We are in the age of digitization, and without a doubt, the benefits of Online marketing as a means to generate leads and boost sales should not be underestimated.
As a small business owner, it is crucial to the success and longevity of your business for you to jump on this bandwagon.
Technology has made it such that strategies for achieving online marketing are now an easy possibility for most people with little to no technical savvy requirements.
With many online marketing tools and software currently available, most with free trials/versions, running online marketing campaigns has become a reality.
Now let’s look at 7 Small Business Online Marketing Strategies
1. Establish an Online Presence:
This is the first step that must be taken for you to make your business known in the online world. Create a professional-looking and aesthetically appealing website for your business.
This is the platform you will use to give important information about your business to prospective clients. Some critical information to share via your business website is what you offer, your unique selling proposition, your location, who you are, and a means of contacting prospective clients.
Owning a business website is a potential organic traffic mine. When your business website is launched, it becomes an available platform to drive organic and PPC ad traffic.
With the integration of essential marketing tools on your website, it becomes likened to your dedicated salesperson, helping to capture leads generated from organic and paid traffic.
Interestingly, it doesn’t cost much to build a professional-looking website. For as low as $0.99 per month, you can easily create a professional-looking website using any of these best web hosting providers.
2. Have a dedicated Blog Page on your Website
Blogging is one means to increase your organic traffic and lead engagement. It is one page you should consider including on your website. With the inclusion of a blog page on your website, you can express yourself on issues relating to your field. Running a blog on your website could also position you as a thought leader in your business area.
Additionally, leads who are yet to decide to buy could visit your blog, see an article or tutorial of interest, and then become convinced to purchase!
3. Create Profiles on Social Media & Promote your Business
According to medium.com, in 2019, 45% of the world's population spent an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes daily on social media. This shows that using Social media as a means of Business production is a worthwhile investment. It is a suitable means of driving traffic and potential leads.
You should also note that some social media platforms now have analytical tools for business accounts. These can be used to monitor the progress of ad campaigns and many other marketing metrics.
Popular social media platforms that are excellent choices for business are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google My Business, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
4. Consider Investing in Ads
While organic traffic is an excellent way to drive quality traffic, the results are only sometimes immediate. Thus, investing in Ads under the proper guidance of an SEM company is inevitable.
If your product or service is likely to be searched using search engines, Google ad campaigns are a great option to boost visibility. You only pay for clicks to your website and not impressions.
Social media ads are an alternative option. Facebook favors small businesses as setting up targeted ad campaigns is very affordable.
5. Capture Your Website Visitors' Information
As I stated earlier, there are some essential marketing tools you can integrate with your website to capture visitors’ information for a targeted marketing approach.
One of these tools is a Customer Relationship Manager- CRM. A software that helps you monitor a visitor’s behavior while on your website and collect crucial information in lead capture forms. These tools can also show what stage of conversion a lead is at. This helps you know where to channel your marketing efforts appropriately.
Here is a detailed review of 6 of the very best affordable CRMs, to help you make a decision that best fits your need.
6. Use Email Marketing For targeting and re-targeting purposes
Following your use of CRM to capture lead information, consider sending out targeted Email messages using Email marketing software.
Because there are over 3.9 billion email users worldwide- about half of the world’s population. Sending personalized email messages to your leads is an effective way to communicate with them. This will, in turn, go a long way to converting those leads.
There are lots of email marketing software you can choose from, with most of them available for free and a few affordable.
To make it easier for you to send out emails, most of these Email marketing tools have an automation feature. This allows you to automate your email marketing process, saving you time and helping you avoid procrastination.
7. Good Old Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is still as good as ever in terms of the promotion of a business. People tend to believe in other people’s experiences. You should strive to consistently meet and exceed your customers’ expectations so they can tell others about their positive experiences using your services.
You can also include a review section or rating tab on your website where past users of your services can leave comments on the excellent customer service they enjoyed from you.
So why set out today to use these steps to boost your leads and give your business a competitive advantage?
