Five Ways to Embrace Digital Marketing for Your Business

In the information age that we live in, people are spending more and more time online, to perform an increasing number of tasks and activities on an increasing number of devices with which to perform them. Whether smartphones, smart speakers, TVs, computers, tablets, or even washing machines, billions of devices are hooked up to the Internet to make the lives of their users easier.  

Did you know? 

There are over 6.6bn Smartphone users across the globe, which is almost 84% of the global population.  

Source: Statista 

There are countless activities that a person might use their Internet connection for, including many forms of gaming, shopping, consuming content, working, sourcing information, connecting with loved ones, dating, and sharing content. Each one of these activities presents an opportunity for you as a business owner to reach more people than ever before, meeting them in a space that they are happiest.  

So as a small business that might be more inclined to put an advertisement in the local newspaper, or rely on word-of-mouth to generate awareness of your brand, how can you make the switch to taking your promotional activity online? Or let’s say you’ve got the idea for a business, but you’ve no idea on where and when to promote it online. Do you try to do everything or should you focus on particular methods? Here are our five ways that a beginner to digital marketing can embrace the digital age for your business.

GET A WEBSITE 

To grow your business to a wider audience, it makes sense to have a website that people are able to research your brand through, as well as make purchases or enquiries about the products and services you provide. Having a professional platform of your own will build trust with prospects, as they see you have invested time and money into presenting your business in the right light. Your website is very much your shop window, and it gives you an opportunity to share images of work you have done, or the products you supply, in a stronger light. You can present key descriptions, benefits and advantages to each one, and share your knowledge on your industry. A solid Meet the Team page will present the human side of your business. 

GET ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

Whether you love or hate it, there’s no denying that social media is not going away, and is fast becoming the communication tool of choice between consumers and the brands they love. In fact, according to Hootsuite, one of the key trends for 2022 when it comes to social media is that more aftersales and customer service queries will be dealt with through that platform.  

It presents a great opportunity for you to interact with your customers in new and creative ways, be it through creating entertaining videos that can engage them, infographic imagery that educates them or sharing reviews that you've received from satisfied customers. To raise awareness of your brand in the digital age, a social media presence is a must when it comes to digital marketing. Don’t feel obliged to get on each and every social platform out there, as this can take up a lot of your time and you may not get the full benefit. Our advice is to think about who your main customer base is, and where they might be more likely to spend their social networking time, as well as what your products or services are. If you’re targeting teenagers then perhaps TikTok is the platform for you? If you supply amazing cakes or handmade jewellery then Instagram might be the best platform to present them in the best light.  

When you start your social media journey, it’s sensible to dip your rod where the fish are. As you get more confident, you should then be more comfortable with exploring and experimenting with others platforms.  

BUILD AN EMAIL MAILING LIST 

Having a direct path to your customers and prospects’ email inboxes is a very valuable tool to communicate with them, and there are many different types of email you can send to them, each with their own objectives. For example, you can inform them of new products, product updates, or new content that you’ve created, such as a blog or a new video, to keep them engaged with your brand. Or you might advise them of a promotion that your business is running, to generate sales and revenue. You can gain social proof by directly requesting reviews on Trustpilot or any other preferred platform. The key advantage with email is that the people on your mailing list will have expressly requested, or consented to, email marketing materials, which means they will be much more likely to open and engage with your message.  

KEEP A REGULARLY UPDATED BLOG 

There are very few ways to show your expertise in your industry better than a blog, or an advice centre on your website in which you maintain a series of articles that help people to navigate the products and services you provide. Consider how-to guides, lists and top tips (much like the blog you’re reading now!), opinions on industry changes, and close-up looks at the products you supply. By keeping a useful blog, you will not only build trust amongst the people who visit your site that you are a business that knows your industry well, but also it will highlight to Search Engines such as Google that you are an authority in your field, and therefore they will be more inclined to rank your site higher when people search for the stuff you supply. This practice is called Search Engine Optimisation (also known as SEO).

CREATE ADS ON SEARCH ENGINES 

A practice more reserved for businesses that have budget to spare, you can use paid advertising to put yourself in front of relevant audiences, effectively skipping the queue when it comes to search engine results pages (also known as SERPs).

Get on Google and search for the products you sell. More often than not you’ll see 2 or 3 results at the top with Ad beside the link. These are paid placements using the Google Ads platform, and will usually be charged per click you receive via the ad. The more niche your industry, the lower the cost of the click will be, and the higher the perceived value, the higher the cost of the click. For example, a business in the home insurance industry can expect to pay upwards of £15 a click for an ad that’s placed at the top of the page. In contrast to that, a business selling wax melts can expect to pay no more than £1 per click.  

There are various different types of campaign you can create, and different outlets that Google or Bing can offer, for example Bing is owned by Microsoft so you can get your ads onto the XBox Live online platform, and Google owns YouTube so you can get your ads there too. It can be a very expensive effort, and you will be encouraged to spend more and more by the platform providers, so you need to keep a very close eye on your expenditure to ensure it is a worthwhile activity. 

Whatever you choose to get involved with when launching your own digital marketing journey, it is important to remember that it is an ever-changing landscape. Consumer behaviours change, as do the ways that social media platforms deliver your content, or search engines rank web pages for the searches on their site. It is recommended that whatever you do, you keep an eye on any changes that occur, so that you can adapt what you do quickly and effectively.  

Gala Education & Marketing (GEM) is a new digital agency. We have been set-up to work with and educate total beginners in becoming self-sufficient in digital marketing, having taken the whole journey ourselves, from novices to professional in-house marketing team, delivering record results for an industry leading brand. We can offer a complete audit and healthcheck on your online presence, including your website, social media activity and discoverability via search engines. We will compare you with your competitors and what they’re doing, to help you to find areas of improvements and provide you with an advisory report on changes you can make. 

If you’re launching a business start-up and would like help with any step of your journey, be it building an effective brand identity, business planning, logo design, or particular aspects of digital marketing, we would love to hear from you and help you to really hit the ground running.  

Give us a call on 01709 911663 to have a chat, or make an enquiry via the form and we’ll be in touch.