Online Marketing is an essential part of the toolkit for small business. Nothing beats face-to-face or phone conversations with potential clients, so small business owners still need to network and talk with their customers directly. Online marketing, on its own, is unlikely to be your complete marketing plan. But it complements other activity and most small businesses operating in Australia today would be foolish to ignore it.
What activity is going to get me best bang for my buck?
This will depend on who your customers are and where are they spending their time online. There’s a saying in marketing – “fish where the fish are”. So pick your channel where your customers are most likely to be.
Most businesses won’t go wrong with these top three.
- Email Marketing
- Social Media
If potential clients and customers are researching online for products you sell or services you offer, being seen on page one of a Google search is a high priority for your business.
Being seen on Google is important for residential trades, for example plumbers and carpenters. Being found on Google for the products you sell in an online shop will significantly lift sales.
The activities you need to do to get your website organically (i.e. for free) seen on page one of a Google search is known as Search Engine Optimisation.
Another way of getting on page one of a Google Search is by paying Google for the privilege with Google advertising.
Email marketing
Most business owners shy away from email marketing as they over-estimate the nuisance factor of emails and under-estimate its potential to grow business. But it’s in our top 3 powerhouse marketing channels for a reason – it works.
Email marketing is great for businesses who have a lot of information to share, are specialists in their field or have a good inventory of products. Service providers and professionals such as business consultants, accountants and freelancers will find email marketing a valuable tool to build their business.
If you want some tips on getting started, check out our article on sending the first email.
Social Media
Social media channels are promotional tools that, if used wisely, can be great for businesses who are providing kids activities, diet and wellness related services and recreational experiences.
Being on social media is about being active and being social. They are content hungry – you need to feed your channels regularly with snippets and stories about who you are and what your business does. Sprinkling in some fun stuff and engaging content will go a long way. Short on ideas? Check out our Top 13 Facebook Post Ideas to get you thinking.
There are lots of social media channels. Start by picking the right channel. Picking the right channel will mostly be based on who your ideal customer is.
Is it worth it?
Generating leads and getting new customers is at the heart of all businesses (and even not-for-profit organisations and sporting clubs). Your business may call them clients, members, guests, patients or supporters, but they all come under the umbrella of customers and all organisations need them. If your current marketing and promotion is generating all the leads you need, then read no further. But the fact that you are reading this article more than likely answers the question. Yes, it is worth it. You need a steady stream of new customers and returning customers to keep your doors open. And it’s up to you to pro-actively go out and find them.
Can I afford it?
Perhaps the better question is can you afford not to?
I remember having a small business back in the 80’s. At that time online marketing didn’t exist and Yellow Pages was king. $1,000 was the going rate for a small advert.
The cost of marketing has skyrocketed down, not up, since then. You can do a whole bunch of stuff for free, or at a very low cost. For example, you can outlay as little as $10/day for 4 weeks to a highly targeted audience with online advertising. You can email market a list up to 2,000 for free.
What has skyrocketed up is the technical difficulty and marketing experience needed to get cut through.
How do I do it?
This is the difficult part. For many small business owners and sole traders online marketing is daunting. You may have tried, failed and given up. Or you may have never tried or only given it a very rudimentary start only to let it go after a short time.
Computers don’t suit everyone and the rules and knowledge around how to use the platforms can be a puzzle. And what’s more, the rules keep changing. What was the most effective thing to do 5 years ago, and sometimes 2 years ago, is not necessarily the most effective activity to be doing now. No wonder small business and sole traders find online marketing hard.
Placing an ad with the Yellow Pages might have been expensive – but it wasn’t hard! The technical ability to market has skyrocketed – up – not down! It’s a vice versa situation. What small businesses gain in $ terms they lose in difficultly level.
But don’t let that put you off. If you can master it, do. Learn, learn and keep learning. There are many tricks to the trade, and one tweak here or there can make the difference between a low performing campaign and a high performing one.
And for some small business and sole traders, paying a service provider, like DIY Digital, that knows the platforms and knows how to use them to best effect could be your answer.
Either way, don’t ignore online marketing – your customers are most likely online – are you?
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