drive free traffic to their site. It just requires SEO-driven content creation. SEO is also best for those who don’t want or don’t have much to spend on marketing in the beginning. SEO and content marketing can give their business and website a good jumpstart. Writers and SEO experts work together to create content followed by keyword research to grasp user intent, and then optimizing website content, structure, and on-page elements like meta descriptions, headers, and images.
Content marketing involves creating valuable and relevant content daily to attract and keep your audience engaged. It’s also known as inbound marketing. Inbound marketing for small businesses
involves creating strategies to attract customers through both SEO and social media. Talking about a blog, it helps you connect better with customers and showcase your expertise, and build trust with readers. You write blogs that answer what your audience wants to know. This not only helps with SEO but also makes your brand a trusted expert in your field. In 2024, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to be relevant, even when innovations like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) are happening.
Check 5 Non Technical SEO Basics You Need to Master
Social media experts know that there are frequent updates happening on social platforms that seem to be annoying. Still, social media platforms are very effective in directly engaging with your target audience. You need to find out which social platform has the most people who could be your target audience. SMBs must concentrate on one channel at the start to ensure efficient use of limited resources. This will help them maximize their available time for effective management.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter naturally suit B2B businesses due to their professional networking focus, whereas B2C enterprises often find better engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In today’s digital landscape, leveraging social media is crucial for any business, with people spending an average of 151 minutes daily on these platforms, making them essential for effective digital marketing strategies.
Using social media for your business is not just about posting the same thing everywhere and hoping for the best. You have to customize your posts for each platform and its audience. For instance, LinkedIn is better for B2B companies, while Instagram suits B2C businesses. Focus on the platform that matches your business and audience to succeed. It’s smarter to excel on one platform than to spread yourself thin across many. This tip is especially useful for startups with limited budgets and resources, as social media is a free and user-friendly tool for digital marketing.
Read 5 Tips to Successful Social Media Marketing
Local SEO focuses on attracting nearby customers. Using Google Business Profile formally known as Google My Business gives you control over how people see your business. But you must avoid common mistakes like having duplicate listings, creating unnecessary new listings after moving, or using your business name improperly with promotional messages. Note that in 2021, 77% of customers regularly checked reviews when searching for local businesses, so prioritize managing your positive and negative reviews. As a result, you can attract more local customers through Google searches.
As a small business owner, your reputation can make or break potential customer relationships. A crucial tip is to maintain a Google Business Profile listing. This free tool not only offers essential business details to internet users but also showcases customer reviews. It significantly boosts your online visibility by ensuring your profile appears prominently in Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Shopping, enhancing your chances of attracting more customers.
By adding your small business to Google Business Profile, you can enhance visibility by adding your location, contact information, website link, and verified status. Customize your profile with images, videos, keywords, and special attributes to attract potential customers and encourage reviews. This platform allows consumers to easily access essential business information, and you can effortlessly update details as needed. Notably, 64% of consumers use Google Business Profile to find local business contact details, making it a crucial tool for maintaining accurate and accessible business information.
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The last digital marketing strategy for small businesses in our list is email marketing. Emails are still relevant despite the surge of social media and other digital tools. Almost everyone uses email. Whether it’s through newsletters, special offers, or personalized messages, email marketing is a cheap and effective way to connect with your audience and build stronger relationships with your brand. Email marketing is also helpful for customer retention and lead nurturing.
Email marketing’s effectiveness depends on the quality of emails and the list of people who will receive those emails. Dividing the list based on customer behavior, preferences, or demographics makes sure the content connects with them. Your writing must be attractive, and email design must be mobile-friendly.
Automation tools can help you streamline email marketing by sending targeted emails triggered by subscriber actions. It ensures timely and relevant communication. You must also analyze email performance metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions and refine strategies as needed. Effective email marketing builds relationships, so maintaining a human, personalized approach while respecting your audience’s inbox is key.
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Here’s a quick overview of the stuff you’ve learned about internet marketing for small business in this article. By following these simple tips, your small business can grow, stay ahead and succeed. Contact First Growth Agency if you want expert’s guidance on using these tips for your business’s success.
Hi, I'm Aaqil Abdul Rehman, one of the key individuals behind the success of First Growth Agency. With a spirited blend of marketing savvy and a dash of technical genius, I've dedicated myself to catapulting brands into the spotlight where they belong.
- Aaqil
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